Basketball

NBBF Elections: Basketball Players, ask Engr. Kida to step down

Published

4 years ago

October 27, 2021

.. Thumbs sport ministry for prompt intervention

Joel Ajayi

The Nigerian Basketball players on Tuesday asked Caretaker Chairman of Basketball Federation Engr Musa Kida who is contesting for the position of the president, to step down for the electoral committee to do its job a action the will bring free and fair elections into the board of basketball in the country.

This even as the stakeholders in their numbers thanked sports ministry for the indefinitely suspension of the Federation election slated for 30th October in Benin Edo state by Engr. Kida.

Addressing Journalists in a world Press conference on Tuesday in Abuja on behalf of the group, the players’ representative in the NBBF board, Stanley Gumut, said all the players asking for is fair play.

We want to appericiate federal Ministry of youth and sports development we started this journey some weeks ago demanding right thing should be done in Basketball, and ministry have indeed shown leadership.

“Our prayer is that the former caretaker committee’s chairman, Musa Kida, will stop parading himself as the caretaker chairman so as to allow for fair play.

“This is very important because if these things continue to linger, that means we have not headed anywhere yet.

Nigerian Basketball stakeholders will not fold their hands to watch basketball go down

“We so desire our national leagues, age grade group games as well as our women league come back to us.”
He called on the government to do the needful, stressing that; “they were the one who made him [Kida] a caretaker committee chairman they should not shy away from removing him.

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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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