The whopping sum of money which has been budgeted for the Super Eagles by the Federal Government, has been revealed.
Posted by Samuel on Tue 05th Dec, 2017
Posted by Samuel on Tue 05th Dec, 2017
It has been revealed that the Federal Government has budgeted N3bn
to enable the Super Eagles to have a successful outing at the 2018 World
Cup 2018 which starts on June 14 in Russia.
According to The Nation, the Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr.
Solomon Dalung, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a
closed-door meeting he had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.
Dalung said while sponsors and partners would raise part of the money, the substantial part of the “conservative budget” would be provided by the Federal Government.
“We have a conservative budget of about N3bn but out of that
N3bn, FIFA is going to raise about N900m; our sponsors and partners are
also going to bring about N600m. Government will conservatively raise
about N2bn or N2.5bn to complement,” the minister said.
He said plans were underway to ensure that the players get their allowances upfront latest by March 2018.
“One of the challenges we have been facing in sports
administration is the welfare of the players and the officiating team
and we intend to set a new approach to the question of welfare.
“By March, we intend to start paying the players their
allowances, camping allowances upfront. That will go a long way to boost
the morale of the players and their confidence too.
“The new method of governance in football has taken the pattern
of change. We will also ensure that there is unity within the football
family.
“Unity, too, is a key factor going by some of the reports we
had in the past where poor performances were attributable to lack of
unity between the family, the technical team, the officials and the
players. This time, unity has to be promoted.
“Finally, we will also ensure that government makes funds
available on time. That is why the budget for the competition has since
been sent to the President for a special intervention so that government
can make provision for some of the funds we need for training now
before other things can come up,” the minister explained.
He said the government was comfortable with the group the team belong to despite the presence of Argentina.
He said, “We are comfortable with the team because having
tested Argentina which is a highly ranked team in the group, we can say
confidently that with good work, good training, good welfare for the
players and team spirit, we will top that group going by the disposition
of our national team.
“After the groupings, Nigeria falls within Group D and we appear to be the underdog going by the ranking of the teams.
“But I think ranking is more or less a paper job, what is very
important is how you will perform and I believe that we are comfortable
with the teams.
“Some people have been arguing that Argentina did not present
their best, but we also have some players we didn’t invite and we also
intend to invite them. It is an issue that is going to be determined
practically by the level of preparation of the Nigerian team. Don’t
forget that the Nigerian team had enjoyed a formidable home support and
they are inspired to deliver.
“So we will engage in more friendlies to try and determine our strength and areas of improvement before the final competition.”
Dalung said the government would mobilise a strong delegation that
will support the team because of its belief that sports is an about
number.
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