APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
Nigeria’s senior male basketball team, D’Tigers, will not participate in the FIBA Afrobasket Qualifiers that begins on Friday in Tunisia.
The Nigeria Basketball Federation said in a statement that lack of funds to prepare the team for the tournament was responsible for the withdrawal of the team and that Nigeria’s Ministry of Sports was unable to provide the NBBF with the needed funds for the qualifiers.
The statement recalled that in recent times, the female and male national basketball teams had not been experiencing the best of preparations for major continental and global championships, due to the perennial lack of funds.
It explained, however, that the financial burden of ensuring that national teams participate in these tournaments had been personally taken up by the President of NBBF, Engr. Musa Kida.
“While Kida, who is yet to be refunded the billions of naira, he has spent the participation of the various national teams is unable to raise more funds for the latest national assignment, the Ministry of Sports has not been able to come up with needed funds, citing lack of adequate funds to prosecute several other national engagements, including the forthcoming All Africa Games holding in Accra, Ghana in March.
“The board of NBBF, appeals to the ever-growing fans and lovers of the game in Nigeria and diaspora to understand the dire situation it found itself in view of the economic challenges faced by the country. Even as, it promised to redouble its efforts and commitments to the continued growth of the game in Nigeria,” the statement added.
GIK/APA