Nigeria’s Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Barr. Solomon Dalung has slammed the management of football in Nigeria describing the sector as one plagued by an occultic and criminal tradition.
The Minister was speaking during an interview on Ben TV London on a programme – ABC Sports. He was responding to comments from a contributor who phoned in lamenting the lack of incentives and motivation for footballers in the nation’s national football teams.
In his response, the Minister said: “I was a victim in 2002 when I went to Mali as a member of the Federal Government delegation. I was entitled to $4,000 as my DTA for the period of the tournament but I was only given $400. And it was there in Mali I discovered these occultic practices where even players before they are featured, they must be committed to signing covenants that when they play, if their bonuses is $3,000, they will give them $2,000. This you can corroborate with any honest national player. It is a criminal tradition that has been entrenched in sports administration. Now the peak of it is what we have now. The non-payment of bonuses, the non-payment of allowances and even the non-payment of salaries of coaches. This is part of the bad history we are battling with.”
The Minister vowed to ensure that those responsible for the rot are fished out and punished noting that a probe had already been instituted.
Speaking on the issue of the unpaid salaries of former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh, the Minister said: “I am aware that Oliseh was not paid his salaries for a very long time. Nobody has given me evidence that they have paid Oliseh. As at the time I went to Rwanda, I am aware that Oliseh was not paid, the players were not paid their bonuses and playing allowances. I know for a fact that he (Oliseh) was owed for a very long time.”
Watch the full video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsZbfIWnCNo
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