Nigeria Content Online

Samson Siasia will
have to wait for a much longer time before he gets to actualise his
dream of handling the Super Eagles after the Nigeria Football
Federation, late on Thursday, at the end of its emergency meeting,
ordered the interim coach of the Super Eagles Augustine Eguavoen to
continue for the time being.

The NFF said the
decision to stick to Eguavoen was hinged on the short time between now
and the national team’s upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifying
match against Madagascar billed for September 5 in Abuja.

Eguavoen, who
assisted former coach Lars Lagerback at the World Cup in South Africa,
and who had also previously been in charge of the Super Eagles for two
years between 2005 and 2007, was in charge earlier in the month when
the Super Eagles played South Korea in an international friendly in
Seoul. Nigeria lost 2-1.

The former Super
Eagles defender immediately set about the task of qualifying the
national team for the next African Cup of Nations scheduled for 2012 in
Gabon and Equatorial Guinea by naming a 26-man squad made up of a
mixture of domestic and foreign based players for the encounter against
the Indian Ocean island nation.

Besides the short
time left between now and the game against the Madagascans, another
reason given by the NFF for its decision was the fact that the tenure
of the current NFF board will expire in a couple of weeks and it will
be unwise for them to name a coach whose appointment might be annulled
by the incoming board, especially if the incoming board have a
different person in mind for the job.

NFF Elections

With elections
likely to be held at the various state Football Association before they
are held at the national level, no one knows for sure when the new
board will be constituted.

Given the fact that
Siasia had been in the frame for the job since it became clear that
Lagerback would not be returning to Nigeria, it is surprising that
contract talks between him and the NFF dragged on for long eventually
leading to the present cul-de-sac.

One reason
attributed to this was the salary demanded by the former Super Eagles
striker. Siasia reportedly asked for a monthly salary of $100,000 in
addition to a $1 million sign on fee, which the NFF refused.

Berti Vogts, who
led the Super Eagles to the 2008 African Cup of Nations in Ghana earned
$30,000 monthly while Lagerback grabbed a princely $330,000 but his
salary was bankrolled by the Presidential Task Force while Vogts’ was
taken care of by telecoms service providers Globacom.

Funds

Without a sponsor
as was the case with Vogts and Lagerback, it will be difficult for the
NFF to pay Siasia as much as he is reportedly demanding but both
parties may eventually settle for a sum in the region of $50,000.

“We’ll not pay
Siasia a salary that we’ll turn around later to default on. If I may
recall, the salary we paid Berti Vogts was offset by Globacom. That of
the immediate past coach of the Eagles, Lars Lagerback was paid by the
Presidential Task Force because of the World Cup. Shuaibu Amodu, whom
the FA paid by itself, did not earn what Siasia is demanding for right
now. I think we should go for what we can afford to offer in order for
anybody not to regret it later in the future,” Emmanuel Ikpeme, the
assistant secretary of the NFF, said.

Regardless of what
both parties eventually settle for, Siasia insists that he will only
settle for a sum that will enable him to facilitate the hiring of his
coaching assistants, most likely two expatriates, who will assist him
in his task of rebuilding the Super Eagles.

Negotiable demand

Although Siasia,
who in his previous stints with the national U-20 and U-23 sides had
always hired foreign assistants, initially refused to disclose exactly
how much he felt would be enough remuneration for handling the Super
Eagles, he later admitted to demanding N12 million from the federation.

“Of course I am not saying they must pay the 12 million naira; we
can negotiate and come to an agreement but I won’t take peanuts,”
Siasia had said.