The Director General of the National Sports Commission NSC, Bukola Olopade, has congratulated the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, Musa Kida, for his appointment as the new Board Chairman of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

 Olopade said Musa Kida has been one of Nigeria’s most efficient and Productive Sports administrators who has sacrificed a lot for the growth of Nigerian Basketball.

The DG maintained that his latest appointment is a testament to his years of passion, hard work, dedication and a very successful track record in the oil sector for more than two decades.

” Musa Kida is an accomplished administrator whose achievements cut across both the oil sector and Nigerian basketball. I   have no doubt that the NNPC Limited will attain better efficiency and attract more investment under his watch”.

” Under his leadership as the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, we have seen the steady growth of the country’s basketball and how the National teams have continued to achieve new heights.

” At the last Olympic Games in France, the Nigeria Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress was one of the shining stories for Team Nigeria, where they set a new record by making it to the knockout phase before losing to the United States”.

” I personally know the efforts behind the scenes that kida put in for Nigeria to achieve that feat with the girls in France and the Nigerian girls have been an unrivalled team on the continent for some time now”.

The DG added that he does not doubt that  Musa Kida will use his new position to further earnest the development of Nigerian Sports especially basketball especially now that there is a new focus on growing a sustainable Sports Economy.

” Whilst the Oil sector will benefit immensely from the Expertise of  Musa Kida as the new Board Chairman of the NNPC Limited, Mr President, has further helped to place Nigerian Sports in a better pedestal by putting one of us in a very strategic place like the NNPC”, he concluded.

Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H

The 16 teams that will be competing at this year’s FIBA AfroBasket from 12-24 August have been confirmed, with some teams securing their places on the final day of qualifying.

A quintet of individuals put in stellar performances to send their teams to this year’s African championship in style.

Teams have 169 days to prepare for the 2025 edition of the AfroBasket set to be hosted by former champions Angola, who will be chasing a record-extending 12th title.

FIBA- Africa looked at the matches and the players and featured nine players who were the stars of the final day on Sunday.

Here is FIBA’s analysis: The return of the Tokyo Olympian has been a blessing for Abdulrahman Mohammed’s Nigeria.

For the second game in a row, Agada was a thorn in their side’s side, scoring 23 points in a convincing 77-62 win over 2021 AfroBasket semifinalists Cape Verde.

The 30-year-old played just over 30 minutes and finished two rebounds shy of a double-double while adding six assists and five steals for an efficiency rating of 29.

Nigeria entered the competition after an 0-3 start, but his disruptive presence on the floor helped them to a 3-0 run to qualify, averaging 19 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists.

The other players highlighted are: Ousmane Drame of Guinea, Karim Maneof Senegal, Childe Dundao of Angola, Siriman Kanoute of Mali, as well as Ntore Habimana (Rwanda) Aliou Fadiala Diarra (Mali) Allan Dokossi (Central African Republic)and  Nisre Zouzoua  (Cote d’Ivoire)

Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H

It turned into a 100 per cent performance for Nigeria’s men’s basketball team, D’Tigers as they won all their three Group B matches of the AfroBasket 2025 qualifiers, setting a pace for the men’s football team, Super Eagles who like D’Tigers, have a bad head start in their World Cup qualifying duels.

D’Tigers went into the last qualifying window for the 2025 AfroBasket qualifying series as the bottom-placed team in Group B.

But they turned things around with their opening defeat of hosts, Libya and followed up with that of Uganda.

Initial front-runners, Cape Verde on Sunday evening became their third victim after inflicting a 77-62 defeat on the island nation.

As in the previous matches, the Nigerian team came from behind to achieve success.

They trailed 26-22 in the first quarter. In the second quarter, they had a massive 26-7 win before Cape Verde stepped up their game in the third quarter, winning 21-13.

Nigeria bounced back in the final quarter, winning 16-8 to achieve the aggregate 77-62 win.

Watch the highlights here: https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-afrobasket-2025-qualifiers/games/118738-NGR-CPV

Follow the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H