17th December, 2015
Taiwo Adelu
There are strong indications that Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, may get an increased budgetary allocation from the Federal Government soon.
This hint was dropped by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, Senator Joseph Obinna Ogba, who said that it is high time the annual budget of the football body be increased for it to meet up with its numerous financial obligations, which have come to become burdens.
According to Ogba, who was a former member of the executive committee of the NFF, there is urgent need for government to look into the activities of the NFF especially the load of commitments which the body shoulders every year.
“If we look at the sports in general we will discover that there are many responsibilities which the Sports Ministry carries and sadly enough, the ministry is not one of the government’s ministries that generates revenue, rather it is a service ministry.
“What I think we should do is to see how we can rally other senators in the Upper Chamber for them to see the need to inject more funds into sports especially the football body. This is what we will begin to do now,” said Ogba, the Chairman cum owner of Ebonyi United Football Club.
Meanwhile, former scribe of the NFF, Fanny Amun, has said that it would be hard to believe that there is no money in the NFF to the extent for it not to be able to pay its staff, coaches and players’ allowances.
Amun said if this is the case, the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF should resign. He described as ‘ignorant’ the hue and cry of the financial state of the NFF, insisting those running football in the country lack the basic understanding of the machinery of government.
“It is ignorant for people to say that there is no money in the NFF, if there is no money, the officials should leave the place. The process that government releases money to a body like NFF maybe delay, but the money will eventually come.
“Money is either in cash or in leverage. Government delays; nobody comes to say government has given any money or that they are owed, but there might be delays because of procedures or policies it is normal,” he said on sports radio, Brila FM early on Thursday.