House Committee Summons NFF to Defend Brazil 2014 Budget

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has been summoned for a compulsory appearance before the House of Representatives Sports Committee to defend its expenditure for 2014.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon Godfrey Gaiya, said at the weekend that the sitting is billed for March 10 and will feature NFF, the National Sports Commission (NSC) and its parastatals.

Gaiya said the session will provide an opportunity for the members to deliberate on sports appropriation bills for 2014 since they been pre-occupied with over-sighting other agencies since the close of plenary by the House. The touch points will be the FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow Scotland which are activities of national interest.

Stephen Keshi and Spain Head Coach Vicente Del Bosque Pictured at the Touchline in Fortaleza, Brazil.
Stephen Keshi and Spain Head Coach Vicente Del Bosque Pictured at the Touchline in Fortaleza, Brazil.

NFF has proposed a budget of N1.6 billion to prosecute its entire programme, while the NSC will appropriate N5.6 billion. NFF appropriated over N1.7 billion last year.

Gaiya further hinted that the session might even consider reviewing the envelop to be handed to both NFF and NSC given that what is approved this year is far lesser than what appropriated last year when there was neither a World Cup nor Commonwealth Games.

“We have the Commonwealth, World Cup and other sporting activities that require much money, yet the allocation is very low relative to last year. We can’t understand why there is a slash in the allocation in a very loaded year for sports competitions. We will passionately look at the envelope and see the possibility of tampering with it if need be,’ Gaiya said.

Source: Thisday