The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has ordered the immediate payment of all outstanding match bonuses and allowances owed players and officials of the national U-23 team, who just qualified for the football event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Nigeria defeated Senegal on Wednesday at the on-going African U-23 Nations Cup, which also serves as qualifier for the Rio 2016.
The Minister expressed unhappiness that the players were being owed a backlog of allowances and bonuses since their last competition, saying, “This is an emergency problem we inherited and I have directed the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry and the Director General, Alhassan Yakmut, to source for intervention funds to settle the players before this Saturday.
“The players have done extremely well under the harsh situation, moreover a workman deserves his pay. We don’t want negative stories on non-payment of players’ allowances, which are capable of tarnishing the image of the country, so I have pleaded with the coaches and players to remain focused on their final game billed for Saturday as all possible efforts are being put in by the Ministry to ensure that all outstanding bonuses and camp allowances are offset before Saturday.”
