NFF Plans Insurance Cover for National Teams

By Adedapo Adesanya

The federal government is working to provide insurance cover worth N2.3 billion for Super Eagles players who sustain injuries or die playing for the country.

The President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Mr Amaju Pinnick, reportedly disclosed this on Arise Television, adding that the federation would sign a contract with a bank to procure the insurance cover.

This followed the several moves that the federation has made in the previous weeks including deals with MTN and Air Peace, which come on board as telecommunications and airline partners respectively.

According to him, “A lot of positives are coming to the Nigerian Football Federation. Today, we are going to be signing a sponsorship deal with them (Premier Lotto) of about N400 million for the next three years initially then renewable.

“With the signing of Baba Ijebu today, by God’s grace, I believe we will be at least 90-92 per cent self-funding.

“Then the big one is coming on the 18th of this month (September) and if everything goes as planned, by God’s grace we will be seeing another mega-contract with one of the very massive banks.

“But that one is strictly player based whereby the players will have a comprehensive insurance cover once they have worn the Nigerian jersey.

“The (insurance) will be paid by these institutions. For injury, that contract is about N600 million a year. Then for death, it is about N1.7 billion a year. So we are still studying it.

“There is gender sensitivity in that contract that we are also making provision for the female national team.

“We are talking to the bank and they kind of agreed that every time the Super Falcons or female national team wins, they will create an account for them. They will pay the bonus and leave that money there until they finish paying. The money will grow for them,” the NFF President disclosed.

Mr Pinnick stated that the sponsorship is coming as a result of the improved integrity of the country’s football body, adding that the federation worked with PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and Financial Derivative Company (FDC) so as to ensure transparency.