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How Nigerian Officials Diverted $100,000 Meant For  D’Tigress Team

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Officials of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development have been accused of failing to distribute $100,000 (N41.1million) allowances donated by three banks to Nigeria’s women basketball team for their Tokyo 2020 Olympic participation.
Speaking with newsmen, a member of the senior women basketball team, D’Tigress, revealed that their allowances, bonuses, training grant worth $4,900 had also not been paid.
She added that none of the D’Tigress team members would show up in camp in preparation for the February 2022 FIBA World Cup if the Nigerian government failed to pay them.
“The last time we checked, some of our allowances, bonuses and training grants have not been paid. All our accounts numbers have been submitted but still no remittance. Donations made by banks for players, officials, volunteer stipends etc. dating all the way back to 2018 but I will let the managers address the vendor/contractor’s situation, she said.
“They forget we all have a relationship and do communicate; $500 each 2018 FIBA World Cup for players and officials; $1,000 each for finishing final 8 in FIBA World Cup; $1,000 each bonus for winning AfroBasket in Senegal for 2019 players and officials.
“$300 – $400 each Mozambique Olympic Qualifier allowance balance, were supposed to be paid $100 per day; $2,000 eachtraining grant balance from Tokyo Olympics, players only. The $100,000 donated by three Nigerian banks to all the players and officials that made D’Tigress Olympics qualification possible final roster. The men also got $100,000 assigned to them, the total was $200,000.
“Miscellaneous expenses by players and officials; the full breakdown has been submitted to the outgoing Basket Ball President and the honourable minister, Sunday Dare.
“With all due respect to the association leadership, the Presidency, the Ministry and NBBF administration old and new, if these monies are not paid before the next qualifier of the next tournament in February 2022, FIBA World Cup, the entire D’Tigress team will not show up in camp. We are all saying this as one unit and one voice.”
watched the Olympics games and knows Nigerian Basketball could see that something was wrong. We didn’t play our best because we weren’t treated or given the best during one of the greatest stages and moments of an Athletes career.
“Yes, we had some injuries, could have executed better but there were a lot of distractions around us like; Not knowing who we have available on the team. Not having enough practice time with each other to build cohesiveness.
“Our head coach did not prioritize adequate preparation nor trust his staff enough to delegate significant responsibility. Poor decision by the outgoing President Musa Kida, he avoided the D’Tigress in camp because we inquired about our money amongst other basic things, when he made it to the U.S, he bypassed us in Atlanta to Vegas to support the men’s team. He did not support us with any leadership personnel.
“I believe each player that has been a part of D’Tigress since 2017 has their own thoughts and feelings about the dissolved NBBF Board and coaching staff over the course of the time. It is evident that our voices haven’t been heard, our request for little things ignored, we are not being celebrated and recognized as this team deserves, instead allowances and bonuses are being owed by the NBBF and Ministry.
“Once again, not having a General Manager (GM) on the team created unwanted disorder. This was the icing on the cake for all players with the emotional buildup over the years. We knew all we could do is stick together, try to stay positive and enjoy the Olympics the best that we could. As a team, we know if we were well prepared to play in the Olympics, there would be no doubt we could have advanced out of our bracket. To our loyal Fans that has been by our side, we appreciate you all.”

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Bundesliga: Kane Scores Hat-Trick As Bayern End Winless Streak

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England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.

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Dosu Survives Ghastly Accident, Again

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Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.

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Sports Development Going Down In Nigeria – Ex-International

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Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.

Kiadum Edookor

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