Friday, January 9, 2026 - Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi says he has offered to personally settle the team’s unpaid match bonuses at the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco if the Federal Government does not clear the arrears before Saturday’s quarter-final tie against Algeria.
Ndidi, quoted on Thursday, January 8, by BBC journalist
Oluwashina Okeleji, said he made the commitment to ensure that the bonus
dispute did not disrupt preparations. “I’ve been pushing the team to train and
play the game vs Algeria. I’ve been doing this since the second game. I’ve now
made a commitment to the staff and players that I’ll personally pay the bonuses
if the authorities fail to before Saturday,” he was quoted as saying in an X
post.
“I don’t want these unpaid bonuses to affect our
preparations. I told players and coaching staff that I’d personally make the
payments if they don’t get it,” he added.
The development comes amid tensions in the Super Eagles camp
over outstanding payments for the three group-stage matches and the round of
16. There were reports on Thursday of players and officials considering
boycotting travel to Marrakech and missing training sessions in protest.
In response, the Minister of State for Finance, Doris
Uzoka-Anite, said the Federal Government was fast-tracking payments between
Thursday and Friday. She explained that group-stage bonuses had already been
released and cleared regulatory approval, and that future disbursements would
no longer face such delays.
“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 wrote on X. “Going forward, the
process will be fully streamlined to ensure faster, more predictable
disbursements aligned with international best practice. All group stage bonuses
were fully released and have now cleared the necessary regulatory stages.”
She added that the new process would allow funds to be
converted quickly into the players’ preferred foreign currency. “We have
implemented a fast-track conversion process to move funds into foreign
currency, honouring the players’ preferences. The final transfers to
domiciliary accounts are currently in flight. Players can expect these funds to
reflect starting today (Thursday) or tomorrow (Friday).”
Ndidi and the squad arrived in Marrakech on Thursday and
continued preparations ahead of Saturday’s clash with Algeria.
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