Nigeria’s ministry of youth and sports has announced that all basketball teams, both male and female would not participate in global competitions. This decision was also approved by President Muhammadu Buhari,
This means that the national team, club teams, and officials are all excluded from all international competitions and meetings. One of the implications of this decision is that the teams would be missing the World Cup for both male and female categories.
The ministry had justified this decision in a letter stating why they had to do it. They said that it was because of the unending drama in the basketball federation that is almost crippling it. The ministry also said that this decision would enable the country to revamp the sport and focus on domestic and grassroots leagues which are almost forgotten.
The Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) would also be dissolved and an interim committee would be appointed to oversee the management of the game in the country.
The governing body, FIBA, is yet to comment on this decision as it is one of their rules that government should not interfere with sports.
