The Chairman of Nigeria’s National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko, has announced that all outstanding financial entitlements for the Super Eagles have been resolved.
This follows reports of a potential squad boycott by the Super Eagles ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final against Algeria.
In November 2025, a similar standoff over unpaid allowances occurred during the African World Cup playoffs, which many Nigerians believed contributed to the elimination of the team by DR Congo.
To prevent a recurrence during the current AFCON campaign in Morocco, the NSC quickly initiated negotiations with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and senior players before the tournament began.
Despite these early agreements, Dawn Herald gathered that the squad had considered refusing to travel from Fès to Marrakech for Saturday’s match unless bonuses for their four previous victories were paid.
President Bola Tinubu had approved the total AFCON budget on November 14, 2025, to ensure that the needed funds were allocated in advance of the tournament. All daily cash allowances have been settled. Match bonuses for the group stages and rounds of 16 are currently being processed through the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Shehu Dikko emphasized that the delay was administrative rather than lack of funding:
The president approved the entire AFCON budget on Nov. 14, 2025. From our end, the funding has been fully cleared. Approving the money is one thing, processing it is another, but the players know the funds have been approved….The only cash request was daily allowances, and that has been sorted and made available. The match bonuses have been approved. The process is ongoing and the money will come
Government officials stated that the administrative process is standard for the disbursement of public funds and that players were fully briefed on the timelines.
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