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Nigeria: Super Falcons storm NASS, protest non-payment of allowances

Nigeria

Members of the Nigeria female football national team, the Super-Falcons, have stormed the National Assembly, at the capital, Abuja protesting the non-payment of their allowances by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

The team recently won the 10th edition of the African Women Championship held in Cameroon.

Members of the Nigeria Super Falcons squad seized the trophy they won at the just concluded African Women Cup of Nations in Cameroon, saying they will not release it until the NFF pays them all outstanding bonuses and allowances.

They claimed the NFF is owing them a debt up to a whopping N238.05million,( over $7m) an amount that has accumulated over time.

Nigeria Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a response said that the biting economic situation in the country may have been responsible for the non payment of the allowances of Super Falcons’ players and officials.

The victorious team members have been held up in a hotel in Abuja, many days after they returned to the country with the trophy, owing to non-payment of their entitlements.

They protest daily on the streets of Abuja and have vowed never to leave the hotel until their allowances were paid.

BREAKING NEWS:

Super Falcons protest at National Assembly gate this morning. They want Nigerian government to pay them their winning fees. pic.twitter.com/kvG087rXUj

— Sumner Shagari Sambo (@Sumner_Sambo) December 14, 2016

The ladies are hoping that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is due to visit the National Assembly today to present the estimates of the 2017 budget to lawmakers, will see them and show pity on their plight.

Some of their placards read, “We are your children, pity us”; “Let us respect women”; “female football deserves respect.”

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