Stakeholders in Nigerian sports believe the country will continue to reap bad results in international competitions if the Ministry of Youth and Sports did not release immediately monies meant for the various federations.

The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the quarterfinals of the on-going African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda owing to what some insiders describe as poor motivation of the players.

In Rwanda, the players accused the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of not motivating them enough, saying that their allowances were not paid from their time in camp prior to the competition and throughout their stay in the championship.

The team was expected to return to Nigeria today.

The Guardian learnt that the NFF has promised to settle the Eagles’ allowances next week, but some stakeholders believe that it is coming too late.

“We have been told to submit our account numbers and hopefully the money will be paid next week,” one of the players said.
“It’s been tough coping all this while as we have families to cater for. I just hope they will fulfill their promise by paying us this time around,” he added.

On Tuesday, the national men’s handball team was eliminated from the Rio 2016 Olympics qualifiers holding in Egypt because the team was ill-prepared for the competition.

An official of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the team went to the competition without its chief coach due to lack of funds.

The official also revealed that the Nigerian contingent to the competition departed in batches for the competition because they could not raise money for the trip on time. “The Mega Veterans, who are former internationals and some handball enthusiasts, contributed money to take the team to Egypt.

“This is a competition that the NSC had prior knowledge of, but the ministry did not do anything to help the country’s effort to qualify for the games,” he added.

He predicted that more Nigerian teams would falter in the qualifiers and other championships if the NSC failed to release monies meant for the federations.

A source close to the NSC revealed that the Sports Ministry received its full allocation last year, “but the monies meant for the federations’ programmes are trapped in the treasury single account (TSA).

“This has made it absolutely difficult for almost all sporting federations to function.”