Izilein said the entitlement was for leading the Super Falcons to their sixth Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title at the 2004 edition in South Africa.
A former coach of the Nigerian senior women’s football team known as the Super Falcons, Godwin Izilein has lamented the non-payment of his $12,000 entitlement by the country’s football governing body.
Izilein said the entitlement was for leading the Super Falcons to their sixth Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title at the 2004 edition in South Africa.
In an interview with Sunday PUNCH, Coach Izilein accused the Nigeria Football Federation of deliberately refusing to pay him despite several pleas to the football governing body.
In 2004, the NFF board, under the leadership of Ibrahim Galadima refused to pay Izilein his entitlements after the Falcons staged a protest following the victory at the WAFCON title, refusing to leave their hotel rooms for the airport.
The players insisted on receiving their camp allowances and victory bonuses in Johannesburg before returning home, but federation authorities suspected Izilein pushed the girls to withdraw.
Narrating his plights to Sunday PUNCH, Izilein said he was wrongly accused of instigating his players to protest against the authorities in 2004. He added that this was the reason NFF decided not to pay him his $12,000 and the N2 million the then-President Olusegun Obasanjo government promised him.
He continued: “Since 2004 that they have owed me, I have not heard from the NFF.
“It’s a pity that I may not get the money again. It’s over 19 years that the NFF are yet to pay me the $12,000 and the N2m promised me by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“I have not seen anything. I made up my mind not to talk about this outstanding money again because I see it as deliberate action against me, if the girls I took to the war front and survived are paid, I, the General, ought to have been paid as well before anyone.
“What is my offence, since they refused to pay me my money? I did not do anything wrong. The girls said they were not coming back to Nigeria because they were owed by the NFF. I was on my knees begging them, I did not care if they were my daughters.
“I told them that a different meaning will be read into this action. It is easy to say the coaches are responsible and that was exactly what it turned out to be but it’s not fair to me and I feel very bad.”
The 81-year-old, who coached Bendel Insurance, a football club owned by Edo State, between 2007 and 2009 also narrated how the club failed to pay his salaries during his time there.
He said he used part of his retirement benefits to ensure the club kept going during his tenure.
“I was employed in 2007 by Bendel Insurance. With all humility, I did my job because I wanted to leave a mark there.
“They came up with the feeling that there was no money. I had to dip into my retirement benefits to ensure that the club was run properly with a promissory note that all my money will be paid when things got back to normal.
“But I only got one-and-a-half months of the 24 months I worked there.
“So, when the state government took over the assets and liabilities of the club, I was happy with the hope that the assets and liabilities will be taken over too.”
“But till date, nothing has been done and it’s sad. It pains me a lot that when I come out to do a good job, the end result is always punishment, maybe it is my luck,” he added.