Sports

Two Nigerian sports federations, the Nigerian Basket Ball Federation and the Nigerian Football Federation have been sanctioned for obvious infractions to the rules of the games. However, if the lessons are not well taken by the other federations, Nigerians should be prepared for more sanctions, except there is a quick reform on the officers rather than the federations.

By Kennedy Nnamani

IT is evident now that the Sports ministry has not been spared of the wave of poor performances that have been the fate of several ministries, departments and agencies due mainly to widespread insecurity, harsh socio-economic environment and the unfortunate effects of Covid-19 pandemic. While many Nigerians are still sulking and lamenting the exit of the nation from the World Cup in Qatar later in the year, Nigeria has been handed its penalty for its unwarranted decision to pull out of international Basketball competitions for two years.

On Thursday, June 2, 2022, the world basketball ruling body, FIBA, named Mali as a replacement for the country’s women’s national team, D’Tigress, in the list of teams billed to participate in the 2022 World Cup slated for Sydney, Australia later this year.

Following this decision to withdraw from international basketball competitions, FIBA has no choice than to replace the D’Tigress, who played their hearts out to qualify as the only African team for the tournament with the Malian team. According to the statement by FIBA, the Malian team has been picked as the next ranked team from Group B of the qualifying tournament held in Belgrade, Serbia.

In the statement, FIBA stated that the Nigerian Basketball Federation, NBBF, “is unable to confirm its participation in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022.”

The statement by FIBA said that: “FIBA was informed about the decision of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to withdraw the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) from all international basketball competitions and activities for a period of two years.

“In subsequent communications with the NBBF, and despite FIBA’s request, it has become clear that against the circumstances created by the government’s decision, the NBBF is unable to confirm its participation in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022.

“Given the multiple strict deadlines that cannot be postponed in order to ensure the successful staging of a major international event (visa procedures, schedules, ticket sales, accommodations, friendly games, preliminary rosters, flight tickets, accreditations, etc.) and to protect the integrity of the competition, the FIBA Executive Committee has decided as follows: “Nigeria’s withdrawal from the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 is confirmed.

“Mali, as the next ranked team from Group B of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, is invited to participate in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022.”

“FIBA will announce whether there will be any other decisions related to the NBBF’s participation in other FIBA competitions and any potential disciplinary measures in due course.”

It will be recalled that D’Tigress qualified as the only African team to play in the World Cup slated for Sydney, Australia later in the year. However, local media reports said that the sports minister, Sunday Dare, had in May, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari had agreed to withdraw Nigeria from competing in any international basketball competitions for the next two years. According to the minister, the two-year ban on international competitions is part of efforts by the government to revamp the sport from the grassroots. This development will also affect the male basketball team, the D’Tigers, who will not also feature in any international competitions.

Some Basketball stakeholders and fans have faulted the decision to slam the two-year ban on international Basketball competitions because of the leadership crisis in the local Basketball Federation and warned that this singular action will deal a heavy blow to the growth of the sport in the country, while some of the foreign professional players may decline any future invitations to play for the country.

Unfortunately, the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, has not fared better than the Basketball Federation. And due to the failure of the NFF to learn from its past experiences, it bungled the clear chance of the Super Eagles picking the ticket for the World Cup in Qatar. A similar mistake was made in the past when the national football coach was replaced very close to an international football tournament and it affected the performance of the team.

The same scenario also played in the qualifier series for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and the coach was replaced at the crucial stage of the qualifying stage, despite warnings from stakeholders in sports, football experts and fans.

Although many football fans were disappointed with the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the World Cup, which led to the unfortunate death of a foreign football official and destructions at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, venue of the last qualifying match between Nigeria and Ghana, some others said that the failure to be represented at the World Cup will save the nation millions of dollars that the country’s lawmakers would have squander in Qatar as members of the Nigerian delegation, who will watch and support the national team.

In addition, Nigeria was sanctioned by FIFA for poor crowd control after the match. In its disciplinary report, art. 16 FDC dated April 28, 2022, Nigeria was slammed a “fine of CHF 150,000” and “one (1) match without spectators” for “Order and security at matches (failure to implement existing safety rules and failure to ensure that law and order are maintained in the stadium, invasion of the field of play and throwing of objects)”

And following the sack of Gernot Rohr, head coach of the Super Eagle, FIFA ordered Nigeria to pay him the sum of $380,000 as compensation for abruptly dismissing him from the position in November 2021. The NFF had sacked the German coach after five years and replaced him with Augustine Eguavoen as an interim coach, a move that was strongly criticized by analysts.

According to some analysts Eguavoen’s tactical approach in the qualifying match against Ghana was faulty, stating that he did not have the technical know-how to lead the Super Eagles to any international competition based on his past records as the manager of the team.

Recently, the NFF has engaged a new foreign coach Jose Peseiro, after disbanding the coaching crew of the national team. The new head coach of the Super Eagles is expected to take the team to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

It will be recalled that Peseiro had been named to take over from Rohr in 2021, but the sudden change of plans by the NFF delayed his assumption since the federation decided to gamble with a local coach in completing the remaining matches in the qualifying series.

According to local media reports, the NFF handed a one-year contract to Peseiro with an option for another year depending on his performance within the 12 months.

Meanwhile, Pesiero lost a match in the international friendly between Nigeria and Mexico on May 29 in the United States with score line of 1-2. In the second international friendly with Ecuador played on Friday, June 3, 2022 in the US, Nigeria lost 1-0 to Ecuador. Although Nigeria lost the two matches, it may be too early to use the two international friendlies to judge the performance of the team under the new national coach.

KN

Tags: Eguavoen Gernot Rohr Jose Peseiro Muhammadu Buhari Sunday Dare