KESHI ACCEPTS NFF OFFER

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has sent in a formal notice to the Nigeria Football Federation accepting to continue as the country’s coach. The letter was submitted to the NFF Secretariat in Abuja on Monday.

A person with detail knowledge of the transaction as reported by AfricanFootball.com confirmed to The PUNCH that the letter was brought to the office by a relative of Keshi who also works as his aide simply identified as Ado.

The NFF three-man committee asked to open contract talks with Keshi formally sent him a letter of intent and it was this letter that Keshi replied to.

Keshi who had earlier in the year spoken about a possible move to South Africa has since said he was ready to continue with Nigeria. The former Togo and Mali coach, we learnt, earlier in the month demanded for prompt or advance payment of his salary and those of his assistants. He also wanted a free hand to be pick his backroom staff following the disagreement he had with the Federation during the last dispensation after one of his assistants Sylvanus Okpala was sacked by the NFF.

There were suggestions by top NFF technical committee members Paul Bassey and Garba Lawal on Monday that former Nigeria coaches like Shaibu Amodu and Christian Chukwu could handle the national team in a temporary capacity till negotiations are concluded with Keshi.

Last week a member of the NFF technical committee told The PUNCH that the Federation would not rush into signing on the coach as they needed to first have a review of the country’s performance at the Brazil 2014 World Cup and also be sure they can afford to pay Keshi a new rate.

Keshi has reportedly asked for a monthly pay of N10m instead of the N5m he earned during his first tenure.

“It is quite right to look at higher figures when looking at the new contract having earned N5m in the last dispensation. But the question to ask is if we can we afford to pay N7m or even pay more. How did we handle N5m? Was the Federation comfortable paying the N5m?

“Can we afford to pay more and how will the additional money be sourced? So it is not just to rush and increase and then create further problem by not being able to pay as at when due,” the NFF member said.

Nigeria will host Rwanda on September 7 in their first qualifying match for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. South Africa and Sudan are the other teams in this group.