Adedokun Waliyu 
The Nigeria national women’s team, the Super Falcons, have failed to return to training despite assurances their unpaid allowances would be settled ‘very soon’
The Super Falcons returned to Casablanca on Tuesday after gallantly losing to Morocco 5-4 on penalties in the semi-final of the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Nigerian Ladies have already qualified for next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and were meant to begin preparations for Friday’s third-place clash against Zambia.
However, on Wednesday morning, the Super Falcons refused to turn up for training, demanding to be paid the backlog of their allowances.
This development led to an emergency meeting between the team, NFF officials and representatives of the Ministry of Sports who explained the reason for the delay in payments.
“The meeting went well,” a source at the meeting simply stated.
However, updates from reporters in Morocco Wednesday evening revealed that the Super Falcons have failed to turn up for their second scheduled training session; insisting on getting what is due to them.
One of the few Nigerian journalists covering the WAFCON in Morocco, Suleiman Pooja tweeted “Super Falcons didn’t honour their evening training as they demand their allowances or nothing.
NFF/Ministry has assured them their money will be paid but it takes time for the intervention fund to mature.
From Ministry to Finance to CBN before clearing.
This is not the first time the Super Falcons will be involved in a bonus row at a major tournament, the most recent before now coming at the 2019 Women’s World Cup held in France.
The Super Falcons after crashing out in the second round to Germany refused to leave their hotel in France in protest against the non-payment of bonuses by the Nigeria Football Federation.
The bone of contention included unpaid allowances for matches played three years before the World Cup in France as well as five-day camp bonuses for the World Cup itself.
In 2016 when the Super Falcons won their eighth African title, they refused to leave their hotel in Abuja until they were paid allowances and bonuses for winning the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Super Falcons protested over the Nigeria Football Federation’s failure to pay the players US$17,150 each.
It was alleged the NFF had also pledged to pay outstanding allowances for qualifying and their win bonuses [US$6,500] before the start of the competition.
At the height of their protest, the team demonstrated outside the National Assembly in Abuja while the annual budget was being presented.
This led to the government releasing about US$1.2m to the cash-strapped NFF to pay the ladies.
Incidentally, President Muhammadu Buhari who has continually praised the Super Falcons for their good show in Morocco was the same person that settled their payment six years ago
