…says federation now to pay ‘invitational allowance’
As part of cost-cutting measures following the country’s harsh economic conditions, President of the Nigeria Football Federation Ibrahim Gusau has cancelled salaries of assistant coaches in all the national teams, saying they will now be paid “invitational allowance” instead.
Gusau stated this while addressing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday.
“I told them (national team coaches) that for us to see that we manage this situation, we are only going to pay the senior coaches salaries, all other assistants will be engaged on invitational allowance, they should go and do other jobs,” Gusau said.
“We won’t put them on monthly salaries. We want to reduce that problem, so that at the end of the day I know if the coaches salaries is N10m and I have N50m, I know I can pay them for five months, not paying people for doing nothing. Even if you are the head coach of a team and you are working with another team where you are paid salaries, we are going to put you on allowance, not salary. In that case, if we are supposed to pay you N1m, we will pay you N500,000. So, thats what we are looking at to manage the situation.”
The country’s football chief added that because they were employed in large numbers, most of the assistant coaches were usually idle.
“Once you employ them they start making noise about their salary for doing nothing but most of the time you visit the teams training, you see the assistants just standing, doing nothing because the head coaches don’t believe in them.
“It’s the same problem with the Eaglets, they have five assistant coaches, I told them I cannot maintain such number of coaches.
Gusau stated that the head coaches of the other national teams now had the privilege to choose their assistants.
“I told all the head coaches nobody will choose their assistants for them because they are the ones I will hold responsible,” Gusau added. “If they appoint you as head coach, you must be given the privileged to choose your assistants because I don’t want you to complain to me.
“Only the senior coach would be appointed by the committee, but the assistants must be chosen by the coach because we are holding him responsible. Imagine, we have the highest record at U-17 level but we couldn’t even qualify for the last edition, that tells you there is a problem, which we need to work hard to correct.”
There have been constant reports of the NFF’s failure to its coaches, including those of the Super Eagles and Super Falcons.
Super Falcons coach to last year’s Women’s World Cup Randy Waldrum, who earned $10,000 monthly, said he was owed 14 months salary before the NFF paid him.
Twenty years after leading the Super Falcons to their sixth Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title at the 2004 edition in South Africa, coach Godwin Izilein is yet to be paid his $12,000 for winning the title, with the gaffer insisting it’s a “deliberate action.”
VIzilein said his pleas to the federation over the years fell on deaf ideas.
In 2004, the Ibrahim Galadima-led NFF board refused to pay Izilein his entitlements after the Falcons staged a protest refusing to leave their hotel rooms for the airport after winning the WAFCON title.
The players insisted on getting their camp allowances and winning bonuses in Johannesburg before the trip back home, but federation officials believed the girls were instigated by Izilein to down tools.
Last June, NFF Director of Communications Ademola Olajire admitted that the football house was cash-strapped and couldn’t pay its workers.
“The NFF has been facing huge financial challenges and there is an ongoing effort to resolve all the issues relating to unpaid wages,” Olajire told BBC Sport Africa.
“It is unfortunately not something to be proud of and the new board of the federation is working hard to resolve the problems.”
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Gusau Cancels NFF Assistant Coaches Salaries
