Rangers of Scotland defender Leon Balogun has taken a swipe at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) over the unpaid bonuses of the senior national team of Nigeria.
The senior national team of Nigeria at a point in time didn’t collect any form of bonus for 18 months despite actively getting involved in qualifiers games and friendly games.
33 year old Balogun who has been an integral part of the team since 2016 when present coach Gernot Rohr took over discussed the issue of unpaid bonuses in a show monitored by OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Balogun speaking in a recent edition of The Beautiful Game podcast hit out at the NFF for the lack of transparency in the handling of the issue as they contradict themselves.
Below is an extract on some of the things he said about the treatment of the Super Eagles and why many see him as a troublemaker for speaking up for his teammates.
“We are not been provided with the best to do our job. It starts with pitches or it starts with accommodation but it goes on to pitches and all these kind of things. As I said I am always quite outspoken. I know if some people hear that from here, they might come after but I don’t care . Because that is just how it is, If you say you want to see the next Messi coming out of Nigeria or the next Cristiano Ronaldo or whatsoever.
“If you want to see us soar then you need to make sure that back home in Nigeria we have the best possibilities like why don’t we have a base in Nigeria where we meet up like St. George’s Park in England. We don’t really have something like that.
“ And you spoke of the unpaid bonuses in the news. It’s not a secret even and then I have read something recently when people in charge they contradict themselves said things have been paid, then they admit they haven’t been paid.
“It’s like everybody is so concern about the look of Nigeria we have to represent Nigeria well and we cannot embarrass Nigeria but make sure you are not embarrassing Nigeria with your own action.
“ I think it’s also a matter of. It’s a culture thing also to show respect in these kind of things and that’s also something where I clash probably because I’m not afraid to speak my mind even if it is with the coach or the manager.
“If I feel like something is wrong, I might at one point talk just about it and then they will always like okay this boy is a troublemaker but I’m not a troublemaker because at the end of the day I stand in for my teammates, I do that with pleasure and if I have to take the fall, I probably did in the past and it’s always also motivated by personal issues not issues but things I feel like I don’t have to deal with this now and any of us should. So there is lot of work to do”, he concluded.