TheCable

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) wants Sunday Oliseh, coach of the Super Eagles, to imbibe the tolerance of the likes of the Samson Siasia and Emanuel Amuneke who were owed but still went ahead to win important trophies for the country.

Chris Green, NFF board member and head of the technical committee, was reacting to Oliseh’s claim that financial neglect and lack of motivation were responsible for the team’s ouster from the African Nations Championship (CHAN) at the group stage.

Green, who was recently reinstated to his former position as head of the technical department, spoke with TheCable on his return to the department, as well as rumours that the federation was planning to sack the senior team coach.

Return to technical committee

What will I say? It is service to the nation, service to the good people of Nigeria. So, it gladdens me because it is patriotic to serve Nigeria. I am not an exception. So, I see it as service to the nation.

Oliseh unfair to NFF

I don’t think it is very fair to the NFF that Sunday Oliseh will say the team was not motivated. Of course, he sent his programme to the NFF, for him to camp in Nigeria as well as Pretoria in South Africa and that programme was executed. In South Africa, he had good matches to play, which he played. These were part of the preparations for the CHAN tournament.

Ordinarily, in a tournament where one will have domestic players, one would have said they should remain in the country and prepare. But in this case, in total obedience to the programme of the coach, they had to leave Nigeria and went to Pretoria. And so, I will not want to say that the NFF did not motivate the team.

Debts of match bonuses and camp allowances

Yes, players are owed camping allowances, two match bonuses – the win against Niger and the draw against Tunisia. These are what players are being owed. And I don’t know how that will become not motivating the players. Of course, the players were in camp and in camp they were being fed; they were kept in hotel and they did their job. And it is a closed camp where you are not allowed to go out to do things you would have ordinarily done when you were not in camp. So, I do not know how money will become seriously the motivation for a team.

The debts will be settled

Of course, money could be a motivating factor if everybody dwells on the money by saying if the team wins, they get certain amount of money. And all that is there. And the players know that if they win, they are sure of getting their winning bonuses. If they draw, they are sure of getting their draw match bonus. And everybody knows that NFF will not owe a debt and not pay. The match bonuses and allowances must be settled by the NFF and I know that they are going to settle.

NFF is financially troubled

And why they are unable to pay for now, you and I, just like every Nigerian, know that the federation is very stretched financially, and money that has accrued to the federation is being expected. I wonder why, when we are getting to the tail end of when the money will be delivered to the football federation, one will now start saying it is because money was not given to the players that they were eliminated from CHAN at the early stage. I know that very soon, even though they did not make it to the next stage of CHAN, the players will be paid what they are owed.

Siasia, Amuneke also owed, but tolerant unlike Oliseh

What about Samson Siasia’s team that played all the way to the final and won the cup without being paid their match bonuses and allowances? What about Emmanuel Amuneke that played till the final and won the World Cup in Chile without being paid? Also, what about the girls that went to Namibia and won? They all know that their money will be paid to them. And I can assure you that very soon, all debts will be cleared when the NFF receives its money.

Sports minister motivated the team in Rwanda

Of course, the minister of sports came to Rwanda, what other motivation can that be? What motivation can be greater than that? The minister himself came, representing the country, representing Mr President; and he spoke with the players, spoke with the coaches and told them that NFF was stressed and he himself had received approval for NFF’s money, that sooner or later the money will be given. He had dinner with them. So, I don’t see how a person as high as a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria will come and speak to the players, dined with the team and they take it with levity. No! He is the minister, a very high-ranking Nigerian, representing Nigeria, representing Mr President. I believed everything he said, we respect him, we trust him; why will the team not trust him?

CHAN Eagles lost career opportunities

And here we are again, the players did not come to say that they were ousted because they did not pay their bonuses, which is two matches. Or that they were not paid their allowances and that because of that they were not motivated enough. At the end of the match they were all crying because they lost the opportunity of showcasing their talents to the rest of Africa. They lost the opportunity of advertising themselves.

That was why they were crying and I sympathized with them. Let us just say it was an off day for the team having led the group and having played well in the first two matches. They played the first game and won 4-1. Nobody said they were not motivated enough. They played the second match, they drew 1-1 and motivation didn’t come in. Only when we lost were we hearing the issue of motivation. I think everybody needs to calm down. Let’s plan ahead, we have very serious game ahead of us. We have to prepare well against Egypt, which is very important to us right now.

NFF not deliberately owing

That is not true. That is a big lie. How will NFF have money and not pay the players? Take a causory look to juxtapose what we pay our players and what players get outside Nigeria. You will find out that we are among the highest-paying on the continent. So, if you are among the highest paid, why would we have money and not pay? That is not true. Not true at all. Totally untrue. If we have money, what are we keeping it for?

Our sponsors are there, go and ask them if they’ve paid. Government is there, go and ask if any money has been given to us. That is not true. It is our responsibility to get money and to pay. It’ll be very bad if government has given us money and we are keeping it. Keeping it for what? We are in a good tournament, I don’t think NFF will do that. Everybody is passionate about football. If there’s anything that is required for the team to do well, that thing must be exploited for us to win.

So, it is not true that NFF has money and has not been able to pay. Or unwilling to pay. That is not true. The reason is not far-fetched. There is economic crunch; economic meltdown globally, not just only in Nigeria, not just limited to the NFF. Every other Federation is tightening up its belt. Money is scarce everywhere. And because money is scarce you cannot continue the kind of programmes that you had when money was in abundance. So, it is not peculiar to the NFF, it is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but it is global.

Oliseh needs man management skills

It is quite unfortunate that Oliseh will say that. I think if that kind of story is true or false, it’s not for public consumption. That’s not good management. If there’s anything like that, that matter should be proper dealt inside. It is not something that should be peddled for the citizens to hear. It is like you are more or less instigating the players against their managers over unpaid debts. But what I can assure you is that every players that’s owed will be paid to the last kobo.

We have a president that is so passionate, that is so concerned about the welfare of players, especially players of the national teams. He will be working round the clock to make sure that he gets money from anywhere to settle all these debts, so that by the next time we will be talking, you will hear that all debts have been settled.

NFF returning to winning ways

As for me, I don’t know what people are saying. All I know is that by the time me and my committee begin, we will take stock of what is on ground. Until we have taken stock, until we receive the report of Oliseh and every other thing, it is not on my table that Oliseh should go. What’s on my table is how the president is passionate to see how we can get out of the woods right now. He is thinking of how we can get back to winning ways. That’s what is paramount in his mind. And we here are concerned about how we can compete well and as well develop the game of football. So, sacking or no sacking is not on my cards at all.