The Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, has come to the rescue of the country’s national Under-23 team, the Dream Team VI who have not been paid up to when they booked a ticket to the Rio Olympics and qualified for the final of the U23 AFCON in Senegal.
“I can tell you on good authority that the team will now receive their cash right there in Senegal,” a top official disclosed.
On Saturday, Nigeria will battle Algeria in the U23 AFCON final in Dakar.
Nigeria has defied the non-payment of their allowances and bonuses to reach the championship game of the U23 AFCON.
Dream Team VI trained for 10 days in The Gambia before they headed for the championship in Senegal and they have not received a dime since they departed Nigeria.
“We have not been paid a penny yet,” one of the team players lamented.
“We will continue to fly Nigeria’s flag in Senegal but God is watching us all.”
Coach Samson Siasia was generous to give each player $100 from his own pocket after they qualified for the U23 AFCON semis.
The team was also not paid a bonus for holding Congo Brazzaville in Pointe Noire to qualify for the U23 AFCON.
Siasia himself was queried for making public that he has not been paid for several months.
Nigeria became the first African side to book their ticket to the 2016 Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Rio de Janeiro, after their CAF Africa U-23 Cup of Nations semi-final win against ten-man Senegal, while Algeria joined them shortly afterwards with a 2-0 victory over South Africa in the other semi-final.
The 1996 Gold Medal winners emerged victorious thanks to a 1-0 result, with Nigeria captain Otebo Oghenekaro scoring in the 76th minute from the penalty spot after a deliberate handball in the box meant the hosts were forced to play the final quarter of an hour with ten men. A missed penalty just before the break by Senegal’s Ibrahima Keita kept the tie goalless going into the second half and it remained a tense affair all the way to the final whistle with Oghenekaro’s finish from 12 yards the only separation between the two sides.
Algeria will join Nigeria in Rio as the second of three African teams to play in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament next summer after Les Verts took down South Africa 2-0 in the second semi-final of the day. Oussama Darfalou scored for the north Africans eight minutes in and Mohammed Benkhemassa secured the victory with his finish five minutes after the break. Rio 2016 will be Algeria’s first appearance at the Olympics since their quarter-final exit over 35 years ago at Moscow 1980.
Senegal will face South Africa in a third place play-off on Saturday to determine Africa’s final representative at Rio 2016.
