In a significant development, Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has pledged to personally offset outstanding match bonuses owed to players and officials at the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco should the Federal Government fail to make payment before Saturday’s quarter-final clash against Algeria.
The Leicester City midfielder made the commitment amid concerns over unpaid bonuses for Nigeria’s three group-stage matches and their round-of-16 fixture, a situation that had reportedly unsettled the team’s camp.
Ndidi spoke on Thursday after the Federal Government, through the Office of the Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite, assured that arrangements had been concluded to fast-track the payments between Thursday and Friday.
BBC journalist Oluwashina Okeleji quoted the Super Eagles skipper on X as saying, “I’ve been pushing the team to train and play the game vs Algeria. I’ve been doing this since the second game. I’ve now made a commitment to the staff and players that I’ll personally pay the bonuses if the authorities fail to before Saturday.”
He added, “I don’t want these unpaid bonuses to affect our preparations. I told players and coaching staff that I’d personally make the payments if they don’t get it.”
Reports earlier in the day claimed that players and officials were considering boycotting travel to Marrakech and skipping training on Thursday over the unpaid entitlements.
Responding to the situation, Uzoka-Anite provided an update on the payment process, stating that funds for the group-stage matches had already been released and had passed all required regulatory procedures, while measures had been put in place to prevent similar delays going forward.
“The Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria have successfully streamlined the foreign exchange processing to ensure our players are rewarded without further delay,” the minister wrote on X.
“Going forward, the process will be fully streamlined to ensure faster, more predictable disbursements aligned with international best practice. All group stage bonuses were fully released and have now cleared the necessary regulatory stages.”
She further explained that a new fast-track conversion process had been introduced to enable payments in the players’ preferred currency.
“We have implemented a fast-track conversion process to move funds into foreign currency, honouring the players’ preferences. The final transfers to domiciliary accounts are currently in flight. Players can expect these funds to reflect starting today (Thursday) or tomorrow (Friday).”
Ndidi and his teammates arrived in Marrakech on Thursday and also held another training session ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final encounter with Algeria.
Nigeria are targeting a fourth AFCON title in Morocco, having previously lifted the trophy in 1980, 1994 and 2013.
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