Guardian

THE House of Representatives has reminded players and officials of the Super Eagles that they have been provided with all that is required of them to excel in South Africa 2013 AFCON, which commences on January 19.

Member of the House of Representatives Committee on Sports, Honourable Bello ka ‘Oje said Monday in Abuja that the sports committee has made everything easy for both the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to ensure that the Eagles excel in South Africa by approving all the budget for the championship.

He also expressed confidence that the Eagles technical crew would assemble a team capable of winning the trophy in South Africa, adding that the current form of the team has given Nigerians some hope and confidence of a good outing in South Africa.

Reacting on the report that the NFF was yet to get the N1.2b approved by the Federal Government for the Eagles preparation and participation in the Nations Cup, the lawmaker said that the fund was captured in the 2013 budget.

He noted that the budget has passed through all the departments and has been approved for release, while assuring that the federation will receive before the team finally departs for South Africa.

The lawmaker, who noted that it was obvious that both the NSC and NFF have certain challenges that they are currently battling, warned that they should not allow such challenges to affect the Eagles outing in South Africa.

He added that they have been given adequate preparations like their colleagues in other qualified countries that can be encouraging enough to ginger them to action in South Africa.

“We have done our own part at the legislative level by approving the entire request that were made by both the NSC and the NFF as regards the Eagles’ participation in AFCON. So we have equipped them enough to win the trophy. The NSC and NFF budget, which also contained the packages of the super eagles, has been passed since last month to give enough room for release of fund.

“Though I am not in the better position to speak on the fund matter, since I am not the Finance minister, I believe that the federation will get the fund before the team travels to South Africa. The budget is contained the 2013 fiscal years appropriation which we have approved since last month, with all the proposals from both the NSC and NFF as regards the super eagles.

“We expect the team to concentrate and plot to win the trophy because we have made everything easy from our own side to enable them do well. With their current form, I believe we have a team that can win the trophy for Nigeria,” he added.