Minister sets up Eagles bonus panel

The Minister of Sports Bolaji Abdullahi
has set up a panel to probe the crisis
that rocked the Super Eagles recently
in Namibia over match-win bonus.
The players had rejected the bonus of
$5,000 per person approved for them
by the Nigeria Football Federation after
two away games against Kenya and
Namibia in the 2014 World Cup
qualifying series. The protest staged in
Namibia and comprehensibly
monitored by the world football
governing body FIFA ensured that
Nigeria arrived in Brazil less than 24
hours to the start of the 2013
Confederations Cup. The players
refused to board the plane for Brazil
until they got $10,000 instead of
$5,000. The players subsequently got
$10,000 for beating Tahiti at the
competition.
The NFF had announced they would
pay $5000 for a win and $2500 for a
draw soon after the Africa Nations Cup
success citing financial constraints as
the reason for the decision. The
stalemate was reportedly broken by
the intervention of the Minister who
got additional funds to make up for the
shortfall proposed by the NFF.
The panel whose membership was
made public on Sunday will be chaired
by Mr. Segun Adeniyi. Adeniyi is
Chairman of Thisday Editorial Board and
former Special Adviser to late President
Umar Yar'Adua. He was also a member
of the Presidential Task Force, which
was set up to ensure Nigeria's
qualification for the 2010 World Cup.
Other members of the panel are
Onochie Anibeze (Group Sports Editor,
Vanguard); Aisha Falode (of the CAF
media committee); Shehu Dikko
(member of the League Management
Company) and Akin Oshuntokun (a
former MD of the News Agency of
Nigeria).
The terms of reference of the body
include determining the immediate
and remote causes of the crisis and
develop a code of conduct for players
on national assignments. The panel will
be inaugurated on Thursday in Abuja
and has two weeks to submit its report
from that date.
The mode of investigation and
interviews with the players were not
specified on Sunday. The minister who
spoke with The PUNCH after the
names were released on Sunday said
the ministry is not arranging any trip
abroad for the members.
He said, "We don't have that kind of
money that would enable trips abroad
to meet with players. In this modern
era there are several ways of
effectively communicating to get
evidences without any trip. I believe
the members will use several of these
methods to get the facts they need for
this job."
Source: punch