April 13, (THEWILL) – The Board of Directors of the Nigeria Basketball Federation’s (NBBF), met on April 9th, 2022, at the Capital Club in Victoria Island, Lagos, to discuss critical matters that will propel the Nigerian Basketball Federation ahead.
The meeting began with a minute of silence in honour of the late husband of one of the Board members, Professor Florence Adeyanju.
The meeting, which was chaired by NBBF President Engr Ahmadu Musa Kida, came to the following conclusions about the Federation’s agenda:
1) The Board expressed appreciation to the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Federal Ministry of Youth & Sports Development (FMYSD), towards the development of sports in Nigeria, and Basketball in particular, for the benefit of the teeming youths of Nigerian, especially in the last 4 years.
2) The Board resolved to continue the cooperation and collaboration with the FMYSD as the ministry continues to carry out its statutory functions as the supervisory body for Sports in Nigeria, while the NBBF will continue to strive to execute all of its basketball programmes for the country going forward, and as prescribed in its approved Constitution.
3) The Board resolved to make a concerted and genuine effort to carry along all genuine stakeholders of basketball in order to resolve the acrimony and mistrust, which has permeated the basketball family for sometime now, and which manifested towards the end of the tenure of the last NBBF Board.
4) The Board also resolved to set up a Peace Committee that will be composed of well-known and respected Basketball aficionados, that will be tasked with the singular objective of genuinely reconciling all members of the Nigerian Basketball Family for the good of the game, and to move forward in unison, once and for all.
5) The Board resolved its willingness for the amendment of certain portions of the 2019 NBBF constitution, as proposed or requested by all basketball stakeholders:
a. The board has thus set in motion the processes, as required by the constitution for the Amendments, which will include submissions already received from some stakeholders, and the FMYSD that have been collated already.
b. All state associations and members of the NBBF shall therefore be communicated to submit their proposals as expressed by them in the last two extraordinary and the elective Congresses, while a newspaper publication shall be made inviting the wider stakeholders for their contributions. All views and positions of all the stakeholders will be sent to the NBBF Secretariat via mail within the specified time for final collation.
c. All the collated views, opinions and inputs will be extensively deliberated upon at a Board Meeting and a thorough brief prepared and forwarded to all members of the congress with the minimum 21-day constitutional notice for an Extraordinary Congress for the necessary amendments, where necessary, and as required.
The amended constitution, as approved by the congress, will be forwarded to the under-listed for their final input and advice:
i. Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development (FMYSD)
ii. Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC)
iii. International Basketball Federation (FIBA)
e. The final amended constitution will be forwarded to FIBA for their necessary approval for the amendments to be official and operational.
f. Copies of the final amended constitution, as approved by FIBA, will be domiciled with all the relevant bodies, the 36 States Basketball Associations, the FCT and all the other affiliate organs of the NBBF.
The Board expressed its determination to take the constitution amendment exercise seriously, and respect the constitutional provisions so as to put to a final rest the grievances and other misgivings associated with the 2019 NBBF approved constitution.
6) The Board also deliberated on, and adopted the Programme of Activities for the year 2022. The Board directed the NBBF Secretariat to release the adopted Programme of activities, which will include local and international training activities, within the next week, after the approved adjustments proposed by members were effected.
7) The Board also resolved to reach out to institutions of higher learning other than NUGA, and the NSSF, with which it is already collaborating on developmental issues; viz NIPOGA and NATCEGA, to widen the scope of support that the NBBF can offer to basketball events for the growth and development of the game in those institutions and in Nigeria as a whole.
8) The Board also resolved that all known Invitational Tournaments in existence in Nigeria should be captured and harmonised on the NBBF Programme of Activities calendar, to make for easy coordination. To this end, all progenitors of such events were to be encouraged to notify the NBBF of their events so that these events can be captured on the NBBF Calendar.
9) The Board mandated the NBBF President to conclude the process of setting up the relevant sub – Committees, as quickly as possible, to enhance the smooth running of the activities of the Board/ Federation.
Babs Ogunade, Mr. Adamu Deshi and President Musa Kida were present at the meeting. Also there in person were Olumide Oyedeji, Ugo Udezue, Suraj Yusuf, Prof Musa Yakasai, Felix Awogu and Victor Okoro.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Abba Kaka Abdulkadir, Prof Florence Adeyanju, and Col Sam Ahmedu (Rtd) were in attendance via Zoom. But, Scott Nnaji and Stanly Gumut were both absent.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
