ABUJA: The inability of the Nigeria Football Federation to clear a consignment of kits from its sponsor Nike at the Apapa port, Lagos has resulted in acute shortage of kits for the various national teams, a Sports Vanguard investigation has revealed.
For instance, the national U-17 football team, The Golden Eaglets, presently in Argentina camping ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile have made a passionate appeal to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to provide them with more kits.
The team who are the defending champions of the trophy they won 2 years ago in United Arab Emirates are hard hit with acute shortage of kits and they have asked for kits before the commencement of the tournament that is to take place from October 17-November 8 in Chile.
Our investigations further revealed that the shortage of kits was due to the long period it took NFF to engage another kit sponsors, following the withdrawal of Adidas after the 2014 World Cup.
The team which arrived in Argentina camp last Friday was said to have left Nigeria without adequate Nike kits for players and officials.
It was further learnt that the failure of the NFF and the Customs to agree on what is to be paid as import duty for the consignment is responsible for the seizure of the kits.
There are fears that the acute shortfall of kits supply could likely hamper the team in its quest to defend the FIFA U-17 World Cup it won in the United Arab Emirates, two years ago.
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