In Nigeria, football is number one sport and that is no news. Any issue relating to the game is always a big subject all over the country.
When the national team is on duty, there is unity as the entire country will stand still behind the team. This cuts across male and female teams, including age grade and senior national teams.
However, there have been many uncertainties around the beautiful game loved by many enthusiasts in the country in recent times.
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The Nigeria Football Federation sent a petition to FIFA over the eligibility status of some players of DR Congo to feature in the World Cup Playoff against Nigeria, which was lost on penalties. FIFA, during the week, opened accreditation process for the final intercontinental playoff billed for Mexico.
It is almost certain that DR Congo will feature in the competition and Nigerians are still waiting on the same football body to remove DR Congo and replace it with Nigeria, but this is uncertain.
Also, the Women Africa Nations Cup is billed to start originally on March 16, but the host city is not certain.
It was originally slated to take place in Morocco, but after the AFCON loss to Senegal at the finals, the government of Morocco has been showing signs that suggest that WAFCON might not be staged in the North African country.
South Africa has signified interest to host the competition despite the short time left before the event, but the Confederation of Africa Football is yet to give a verdict as at the time of this piece. Whatever happens, the suspense is unnecessary because football is supreme.
In Nigeria’s domestic league, Enugu Rangers are now tops as Rivers United, with three games in the kitty, are still favoured to win just as Ikorodu City were surprisingly walloped 4-0 by Bendel Insurance.
So much uncertainty, just as former champions; Enyimba, Kano Pillars and defending NPFL winners, Remo Stars are battling for safety in the elite cadre of the domestic league. However, it is a different situation with the basketball family.
Basketball in Nigeria has been engulfed in crisis in the past 20 years if not more. The successes recorded in the game within this period are due to the doggedness of the athletes and the administrators, who put in so much just to prove a point.
Musa Kida, President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, has never lost any match in women basketball on the continent. In his tenure, D’Tigress have won the AfroBasket five times consecutively.
This is heartwarming. The same cannot be said of the male team. The sponsorship deal of the women league has Zenith Bank as the pillar for the past 20 years, but the male league had issues with previous administrators and it reflected in the results posted on the continent.
Unlike the women, the men’s league has been engulfed in crisis of sort and they have been unable to prove their mettle on the continent despite some arrays of stars in the NBA.
I have been covering sports beat for the past 30 years, basketball inclusive. Sadly, crises have always been a major issue in the administration of basketball.
From sponsorship to operational issues and the day-to-day running of the sport, it has always been problematic.
Ordinarily, the tenure of the NBBF Board is supposed to be over latest January 31, but as I write, there is controversy over when the next election would take place.
The election that brought in Musa Kida on January 30, 2022 had officials of the Federation of International Basketball Association in attendance and he was duly sworn-in but somehow, another election, which held simultaneously in Abuja, was upheld by the Ministry of Sports. An interim body was set up, but in the end, the ministry endorsed Kida on October 6, 2022.
Between January and October, Nigeria took part in an international event under the supervision of the ministry, but Kida was not involved.
On paper, the tenure of the Kida board expires October 6, 2026 since that was the date the Ministry of Sports, under Sunday Dare, gave for the expiration of the tenure.
Aspirants, stakeholders and other people in the basketball family are already singing different tunes on this development.
It is important to state that the Osun and Ekiti Governorship elections will take place in August 2026 as they are off-cycle elections.
And so, if the NBBF, under Kida, was recognized in October, the election can only hold at the same time after four years.
Others can say whatever they like, but the truth is that the board did not function the same day or time with other federations. Basketball stakeholders need to come together to fashion out a way forward for the sport
