‘Teams to play more games this season’
The President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), Musa Kida, has assured stakeholders that his board will accept whatever verdict passed by the world basketball ruling body, FIBA, on the tenure dispute that is threatening to tear the federation apart.

The lingering crisis in the NBBF board recently assumed a new dimension with some stakeholders claiming that the current board’s tenure elapsed in January, while the Kida-led board is insisting that their tenure will end in October.

Speaking after the NBBF’s board meeting in Lagos, Kida said that efforts were on to resolve the crisis that has stunted the growth of the game in recent times, adding that FIBA is working to resolve the issues.

“It is a matter of constitutionality and the final destination of that definition of constitutionality will be subsumed by the governing authority of basketball in the world.

“As you are all aware, there are some that have written petitions and protests to FIBA. All these have been collapsed into one single file that I think FIBA is looking at. We can only just wait for that kind of ruling because that’s our affiliation globally in terms of legitimacy.

“The board will adhere to whatever verdict FIBA comes up with. If you remember in 2017, we had a case with FIBA like that also. What I am very certain of is whatever they come up with will be respected by everybody.

“So, it’s good to allow them to put the time in for the good work that needs to be done.”

He confessed that the crisis has taken a toll on basketball development, saying that some of the potential have had to withdraw due to the lingering issues.

“It is unfortunate that some of those involved in the crisis have gone as far as writing to our potential partners with lies targeting at dissuading them from partnering with us.

“But we are happy that some of these potential sponsors read their motives and braved the odds to relate with us.”
 
Despite the ‘distractions’ by the crisis, Kida said that the NBBF has started programmes that will ensure that the game develops in tandem with the abundant talents scattered across the country. Specifically, Kida said that despite the various challenges faced by his board, the NBBF has worked in concert with its partners to ensure that Nigeria returns to the summit of the game in Africa.
 
The NBBF president, who is currently the chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) board, said that the federation has approved NBBF’s 2026 activities calendar, adding that the NBBF has a dense schedule of events for the year.

Kida said that one of the features of the coming season is that the teams will have enough championships to keep them busy in all the divisions, men and women, noting that “this year also we have a lot of continental events. But the ones that we take absolute pride in is our divisions, one and two for the men.

“There is also the local league for the women sponsored by Zenith Bank, which now has an additional division. We are going to have two divisions, two leagues in women’s basketball.
 
“Not lost on us also is the quality of the premier league we held last year. I think we are priding ourselves in things that are not said, as the teams played most matches per year, per league year, that they did last year than in any recent past.”
 
He said that the Zenith Bank-sponsored women’s league has been restructured into two competitive tiers, including the Zenith Bank Women’s Premier League – featuring the top 16 teams in the country and the Zenith Bank Women’s Division One – a newly established developmental platform comprising 16–17 teams, serving as a feeder system into the Premier League.

“I am happy to see that the gap between the so-called big teams and the others is narrowing. It shows that basketball is being played everywhere and the skills are being developed at the grassroots level.

“We want to give our local players the platform to showcase their talents and potentially make it to the national teams. The goal is to have a sustainable league that can attract sponsors and provide a career path for our youth.”