Chinedu Okoye Blasts NFF Over Scrapping of Bonus For National Age-grade Teams

Chinedu Okoye Blasts NFF Over Scrapping of Bonus For National Age-grade Teams By Admin Nigeria Football Federation recent announcement that it would no longer pay match bonus and camping allowances to all the age-grade national teams has not gone down well with proprietor of Bimo SC, Mr. Chinedu Okoye who condemned the decision of the Executive Committee of the NFF. The retired referee wondered if the football federation considered the negative effect of the decision on the performance of the players and officials who sacrifice a lot to win laurels for the country. He accused the NFF of being callous, self centered and asked if the NFF officials attached to the team will not collect allowance. Chinedu Okoye argued that if NFF official must receive their own share, what then stop the players from being paid. According to him the NFF should have known that some of the players as young as they may be are the bread winners for their families. He maintained that apart from the players, the take home pay of the handlers of the cadet national teams is usually nothing to write home about. “I received the news with shock and disappointment. I don’t think they really want to encourage the players and coaches of these youth teams. “Although the money is usually small, it goes a long way in helping the families of these players and their officials. “Imagine how much even the coaches are paid as salaries which is often times irregular and then they have decided to do away with match bonuses. This decision will not help the growth of Nigerian football,” he stated. During a board meeting in Asaba on Tuesday, the Nigerian football bigwigs took the decision abolishing match bonuses for the national U-23 and other age-grade teams like the Golden Eaglets, the Flying Eagles as well as the Flamingoes and Falconets. The NFF argued that the affected national teams are for developmental purposes as such emphasis should not be laid on player’s making money whenever they represent the nation saying only qualification bonuses would be paid to them.