9,000 schools to compete in 2017 National Milo Basketball Championship

Col. Sam Ahmedu, President, International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Africa Zone 3 (left); Mr. Mauricio Alarcon, MD/CEO, Nestle Nigeria Plc; Mrs Omobola Babs-Akinyeye; Director of Co-curricular Services and representative of the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education; Mr. Olufemi Akintola, Category Manager, Beverages, Nestle Nigeria Plc; and Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad, President, Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF); during the 19th edition of the Milo Basketball Championship Press Conference, which held at Nestle Nigeria Head Office in Ilupeju, Lagos on Tuesday 25 April 2017.

The Basketball tourney, which is organized to discover talents and raise the standard of the dunking game in the country at the grassroots level, promises to be exciting as Nestle Milo have assured participating schools of the best support.

Speaking ahead of the championship, Category manger of Beverages, Nestle Milo, Olufemi Akintola stated that the championship is a national youth empowerment programme, adding that it had grown beyond expectations with over hundred thousand school children participating annually.

“Nestle Milo is proud to be part of the vision of building champions. This year participation has been expanded to more than 9,000 schools across 36 states of the federation and FCT,’’ he said.

The Central conference will hold in Abuja, with Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi and FCT will be jostling for honours. Confluence Conference will take place in Lokoja, Equatorial Conference in Enugu, while the Western Conference take place in Akure.The national finals for both male and female categories will be hosted in Lagos from June 10th to 17.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director and chief executive of Nestle, Mauricio Alarcon, has noted that the basketball tourney would assist student develop qualities that set the foundations for a child’s feature which imbibe the spirit of hardship and courage to overcome fear.