As the global community heralds the dawn of a new year, the former president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Engr Ahmadu Musa Kida, has urged all basketball stakeholders in Nigeria to join hands in building a basketball system that will be self-sufficient and sustaining in the country.
In his New Year message, Kida congratulated Nigerians for witnessing a brand new year that will usher in positive results for Nigerian basketball.
“I congratulate you all for being amongst the chosen ones to witness a new year. 2021 was tough, especially with the world recovering from OVID-19 and battling with new variants that threatened to shut down the world”.
While reminiscing on 2021, Kida said it was a year characterised by needless bickering amongst stakeholders, which took shine off a glorious year.
“For us in basketball, Kida said, “it was a mixed experience qualifying for the Olympics (men and women teams for the first time in our history), the expectations and the outcome, as well as the Afrobasket championships experience and performance from our girls, winning the trophy for an unprecedented third straight time.”
He specially thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Chief Sunday Dare for their unwavering support towards the sustained growth and development of basketball and Nigeria’s emergence as a global powerhouse in basketball.
“In 2021, we were able to, successfully, hold the Divisions One and Two Championships and also officially resume the Men’s Premier League after years of forced hiatus as a result of legal actions instituted by some persons against the federation”.
