The victorious Super Falcons of Nigeria who were crowned queens of
Africa after beating Cameroon in the AWCON final have continued their
protest at the nonpayment of their allowances and bonuses despite the
assurances of the sports minister, Solomon Dalung. The girls have
refused to leave their camp until they have been paid their dues.
On Thursday,
Dalung held a meeting with the players, pleading that process to secure
their entitlement was still on but his pleas yielded no success as the
new African queens insisted they will only quit their Abuja hotel until
they were paid. A Falcon star who spoke to Goal.com on condition of
anonymity said: “We are not ready to leave the hotel. We have heard
enough promises but all we want is for our entitlement to be paid.
“We’re not really happy with the way we’re treated. We are not even talking about getting reward yet.
“But a workman should be paid after his or her service but ours is not
like that rather they speak to us in a manner like we don’t deserve to
be paid.”
Another player insists their protest is not only about their unpaid
bonuses, but the unfair treatment and poor attention to the women’s game
in the country.
“We are not fighting for ourselves because of money, but for the future of women’s football in Nigeria.”
According to the NFF, the players are entitled to a $3,000 each for a
win and $1,500 for a draw in the group stages, while victory in the
semi-finals gives them another $4,000.
They will get another $5,000 each for defeating Cameroon in the
continental showpiece’s final meaning each player will pocket $16, 500
each.
The Super Falcons are the latest victims of the NFF’s sloppiness when it
comes to paying players. Earlier this year, the Women’s U17 and U20
teams were decamped with token N10,000 and N30,000 following their early
exits from the Jordan 2016 Fifa u17 Women’s World Cup and Papua New
Guinea 2016 U20 Women’s World Cup respectively.