Maigari blew N13m on refreshment – Document

Fresh facts are emerging on the spending of the Alhaji Aminu Maigari-led Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation, as documents revealed that the board expended N13 million on refreshment, honorarium and sitting allowances on members in 2013.

In the budget appraisal document from the football federation, made available to the media, tagged: Nigeria Football Association, receipts of funds and expenditure; 2013 Federal Government Budget performance, the federation revealed in the document that while refreshment and meals gulped N1.19 million, honorariums and sitting allowances took N11.95 million, adding that it equally spent a whopping sum of N2.08 million to purchase newspapers.

The embattled football federation equally revealed that out of the N20 million it budgeted for legal services, it spent N19.946 million, remaining N53,533 of the amount to wage war against the enemies of the football house.

Although there was no visible structural facelift given the Glass House in the year under consideration, the football federation claimed in the document that maintenance of office building/residential quarters gulped N3.46 million out of the N3.5 million earmarked for it.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Sports and the Chairman National Sports Commission, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, has insisted that the Maigari-led executive committee must account for every kobo the Federal Government gave to the federation.

The minister informed that the relevant department has written to them to account for the money.

Danagogo said: “Normally, every government fund must be retired.

“If government gives money to prosecute any project, the Ministry of Finance must require from me to account for the money.

“If the ministry of finance gives money to give to the federation, I don’t need to demand from them the retirement because it is a process.

“There are departments in the ministry that will immediately request the retirement.

“Let me make it clear that the NFF must account for the money and properly retire all the funds government gave to them.

“If that department in the ministry has asked for that, there is nothing very unusual about it.”