Pinnick said incessant crises in the country’s football and the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations put the federation at a disadvantage position in the contract negotiation with Nike.
He said this at an interactive session with the media in Abuja. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the NFF had secured a $750,000 sponsorship deal from the kit manufacturing company without a retainership fee.
The NFF had on Sept. 11, 2014 made a retainership proposal of $12.5m dollars per annum for a minimum term of six years to Nike but the company later called for a review.
Pinnick, however, pleaded with Nigerians to accept the current Nike contract, noting that the deal would be reviewed at its expiration in three-and-a-half years time.
“People are talking about the Nike contract; I kept that contract to myself for a long time before I decided to say I want to share it with the secretariat. I wept when I signed a document purchasing jerseys for Nigeria. The best period of Nigerian football history was in the last three years; now we are supposed to be a choice candidate for sponsors.”
He said the current board inherited a lot of debt, which hampered carrying out some of its activity.
He added, “It’s not about going into the coffers of the federation to take money; we know how much debt we inherited when we came into office; it was a lot of money.
“Not that the former board was reckless but because they wanted to offer quality preparation to our teams. If the Eagles are coming to town today, they must stay in the hotel for one month; feeding and transportation inclusive and this is huge expenses on the part of the federation.
“The Eagles games for example; if you are inviting 20 players you know how much you pay for tickets alone because one person tenders about $8,000 ticket for refund. For 20 players to be in camp, it costs between N90m to N120m. How do you get the funding? We don’t have anything to hide.”
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