A pay strike that could well have seen Nigeria boycott Wednesday night’s Rio Olympics game against Colombia has been averted after the male football team received part of their allowances.
It was reported that the Coach Samson Siasia-led team threatened to shun the last group game against Colombia in Sao Paulo if they were not paid.
Officials said the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) paid each player $1,650 being allowances to cover 11 days.
“The team camp is bubbling now after this payment,” said one of the players.
The team have been embroiled in one crisis after the other – they were stranded for several days at their training base in Atlanta, Georgia, before they landed Brazil on match day and the players led by skipper Mikel Obi had to begged Siasia not to quit after the Sweden game.
It would also be recalled that two years ago, the Nigerian government had to fly in cash to douse a pay row at the 2014 World Cup also in Brazil.
Nigeria have now qualified for the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics with a game to spare.
They battle Colombia by 11pm Nigerian time on Wednesday in Sao Paulo in their final group match.
