Sports

Basketball Players Protest:NBBF President Igoche Mark Calls for Restraint

Published

3 years ago

April 10, 2022

The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Mr. Igoche Mark has called on Basketball players group, under the aegis of Concerned Progressive Ballers (CPB), to observe maximum restraint, and call off their plan to hit the streets of Abuja this week.

According to Mr. Mark, the NBBF is reliably informed by impeccable sources, that the players have vowed to stage a massive protest in Abuja, to bring to the attention of the Federal Government, and People of Abuja, what they described as, “clandestine moves” by Youth and Sports Development Minister, Mr. Sunday Dare, to foist Engr. Musa Kida on them as NBBF President.

In a swift reaction to the above, the NBBF in statement signed by its President, Mr. Mark cautioned the agitated players to exercise restrain, in digesting the rumours, concerning the Sports Ministry stance in the NBBF leadership impasse, which has now gone viral.

He described the report of the Sports Ministry preference for Engr. Kida as fake news, while noting that he remains the authentic NBBF President, as he was overwhelmingly voted into office, on January 31, 2022 in Abuja, by all key Stakeholders of Nigerian Basketball, in compliance with the guidelines, made available by the Sports Ministry.

“I want to plead with our players planning the protest or showdown with the Sports Ministry over the rumour or perceived bias in handling the post election crisis in the NBBF, to please exercise restraint and stay calm. As I speak, there has been no official communication from the Sports Ministry nullifying the election held at MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja where I and other members of our Board were elected. We followed the Ministry’s guidelines just like other federation boards that emerged in September, 2021. The report that the Sports Minister has nullified the elections of January 31, 2022 in Abuja is therefore baseless, a figment of the imagination of those circulating the rumor, or put simply fake news.

Mr. Mark went on to stress that the NBBF Board with him at the helm, will always prioritize the welfare, of players, home and abroad, and he has consequently directed the Players Rep in the Board, Mr. Stanely Gumut to meet with the aggrieved players on Monday with a view to listening to their grievances, offer them the true position of things, and ultimately pacify the aggitated ones among them.

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Sports

Fresh Air, As Dikko Resumes As NSC Chairman, Unveils 3-Pillar For Sports Growth

Published

9 hours ago

October 30, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The newly appointed Chairman of National Sports Commision Malam Shehu Dikko on Wednesday officially assumed office unveiled 3 Pillars to growth sport sector.

Just last week President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed Shehu Dikko as Chairman of the National Sports Commission.

Speaking shortly in Abuja after outgoing Minister of Sports Senator John Enoh officially handed over the affairs of the Country’s Sports to him in a brief ceremony in Abuja.

He expressed that the Country’s journey towards a sustainable Sports Economy has begun.

According to him, history has a way of coming full circle because in 2008 I was a consultant to the House of Representatives and was responsible for the drafting of the National Sports Commission Bill and about 16 years down the line i have here with the assignment to implement the work I assisted to put together”.

“The objective of Mr President is to harness the full potentials of the Sports Economy in Nigeria”.

“And we have to first change our mindset from the fixation of just competitions and winning medals and come back and fix our Domestic Sports Development”.

“When we set the foundation right the results and the winning of medals will naturally come in a sustainable manner and that should be the new mindset”.

“We cannot continue to run in cycles so we need to have a different approach from day one because in my view and indeed the view of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, competitions is what we call “Consumption” because we just take scarce resources and burn out abroad without any impact on the domestic sports development and the Nigerian Economy.

“But we have to go back to “Production” which is deliberate Sports Development, where we set the structure right, set the framework and put together good parameters to have a sustainable Sports Development which will naturally give us a solid Sports Economy and indeed guaranteed competitive participation at all competitions and medals.

“This is the reason why our administration will be focus on three Pillars including running Sports as a National Asset, that is entitled to special privileges, regulations and concessions to drive growth and development to open its potentials to be a key driver of the economy across all sectors, a vehicle for achieving national cohesion and projection of the positive and unique attributes of our culture and national identity “.

” We have to also work on Legislations and Regulations so as to set the framework to enable the Industry to grow effectively like what happened in the communications industry some years back”.

” The other Pillar is investing in purposeful world class infrastructures that will provide an enabling environment for Growth. These infrastructures must be deliberate with maintenance culture and span from world class infrastructure for professional sports to community infrastructure to drive grassroots sports and mass participation across the country.

” The thinking of Mr President is that , after having some of all these in place we should be able to measure the Country’s Sports by its contribution to the nation’s GDP by at least three percent and the number of jobs sports and its value chain are providing in country in the next four to five years and indeed our competitiveness across all competitions and tournaments.

Thus it’s a fantastic decision for Mr. President to approve the return of the National Sports Comission to drive the process and objectives in line to the best international practices and standards devoid of any beureucratic bottlenecks but absolute professionalism.”

In his remark, the outgoing Sportst Minister Senator John Enoh expressed: “For me it’s farewell, it’s bye bye and for mallam shehu Dikko it’s welcome that is what life is all about, there is time for everything.

He however thumbed president Tinubu for scrapping Sports Ministry and bring back the NSC to enable sports to grow in the country, saying that the decision remain a great positive that will grow Sports.

On his remark, the most senior staff of the ministry, Director of Medicine Paul Onyedo pledged staff support to work with incoming Chairman to the best of their ability. “We are ready to give our best.”

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