The House of Representatives Committee on Sports on Wednesday pledged to wade into the crisis over unpaid bonuses to national football teams players by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Hon. Ekene Abubakar said this in Abuja at a meeting with the NFF at the National Assembly complex.
The committee and the federation agreed to work together to find lasting solutions to the recurring issue of unpaid bonuses for all national team players.
When asked to explain the issues surrounding the non-payment of Super Falcons players in their recent World Cup outing, NFF president, Ibrahim Gusau, said the money owed the players would be paid as soon as the federation received grants from FIFA.
Abubakar also charged the NFF to immediately resolve the issues regarding the two affected State Football Associations (Plateau and Nasarawa) where the Normalisation Committees have been set up.
To resolve the issues, the committee urged the NFF to abide by the statutes, saying, “What we are simply saying following petitions received from the two States Football Associations is that the federation should respect and go back to its statute to restore peace and order in Nigerian football.”
Gusau assured the committee that all pending issues, including elections into State Football Associations, would be resolved within three weeks.
In a related development, the NFF informed the House Committee on Sports that it was still investigating Auwalu Jada, who was suspended from all football-related activities following an allegation of match-fixing, assuring the lawmakers that the Bauchi-born football administrator would be given a fair hearing before a final decision was taken.
In November 2022, Jada was seen on tape boasting of his ability to fix matches in the Nigerian Professional Football League.
