The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) rose from its board meeting on Tuesday night resolving to, among other things, insist on the terms of contract it has offered to out-of-contract coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi.

The meeting which was held at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja at about 10 pm was also said to have deliberated on the crisis form some state football associations after the elections which took place recently.

A reliable source at the meeting told Sports Vanguard on condition of anonymity that the board was unanimous in their resolve not to shift any ground on the terms of contract offered Keshi.

Recall that the NFF had last week handed Keshi a two year contract proposal of which the former international has been reported to have described as ‘a slave contract’.

According to our source, some of the terms of the contract stipulate that the former Hawks of Togo tactician will earn a N5million naira monthly salary, another N3 million for accommodation and N500,000 as transport allowance.

Also part of the deal which analysts have said is annoying Keshi is the fact that contrary to his expectations, he is to report to the technical director of the NFF, he must not grant press interviews without the express permission of his employers. While he is free to select any player he believes can add value to the national team, he must do so in agreement with the technical committee of the NFF.

‘We agreed that the contract we gave Keshi is a workable one which we believe will be beneficial to not just him but also to the entire nation. We were very considerate before arriving at that document and I hope that the coach will react to it quickly so that he can resume work without further delay”.

Keshi was said to have hoped on getting a pay rise to about N7 million naira monthly as well as the free hand to select his players. He is also not happy with the clause which makes him subservient to the technical committee as he doesn’t want to report to anybody except the president of the NFF.

Vanguard