Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director, Bitrus Bewarang has refuted a declaration by Super Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr that he is being owed $100,000 by the soccer governing body, but says the amount is just $30,000, megasportsarena.com gathered.
While insinuating that Rohr might actually be clamouring for a largesse that the NFF felt the team needed as motivation during the Africa Cup of Nations, Bewarang warned that the gaffer could be held culpable for breach of contract by taking confidential matters to the media as well as for embarrassing the soccer body and Nigeria.
He went on to issue a veiled warning that Rohr’s contract could be terminated on the grounds of what he called several lapses and infringements on the part of the Franco-German gaffer, who he further alleged has not kept to the terms of his contract as spelt out between both parties.
He added that Rohr’s new-found love for disclosing information beyond technical matters to the media is highly unprofessional and against the spirit and letter of his contractual relationship with the football body.
Bewarang went on to declare that it is regrettable seeing that Rohr has continually disrespected provisions of his contract and the Code of Conduct for coaches, divulging information at every turn to generate negative reports about the NFF and Nigeria in the public space.
The former Eagles’ assistant coach, who was in the crew headed by Clemens Westerhof when Nigeria first qualified for the FIFA World Cup and won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, pinpointed Clause N of the Code of Conduct, which states that coaches must not cause the NFF or Nigeria any harm, reputational damage or embarrassment, directly or indirectly.
He also pointed out that Clause E of the same code of conduct states that coaches must not misrepresent the NFF or distort information to the media and that they are precluded from imparting unauthorized information to the media.
The NFF buff disclosed further that Clause 19 of Rohr’s contract states that the parties agree that specific contents and especially financial details shall be confidential and therefore accepted to undertake whatsoever measures are necessary to preserve its confidentiality.
He also averred that Clause 11.2.5 was clear that ‘the coach shall refrain from talking to the press on matters outside his terms of employment i.e he can only talk to the press on technical matters about the Super Eagles.’
He stressed that it all means that Rohr cannot talk to the media about any confidential subjects or issues other than technical matters relating to the team and development or state of Nigerian football technically, not personally nor beyond terms of his agreement with The Glasshouse.
A press release by the NFF’s communications department further disclosed that Rohr has been asked to explain reasons behind ‘several breaches of the contract’ that he signed with the body, which forbids him to divulge to the media information on some aspects of his deal.
Bewarang added: “In as much as we appreciate the work that Mr. Rohr has been doing with the Super Eagles in the past 40 months, his recent penchant for breaching provisions of the contract he signed with the NFF and the Code of Conduct for coaches is not good for the relationship.
“The NFF wishes that Mr. Rohr continues in the job because of the team he is building for Nigeria which looks promising and has earned some good results since he took charge, but he cannot continue to nonchalantly cause the NFF as a body, and Nigeria as a nation, reputational damage through his utterances and actions.
“The only money that the NFF is owing Mr. Rohr is the differential in his new contract (about $30,000) which our financial advisors have to align and interface with AITEO before payment (as the improved contract came into effect in the last half of the year), and which process was concluded on Friday last week. He will soon be paid.
“Mr. Rohr has talked about bonus from the 2019 AFCON, which is not contractual but discretionary on the part of the Federation. The present NFF started the policy of paying players a percentage of tournament bonus during the 2018 FIFA World Cup just to motivate them, outside their bonuses and allowances.
“We did not pay any bonus for the 2021 AFCON qualifying matches against Benin Republic and Lesotho because we are in the process of negotiating with the players on a new template of bonus payments based on performance after qualification for championships. This is still being discussed.
“The NFF is very much alive to its responsibilities but will not tolerate disrespect for the body and the country Nigeria by anyone. NFF can never be happy owing coaches in its employ which is the reason why the present administration took the unprecedented step of putting in place a sponsor specifically to pay coaches’ salaries.
“Last week, we paid all the National Team coaches and we are putting in place mechanism to ensure we don’t owe them going forward. We commend AITEO for its belief in the NFF and for always making funds available to pay the coaches.”
