A special committee has been set up by the House of Representatives to look into the books of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) from 2015 to date.
The probe followed controversies surrounding the alleged misuse of financial grants of up to $25 million from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
At the plenary presided over on Tuesday by the Speaker, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, two lawmakers, Mr Adedayo Adesola and Mr Felix Nwaeke, moved a motion of urgent public importance on the issue.
The motion titled Motion to sport further misuse of FIFA and CAF grants by Nigeria Football Federation was to look into the accounts of the nation’s football governing body on the funding supports it received from FIFA and CAF.
It was alleged that the funds from FIFA CAF have not been judiciously used by the NFF. The controversy arose from a recent picture of a stadium speculated to have gulped over $1 million to complete.
While speaking on his co-sponsored motion, Mr Adesola informed his colleagues that, “In December 2016, FIFA sent an audit query over the mishandling of $1.1 million development grant to NFF and reported that $802,000 lacked proper documentation, prompting then Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, to order an independent audit and asked NFF to account for receipts and disbursements.”
“Between 2018 and 2019, NFF officials (including the then President, Amaju Pinnick) faced public criticism and were subject to EFCC and ICPC probes and court actions tied to alleged mismanagement of various funds and sponsorship.
“One of these monies, a $1.2 million, is the subject of a news item currently trending on social media, which NFF allegedly used to construct a mini-stadium in Birnin Kebbi.
“We are concerned that a physical inspection of the stadium in Birnin Kebbi showed that it is a substandard facility in terms of quality and quantity, which cannot justify the sum of $1.2 million claimed to have been spent on the project by the NFF,” the federal legislator noted, declaring that, “There is a need to take decisive action on further misuse of public funds by the leadership of NFF.”
After the debate on the issue, the motion was unanimously adopted and the leadership of NFF was asked to appear before the special committee to answer questions regarding the grants.