Athletes and officials of the various national federations will soon heave sighs of relief with the approval by the federal government of a special fund for the payment of all outstanding debts arising from bonuses and allowances from past championships.

Recently, the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF), has been the worst hit especially with the introduction of the Treasury Single Account, (TSA), which resulted in their inability to pay the backlog of bonuses and allowances owed to the various national football teams.

Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja said President Mohammadu Buhari decided to end the low morale of Nigerian athletes by approving the immediate release of fund for the settlement of all outstanding bonuses and allowances owed not just to footballers but other athletes that have represented the country.

The Minister who noted that poor funding has affected the performances of Nigerian players and athletes in several competitions further stated that the said fund will also be used to settle the Team Nigeria athletes who have been training to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Dalung who insisted that prudence must be the watch word in the management of public fund also assured that going by steps being put in place by the government, the ugly trend of owing players and athletes will be a thing of the past.

“The financial crisis that has affected the federation has to do with the transition process the country went through, you will agree with me that we even could not proceed with the hosting of the National Sports Festival while the National Youth Games could not even go as planned due to the same financial crisis,” the Minister noted.