ABUJA – The Chairman, Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Amaju Pinnick, on Friday said the association would formally announce Stephen Keshi as the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles in 10 days’ time.
Pinnick told the Senate Committee on Sports that the NFA was taking its time to avoid problems always associated with the appointment of national team coaches.
He was responding to a request by the committee chairman, Adamu Gumba, for him to explain the delay in appointing a new coach for the Eagles after Keshi’s contract expired.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Pinnick had appeared before the Senate Committee on Sports to defend the association’s 2015 budget.
“When I was elected, I went through a lot of documentation in the association and I understood that in the past, coaches were employed and some issues were not sorted out.
“I made sure that all the committees that had to do with the employment of the coach, from the Legal Committee to the Technical Committee, met.
“This is because we (the new NFA board) don’t want any issue to linger after the appointment.
“So, all the issues have been looked into and the contract was forwarded to him about a week ago, and I directed that a reminder be sent to him because we can’t keep on waiting.
“We have two international friendly matches against Bolivia on March 26 in Uyo and against South Africa on March 29 and we want the team to start coming to camp next week.
“We also have a 2017 AFCON qualifier coming up, as well as 2016 CHAN qualifiers, and these are critical tournaments we cannot afford to miss.
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“So, I can assure you that within the next 10 days at most, we should be able to make a pronouncement on this matter,’’ Pinnick said.
He added that the NFA has agreed to pay Keshi N5 million as monthly salary, aside the other allowances already enshrined in the contract.
“The monies to be paid to him were agreed upon after taking into cognisance the reality on ground, especially with the drop in the price of oil.
“I told my people in the football house that it will be wise to look at how much we can pay in relation to what we will get from the allocation.
“Because, even Corporate Nigeria is affected by the oil price drop, and that is what we always try to target to complement our small funds in the budgetary allocation.
“Though it took them (the NFA committees) a lot of time, but I can assure that the contract we have for now is one that will be seen at the end of the day to have been thoroughly put together.
“But, in terms of the finance, we advocated paying him N5 million monthly and we also have provision for housing and some other realistic benefits which are all enshrined in the contract,’’ Pinnick said.
NAN reports that the Super Eagles have been without a chief coach since after the 2014 World Cup in July when Keshi’s contract expired.(NAN)
