Minister of Sports says they won't pay Dream Team winning bonuses at #Rio2016

Nigeria’s Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, has said that the country’s U-23 team will not receive any winning bonus, except the camp allowance all Team Nigeria athletes will be paid.

The Dream Team VI are in the semi-final of the men’s football competition, after beating Denmark 2-0 on Saturday.

But Dalung has confirmed that they will only get remaining camp allowances for 11 days.

“I spoke with the captain of the team John Mikel Obi and I explained to him that match bonuses are not paid to players except during the World Cup or Africa Cup of nations but not in Olympic or Commonwealth Games. This is their first appearance at the Olympics so the players may not know that they don’t pay match bonus at games,” he said.

“We have paid all outstanding camp allowance for the Rio Games qto the players so we owe them nothing. On the salaries of Siasia, the federation has admitted that they owe him for 5months. He was owed before he agreed to take the team to Atlanta so, making it an issue now after qualifying for the quarterfinals is not in the interest of the country.

“I have appealed to the coach and the players to put the country first before personal interest. All other issues that need to be addressed will definitely be addressed after the Olympics.”