President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of some funds for Super Eagles players at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) taking place in Egypt, Igbere TV reports.
Recall that the Nigerian players had protested over unpaid allowances and match bonuses, threatening to boycott subsequent outings.
The approval was contained in a statement made available to Igbere TV by the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, on Wednesday morning.
The NFF Communications Department said the approval came after the players staged a protest over their outstanding bonuses and allowances at the Helnan Palestine Hotel in Egypt.
Igbere TV reports that the protest saw the Eagles shun Wednesday’s pre-match conference and they were eventually 20 minutes late for training ahead of the Group ‘B’ game against Guinea.
NFF’s Vice President, Mr. Seyi Akinwunmi, who signed the statement, said the federation received part of the money on Tuesday and immediately converted the money to US Dollars to pay the players their bonus for the match against Burundi in Alexandria on Saturday evening.
“We want to specially thank President Muhammadu Buhari for his keen interest in resolving this matter quickly, which has enabled us to receive part of the money in record time.
“We have immediately started the process of converting the money to American Dollars at the Central Bank in order to pay the players the bonus for the win over Burundi three days ago as well as plan for subsequent games.
“The players and officials have also been paid their camp allowances up to the last day of the group phase matches at the AFCON 2019, as well as the appearance fee for the friendly against Zimbabwe in Asaba on June 8”, the statement read in part.
