NFF settles N150m hotels bill

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has finally settled their over N150 million debt, it would be recalled that the hoteliers had expressed fears over the payment of the debt when the football house crisis lingers.

We gathered in Abuja that General Secretary of the Federation, Musa Amadu had briefed the board of this cheering news during their last Executive Committee meeting held in Lagos. Amadu had told the board that some of the debts were incurred between 2010 to date.

He said the payment became necessary to avoid any further litigation against the federation. This we further gathered was appreciated by the board members who saw it as a way of maintaining the corporate image of the federation.

According to our impeccable source at the Glasshouse Secretariat of the Federation, who was privy to the meeting held on 7 January at Eko Hotel, Lagos.

“I can tell you with all sense of authority that we have been able to settle most of the backlog of debts we are owing various hotels across the country. These debts were dated back to 2010, but it is a good thing they have been settled, and our relationship with the hotels can now continue.

We appreciate them for their understanding and hope for a better relationship”. He however, refused to mention some of hotels that benefitted from the payment and how much each of them collected.

But our further checks revealed that hotels like Bolton White Apartments received the highest payment. Others who benefitted are Chida Hotels, Serob Hotels, Bolingo Hotels, Nicon Luxury Hotels, Transcorp Hilton Hotels, Ibro Hotels among others.

The payment we gathered was sourced from the nine million dollars World cup grant from FIFA.

It would also be recalled that the Federation is also expected to return over N360million to the National Sports Commission being the money that was sourced to pay the Super Eagles players in Brazil, when they refused to turn up for training before their World cup second round match against France.