The Nigeria Football Federation has admitted that major kit manufacturers, Puma, rejected several overtures made to them to kit the Super Eagles before the Nike deal was finally achieved.

A member of the federation’s board, Emeka Inyama, confirmed to Africanfootball.com that Puma turned down the chance to kit the three-time African champions after Adidas decided not to renew their contract with Nigeria.

He said, “Puma turned down the chance to sponsor the Eagles and so it is the right step in the right direction that Nike came in after the Adidas contract ended.

“Puma’s reluctance may not be far-fetched because no reputable organisation wants to partner with you when your administration is not stable. You know the crisis we went through before now, the world is a global village and these things are known worldwide.”

Apart from the NFF crises, some of the Adidas correspondence with the NFF previous board obtained by The PUNCH last year highlighted other issues. The Germany-based firm complained that the terms of the contract were highly violated by Nigeria. It was learnt that the company severally complained about players and officials wearing rival brands while officially in camp.

The PUNCH published a photo of a key Eagles official wearing a Nike cap during a training session while the Adidas contract was subsisting.

But on Tuesday, Inyama, who is the NFF Marketing Committee chairman, added that the three-and-half year deal with Nike is 90 per cent value in kind.

The NFF last week revealed that Nike would invest $2.75m in kit supply to all of the country’s national teams for the period of the contract.

“You know that contractual agreements are not discussed in public but for the sake of Nigerians and the clear insinuations that the NFF may be hiding the amount it would benefit from the deal, I can tell you that the contract with Nike is 90 per cent value for kind,” Inyama said.

“We are going to get kit supplies to the region of $2.75m for all the national teams and I think that is enormous considering the fact that several kit manufacturers turned us down after Adidas decided not to renew its contract.

“There may be no immediate cash reward from the contract but our national teams will benefit once they qualify for major tournaments.”

The Eagles, according to the NFF, will earn as much as $500,000 should they qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The NFF has also stated that the Super Falcons will be the first Nigerian team to use the new Nike kits in a competitive game when they take on Mali in an Olympics qualifying match on May 9 in Abuja.

This was confirmed by the General Secretary of the federation, Mohammed Sanusi, when he visited the team at its training centre in Abuja on Tuesday. The original statement from the football house last week announced that the U20 team, the Flying Eagles, would be the first to use the Nike kits at the FIFA World Cup in New Zealand.

Sanusi said, “I urge you to be disciplined and desist from acts that will bring problems between Nike, our new kit sponsors and the Federation. I must say here that one of the problems we had with Adidas was because some players were not respecting the terms of the contract. I urge you to assist the NFF in every contract we enter into.”