NFF Plans Two-year Contract Deal For Keshi

             Some details have emerged from the contract paper prepared by the Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation for their returning coach, Stephen Keshi.
A close source who spoke with a member of the committee on Thursday learnt that one of the major elements in the prepared document is that the former Nigeria captain gets a two-year contract rather than one or four years. PUNCH newspaper disclosed that the length of the tenure was part of the disagreement in the initial talk with the coach during the early part of the 2015 AFCON qualifiers. His first tenure as Eagles coach was from November 2011 to July 2014.
“What we have now is a proposal as the board can approve or change our decisions especially as it concerns the length of the contract and the conditions to meet before he can get an extension,” the NFF board member said on the telephone.

“A lot of things were taken into consideration in reaching those decisions but we are just a group in the entire body and it is now left for the entire federation board to consider and approve.”
The contract is programmed to end with the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. The competition in itself has a lot of significance to the general draft of the contract. Keshi is expected to qualify the country for the competition in the first instance and then take the Super Eagles to at least the semi finals level. It is only when he achieves that level that he could be considered to continue the run to the 2018 World Cup. If he gets the nod to continue, then he must also qualify the country for the World Cupfinals scheduled for Russia. Nigeria failed to qualify for AFCON 2015 under Keshi.
Keshi’s contract with the Nigeria federation expired with the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He was still negotiating for a renewal with the NFF when the country’s race to the 2015 African finals became wobbly. The federation relieved him of his position as the Eagles coach but was forced to return him to the Eagles bench at the intervention of the Presidency. Since the last quarter of 2014, the NFF and their estranged staff have endlessly negotiated the contract until last week when Technical Committee chairman Felix Anyasi-Agwu announced that Keshi had been picked as the sole candidate for the Eagles job.
The former Eagles captain is now also in the running for the coaching job in Burkina Faso. He has reportedly been selected for the final stage alongside two other coaches from Europe."