By: Chinedum Ohanusi
A former member of the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Mr. Ejike Ugboaja (MFR) has urged new Minister of Sports, Senator John Owan Enoh to as a matter of urgency, wade into the impasse amongst critical stakeholders of basketball in the country, by bringing the contending parties to a negotiation table, with a view to ending the protracted crisis once and for all.
Mr. Ugboaja made the call, in a letter of congratulation to the new Sports Minister, who resumed office on Monday, immediately after he was sworn into office, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Ugboaja who served as players’ representative, on the board of the NBBF, during the initial four-year tenure of its President, Engr. Musa Ahmadu Kida, noted in the congratulatory letter, he signed as the Chief Executive Officer of his foundation; that after about seven years of leadership tussle, the domestic component of basketball has suffered a great deal, and the time for a fresh start, is now.
Mr. Ugboaja is the first Nigerian to be drafted to the NBA, straight from the Nigerian basketball league to the Cleveland Cavaliers; but the 38-year-old is pained that domestic basketball in the country has gone moribund since the onset of the NBBF crises, in the aftermath of the fiercely disputed federation election of 2016.
“In almost all the Sports Federations in Nigeria, there are divisions and disagreements amongst the stakeholders; but except in basketball, non has stopped the domestic development of the game, especially the elite leagues, except for the basketball federation therefore, . It’s therefore pertinent that you use your good office, to restore unity in the board, amongst stakeholders, so that the sport can thrive again”; he said.
He also noted that, although many may run to the Minister pretending that all is well, the truth of the matter is that all is not well with many of the elite sports federations, in the country; and the only way Senator Enoh can surpass the achievement of his predecessors is to drive the sector progressively, and devoid of unnecessary frictions, “because a house that is divided against itself will definitely not stand”.
Mr. Ugboaja, who has through his foundation helped over two thousand Nigerian youths to secure professional careers abroad in Basketball, American Football and Soccer, added that the Minister should identify genuine stakeholders in every sports and work with them for the growth of the sports in the country.
“Some persons may not want the Minister to know that all is not well in our sports because they are benefiting from the defective system, and division amongst stakeholders in the sector. Most of them ordinarily should not be where they are today in sports because they are not adding value to it; rather they are milking the sector, but these anomalies got to stop”.
After winning the 2017 men’s Afrobasket, and qualifying as the sole African team at the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo Japan; D’Tigers of Nigeria have continued to decline in status.
First, they finished 2nd to Tunisia in 2019; placed overall 12th at the 2021 championship in Rwanda; and recently failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 FIBA Africa Olympics Qualifying Tournaments (OQTs), despite still being ranked No.1 on the continent, and given the hosting rights, on a platter.
But of all these worrisome trend, the inability to have the elite men’s and women’s leagues, had resulted in many players, coaches, referees and commissioners losing their means of lively hoods; while it appeared as if there’s no end in sight for the face-offs.