Super Eagles of Nigeria are expected to arrive in Brazil late,
less than 36 hours before their opening match of the men's Olympic football
tournament as a result of flight problems. The delay has been blamed on a
"logistical mix-up" with operators of a charter aircraft.
Samson Siasia's squad are due to play Japan at 0100GMT on
Friday in Manaus, but the squad are
still in Atlanta with the charter airline refusing to leave until full payment
has been made.
"The sports ministry is responsible for booking the
tickets for the team to travel but we heard there is a logistical mix-up with
payments," a source close to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) told
BBC Sport.
"The money paid by the ministry for the charter flight
did not hit airline's account on Tuesday so they refused to fly the team to
Brazil."
The problems seem to have happened due to the money having
to go through different bank accounts and currency conversions.
"It is a cumbersome exercise but they should have
started the process much earlier, which NFF was pointing out. This issue has
nothing to do with the NFF," the source explained.
He added that everyone in the NFF was "disturbed"
by the situation because Nigeria's first game is on Thursday when they take on
Japan in Manaus.
The BBC has spoken to several players in the party, who say
they do not yet know when they will be travelling.
One of the players explained: "We've been told to get
ready to fly out in few hours but that's been the story since last week."
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