Sports
NBA Names Abudu Head Of Nigerian Office
NBA Africa on Tuesday named Gbemisola Abudu as Vice President and Country Head of Nigeria, where the league will open its third office on the continent in early 2022.
Abudu, an accomplished entrepreneur, business leader, luxury marketing expert and social activist with 17 years of experience developing businesses, brands and human capital in Nigeria, the Middle East and the US, will lead NBA Africa’s new office in Lagos and report to NBA Africa CEO Victor Williams.
Tidesports source reports that in this newly-created role, Abudu will be responsible for leading the league’s basketball and business development initiatives in Nigeria, including grassroots programming for youth, elite player development, relationships with current and prospective marketing, media and merchandise partners, and social responsibility efforts that improve the lives of youth and families in Nigeria.
“We are excited about expanding NBA Africa’s operations in Nigeria with the launch of our office in Lagos and thrilled to have Gbemisola join us to lead our efforts in the country,” Williams said.
“As an established business leader, entrepreneur, global marketing expert and social activist, Gbemisola’s expertise will be invaluable in helping us continue to grow basketball and the NBA in a country that already has a strong affinity for the game.”
“Joining NBA Africa as the Vice President and Country Head of Nigeria and opening the league’s office here is the opportunity of a lifetime and the culmination of all my experiences to date,” Abudu said.
“As a lifelong basketball fan and Nigerian native, I look forward to working with the NBA Africa team to help build a more comprehensive basketball ecosystem in the country and to using the transformative power of sport to impact lives in Nigeria and beyond.”
Abudu previously served as Founder and Managing Partner at BMGA Enterprise Limited, an educational technology finishing school in Lagos that provides social and marketing intelligence to increase the productivity of people and organisations.
The NBA opened its African headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010. Since then, the league’s efforts in Africa have focused on increasing access to basketball and the NBA through grassroots and elite development, media distribution, corporate partnerships, NBA Africa Games, the launch of the Basketball Africa League, and more.
Meanwhile, the BAL, a partnership between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, tips off its second season in March 2022.
A well-known football pundit in the State, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has lauded the efforts and vision of the Super Eagles Coach Eric Chelle for going from one venue of the Nigeria Domestic Nigeria Professional Football League match to the other in monitoring Nigerian players, with a view to invite some exceptional good one discovered into the main stream of the Super Eagles team.
Okonkwo, who made the commendation in an interview at the Port Harcourt Club recently, described the positive move by Coach Chelle as a good step in the right direction, noting that the practice was how its been done in the past among any contracted coach assigned to tinker the Super Eagles team.
“Truly, it has been an old tradition in the country seeing any newly engaged Coach to lead the National team, visiting some our Nigeria League venues during the league matches to spot light some good talents that could be used to beef up some grey areas in the department of Eagles team”
He, however, frowned at the current situation where our coaches had continously been over depending on the use of foreign based players during invitation of players to the National camp, thereby, relegating the domestic home based league players to the background as if they have nothing much to offer to the team.
“I can vividly recall that the likes of great players in the mode of Finidi George, Taribo West, Kanu Nwankwo, Austin Okocha, Richard Owobokiri, Emmanuel Osuigwe among others started from Nigeria football league before they graduated to play in Europe through which they later invited to Super Eagles camp to represent Nigeria”
“Besides, I’m also of the view that going to secondary school football competitive games could equally serves as a a good platform to discover budding talents that could be nurtured to become great stars in near future”, Okonkwo frankly added.
Okonkwo, therefore, prayed that any football coach to be engaged by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to tinker the Super Eagles should be told not to confine himself in staying in big hotel alone but to be visiting some of our local league match venues, with a view to discover some good players that can be drafted into the Super Eagles team.
“Indeed, I stand to be challenged that there some young good players in the Nigeria Professional League. If spotted and exposed, could give the some of the invited foreign based players a stiff competitive fight in securing a postion in the team”, Okonkwo emphatically stated.
Ezechukwu, one of the youngest members of the Nigerian contingent at the championship in Ghana, said her ambition was to win the 100m title in style and cap it with a new personal record.
The fresh secondary school graduate explained that she is fully focused on contributing to Team Nigeria’s medal hopes and is determined to deliver strong performances across her events.
“My main objective in Ghana is to clinch the 100m title and the 4×100m,” Ezechukwu told Tidesports source.
“Nigeria can be assured of my very best and my commitment to the Team. I would love to set a new personal best in Ghana, but anything that comes, I will take it. The spirit in the team is high, and I think we are ready to go,” she said.
Ezechukwu, who was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay squad at the World Relays in Botswana, said the experience gained from that competition has strengthened her mindset heading into the continental championships.
She admitted that she learned valuable lessons from her previous outing, including a difficult moment during the relay where an early error affected the team’s rhythm, but said she has used the experience to improve her discipline and composure.
“The secret is just being disciplined, training hard and trusting my coach and believing in God, and the result will show,” she added.
The teenager is part of a 41-member Nigerian team comprising 24 female and 17 male athletes competing at the championships, which begin today at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Nigeria are expected to compete across multiple track and field events as they aim for a strong finish against the continent’s elite athletes.
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