From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Nigerian former international, Garba Lawal expressed fears that certain challenges may result in the failure of the recently employed Super Eagles technical adviser, Gernot Rohr, arguing that his take-home package is not worth it.
Speaking to Daily Sunsports on telephone, the member, Technical and Development Sub-committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) lamented that his committee read and heard of the pay package of the tactician in the media, swearing that the committee did not recommend such jumbo package to the NFF Executive Committee.
Asked if Rohr’s employment would solve Nigerian football woes, Lawal said: “Whether foreign or local, it all depends on the success result of the coach. A local coach can do better than a foreign coach. The salary of the coach is high because of the exchange rate.
“My fear for the whole thing is that we seem not to have looked into the prevailing exchange rate in the country before sealing the contract. If we had looked into the salary, we would not have gone for a foreigner because; we have local coaches that can deliver.
“My second fear is where we are going to raise the money to pay the new coach. I want to join other Nigerians claiming that the salary is too much. Everybody knows that the money given to him is just too much.
“For your information, the technical committee did not make any recommendation on the pay package of the foreign coach. I can tell you that no member of the committee knew how the board arrived at the amount given to him.
“Our recommendation for his employment was based on the fact that he was the only one considered. We did not make the financial recommendation because; we don’t know where the money is going to come from. The way every Nigerian saw it on the media was the same way the technical committee members saw it too.
“Beyond the salary we have given to him and source of funding, how are we sure he will even succeed. The truth is that we are just deceiving ourselves if we are expecting Nigerian football to regain past glory with the employment of this foreign coach.
“Again, we have average players, how does he intend to utilise these players towards ensuring that Nigeria qualify for the World Cup. My fear is that he may not have the quality players to pick the ticket for us.”