The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation led by Chris Giwa, has appointed Dr Emmanuel Ikpeme Acting General Secretary of the football house following corruption allegation levelled against former General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the announcement was made on Tuesday night after an exhaustive meeting of the NFF Executive Committee at the football secretariat in Abuja.
Sanusi had been mandated to step aside sequel to investigations into allegations of financial corruption levelled against him to give way for the appointment of an acting scribe pending when the Executive Committee will announce a substantive General Secretary.
The Chairman, Communique Drafting Committee, Otunba Dele Ajayi, who addressed newsmen after their meeting, said the present NFF leadership had decided to restore match bonuses and allowances to all age group teams.
“We are new in office, we have to collate records and when we are done with that we will let you know.
“If we say we are restoring the match bonuses and allowances of all age group teams, it does not mean we will pay arrears immediately.
“The board will meet to decide whether to pay outstanding debts to the teams or continue on a clean slate.
“We will later fashion out a way to pay the outstanding debts and we are starting again to pay allowances to the age grade teams,” Dele Ajayi said.
According to him, the teams in question are the U-23 team, Flying Eagles, Golden Eaglets, Falconets and the Flamingoes.
He said the Giwa-led NFF had taken note of the various national teams preparations for Africa and World Cup qualifiers, noting that financial and moral support would be given to them to succeed.
“The board notes the activities of NFF for the rest of the year which include the Flying Eagles qualifiers against Mauritania, as well as the Falconets World Cup preparation and tournament.
“We have also noted the Super Eagles Nations Cup qualifiers against Seychelles in September and the Golden Eaglets African Nations qualifier in Niger Republic in September,” he added.
The executive committee also resolved that the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) earlier scheduled to resume on July 18, be postponed by two weeks.
It would be recalled the League Management Company had on Tuesday announced an indefinite suspension of the Premier League following the leadership crisis in the NFF.
The Giwa-led board has also fixed an emergency congress on July 27 to find a lasting solution to the perennial crisis in Nigerian football.
Source:NAN
