The federal government has stepped in to pay the N78 million outstanding wages of Super Eagles manager, Stephen Keshi and his assistant.

Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, said he had received approval from President Goodluck Jonathan to pay the money.

“The Presidency has made arrangements to pay the salary arrears of the coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi,” he said. “We (the sports ministry) don’t have the responsibility of paying the coaches. The (Nigerian Football) Federation has that responsibility.

“But the government cannot say ‘let the federation handle it on their own’ anymore. Since it was not in our budget, I had to appeal to the Presidency and everything should be cleared soon.”

The Nigerian Football Federation, which relies on government funding, has been plagued by financial worries in recent years and receives little in the way of private sponsorship.

There are complaints that the budget is inadequate to meet the team’s commitments.