NFF, Keshi And Unpaid Salaries

For many agonizing years preceding the last
African Nations Cup in South Africa, football administration in Nigeria was a major concern. Either the football governing boards were at each other’s throats or national team players were protesting one unpaid allowance or another.
So dysfunctional was the nation’s soccer governing body, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that soccer development experienced the worst decline. This situation also impacted very negatively on the fortunes of the various national soccer teams, especially the senior national team, the Super Eagles.
Not only did the team fail to make it to the last World Cup in 2010, its performance at the continental level was also a national shame. It was because of that abysma;; decline that the senior national team was derogatorily tagged variously as Dead Eagles, Lazy Eagles and Aged Eagles.
However, since the engagement of the incumbent national team coach, Stephen Keshi, Nigeria’s soccer fortunes have improved significantly. Apart from making a marked break with the immediate past when national soccer managers depended solely on finished goods in the mould of Europe-based professional footballers, the new manager fashioned a programme of grooming home-based national team players.
Infact, some of the brightest stars in the national senior team are products of that experiment, which without doubt has proved successful. With the required exposure and long training, there appears to be an easy blend of both home-based and Europe-based professionals, who together redeemed the nation’s soccer image.
Apart from emerging African continental champions in the last Nations Cup, the Super Eagles are barely a match away from qualifying for the next FIFA World Cup slated for Brazil next year. The national team had in the first of a two legged encounter beaten the Ethiopian national team by two goals to one, while the second leg is expected to be played in Calabar here in Nigeria next month.
Many soccer pundits and seasoned analysts are agreed that the second leg encounter is already a ‘done-deal’ since the Super Eagles had surmounted all obstacles, including poor pitch, hostile host fans and high altitude challenges in Ethiopia, to emerge victorious. Bottomline is that only the Calabar encounter stands between Nigeria and qualification for the World Cup, in Brazil.
Aside the World Cup preparations, defence of the African Nations Cup the country won, are on. This means, the players, the coaching crew and indeed all technical officials involved need all the concentration, commitment and indeed cooperation they can muster to achieve the feat for the nation.
This is indeed why it is disturbing to learn at this time that the senior national team coach and members of his coaching crew were being owed seven months unpaid salaries.
This is in spite of the fact that the NFF has not disputed Keshi’s claim.
Instead, NFF President, Aminu Maigari indeed confirmed Keshi’s claims but was quoted as that saying the football body could not help it because it was cash- strapped.
This is most regrettable. Even moreso, is the comment by the NFF leadership that the coaches’ bonuses were enough to take care of them. Meaning, they could do without the owed salaries.
The NFF can do better than that.
The Tide views the handling of the Keshi salary issue as a sign of insensitivity and a gross display of ingratitude to a man who has contributed immensely towards addressing in a lasting manner, the fluctuating fortunes of the Nigerian national soccer team, the Super Eagles.
Need it be recalled that the same Keshi was upon his engagement tasked to finish, within semi-final limits of the Nations Cup or be fired. Instead, the coach and his crop of players won the trophy and are barely whiskers away from qualifying for the next World Cup.
This is why The Tide views the NFF’s action as not only ill-advised, tactless and irresponsible but also a shameful attempt at courting a distraction Nigerian football can ill-afford. The NFF must therefore, put its act together and ensure the payment of the seven months salaries owed Keshi and his technical crew without further delay.
That, the matter was mismanaged to such extent that it is now before the public domain is indeed very disgraceful, delaying it any further could be disastrous. So, NFF should pay Keshi now.