It becomes imperative for Nigeria government to step into the lingering leadership tussle bedevilling the game of basketball in Nigeria.
The tussle had dealt a big blow to the development of the game in Nigeria to the extend that no Professional Domestic Leagues were held in the country for more than 4 years.
The basketball administrators unfortunately dont bother about the development and survival of over 4,000 local players, many of whom have left sport to find other way of survival leaving the players and game to suffer while they smile to bank in the name of International matches. The deterioration of the game at the home front particularly at this time needs government intervention to safe it from those pretenders.
Here are some of the reasons the Federal Government come to rescue the game.
1) No basket ball domestic league in Nigeria for almost 4 years.
2) 0ver 4,000 young basket ball players denied the opportunity of a career.
3) Hundreds of coaches, referees and support staff are thrown out of jobs because there was no league
4) Big Sponsors like Zenith for over 10 years stopped sponsoring Basketball. About 5 major sponsors took off due to the leadership crisis
5) Nigeria was banned from participating in Basketball African League (BAL) even after government got Nigeria qualified. FIBA dared Nigeria because the NBBF reported to the world governing body that government was interfering
6) Both the Male and Female basketball teams threatned many times in writing that they will not play for Nigeria at the world cup or any international competitions unless the Kida led board is changed.
7) FIBA has refused to engage constructively with Government but only listen to some board members. FIBA said Ministry was 3rd party and should not say anything about Basketball in Nigeria.
This is a Violation of the code of Governance and theconstitutional powers of the Ministry as supervsing Ministry.
