…HOW LULU’S NFF BOARD SPENT N23.39M TO CHANGE NAME
More facts are beginning to emerge over the circumstances that led to the legal quagmire in which the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is stuck as investigations revealed that the Alhaji Sani Lulu-led board spent a whopping N23.39 million to effect the change name from association to federation.
In the federation's 2009 budget performance document submitted to the House of Representatives Committee on Sports and made available to Daily Sunsports at the National Assembly Complex, the Lulu board revealed that it spent the amount to organise the Congress during the Annual General Assembly held in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, that changed the name.
To also prove that litigation against Nigerian football did not start with the current board, the document revealed that the Lulu-led board spent N8.588 million on legal services in 2009 alone, just as it spent N16.098 million on what it called 'other professional services'.
In fact, it would equally interest Nigerians rejoicing that the Super Eagles picked the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup at a costly price, as the document revealed that the board spent a whopping N120 million to prosecute only the home and away qualifier games against Kenya.
According to the document, while the federation spent N30 million, as 'payment for Air charter of Chanchangi Air for Super Eagles match in Kenya', the proper prosecution of the home and away matches gulped N90 million. 'N87 million went for financial requirement for Kenya vs. Nigeria match, accommodation and feeding of Super Eagles for Nigeria vs. Kenya match took N3 million, while payment for air charter of Chanchangi Air for Super Eagles match in Kenya gulped N30 million,' the document read in part.
There are strong indications that the board may have questions to answer over the inconsistencies and repetition of the same figures in the budget appraisal. For instance, under sporting activities analysis, while serial number 32 pointed out that the board spent N80 million on the same item, 'financial requirement for Nigeria vs. Kenya match', instead of N87 million in serial number 57.
The implication, however, is that the board spent N167 million on that away match against Kenya, just as there was noticeable inconsistency in the accommodation/feeding of Super Eagles for the Kenya match. The board reflected that it spent N5.680 million in the serial number 34, another figure, N3 million was reflected in the serial number 58 for the same purpose.
Daily Sunsports further scooped that the victory over the French national team during an international friendly the same year was a pyrrhic one, considering the fact that the board spent N50.251 million, just as the Eagles friendly in London against Republic of Ireland, which ended in a draw, gulped a staggering N63.142 million to prosecute.