The Presidential candidate for the Nigeria Basketball Federation, Engineer Musa Kida, has assured that that under his watch, the NBBF will put machinery in motion to ensure that the country realises its full potential in 3×3 basketball if elected.
Kida believes the country has the potential to become a serious contender and champion at the world stage if the enabling platform is provided for talents at the grassroots.
“We do have the potential and the capacity to do it and all that remains really for us is to set the enabling environment for our players to be able to excel and that will be one of our fundamental objectives when elected.”
The Pillar of basketball in River state who has demonstrated his consistency and passion for the new format of basketball, which was recently introduced by Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA), revealed that the ultimate target is to compete favourably internationally with home grown players.
Kida, through the Ahmadu Musa Kida Foundation in 2013 fund the Uyo 3×3 Tour before funding the South – South 3×3 Tour (U18 Boys & Girls and Senior Men and Women) from 2014 to 2016.
He said his firm belief that Nigerian talents can compete favourably, win and bring back honors as proud Nigerians has spurred his foundation to fund the FIBA Africa Zone 3’s 3×3 Tour (U18 Boys and Girls, Men & Women) in 2015, FIBA Africa Zone 3 Champions Cup, Benin (Men & Women) 2015 & 2016, FIBA Africa Zone 3 Champions Cup, Togo (Men & Women) in 2016 and of recent the 2017 NUGA 3×3 Tour.
“Recently, a 3×3 team from Abuja emerged as the national champion in the women category of the AMK Foundation sponsored championship. They went on to conquer Africa and book a ticket to Malaysia for the world championship. This has strengthened our resolve that we can be the best.”
He concluded that the NBBF under his watch would exploit the full potentials of home grown talents for this particular format of the basketball game through a sustainable development plan.
“Equal opportunities will be given to home grown talents alongside their foreign based counterparts. We are going to encourage Nigerian based players first of all, so that we will become proficient in basketball again and qualify for the Zonals of the African cup before we get to the world.
Meaning that every step we take must be the one in the right direction which will not be reversible.” Kida assured.
