Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko, has ruled out calls for an NFF-style mass resignation at the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) following D’Tigress’ disappointing campaign at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Germany.
Nigeria endured a difficult tournament, losing all three of their Group B matches and exiting at the first hurdle, with their campaign ending in a heavy 111–56 defeat to France.
The outcome represented a sharp contrast to the team’s recent continental dominance and their historic run at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Despite the disappointment, Dikko does not believe responsibility for the World Cup performance should automatically be placed on the NBBF board.
The NSC chairman maintained that the federation fulfilled its responsibilities by providing the team with the necessary preparations for the global tournament and should therefore not face the kind of mass leadership exit recently witnessed at the Nigeria Football Federation.
His position comes at a particularly significant time for Nigerian basketball, with the tenure of the current NBBF board led by Musa Kida approaching its conclusion.
FIBA has recognised the mandate of the current board until October 15, 2026, with a newly elected leadership expected to begin its tenure on October 16. The international basketball body expects the election to take place following the Women’s World Cup and no later than the October deadline.
Dikko indicated that any reforms or changes the NSC considers necessary for Nigerian basketball will therefore be pursued with the new board after the election, rather than through demands for immediate resignations.
That approach differs significantly from the upheaval currently taking place in Nigerian football, where the resignation of the previous NFF leadership opened the door for comprehensive structural reforms backed by the NSC. FIFA has subsequently supported continued engagement over a reform roadmap.
For basketball, however, Dikko appears determined to allow the existing electoral process to determine the next leadership before addressing possible administrative reforms.
The NBBF election itself is already attracting scrutiny. Recent reports indicate that, with the October 15 deadline approaching, a detailed electoral roadmap, electoral committee and timetable had yet to be publicly announced, raising concerns among stakeholders about whether the transition will be completed on schedule.
Dikko’s defence of the federation also comes after the NSC completed payment of the presidential cash rewards promised to D’Tigress for winning a fifth consecutive Women’s AfroBasket title in 2025. The commission confirmed on September 9 that players and officials had received the rewards promised by President Bola Tinubu.
The World Cup disappointment will inevitably trigger questions about what went wrong in Germany, but Dikko’s position is that those questions should not automatically translate into a wholesale removal of basketball administrators.
For the NSC chairman, D’Tigress’ World Cup failure demands assessment — not an NFF-style purge — with the next NBBF election providing the opportunity to shape the future of Nigerian basketball.
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