The Minister of Sports Dr. Tammy Danagogo has intervened in the dispute between the Super Eagles and the Nigeria Football Federation over cash, demanding a final resolution of the problem before the country’s World Cup opening match against Iran on Monday.
The minister, who met with the NFF President Aminu Maigari in Sao Paulo on Wednesday, is worried that the Eagles could lose concentration if the problem is not quickly settled.
The Eagles and the NFF are at loggerheads over FIFA’s $8m World Cup allocation to Nigeria. The players had protested to Maigari in the USA demanding their share of the money and threatened that they were not going to play against Iran if the NFF failed to pay them.
The NFF had explained that it had only received $1m from FIFA out of the $8m. The body added that a large part of the money had been used to organise the pre-World Cup friendlies.
The sports ministry has confirmed that the NFF has received N850m out of the N1.4bn total budget approved by the Federal Government for the Brazil 2014 campaign.
Shortly after the meeting between Danagogo and Maigari at the Maksoud Plaza Hotel in Sao Paulo, the minister said, “If we do not treat them well and make them happy, they may just go into the tournament and perform badly and ensure that we pack our bags and return. They are the reason why Nigeria is participating in the tournament and we should do everything within our powers to ensure that we do our best for the team.”
He urged Maigari to reach an agreement with the players.
Danagogo insisted that the welfare of the team should be paramount during the tournament.
Meanwhile, the head of the FG’s delegation to the competition, the Senate President, David Mark, is also billed to speak to the players on Thursday. It was not clear what he would be speaking on as he is addressing the players on behalf President Goodluck Jonathan.
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