Basketball

Nigerians Clamour For The Return Of Ahmadu Musa Kida As NBBF President

Published

4 years ago

August 15, 2021

As Sports stakeholders countdown to the elections into the various National Sports Federations holding in September, participants in a discussion on an influential platform, Nigeria Sports Center, has thrown their weight behind the return of the Interim Caretaker Chairman of Nigeria Basketball Federation, Ahmadu Musa Kida as the substantive President of the Federation.

The discussion started with a post from one Wonderland Events on the “Best candidates for next month Federation election based on their recent performance”

He said that the Federations need President who can take their federations to the zenith in their various events, and presented the following choices for the Stakeholders among whom are: Squash (Mr. Boye Oyerinde), Volleyball ( Eng.musa Nimrod), Basketball (Eng Musa Kida), Badminton (Francis Orbih Esq), Wrestling ( Mr Daniel Igali), Scrabble (Mr. Sulaiman Garba), Handball (Mr. Samuel Ochie).

He stressed that the Federations need President who can keep the athletes busy with competitions and ensure that the country qualifies for the Commonwealth Games, All African Games and Olympics. “We need referees and coaching clinic too to upgrade knowledge of the technical officials” He concluded that these will save the country’s sports from going into extinction.

However, one Joseph Onekwu expressed curiosity on what Engr Musa Kida has done in Basketball to make him best candidate for the presidency?

This however, elicited responses from participants who went ahead to outline the various achievements of Engineer Musa Ahmed Kida at the Basketball Federation that makes him the best to occupy the position.

According to Wonderland Events, “Under Kida’s leadership, Nigeria qualified for the Olympics in male and female category. The first country to achieve this in Africa. Under Kida, Total Energy bought into division 1 and division 2 of our basketball league. This is a lower Division and not even the premier league. These are unprecedented success”

Continuing, he said “the Division one league is different from the premier league. You are aware that the premier league was put on hold by a court judgement and luckily the court has reversed the decision.

Right now, effort is on to start the league.

It is players from the league that can play for the senior national team, which can only be determined by the national team handlers. Remember that even in football, Rohr has always used foreign based players. Once the league start, it is the coach’s decision to now select players” he opined.

To Akeem Busari, Engr Musa Kida is the best thing to have happened to Basketball in Nigeria “Without gainsaying, Engr. Musa Kida is the best thing to happen to basketball in Nigeria, in recent times. We need not recount how he spent his hard-earned personal funds, resources and galvanized local and foreign support and interests for the game in Nigeria”.

“I am a great supporter of excellent, exemplary and selfless leadership in whatever sphere”.

“Remember, the long battle he fought and eventually won in the law courts to regain the basketball league and bring back sanity to the game”.

“Talking about the representation of local players in the basketball national teams, the almost comatose state of the game in Nigeria, obviously played a big role in the selection processes. Now, with coach Brown extending his contract, and the divisions 1&2 coming up, basketball development in Nigeria can only get better”.

“Engr. Musa Kida, like Musa Nimrod, Daniel Igali, CSP Abubakar Yakubu deserves another tenure in office” he concluded.

Dominic Ehimare summed it up saying “I am with Musa Kida for life. I have only come in contact with him once and he left an indelible impressive impression in me about how sports matters should reside in the hands of competent people and not square pegs in round holes”.

Others who spoke on the platform enumerated the achievements of the NBBF under Kida to include:

1. D’Tigress winning the Afro basketball back-to-back for the first time.

2. Qualified to the World Cup in Spain and got to the quarterfinals for the first time.

3. The D’Tigers too got to the final at first attempt and won the Afro Basketball at the second attempt.

4. The first African team to beat the USA and Argentina, both global power House in Basketball. Became the first country to qualify for the 2020 FIBA World Cup in China. Created an upset by defeating China enroute to qualifying for the 2020 Olympics without having to go for the playoffs, and this is the first time the D’Tigers are doing so.

They concluded that Kida is a man who does not wait for Government to release funds for him to set the ball rolling. “He funds his activities and wait for his refunds.

Such refunds are usually far less than what he spends, and he takes it like that without complaining.

He believes that he must make sacrifices sometimes to attract the best, around the world, to be part of the NBBF’s journey to the summit of global Basketball” they concluded.

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Basketball

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

Published

3 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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