Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi owed five months’ salary

Sport
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has not been paid since he led the Super Eagles to a third Africa Cup of Nations title five months ago.

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has not been paid since he led the Super Eagles to a third Africa Cup of Nations title five months ago.

BBC

However, the ex-Super Eagles captain has not made an official complaint.

And the Nigerian Football Federation has told BBC Sport that the situation is “under control”.

“Between the federation and the coaching crew, we don’t have a problem,” said NFF general secretary general Musa Amadu.

“We’ve been working together with Stephen Keshi since November 2011 and he knows the peculiar situation [financial problems] of how things are with the federation.

“We try as much as possible to pay our obligations, likewise the coach, and we’ve had a very good working relationship.

“I know the coach will not bring to the fore any such matters,” he added.

The NFF, which is in in serious financial difficulty, also owes money to assistant coach Daniel Amokachi and goalkeeper trainer Ike Shorunmu.

The football authority, which receives its funding from the sports ministry, has acknowledged the debts owed to the coaches but says they will have to be patient.

“Perhaps there are people out there that want to capitalise on such matters to create problems between the federation and the coach,” Amadu said.

“But I know that obligations to the coaching crew are always settled, and we do have the understanding of the coaching crew in this regard.

“We appreciate that understanding and right now the focus is not about what is being written in the media but it is on the CHAN qualifiers.”

It is not the first time Nigerian coaches have been not been paid.

Last December, the NFF revealed it owed Keshi two months’ salary – just weeks before the start of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria take on Ivory Coast this weekend in a first-round, first leg African Nations Championship qualifier.