The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who gave the assurance during a Basketball Clinic organised by Nigeria's most quintessential basketball player, Hakeem Olajuwon, in Abuja yesterday said the incident had not been brought to the notice of the Federal Government.
While promising that government would offset the salary arrears once the authorities concerned bring it to her table, she reiterated: "The salary arrears owed Keshi has not been brought to my attention. It might be from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
"You should ask the Minister of Sports, because we have acted on everything he brought to our attention. You had better look inside the management of the football federation to find out whether there is anything happening there. If it is the question of finance, let them bring it forward and because once I have the input on my table, it will be taken care of," she noted.
Allaying the fears over fund for Super Eagles World Cup campaign, the minister said: "There should be no fear about the funding of the Super Eagles to the World Cup or even any of the national teams. Anybody in doubt should ask the Minister of Sports what has happened to the funding of the national teams in all the sports."
"Let me emphasise that Mr. President is truly committed and supportive of funding all the sports and he is determined to change the face of sports in this country. Anybody still doubting should tell us when last he heard the players complaining that they did not get their money on time, at least for the past nine months.
"We have changed everything and we want to assure that there will be money to ensure that the Super Eagles prosecute the tournament very well. It also goes to all other national football and athletics teams. We are certainly going to support all of them," she assured.
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