Pesiero Salaries: Former Super Eagles coach accuses NFF of owing coaches

The former Super Eagles captain and coach Christian Chukwu has slammed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for owing Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro.

Chukwu’s comments is coming on the heels of Peseiro’s complain about being owed since his appointment as the Super Eagles coach, with the Portuguese already reporting the matter to the world governing body, FIFA.

“It’s a big problem. Let’s find a way of paying our coaches. Even we that has coached the national team before, we are being owed which isn’t palatable,” Chukwu lamented.

“If coach Peseiro decided to leave us because he was not being paid, he is right. What can we do? We are always looking for foreign coaches. If the job is being given to an indigenous coach, they will still owe him. I don’t know the problem with our NFF. They are the on killing our football.”

The 62-year-old, who took charge of the team in May, has however yet to make an official complaint to Nigeria’s Football Federation (NFF) about the non-payment of his salary.

In response, the financially stricken NFF, which receives its funding from the country’s government, says it has come up with a plan on how to settle the arrears.

The NFF already owes money to the Portuguese’s predecessor, Gernot Rohr, and to players from its national teams.

“We’ve heard from Mr. Peseiro’s representatives that he only received his allowances and bonuses, which is very disturbing,” a prominent NFF official told British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Sport Africa on Tuesday.

“His salary is being paid by the Sports Ministry but we’ve quickly made an alternative arrangement, in conjunction with the Ministry, to sort the salary payments this week.”

Nigeria’s sports ministry, which took on the responsibility to pay Peseiro, has blamed the delay on processes for receiving funds from the federal government. A special adviser to sports minister Sunday Dare says the coach will be paid “very soon”.

“The issue of Peseiro’s payment will be resolved soon with the understanding of the federation and the coach,” Toyin Ibitoye told the BBC.

“Everything is being worked on and we are quite confident that very soon it will be sorted.”

Since missing out on a place at the 2022 World Cup in Africa’s play-offs in March, Nigeria has won their only two competitive games under Peseiro, who previously led Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

The Super Eagles beat Sierra Leone 2-1 and thrashed Sao Tome and Principe 10-0 to ensure a perfect start in qualifying as they seek a spot at the next Africa Cup of Nations Cup in Ivory Coast, scheduled to be held in early 2024.