BY ADEYEMI ROBINSON-ADEFIOYE LAGOS
The Nigeria Basketball Federation will officially sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Total E&P Nigeria Limited on September 15, 2020 for the sponsorship of Division 1 and 2 men basketball leagues.
Announcing this to the members of the board on Tuesday, the federation’s Secretary General, AFOLABI-OLUWAYEMI OLABISI said the landmark event will hold at the company’s headquarters in Lagos at 10:00am.
Elaborating on the development, the NBBF President, ENGR MUSA KIDA said, “We are excited about this long term partnership targeted at the grassroots which is one of the core focus of this federation.
“This is another fulfilment of some of the promises we made about creating platforms for raw talents to be nurtured while making basketball attractive to the corporate community to want to partner with us.”
After critical evaluation of the initial two-year deal between the NBBF and Total, both parties felt it was expedient to continue with the harmonious relationship.
“With the initial two -year support of Total E&P Nigeria Limited, we were able to introduce the Division 2 league system and also expand the Division 1 with more teams participating and playing more games. It is on record that more than 150 local basketball teams participate in these two divisions all over the country, with 2 teams per state qualifying for the zonal meets.”
“With another five-year agreement on the table, we should be able to build on what we have achieved and establish a system where more talents can participate in organized basketball.”
The brief but epoch event is sanctioned by the Hon. Minister of Youth and Sports Development and will be held in line with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Covid-19 directives.
