Six months after being hired to coach the Super Eagles, Nigeria’s national football team, Jose Peseiro, is still without a single paycheck from his employers.
But the 62-year-old man who took over as the club’s leader in May has not yet made a formal complaint to the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) about not getting paid.
The financially troubled NFF, which gets support from the Nigerian government, responded by claiming to have developed a strategy for paying the debts.
The NFF already owes money to players from its national teams and to Gernot Rohr, the Portuguese predecessor.
“We’ve heard from Mr Peseiro’s representatives that he only received his allowances and bonuses, which is very disturbing,” a prominent NFF official told BBC Sport Africa on Tuesday.
“His salary is being paid by the Sports Ministry but we’ve quickly made an alternative arrangement, in conjunction with the Ministry, to sort the salary payments this week.”
The Federal Government’s funding distribution procedures, which were put in place by Nigeria’s sports ministry, which assumed responsibility for paying Peseiro, are to responsible for the delay. The coach will be paid “very soon,” according to a senior adviser to Sunday Dare, the Minister of Sports.
“The issue of Peseiro’s payment will be resolved soon with the understanding of the federation and the coach,” Toyin Ibitoye said.
“Everything is being worked on and we are quite confident that very soon it will be sorted.”
Nigeria had won their only two competitive games under Peseiro, who previously headed Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, since missing out on a spot at the 2022 World Cup in Africa’s playoffs in March.
In order to secure a spot at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations, which will be hosted in the Ivory Coast in early 2024, the Super Eagles defeated Sierra Leone 2-1 and crushed Sao Tome e Principe 10-0.
Coaches have been ensnared in the web of unpaid salaries in Nigeria before.
Christian Chukwu, Augustine Eguavoen, Samson Siasia, Sunday Oliseh, Florence Omagbemi, and the late Shaibu Amodu and Stephen Keshi are just a few of the coaches that had to work without compensation for a while.
The NFF is still obligated to pay off Peseiro’s predecessor Rohr, and the football governing body also owes overdue bonuses to players on both the senior men’s and women’s teams.
While the Super Falcons are still waiting for the NFF and Sports Ministry to clear unpaid obligations from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) and other training camps, Super Eagles players are dissatisfied over unpaid incentives and allowances that go back to 2021.
Due to the non-payment of bonuses and allowances, the women’s team skipped training in July before their Wafcon third-place play-off versus Zambia.
The team recently travelled to Japan and the United States in preparation for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and there are significant indications that there is anger with the arrears.
Representatives from the government have also said that Peseiro, the Super Eagles, and the nine-time African champions are all owed money, but they are asking everyone to be patient. (BBC)
