The victorious home-based senior national team, Super Eagles B, had more reasons to smile on Sunday night after the leadership of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) approved that players and officials be paid extra amount of money as performance/qualification bonus for the 4th African Nations Championship.
For the drawn game against Burkina Faso’s Etalons at the Stade August 4 on Sunday, which sent Nigeria into the draw for the Rwanda 2016 African Nations Championship, each player was entitled to $1,000 with each of the coaches earning more.
But the NFF leadership asked the federation accountant to pay the players $2,000 each, a gesture that was applauded by the players.
However, NFF 2nd Vice President/LMC chairman, Shehu Dikko, who led the Nigerian delegation to Ouagadougou, announced to the group that NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, had directed that players and officials be paid the full bonus, with the other half serving as qualification bonus.
The joyous delegation returned to Nigeria at 1.15am on Monday, aboard the same ARIK Air Bombardier Jet that flew them from Port Harcourt to Ouagadougou on Friday night.
The Super Eagles B join hosts Rwanda, Morocco, Tunisia, Angola, Zambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger Republic and Zimbabwe. Host of the inaugural edition of the competition in 2009, Cote d’Ivoire will host Ghana on Friday, while Cameroon will tackle Congo in Pointe Noire on Saturday, for the remaining two spots.
Meanwhile, Leader of Nigerian delegation to Ouagadougou and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Second Vice President/LMC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, has expressed joy and sense of satisfaction at the Super Eagles B’s qualification for the 4th African Nations Championship.
The LMC supremo had challenged the players in the dressing room an hour before kick-off, to play with determination and discipline to do the nation proud, and also to make a strong case for their type (players in the domestic League) with regards to greater consideration for places in the main Super Eagles squad.
“Your success here today will make your home-based professional colleagues happy that you have represented them with courage. Also, you need to win for your Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh, who is recuperating in Belgium. Your qualification for Rwanda and the way you play will convince the coaches that home -boys deserve more places in the Super Eagles A team.
“I am the chairman of the League, and I am convinced one hundred percent that we have quality in the League, and that more home boys can break into the full Super Eagles squad. So, you need to show your stuff here this afternoon.”
At the end, Dikko (who made the charge in company with chairman of NFF Technical Committee, Chief Felix Anyansi-Agwu, NFF Deputy General Secretary Emmanuel Ikpeme and club chairmen Akin Akinbobola, Davidson Owumi, Paul Chibuzor and Okey Kpalukwu) praised the boys for their strong mental attitude and fighting spirit.
Also, the Ambassador of Nigeria to Burkina Faso, His Excellency David Bala, who watched the match alongside his wife and a dozen staff of the Embassy, was ecstatic.
“Your victory means a lot. We will have the bragging right here for a long time to come. The people of Burkina Faso wanted to win this match so badly, and had even boasted that they would score so many goals in the first half.
“Our boys fought hard and well, and deserve praises. They are brave soldiers.”
Also, the Association of Nigeria Premier League Club Chairmen and Managers (Club Owners) have expressed joy over the qualification of the home-based Super Eagles for the 2016 CHAN Nation Cup billed for Rwanda.
Reacting to the Eagles goalless return leg match against the Burkinabe Team in Ouagadougou which earned the Nigerian Team a qualification ticket, the Club Owners described the feat as commendable and deserving.
In a statement signed by the Acting chairman of the Association, Isaac Danladi and the Acting Secretary, Alloy Chukwuemeka, the Club Owners restated their belief in the capacity and capability of the League youngsters whom they described as their own products from the Glo NPFL.
The Association urged them not to relent in their efforts as they face the bigger challenge in the CHAN Nations Cup in Rwanda next year, even as they assured them of total supports in their future campaigns.
“Your well-deserved qualification is commendable and it is a true reflection of the high quality and improved standard of the domestic league in Nigeria” the statement said.
It would be recalled that a strong delegation of the Club Owners were in Port Harcourt to give the Eagles the needed supports in 2-0 win in the first leg while another five-man delegation were in Ouagadougou to support the home-based Eagles to seal the qualification ticket.
