Ugbade condemns Cancelation of National Age-grade Teams' Bonuses

Ugbade condemns Cancelation of National Age-grade Teams' Bonuses

Golden Eaglets assistant coach, Induka Ugbade has condemned the Nigeria Football Federation's decision to scrap the match bonuses for all national age-grade teams describing it as a way of demoralising the players, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The ex-international who noted that there might be cogent reasons why the federation took such decision, insisted that the players and officials deserved better treatment for their sacrifice for the nation.

The NFF announced the cancelation of match bonuses for all the age grade national teams few weeks after their re-election.

"It is not right to take such decision but there must be a reason for them to take such decision because whoever work is entitled to be paid. You can't remove motivation from whatever we do.

"Anyone that works in an office is entitled to some level of salary. If we say we want to sacrifice for the country, I think the country should also think very well about us instead of this kind of treatment," he said.

The Golden Eaglets have qualified for the U17 African Nations Cup in Tanzania after emerging champions of the WAFU Zone B U17 championship.

Nigeria's U17 national team is grouped alongside the hosts, Tanzania, debutants, Uganda and Angola in the Group A of the 2019 U17 African Nations Cup.

Cameroon, Guinea, Morocco, and Senegal will slug it out in Group B for the semifinals tickets of the tournament.

The Golden Eaglets will be making their ninth appearance in the championship.

The semifinalists of the tournament will qualify for the 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup in Peru as CAF representatives.

By Niyi Busari