Danagogo: Nigeria Cannot Afford a Foreign Coach Now

 Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo, has admitted that government opted to reappoint Stephen Keshi as the Super Eagles coach because the country was not in a position to hire a foreign coach.


Danagogo was the biggest backer of Keshi whose bid to be reengaged as the national coach was frustrated by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after he fell short in the task of guiding the Super Eagles to the last Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.


The outgoing minister reasoned that Keshi, whose monthly salary is N5million, is a bargain as Nigeria was not in position to cough out N30 million which is the least amount any foreign coach would be asking monthly to handle the national team.


“So hiring Keshi was a reasonable decision because we can meet the payment of his salary. But the same cannot be said of the federation to sustain paying the monthly bill of a foreign coach. In addition to that, I don’t follow the bandwagon that said we should employ a foreign coach who in reality is no better than the coach of Enyimba of Aba,” Danagogo said.


Aside the argument against a foreign coach, the minister said Keshi was the sentimental favourite to return as the Eagles coach as he did not consider any other indigenous coach to be better than the Illa-born former Anderlecht of Belgium defender.


“That is also area where I held contrasting opinions with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).  When they were looking for a local coach, I said none of the local coaches they were banding are better than Keshi in terms of exposure and knowledge and cannot be entrusted with the national team. The other good coaches- Samson Siasia and Manu Garba- are currently engaged with the national junior teams,” recalled Danagogo.


Meanwhile, the President of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick, has said that the federation was considering transforming the FIFA Goal Project into a world-class hostel for the national U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets.


“We want to turn the place around in addition to organising a training programme for the congress,” Pinnick said.
The FIFA Goal Project was commissioned in 2009 at the cost of $950,000 under a development package given to developing nations.