Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung has reportedly threatened officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to retire World Cup funds or risk going to jail.
The Glass House has allegedly unaccounted for N1.6 billion released to Amaju Pinnick to cover its expenditure up to the quarterfinals of the Russian showpiece.
An online Sports medium Sports247, reported that the inability of the NFF to provide the amount long after Russia 2018 World Cup ended in July has raised questions about the credibility of NFF financial spending.
The Super Eagles crashed out in the group stage, following a 2-1 defeat to Argentina.
With the NFF said to owe its workers five months salaries, the sports minister is insisting that the government would not release more funds to the Pinnick-led NFF until it duly accounts for the missing funds.
The report quoted the NFF Secretary General Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, confirming that they were yet to communicate to the sports ministry on how the World Cup cash was spent.
It further stated that the NFF tried to outsmart the sports minister by putting up a two-page advert in a national newspaper to announce its audited accounts for the outgoing year.
The action which did not go well with top officials of the Sports Ministry.
The Guardian newspaper reported that NFF was said to have used the outstanding funds to finance Nigeria’s participation at the recent FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in France, as well as Golden Eaglets campaign at the zonal qualifiers in Niger for the 2019 U-17 AFCON without seeking clearance from the sports ministry.
