24-7-2025
Former Super Eagles striker Brown Ideye has painted a pitiable picture of the Nigerian league saying that players’ welfare was of little concern to club officials.
Using Enyimba as an example he noted that poor player welfare and unstable bonus structures, which he describes as “deeply disappointing” and “unbelievable” are the hallmark of the Aba based club managed by former Super Eagles captain Nwankwo Kanu.
“At Enyimba, we were receiving N7,000 a day. Sometimes N8,000. It’s not even stable. One day it’s N7k, another day N8k,” he said while speaking on Bet9ja Home Turf podcast.
Even more concerning, Brown Ideye claimed that players are left to fend for themselves on match days, with no provision from the club.
“If we had a game on Sunday and travelled on Friday, they would pay N7,000 for Friday and Saturday, but on match day, Sunday, you’re on your own. No allowance.
“The worst part is you don’t get your match bonus weekly or monthly. They accumulate it and give it to you at the end of the season,” Ideye lamented.
He added that even those accumulated bonuses are arbitrarily decided, with no fixed agreement in place before the season begins. Club officials, he claimed, determine payouts based on the perceived importance of each match.
“It depends on what the captain, chairman or director agree on before the season”, he said. “There is no fixed structure. If it’s a game they really want to win, they may raise it to N30k or N40k. But on average, it’s N15k, sometimes N10k.”