The leadership of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is in a dilemma over its inability to take delivery of a large consignment of football kits meant for the national teams which are rotting away at the Apapa seaport.
The goods which include team jerseys, we learnt, were shipped by the kit sponsors, NIKE several months ago upon request from the NFF following a shortfall in their stock. And due to the delay in clearing them from the port, the goods have attracted huge demurrage.
The TIMEPRESS AFRICA on Sunday investigation revealed that efforts by NFF to secure financial facilities from some commercial banks to facilitate the clearing of the kits were yet to yield dividend.
NIKE we learnt are worried that the consignments have been abandoned several months after arriving in the country Although the federation said it has not abandoned the kits but that the huge clearing bills was responsible for the delay in removing the goods from the port.
NFF general secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, who confirmed the arrival of the kits at the port, told The TIMEPRESS AFRICA on Sunday that the federation has been making frantic efforts to clear them and put them into use, even as Nike has responded to its request for more kits.
Sanusi disclosed that the NFF had initiated negotiations for financial facilities with some commercial banks to facilitate the clearing of the kits, reiterating that the federation did not abandon the kits at the port.
"We have gotten some shipments, this time around not by air but by sea. They are waiting for clearance at the Lagos port. I can tell you that the sponsors are very much worried that the consignments are still at the port.
The major problem we have now is the clearance of those goods from the wharf. We have requested our banks to help us clear those consignments.
You know a lot of processes have to be followed before we can get the funds, but once we are through with the funds, we can mobilize our clearing agents to deliver the goods," Sanusi stated.
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