LAGOS — Belgian Tom Saintfiet cannot sue after it appears a decision to hire him as Nigeria technical director has been rescinded, officials said.
Nigeria Sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi in an interview with MTNFootball.com said the Belgian coach does not have a contract with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Abdullahi therefore dared the former Namibia and Ethiopia coach to produce copies of his contract if he claims to have been offered a job by the NFF.
“If he says he has a contract, let him produce the copies (and) let me see (them),” the top government official declared.
“And I hear people say they have handed Saintfeit a contract. If they have, then the Aminu Maigari I know would confide in me and tell me that there would be a problem if they appoint someone else.
“The NFF have not said they have signed any contractual agreement with the Belgian, so as far as am concerned there is no contract.”
In March, the NFF announced the appointment of Saintfiet as the country’s technical director on a four-year contract with a $20 000 monthly salary.
However, three months after, the federation are still battling to secure a work permit for the Belgian.
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Sports minister Abdullahi has since directed the football federation to jettison the appointment and look within the country for a person to do this job.
“I have had several meetings with the Aminu Maigari-led board (of the NFF) and they have not been able to convince me that we do not have the personnel at home to do the job of a technical director,” he maintained.
NFF vice-president Mike Umeh has agreed with the position of the minister.
“Whatever the minister has said in this matter, it’s all well and good,” said Umeh.
