Rio2016: Don't Blame me If Nigeria Fails to Qualify- Samson Siasia

Chief Coach of Nigeria’s U-23 national team, Samson Siasia says that he should not be blamed if Nigeria fails to qualify for the Rio Olympics next month because his team has been treated like “orphans”. According to him, the team has not been paid their allowances in the last 9 months and they have not been provided with training kits as well.

“Nigerians should know that we are not well prepared (for the championship) and I should not be held responsible for whatever happens. We are orphans. We have not been paid our bonuses, while the Super Eagles were paid full bonuses even when they drew in Burkina Faso. We have been without allowances for the past nine months.

How can you survive in this kind of situation, where you have not been paid for three months, no car, no training kits. We have to wash to wear our kits. It’s embarrassing. The NFF keep saying they don’t have money. Nobody from the football federation is concerned about our daily welfare in the camp. At times, we fuel vehicles to carry us to training. The players’ morale is down as most of them have not been receiving salaries from their clubs. How can one expect good output from these set of players? To me, Nigerians are liars. It has gotten to the situation that I won’t just sit down quietly and die, I’m tired of the system. I want Nigerians to know at this juncture that I won’t be responsible for any bad result that may come out of our campaign in the African U-23 Nations Cup. I should not be held responsible for whatever happens at the championship”he lamented