Abuja — Few hours after members of the victorious Golden Eaglets were received by a large crowd of enthusiastic Nigerians in Abuja, President Umaru Yar'Adua broke away from the handshake policy of the former government of President Olusegun Obasanjo as he announced handsome rewards for members of U-17 team.

President Yar'Adua who announced the reward at a presidential banquet in honour of the team said it was in recognition of the efforts of the team members and their gallantry.

In the reward announced Saturday night, each member of the Golden Eaglets team was awarded the National Honour of Member of the Order of the Niger , MON; while each of the six officials of the team were conferred with the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic, MFR.

In addition to the national honours, they were given a three bedroom bungalow in Abuja, the Certificate of Occupancy for which were given to the beneficiaries during the banquet.

President Yar'Adua said the victory of the Golden eaglets was "A challenge and an inspiration to us all; it has strengthened our faith in the emergence of a re-energized Nigeria. You have demonstrated that Nigeria and Nigerians have what it takes to be world leaders and major players on the world stage."

While expressing regrets that the national team, the Super Eagles had not performed so well in the recent past, President Yar'Adua tasked the Nigerian Football Association and the National Sports Commission to ensure that the country improves on its ranking in world football.

He also called on the relevant agencies to prosecute the forth-coming African Nations Cup and the 2014 Commonwealth Games bid with "utmost seriousness" adding that, "Nige-rians expect nothing less than the return of the trophy which we last won in 1994," in next year's African Cup of nation championship in Ghana.