By Kelvin Olumide, from Abuja
The recent defence of $10,000 monthly salary of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, General Secretary by the President of the federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau , has drawn the ire of staffers of the Glass House who berate the president for insensitivity to the plight of other staff and members of the the national teams whose allowances are either shortchanged or not paid at all. At the NFF secretariat as at date, salary payment to staff is in arrears.
The internet was awash with comments after it was revealed that the NFF Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, earns his monthly salary in US dollars contrary to Nigeria law that clearly stipulates Naira as the only legal means of exchange or payment of emoluments. Sanusi and the authorising executives in NFF are sure liable to criminal investigation.
Some NFF staffers at the football house who spoke to our reporter on basis of anonymity wondered at the level of mediocrity exhibited by the NFF President over his reply to the earlier report when defending a clearly criminal defiance of the law given the fact that Sanusi was or still is a Federal civil servant seconded from the sports ministry to the NFF. Either way , the law is very clear: no public official or no staff of the NFF, that enjoys statutory government allocation, can pay any staffer in foreign currency. It is a very clear crime of the highest order. And the NFF numero uno justifies payment of USD 10,000 which when converted to Naira is N8 million per month. Is Sanusi an expatriate staff? May be he is from the Republic of Niger! The writer of this piece shall be seeking, under the Freedom of Information, ( FOI), the status of Sanusi employment as at date. Is he still a Federal civil servant and if not, when was his retirement effective? Under same FOI, we shall , to the extent the NFF is a Federal Government Agency, given it is largely a publicly funded organisation, seek the full disclose of dollar emoluments of Sanusi. And source of the dollar. Which other Nigerian employee of this Federal funded organisation enjoy the illegal dollar salary.
Unfortunately, the NFF president, laboured profusely to justify why the General Secretary should even earn more dollars
Gusau said: “That issue has nothing to do with the amount the General Secretary is earning which he did not start earning today or under the initiating authority of the present board led by me, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau.”
The NFF President myopically went further: “It is even rather funny that we are dwelling on the 10,000 dollars Sanusi is earning but forget that the highly criticized Super Eagles Head Coach Jose Peseiro is earning 70,000 dollars, seven times the salary of the G.S . Why are people not headlining that? So it might only sound mischievous for anyone to start making headlines on Sanusi’s salary now because we want to justify criticizing the NFF.”
This is a firm confirmation from the seating President of NFF that crime of paying dollar salary to a public servant against the law of the land exist even under him.
Continuing, he said: “One thing I have come to realise is that General Secretary Muhammed Sanusi signed a four year contract with his employers before the coming of the present board and without any deliberate show of gross incompetence it will naturally be difficult for the current board to jettison him just like that.”
What a myopic explanation!
To the angry staff of the federation, comparing Sanusi with Super Eagles foreign coach, Jose Paseiro is irritating. Sanusi, to the extent that we know, is not a foreigner. . If some of the Eagles players playing in foreign leagues earn their allowances in Europe in Pounds , euros or dollars, is not legally an infraction of Nigeria law. Not any legally tenderable excuse that Sanusi too must be paid in dollars? So many questions begging for answers. And should FIFA President Infantino earn more than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo simply because he is President of World football governing body? Sanusi, today illegally earns more salary from public purse than the President of the Federation. So, what is the brazen comparison of Sanusi’s illegal salary to foreign coach salary? Was National coach Eguavoen paid in foreign currency or is any other national team coach in any other team categories and who is a Nigerian been so paid?
Not too long ago, the erstwhile Sports Minister, Sunday Dare was close to recalling Sanusi back to the ministry of sports but that move was truncated by the powers from above even as it was argued that having two top executives of NFF from virtually same zone or region is not the norm at the NFF and could be counter-productive.
“It is disturbing to staffers and this has lately been affecting the effective spread of administration at the NFF. The words of the duo is law at the NFF,” revealed one of the staff who does not want his name in print.
Gusau also defended his very recent unilateral appointments of board members for all the football league bodies in Nigeria saying that he derived his powers from the NFF Statute.
Gusau said: “Having read through the NFF statute, there is no place where it states categorically the Procedure, Qualifications and how the boards of the Leagues must be constituted . Nowhere! .And the same statute, in Article 85, gives the Executive Committee the Power to have a final decision on any matter not provided for in the same statutes or in case of force majeure.
“This was the provision that gave the board the power to appoint the recently constituted boards of the various leagues. So the board has not flouted any law in setting up the various league boards that has made George Aluo the Chairman of the Nigeria National League, NNL, Silas Agara the Chairman of the Nigeria Nationwide League and Nkechi Nneka Obi the boss of the Nigeria Women Football League.”
Like his defence of Sanusi’s pay, this one too is hilarious and a clear indication that those who manage our football in Nigeria are too lazy to read and/or go through their files.
It is argued that the Statute Gusau is beating his chest to quote is not, as a matter of fact, legally operative in Nigeria
To educate and assist Gusau on the legal status of what he ignorant quoted, we shall in a short precise manner quote the relevant portion of Justice Donatus Okorowo, the then Federal High Court judgement as it relates specifically to this unrehearsed, legally illiterate pronouncement of Gusau re-NFF statute:
“The document titled Nigeria Football Federation Statute which purports to confer the name Nigeria Football Federation to the Nigeria Football Association is not a codified law under the Laws of Federation of Nigeria.”
This judicial judgement on the NFF statute was never appealed by the Aminu Maigari board or the Pinnick Amaju and Ibrahim Gusau boards that came after him. The implication of this is that whatever the three regimes have purportedly done since the 2012 judgement based on NFF statute are deemed illegal, null and void. In other words, Gasau’s creation of the various league boards and other actions are mere illegal rascality that pervades administration of Nigeria Football till today
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