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.
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