Encomium
Out of contract Super Eagles former coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi is yet to agree to a new contract deal with the Nigerian football authority contrary to reports that suggested he would be unveiled this week to continue as Super Eagles coach. There is a logjam, the terms of the contract are yet to be trashed out and part of the terms is the monthly salary for the gaffer and his other benefits which include accommodation in a choice location.
He (Keshi) is reported to be demanding N10 million monthly salary before he could agree to a new deal, whereas in his former contract his monthly salary was N5 million. The Nigerian Football Federation is offering the 52 year old N7 million monthly salary which the coach is yet to agree. Unlike when he spent his tenure in hotels, Keshi is asking for a befitting accommodation in a choice location in Abuja to be included in the offer. According to Keshi, who guarded the Super Eagles to the fourth World Cup outing in Brazil, “I got an email asking if I would like to continue and indicate if I want, my response was affirmative. We did not negotiate, there was no terms reached.”
If Keshi accepts the N7 million per month contract offer, he will be the highest paid coach in Africa. He occupied the 28th position on the list of world’s highest earning coaches with £233,750 annual salary. He pocketed $260,000 for the World Cup, he is also making a lot of money from endorsements. He is the first Nigerian to win the African Cup of Nations trophy as a player and as a coach. He took over the job of the Super Eagles in 2011 and his first contract ended after the World Cup in Brazil. His new assignment if he accepts the new offer would be to qualify the team for the 2015 African Cup of Nations and possibly defend the trophy. Nigeria are in a qualifying group with South Africa, Sudan and either Congo or Rwanda with the top two advancing to January’s Nations Cup in Morocco.
-FOLUSO SAMUEL
