Basketball

3×3 Basketball Tourney will boost Nigeria’s FIBA AFCON Chances-Jutiboh

Published

6 years ago

October 12, 2019

Joel Ajayi

The Coordinator of the National 3×3 Basketball team and Chairman of FCT Basketball Association, Frank Jituboh has revealed that the ongoing maiden edition of Abuja 3×3 Basketball Invitational Tournament in the Federal Capital Territory will boost Nigeria chances at the forthcoming 2019 3×3 FIBA Africa Nations Cup in November.

The 3-day tourney which began on Friday saw a total of 23 teams Male and Female are in a fierce battle competing for the prizes.

He stated this on Friday after the match-day one inside MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja when the first edition of the 3×3 Basketball Invitational Tournament dunked off with teams a lot of expectations

Basketball 3×3 is a game that will last for a duration of just 10 minutes with a team with a higher number will emerge as the winner

Jutioh expressed that, the competition will see the national team currently in camp preparing for the 2019 3×3 FIBA Africa Nations Cup billed for Kampala in Uganda from November 7 to 11, 2019 taking part in the three-day event.

According to him, as you can see that all the matches are heavily contested. It’s interesting and players really, really playing and we are seeing a lot of talents here and we hope that it will continue like that.

“First of all, you know that 3×3 is now an Olympic sport, so this is developmental. We are trying to make our youths conscious of the new sport and you can see they’re embracing it properly and hopefully we will later in the coming years be able to harvest some of these players that are going through this process for the benefit of the country.

“Now we need to create awareness for this new sport. So there is a need for a competition like this for you to see that there is a lot of benefit in playing 3×3.

“Here today, we featured three male National teams and three women team and all teams won their matches even before the time, so we are assessing their level of preparedness for the Africa Cup, and I am satisfied so far.

“Winner will go home with N300,000 while the first and second runners up will receive N150,000 and N100,000 respectively”

He equally revealed that competition aim is to further promote the sport which will feature at the Japan Olympic Games next year

Some of the results played on the Matchday-1 includes Air warrior female team who beat the Black Gold 21-5 as the second game saw courts Queen whitewash FCT wings 21-3, as City Spank defeated APO Settlers 21-9

As for the Male category, Bruiser showed supremacy over Nigerian Prison beating them 21-9 while Grinders beat Dashi Mambas 21-12. as Ball Magician defeated team Fluency 21-15.

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Basketball

Senate Set to Endorse 30% Value Addition Requirement for Raw Materials

Published

2 weeks ago

May 20, 2025

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Nigerian Senate has assured Nigerians and Africans that the 30% raw materials bill would be passed this week and transmitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence.
Senate President, Sen. Godswill Akpabio gave the assurance on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Africa Raw Materials Summit 2025, held on Tuesday in Abuja, with the theme, “Shaping the Future of Africa’s Resource Landscape.”

Speaking through the Chairman, Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Sen. Aminu Abbas, Akpabio said, “I can assure you that the 30% value addition bill before the Senate will be passed this week and transmitted to the House Representatives for concurrence.”

Earlier in his speech, he said, “In the Nigerian Senate, we have resolved to be proactive in addressing this structural imbalance. It is in this spirit that I reaffirm our full legislative backing for the 30% Minimum Value-Addition Bill, currently under consideration. This groundbreaking bill mandates that no raw material of Nigerian origin shall be exported without undergoing a minimum of 30% local value addition—whether through processing, refining, packaging, or industrial transformation.

“This legislation is not intended to stifle trade; rather, it is designed to ignite domestic enterprise, create jobs, attract capital, and build resilient value chains that benefit our people.”

“We must reject the historic pattern in which Africa merely supplies inputs while others reap the benefits of innovation, branding, and global market control.” he added.

“It is my hope that this model will be replicated across African nations, with regional centres of excellence established to share data, technologies, and best practices in raw material development.”

He used the opportunity to call on African countries to replicate the legislation in their countries to boost their economies.

“Permit me, therefore, to echo the call for the adoption of an Abuja Declaration on Raw Materials and Industrial Transformation in Africa. Let this declaration not merely reside in summit communiqués but become a living charter—a reference for executive action, legislative alignment, and investment mobilisation.

“Let it guide our representations at the African Union, the G20, and global trade forums where Africa’s voice must no longer be that of a supplier, but that of a producer,” he said.

The Minister of Science Innovation and Technology, Chief Geoffrey Innaji, speaking through the Minister of Transport, said “We are deploying digital tools, traceability infrastructure, and research-to-industry pathways to strengthen intra-African trade under AfCFTA. This is how Africa moves from extraction to transformation—from potential to prosperity.

“Let this summit send a clear message: Africa will no longer export its future in raw form. Our minerals will power industries, our crops will feed global markets, and our youth will drive innovation,” he said.

On his part, the Minister of State for Industry, John Owen, in his speech noted that, “with African continental free trade area, I believe that a lot of opportunities are already being opened to see how we can do much more than we are currently doing, and the statistics in terms of export trade should be less in terms of exporting raw materials and more in terms of exporting finished goods.”

Commenting on the Summit, the Director General Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Nnanyelugo Ike-Mounso, in his speech said, “Today, in the heart of Africa, we gather not merely for a summit, but for a solemn declaration: Africa shall no longer be the warehouse of raw potential, but the workshop of refined prosperity.”

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