There are strong indications that the protest by the national women football team, Super Falcons at the National Assembly, has finally received the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari who Independent learnt has ordered that the girls entitlements be paid them within the next 48 hours.
A reliable source in the presidency, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed the presidential directive.
The agitation by the players since returning to the country with their 8th Africa nations trophy has somewhat become a national embarrassment as the African champions have held on to the trophy they won at the expense of host Cameroun.
In continuation of their agitation, the girls again Wednesday took to the streets of Abuja to the chagrin of officials of Nigeria Football Federation who recently paid them N100,000 to enable them return to their homes.
They also stormed the National Assembly gates with sympathisers who turned up in their numbers and insisted they be paid their allowances and bonuses in the interest of justice.
Independent reliably gathered that the protesting girls were eventually addressed by the Special Adviser to President Buhari, Abba Kyari who pleaded with them to go home as their matter is receiving presidential attention.
Meanwhile, the Sports Writers Association has asked the football federation to expedite action on payment of monies owed them.
In a statement signed by its National secretary Olawale Alabi, SWAN said the non-payment of the allowances and bonuses of the girls and their officials is a cause for concern.
"We are greatly worried by the situation created by the failure of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to settle till now the allowances, bonuses and other entitlements of players and officials of the Super Falcons team who have just done the country proud in Cameroon.
"It is indeed a sad event that after making a lot of sacrifices for their fatherland the players and officials have come to find themselves in a situation like this, where most of them cannot return to their respective bases as a result of NFF’s inability to do the right thing.
"The sports writers’ body felt that the situation should not have degenerated had NFF taken adequate steps in the first instance to avoid such an embarrassing occurrence.
"The NFF has an obligation it has to promptly fulfil at all times to all its players and officials, and this necessitates that it must do more in the area of sourcing for funds, instead of waiting at all times for funds from government.
"It is an acknowledged fact that resources have dwindled in all sectors of the country’s economy, yet the welfare and comfort of players and officials should be paramount in the consideration of the NFF in order to continue to motivate them to do better for their fatherland.
"This demands therefore that the NFF should expedite action in getting funds to settle its debt to the Super Falcons in order not to lower standards and make service to fatherland a regrettable act.
"While we salute the players and officials for their patience and perseverance for this long, given the fact they are yet to be rewarded for doing a good job, we urge them not to allow this to deter them from continuing to offer their services to the nation."
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