In the past, football has always been Nigeria’s favourite but it was evident that the coming of Ahmadu Musa Kida as the President of Nigerian Basketball Federation, NBBF,  in June 2017  breaks the football dominance by his numerous  initiative and achievement so far.

It’s even known to the blind that the former board of the NBBF did not hand over anything to Musa Kida, he beat every hurdle to ensure the basketball in the country breaks even.

Ahmadu, an ex- basketball player who swung into action by dusting the policies and programmes of his well meaning predecessors who had laid progressive developmental foundations for basketball, NBBF, in the country.

The current Caretaker Chairman of the Board of (NBBF) started on good notes, indeed by putting smiles on the faces of over 205 million people in the country when he guided the men’s national team to finish second to host Tunisia, at the 2017 Afro-basketball tourney.

In the same year, he led the Nigeria women’s team to win the Afro-basketball Women title in Mali. The girls didn’t lose a single game on their way to the final and picked a ticket to Nigeria’s first Women World Cup and gave the President Muhammadu Buhari government the first sports trophy.

Engr. Kida, sunk personal funds and brought to bear his connections to promote the game in Nigeria. In April 2018, the NBBF signed N60 million sponsorship deals for the Nigerian Divisions 1 and 2 male basketball leagues with Total Nigeria Limited.

In 2018, the women’s team played in the FIBA World Cup in Tenerife, Spain where they finished 8th to set an African record of emerging the first African team to reach a quarterfinal place.

Under Kida, Nigeria hosted, for the first time in 23 years, the FIBA World Cup African qualifiers. Given the organization that was put in place, FIBA granted Nigeria a second window, a rare opportunity given only to Angola after Nigeria

Against all odds, Kida has made in-roads to the Olympics for both female national teams.

Though many call it friendly, it’s on record that Nigeria’s D’Tigers made history to beat the USA for the first time in a Basketball match!

Nigeria caused a big upset, becoming the first African country to hand the USA a rare defeat in a Basketball match, beating their opposition by 90-87 points, in what was a thrilling team effort from the team.

Many people says the USA victory  was a fluke but the D’Tiger under the leadership of Musa smashed Argentina 94-71 

This simply means that Nigeria defeated after beating the USA, the FIBA-ranked No.1 team, D’tigers followed up that victory with another eye-catching win over the No.4-ranked Argentines.

At the FIBA General Assembly in Beijing, the Nigeria Basketball Federation was adjudged the most “Improved in Women Basketball development” and was presented with an award accordingly. Nigeria’s ranking in FIBA has been at number 1 in Africa in the last two years and got to an all-time high of 23 in the world after the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China 2019.

Unlike in the past, top-flight Nigerian players never had the opportunity to play before their families but the NBBF board under Kida not only did this for the men but also did the same for the women’s team that trained in Nigeria before heading out for competitions. The Nigeria men’s team emerged the first country to qualify for the FIBA Basketball World Cup outside host nation China with three matches to spare.

Having seen the accomplishment under the able leadership of Musa Kida in Basketball, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare has showered encomiums on the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation for its continued efforts in rewriting the history of basketball in Nigeria.

Speaking recently in Lagos, Mr Dare noted that the NBBF board under the leadership of Engr Ahmadu Musa Kida has made Nigerians proud with great achievements at the national, continental and international stage.

Reeling out the achievements, the minister re-emphasized that, “Nigeria’s Men’s Team is the first in Africa and 23rd in the world. D’Tigress is the first in Africa and 14th in the world. These rankings were premised on the numerous victories and accolades by both teams at both Africa and world levels”.

Still on the unprecedented records set by the board, Minister eulogized the board for masterminding such noble achievements unrivalled in the history of African basketball.

With these achievements and many more to come, none of his predecessors has ever beaten the feat of Musa Kida in the history of basketball in the nation.

Whoever did well should be encouraged to do more and Nigerians should rally round Kida for continuity in Baseball progressive development support.

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