The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has received the sum of $1 million from FIFA as COVID-19 palliative to support male and female footballers in the country.

This was disclosed by Amaju Pinnick in a statement confirming the receipt of the grant from the world football governing federation FIFA, which was seen by Nairametrics on his official Twitter handle.

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He tweeted, “Huge appreciation to football’s world governing body, FIFA for the $1 million (one million dollars) the Federation has received in the frame of COVID-19 palliatives. The money was received by the Nigeria Football Federation and we re-confirmed the purpose from FIFA two days ago.

“It is imperative to note that, FIFA also sent $600,000 to the Federation for the FIFA Forward 2.0 projects in Binin-Kebbi and Ugborodo, which costs $300,000 each.

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“This fund is a big boost for the mini-stadia projects in both centres, as it will fast track the completion of the projects slated for the end of March 2021.”

Huge appreciation to football's world governing body, @FIFAcom, for the $1 million (one million dollars) the Federation has received in the frame of COVID-19 palliatives. The money was received by the @thenff and we re-confirmed the purpose from FIFA two days ago.

/1

— Amaju Melvin Pinnick (@PinnickAmaju) October 28, 2020

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What they are saying

Speaking on the receipt of the grant, NFF President said:
“The $1 million for palliatives is composed of $500,000 for men’s football and $500,000 for the women’s game. FIFA has also promised to send the Federation an additional $500,000 sometime in January 2021, also as part of COVID-19 palliative efforts.”

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Speaking of other grants, he added:
“On the continent, we have received confirmation from Confederation of African Football (CAF) that the Federation will receive the expected $300,000 from the Confederation on or before Sunday, the 1st of November.”

With the $200,000, he added that the NFF has already ring-fenced from its sponsors’ funds for the purpose, “the coast will then be clear for us to start the disbursement of funds to the beneficiaries, as captured in our approved template, from next week.”

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“Even though we are bolstered by the guidelines from FIFA strictly outlying the purposes of these funds as well as the approval of the NFF Executive Board, we will also interface with our auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, on each and every line item, to ensure the disbursements conform to global best practices.”

The beneficiaries of the fund are expected to ensure 100% compliance to the guidelines, by ensuring that all funds are paid into designated accounts.

READ: Togo, Niger, Benin remit N2.04 billion to Nigeria for power supply

Nigeria’s international electricity customers – Togo, Niger, and Benin, remitted the sum of N2.04billion in the first quarter of 2020, as their outstanding electricity bill to the Market Operator (MO) of the sector in Nigeria.

This was found in the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission 2020 first quarter report, which was released recently.

According to the report, a total of N4.05billion ($13.22million) invoices were issued by the MO to international customers including Societe Nigerienne d’electricite or NIGELEC; Societe Beninoise d’Energie Electrique (SBEE); and Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo (CEET).

The commission stated that during the quarter, NIGELEC made a payment of ₦1.61billion ($5.27million) as part of its outstanding bills for the energy received from NBET and services rendered by the MO.

It stated, “Similarly, SBEE paid ₦0.43billion ($1.39million) in respect of services received from MO.

“It was noteworthy that tariff shortfall (represented by the difference between actual end-user tariffs payable by consumers and the cost-reflective rates approved by NERC) had partly contributed to liquidity challenges being experienced in the industry.

“The settlement ratio to the expected Minimum Remittance Thresholds, having adjusted for tariff shortfall, indicated that power distribution companies needed to improve on their performance.”

But …

Special customers like Ajaokuta Steel Co. Ltd and others in its environs did not make any payment in respect of the N0.27billion and N0.05billion invoices issued to them by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and the MO respectively, during the period under view.

Meanwhile, the power distributors failed to remit N119.88billion to the sector within the same period.

“Whereas Discos were expected to make a market remittance of 46.09% during 2020/Q1, only 32.53% settlement rate was achieved within the timeframe provided for market settlement in the Market Rules,” it added.

What it means: The Discos’ remittance level, regardless of the prevailing tariff shortfall, was still below the expected MRT and they are expected to improve on their performances.