The Nigerian House of Representatives has decided to probe the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) regarding claims of diverting more than $25 million worth of development funds obtained from the international football authority, FIFA, along with the Confederation of African Football (CAF), covering the timeframe from 2015 through 2025.
As reported by Daily Post, this decision by the House came about after members approved a motion deemed of urgent public significance at the plenary session held on Tuesday, which was jointly proposed by the lawmaker from Lagos, Adedayo Adesola, and his colleague representing Rivers State, Felix Nwaeke.
Entitled “Motion to sport further misuse of FIFA and CAF grants by Nigerian Football Federation,” Adesola pointed out that the mishandling of such grants provided by the worldwide football organization has played a major role in the underwhelming performances lately from Nigeria’s different national squads.
Adesola mentioned that the NFF had been granted millions of dollars through these development funds yet neglected to allocate the money in suitable ways, which has helped cause the downward trend in Nigeria’s overall football achievements.
He brought up the instance from December 2016 when FIFA raised concerns with the NFF about how a $1.1 million grant was managed, highlighting that $802,000 of it lacked proper documentation. Following that, the Minister of Sports at the time, Solomon Dalung, instructed for an external audit to be conducted on those particular funds.
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Adesola additionally brought attention to previous investigations into NFF personnel carried out by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) concerning accusations of monetary mishandling and fraudulent dealings with sponsorships.
He went on to claim that $1.2 million designated for building the Birnin Kebbi Stadium ended up being improperly used, asserting that the finished structure is of inferior quality and fails to match the expenditure amount that was supposedly allocated.
“With the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers approaching, there is a need to take decisive action against the continued misuse of football funds,” Adesola said.
Under the leadership of Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the House agreed without opposition to form a dedicated committee for investigation purposes, tasked with reviewing the financial records of the NFF starting from 2015 up to the present day.
Additionally, it mandated that the NFF’s top officials present themselves to this committee, bringing along documentation of every grant that was received as well as details on all spending that occurred during the timeframe being examined.
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