NPFL UNPAID WAGES: Dikko blames players, coaches

The chairman League Management Company, (LMC) Shehu Dikko has advised Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) coaches and players to get good lawyers or advisers to negotiate on their behalf before signing contracts with any club. The second Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) who was a guest on the Nigeria Football Support Platform (NFSP) blamed them for most of the problems they encounter over backlogs of unpaid wages at their various clubs.

Dikko absolved the body of any responsibility for the players and coaches’ poor welfare in the league, insisting that they have no business negotiating their contract on their own.

“The current issue is not about LMC or NFF not enforcing players’ welfare but we are trying to work within the reality on ground and set out strategy to eliminate the issue completely. But the biggest problem mostly comes from the players and coaches themselves? How? They go sign contracts without advisers and only run to us when they get into problems. A player or coach has no business going about chasing money but rather his lawyer and or intermediary should be doing that and believe me even the clubs would sit up,” Dikko said.

The Kaduna State-born administrator said that LMC his doing everything in ensuring that government pays players’ salaries as and when due.

“To start with it's a reality that most clubs are owned by Government and we are in Nigeria today where even the government is in default paying salaries. So likely they may owe clubs. And we always know Government is never bankrupt and can always pay so we always tried to put pressure on the government to pay rather that pushing them away as that would not make them pay and it's the players that would still suffer at the end.

“We have passed level of clubs receiving funds for players and not paying. So when clubs owing it's because government has not paid. So punishing clubs heavily on this may end being double jeopardy for the players. So our objectives is work always to get the government to pay off what they owed and also working to get more sponsors and investment into the league to take away this clubs from government or at least part off. Even if one deducts points from a club no one is hurt and it's the player that would see their sweat going down.”