President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick has noted that the organization is currently passing through hard times to raise funds for all the national teams that are expected to represent the country in international tournaments this summer.
However, he noted that the huge debt which his board inherited from the past administration was not as a result of their recklessness but because they were determined to give the national teams proper preparation for championships.
Preparations which he noted yielded positive results with the series of victories they recorded in the past four years.
“We are facing a very difficult time preparing all the national teams with little funding,” Pinnick told media.
“For example to bring about 20 Super Eagles players to camp for a match takes between $80,000 – $90.000.
“Things are very difficult for us at the federation. In spite of that, we are still trying to put certain things in order especially with all the trainings we have engaged our stakeholders into which came through an appreciable level of corporate sponsorship I have gotten from my friends who really want us to succeed.”
Some of the training includes sending former players and some coaches as well as referees on technical training and match reading in England.
“All these trainings were not done from the coffers of the federation, where is the money,” asked Pinnick.
“We know how much debt we inherited when we came into the federation, a huge debt indeed which is not however as a result of the former board’s recklessness but because they wanted to give the teams quality preparations for championships which always goes with a huge cost on the federation.
“This has to be because when you want or expect quality preparations as we have had in the past that gave us all the good results, it is always very expensive”. The NFF president noted.
Four Nigeria national teams are presently involved in preparations for major tournaments and matches.
The senior men resumed camp on Thursday ahead of preparations for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Chad while the U20 men are headed to New Zealand for the 2015 Fifa U20 World Cup.
Additionally, the senior women team arrived in Canada early on Thursday to begin final preparations for the Fifa Women’s World Cup while the U17 men are preparing to play at the Fifa U17 World Cup in October.