The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has apologized to players and officials of the women's national side, the Super Falcons after they suffered extensive airport delays on their return to the capital.
The nine-time African champions arrived at Abuja's international airport in the early hours of Thursday from a qualifying game in Ivory Coast – where they sealed a spot at the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations – only to end up being held for four hours.
Coach Randy Waldrum and the Europe-based duo of Francisca Ordega and Rasheedat Ajibade voiced their frustrations after Nigeria's Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and airport officials prevented them from leaving because of issues with Covid-19 tests.
American Waldrum said the situation, which followed a two-hour flight, was "very frustrating".
But the NFF has absolved itself of any blame, describing the incident as "unfortunate".
"We had our protocol officers on the ground at the airport and they did [what was necessary] before the team arrived," NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi said in a statement.
"We are a responsible oorganizationand the various national teams have been going out and returning to Nigeria since these Covid-19 protocols, procedures, and guidelines started. We have never been caught napping.
"We had no control over how things would be approached by the officials in charge at the airport each time. In this particular case, we fulfilled our part of the requirements."
