Super Eagles players and officials are reportedly owed up to six years’ wages by the Nigeria Football Federation, despite President Bola Tinubu’s approval of N12 billion for the payment of outstanding allowances and bonuses to national teams.

According to several reports, national team members have not received their camp allowances and match bonuses since 2019, prompting the players to boycott training on Tuesday ahead of Nigeria’s crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup African Playoff Tournament match against Gabon on Thursday.

The news of the training boycott due to “unresolved payment issues” has come as a shock to Nigerians, with many demanding explanations from the NFF on why players are still owed for several months even after Mr Tinubu approved N12 billion to clear national teams’ debts in January 2024.

Ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations kick-off in Côte d’Ivoire last year, then-sports minister John Enoh confirmed that the Tinubu government had disbursed the funds to address the outstanding backlog owed to Nigeria’s national teams, both male and female.

“This significant financial injection is particularly timely, as it arrived just when the preparations of the Super Eagles for the AFCON struck top gear,” Mr Enoh said. “This explains why he made sports development a stand-alone ministry, to pay closer attention to its pertinent issues. On behalf of the Ministry and the NFF, I thank President Bola Tinubu.”

Meanwhile, the aggrieved players, through their captain, William Troost-Ekong, have debunked claims that the team is protesting for special bonuses. He clarified that the training boycott on Tuesday was due to ‘rightful’ demands for payments that the federation owes the team.

“Once resolution is found, we will be the first to confirm,” Ekong said in a post on X. “Any other statement/claim or especially demands other than the rightful request written about below is FALSE. All we want and continue to do is focus on the big games ahead.”