President Muhammadu Buhari has approved funds for the Super Eagles, to prosecute their 2018 World Cup qualifier in Ndola against Zambia on Sunday.
This was revealed by the Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung.
Dalung said he had to approach Buhari for financial assistance, following revelations that the Ministry and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are in dire need of money .
Speaking at the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja, he said: “At every time we are preparing for competitions either nationally or internationally, things like this usually comes up and they would always fizzle out.
“We are prepared for participation in Zambia. I will be travelling along with the team to give them the moral and physical support, as they kick-start their campaign. I don’t think that if I would be travelling with the team, the position would still seem unclear.
“One thing Nigerians would need to know more is that in competitions like this, some of the players are coming from outside the country and there are of course international obligations, including allowances, bonuses, money you need to pay their tickets, insurance before they come, even those issues have been sorted out completely.
“I think that yes we are facing economic challenges, but the President has been quite supportive. On Sunday, I could not go to church. I had to draft a memo, which was taken to the president on Sunday, he approved it for funds to be provided for the team to travel that is how serious this government takes sports.”
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