Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Ibrahim Gusau has decided to cancel the salaries of assistant coaches across all national teams as part of cost-cutting measures in response to the challenging economic conditions in the country.
Gusau revealed this development while addressing journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, January 9, stating that assistant coaches will now receive an “invitational allowance” instead of regular salaries. He emphasized the need to manage the situation by reducing monthly salaries, allowing assistant coaches to seek additional employment.
“I told them (national team coaches) that, for us to manage this situation, we are only going to pay the senior coaches’ salaries; all other assistants will be engaged on an invitational allowance. They should go and do other jobs,” Gusau explained.
He further elaborated on the rationale behind this decision, stating, “We want to reduce that problem so that at the end of the day, I know if the coaches’ salaries are N10m and I have N50m, I know I can pay them for five months, not paying people for doing nothing.”
Gusau expressed concern about the large number of assistant coaches who often remained idle, stating, “Most of the time you visit the teams training, you see the assistants just standing, doing nothing because the head coaches don’t believe in them.”
To address this issue, Gusau emphasized that head coaches of national teams now have the privilege to choose their assistants. He stated, “I told all the head coaches nobody will choose their assistants for them because they are the ones I will hold responsible.”
Gusau highlighted the importance of empowering head coaches to make decisions about their coaching staff, aiming to address the challenges faced by national teams, such as the underperformance in the last U-17 edition.
“Only the senior coach would be appointed by the committee, but the assistants must be chosen by the coach because we are holding him responsible,” Gusau added. “Imagine, we have the highest record at U-17 level, but we couldn’t even qualify for the last edition; that tells you there is a problem, which we need to work hard to correct.”
