Players in the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL, can heave a sigh of relief, at least for now as their employers have dispelled speculations on plans to slash their salaries.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, almost all football clubs in Europe have since embarked on a pay cut for their players and officials in order to survive the devastating blows of COVID-19.
Consequently, there have been fears in some quarters, especially among the players in the NPFL that even as most of the clubs are owned by state governments, their salaries which are meagre when compared to their counterparts in Europe, would be reduced in no distant future.
Such fears were indeed heightened when Yobe Desert Stars, a Nigerian National League side recently slashed the monthly allowances of their players and officials by 75 per cent.
When contacted to give their views on the development, some of the players in the NPFL told Trust Sports that they are optimistic their salaries won’t be slashed arbitrarily because most of the clubs are government parastatals.
Enyimba FC goalkeeper, Theophilus Afelokahi confirmed that the government of Abia state pays their salaries through the management of the club.
“Enyimba is owned by Abia state and it is the state that is paying us. Whatever is coming from the government goes into the Enyimba’s account. From there, the chairman directs the club’s accountant to pay us our salaries at the end of the month,” he said.
The former Kano Pillars captain also said he would oppose any plan to slash their salaries because what they earn is nothing to write home about.
“The truth is that we can’t compare ourselves with European clubs as their standards are far ahead of us. What we are earning as players is not what they are earning. We have seen players earning N50m per week but in the Nigerian league, nobody earns more than N1m in a month.
“It is players like me that earn this much, maybe I am even the highest paid in the league. There are players that collect N150, 000, and some N100,000. From such players, how much do you want to remove from their salaries? If you remove 70% from the salaries of European club players, they will still be comfortable compared to us here in Nigeria,” he noted.
In the same vein, Enugu Rangers forward, Isaac Loute also said the way Nigerian clubs are managed is not the same as what is obtainable in Europe so there will be no basis to slash salaries in the NPFL.
“You can’t compare European football with African football especially Nigerian football. Here clubs are owned by governments but in Europe, clubs are owned by individuals or private organisations who respect contracts.
“So for them, when the league is not on, they don’t pay but for us here we work under the government but we are not civil servants. Slashing players’ salaries will not be right thing to do,” he said.
Wikki Tourist forward, Nafiu Kabuga said just like other clubs in the NPFL, they are paid by the state government through the management of the club.
“I get paid through the state government. We are paid like civil servants at the end of each month,” he said.
However, Kabuga said if his club decide to slash their salaries to mitigate the losses incurred because of the COVID-19 crisis, he won’t make a fuss out of it.
“The decision is not from me but from the club but if they decide to slash our salaries, we won’t say anything because we will understand the situation we are in right now,” he said.
A club official who spoke on condition of anonymity also said it will be morally wrong for any club in the NPFL to slash players’ salaries because they are funded by state governments.
“NPFL clubs can only cut down wages, if their allocation is lowered by their respective state governments. We know how much we get. If tomorrow government says there is no money so we would no longer give you what you have been getting, we can now cut wages.
“No club can say we have a transport company and since there is no longer movement, we don’t have money to pay salaries. No club can say, for instance, we are sponsored by Samsung and since they are no longer selling their products, there is no money for us to pay salaries.
“These clubs operate based on statutory allocation so as long as the allocations continue to come, is not tampered with, there will be no reason for them to cut salaries,” he said.
When Trust Sports contacted the Chairman of NPFL Club Owners Association, Barrister Isaac Danladi of Nasarawa United, he said for now, there is no such plan as he also acknowledged the fact that what the players earn is too meagre to be slashed.
He said “Every society has its own peculiarities. And if you look at it what is the minimum wage of a professional Nigerian player viz-a viz in other parts of the world?. As an association, we have not sat down to discuss anything.
“Whatever we are doing, we must put into consideration the welfare of our players and if you look at it 90 per cent of the clubs are owned by government. So if you are slashing the salaries of the players, have the salaries of civil servants been slashed?.
“Secondly, most of these clubs, if you look at their welfare packages, honestly it is nothing to write home about and it won’t be proper to begin to contemplate any form of measures that instead of being palliative, it will be punitive measures. So we are very very careful about the issue of salaries of players.
“We are studying the situation and whatever we are going to do, we must adopt and take a cue from government because almost 99 per cent of these clubs are owned by government.”
Danladi, however, said just like any other human organisation, the club owners are also monitoring closely the situation on ground and would take appropriate action when it is time.
He reiterated that NPFL clubs won’t copy blindly what is happening in other climes because each society has its own peculiarities.
“As time goes on, if there is any need, we have our own means of meeting through conference calls to see how we can address the issue but at least for now, we have to be very very careful.
“In as much as we want to be part and parcel of what is happening in the world, we should also consider the plight of the players. So I think in a nutshell that is the situation on ground,” he said.
Interestingly, the General Manager of Enugu Rangers, Mr Davidson Owumi told Trust Sports that his players have been paid their full salaries.
“It might interest you to know that about 3weeks ago, before we went on break, we paid our players their February salary. And on Tuesday we paid them their full salaries for March. Thanks to my governor.
“We are hopeful that this lockdown will not go on for too long. So for now, there are no thoughts of slashing salaries. In fact, we have already paid for the just ended month fully,” he reiterated.
In the same vein, the Chairman, Ondo State Football Agency and President of Sunshine Stars FC, Otunba Tajudeen Akinyemi said the players will continue to be paid their full salaries just as the civil servants.
“There will be no slashing of salaries. Most clubs are owned by the government. As long as civil servants salaries are not slashed, so who are we to cheat the footballers? I can’t do it that’s my constituency,” he noted.
