Abuja – The Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy has been blamed for the delay in the payment of allowances and bonuses of players and coaching crew of the Dream Team VI in Rio.
A statement issued by Ademola Olajire, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Assistant Director of Communications quoted the federation’s President Amaju Pinnick as saying so when he communicated with the team’s handler Samson Siasia, on telephone.
“I just finished a long telephone discussion with Siasia and I explained to him the situation the NFF is in and why he has not received his salary.
“As I explained last week, we received some money from CAF and I directed that the money be used to offset the salaries of the U-23 team coaches and also for the Super Falcons’ coaches.
“The money has come into the NFF account but it has to first go into our Treasury Single Account (TSA) before we can access it and then use it.
“The vouchers for the payment have already been done,’’ the statement quoted Pinnick as saying.
It further quoted Pinnick as saying that the NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi and the Minister of Sports Solomon Dalung had also intervened at different points to explain the football house predicament to Siasia.
“Siasia confirmed that before I spoke to him, the NFF General Secretary had also called him to explain the situation to him.
“We are not unmindful of what our coaches are going through in this challenging period and we praise them for their patriotism and hard work despite all these.
“I want to specially appreciate the Honourable Minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung, who had already dispatched accountants to the U-23 team hotel to pay the allowances of players and officials before I called the team.
“The Honourable Minister instructed the accountants to also pay the four alternate players, who are not accredited for the Games; we commend him for his efforts,” the statement also quoted Pinnick as saying.
Dalung and Pinnick have moved quickly to douse feelings of discontent in the Nigeria U-23 team camp, ahead of Saturday’s Men’s Olympic Football Tournament quarter –final clash with Denmark.
The Nigeria’s Dream Team which won the event in 1996 were scheduled to have a feel of the Arena Fonte Nova, venue of the Olympics football quarterfinal match with Denmark, on Friday evening.
The Danes lost 0-4 to Brazil in their final group match on Wednesday, while Dream Team topped Group B in spite losing 0-2 to Colombia in the last group game.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep.Yakubu Dogara, has appealed to Nigeria’s U23 Dream Team at the ongoing Rio 2016 Olympics not to boycott their upcoming match against Denmark on Saturday.
This is contained in a statement issued by his Special Advicer on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Turaki Hassan, in Abuja on Friday.
According to him, the House will ensure that they are paid all their entitlements.
Dogara spoke against the backdrop of complaints of team’s Head Coach, Samson Siasia, that the players of the team have refused to train and might boycott the tie due to unpaid allowances and wages.
The speaker urged the team to take patriotism as a fulcrum of their campaign, adding that he would do everything within his powers to intervene in the matter.
He said the team with the likes of Mikel Obi, Yakubu Umar, Oghenekaro Etebor and William Troost-Ekong had a very bright chance of repeating the feat of the Atlanta ’96.
“We will do all we can to ensure that all entitlements due to the team are paid as we are already talking to relevant government agencies,’’ he said.
He further said that football being the major unifying factor in the country should be maximised by all for Nigeria’s continued unity.
“We will stop at nothing to ensure that we get the team to excel in Brazil and for Nigeria to recreate the watershed of Atlanta’96, ‘’ Dogara added
