…President Tinubu lauded on sports investment
The immediate past leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has responded to National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman Shehu Dikko’s comparison of federal government’s funding received by the Federation under Ibrahim Gusau and his predecessor, Amaju Pinnick, saying the figures require broader context.
Dikko, speaking on Arise TV at the weekend , said the Federal Government gave the NFF about N15bn in total during Pinnick’s eight-year tenure between 2014 and 2022 as compared with a N17bn intervention released in a single cheque under the Gusau-led board.
He used the disparity to press the case for stronger accountability and financial compliance at the Federation, warning that stakeholders must lead reform themselves or face external intervention.
In a swift response, the outgone NFF leadership said it does not dispute Dikko’s figures and acknowledged that the N17bn intervention exceeded the Federation’s cumulative government funding across the entire Pinnick era.
However, it cautioned against treating the volume of funding, on its own, as evidence of wrongdoing, noting that the Gusau administration inherited huge financial debts from the Pinnick-led board and that a full account of how the funds were applied included settlement of prior liabilities.
“Of course, N17bn is a fairly tidy sum but don’t forget that the Gusau-led board inherited lots of debts from the previous board and one of those huge debts was the 23-month backlog of coach Jose Peseiro’s $70,000 USD a month salary. Peseiro’s unpaid salary alone gulped over a million dollars,” a close confidant to the immediate past NFF President said.
“Unfortunately, this was the same salary that the previous board claimed had been bankrolled by Aiteo; but that was not the case, it was the Gusau board that cleared the mess.”
According to him, the humongous debts inherited from the Pinnick board also included outstanding match allowances and bonuses due to Super Eagles players dating back to the qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
He argued that the volume of funding received “should not be mistaken, on its own, for evidence of impropriety”, adding that a large chunk of the N17bn intervention fund was used to service the debts inherited by the Pinnick board.
Equally, another source close to Gusau, speaking separately in Abuja, echoed that same position while praising President Bola Tinubu’s investment in Nigerian sport
He explained that a significant share of the N17bn was allocated to settling historical debts, backdated allowances and liabilities accumulated under the Pinnick board — on which Dikko had served as second vice president.
“They say whoever calls for equity must come with clean hands but can Dikko himself exonerate himself from the mess befuddling Nigerian football having participated fully on the Pinnick-led board?” he asked rhetorically.
“I think some of these clarifications were necessary because receiving more funding than a previous administration isn’t, by itself, evidence of anything improper.
“Rather, the question that matters is how it was applied and without any contradiction, the Gusau-led board used major part of that N17bn fund to clear the debts left by the Pinnick board,” he added.
He stressed that the N15bn received by Pinnick and Dikko was even bigger than the N17bn Dikko talked about given the exchange rate when both funds were received.
When Pinnick was in charge dollar was going for between N200 to N600 to a dollar but when Gusau got N17 bn the dollar to naira was N1500 to a dollar.
