Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has offered to personally pay the team’s outstanding match bonuses at the ongoing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco if the Federal Government does not settle the arrears before Saturday’s quarter-final clash against Algeria.
Ndidi, speaking on Thursday, January 8, told BBC journalist Oluwashina Okeleji that he made the commitment to prevent the bonus dispute from disrupting the team’s preparations.
“I’ve been pushing the team to train and play the game vs Algeria since the second match. 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 said in an X post.
“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,” Ndidi added.
The revelation comes amid tensions in the camp over unpaid bonuses for the three group-stage matches and the round of 16. Reports had emerged on Thursday that players and officials were considering boycotting travel to Marrakech and skipping training in protest.
In response, the Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite, said the Federal Government was fast-tracking payments between Thursday and Friday. She confirmed that all group-stage bonuses had been released and cleared regulatory approval, and that future disbursements would no longer face delays.
“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,” she 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.”
Uzoka-Anite added that the new process would allow funds to be converted quickly into players’ preferred foreign currency. “The final transfers to domiciliary accounts are currently in flight. Players can expect these funds to reflect starting today (Thursday) or tomorrow (Friday),” she said.
Ndidi and the squad arrived in Marrakech on Thursday and continued preparations ahead of their quarter-final match against Algeria.
