Following the threat of boycotting its Quarter Finals Match against the Desert Foxes of Algeria following the failure of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to pay the outstanding allowances and winning bonuses of the Super Eagles, the Federal Government has swiftly intervene to avoid a national embarrassment.

 

The FG has however began the disbursement of the funds which was confirmed by the Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite, who made the disclosure via a statement posted on her verified X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday morning.

 

Uzoka-Anite said the Government, working closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had resolved earlier bottlenecks surrounding foreign exchange processing to ensure timely payment to the players.

 

“I am pleased to provide an update on the administrative progress regarding the match bonuses for our national team at AFCON 2025,” she said. “The Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria have successfully streamlined the foreign exchange processing to ensure our players are rewarded without further delay.”

 

She further stated that all Group-Stage bonuses have been fully released and have cleared the necessary regulatory stages, while the final transfers to players’ accounts were already underway.

 

The Super Eagles players had protested that they wouldn’t travel to Marrakech for their Quarter Finals encounter against Algeria if their bonuses and allowances were not paid.

 

She explained that the government introduced a fast-track conversion process to meet the players’ preferences for foreign currency payments. “We have implemented a fast-track conversion process to move funds into foreign currency, honouring the players’ preferences,” the minister said.

 

She however added that the final disbursements to the players’ domiciliary accounts were in progress and expected to reflect shortly.

 

“The final transfers to domiciliary accounts are currently in flight. Players can expect these funds to reflect starting today or tomorrow,” she stated.

 

The players threat of boycotting their Saturday fixture at the ongoing AFCON Tournament led to widespread criticism from different quarters with the NFF fingered and lambasted for the failure of the players been paid as at when due.