Basketball ban reversal comes too late for Nigeria women's national team, D'Tigress

Six weeks after withdrawing Nigeria from international basketball for two years, president Muhammadu Buhari's government have made a U-turn and reversed the ban. But it came too late for the women's national team, who have seen their place at the FIBA Women's World Cup taken up by Mali.

Ismaila Abubakar, an official at Nigeria's Sports Ministry, said last Thursday that the reversal came after a meeting between Sports Minister Sunday Dare and FIBA, and receiving guarantees from the Nigeria Basketball Federation [NBBF] to include all stakeholders in reconciliatory meetings going forward.

But that peace treaty is of little solace for D'Tigress players, who will not be able to compete at the FIBA showcase in September, after their place was given to Mali, who were the next-ranked team in their qualifying group. Nigeria had, ironically, beaten Mali in order to qualify.

NBBF President Musa Kida described the decision to reverse the ban as a major victory for Nigerian basketball, saying: "I am quite glad to see that this decision is reached, and it is a major victory for basketball. It gladdens our heart that the Federal Government has decided to return basketball to where it rightfully belongs."

But his happy response was certainly not shared by Adaora Elonu, captain of the Nigeria women's team, who told ESPN she'd rather not comment on the situation. Her team had beaten number three-ranked Australia, amongst others, to qualify for the World Cup.

A team member, who did not wish to be named, described the situation as "a nightmare that many of us are still trying to come to terms with," and told ESPN that the players were "distraught and pained" by the actions of the officials costing them a place "after we worked so hard to qualify."

Ike Diogu, captain of the men's national team, said the ban could have been even more devastating for basketball in Nigeria. It would have threatened the men's team's qualification for the 2023 FIBA World Cup and 2024 Paris Olympics, and risked an even longer ban from FIBA for government interference.

"It was very devastating to basketball in Nigeria," Diogu told ESPN of the withdrawal. "The withdrawal was detrimental for us because I don't think people really understand how hard it was for us to get to the point where we are now.

"It took 10, 12 years just to get to the point where we could compete. If we had got a 5-year ban [from FIBA], we would have to start all over again and there is no guarantee it would get right back to where it is now, because there is a whole generation of young guys who would be miss out playing in these tournaments."

Diogu, who most recently played for Zamalek at the Basketball Africa League, has opted to sit out international hoops this season regardless of the ban, and will rather play in the Big3 Tournament for Snoop Dogg's team.

In any case, the convoluted situation in Nigeria is long-simmering, and really comes down to two rival factions who want control of the hoops governing body in the country.

Most recently, Nigeria's Sports Minister Sunday Dare had refused to recognise the election which had returned Musa Kida and his cabinet as the legitimate board of the NBBF.

This, even though the election was held under a Constitution approved by the Ministry, the Nigeria Olympic Committee and FIBA, and the election was held with a FIBA representative as an observer.

FIBA also sent a letter to Nigeria's government recognising the legitimacy of that election and the leadership of Kida. Instead, the government withdrew the country from international basketball and set up an interim committee.

Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka, both of whom are of Nigerian descent and represented the country internationally, had spoken out against the ban last month.

Ujiri released a letter saying, "Enough is enough.

"The leaders of the basketball ecosystem in Nigeria continue to rob our youth of their present and future while tearing the entire basketball community apart -- this needs to stop."

For his part, Udoka said just before leading his team out to Game 2 of the NBA Finals, that the issues with Nigerian basketball had not changed in the years since he represented the country: "It's a lot of the same stuff I dealt with as a player, which is disappointing."

High-level sources told ESPN that during the recent peace talks, FIBA made it clear that if the withdrawal were to stand, Nigeria would be handed an additional 5-year ban running concurrently with the period of withdrawal and lasting through to 2027.


FIBA's refusal to budge, and pressure from businesses, players, and fans, finally forced the ministry into a retraction. To help the ministry save face, the NBBF agreed to write a letter of apology and also agreed to Constitutional amendments.

"At our last board meeting, we resolved to put machinery in motion to bring every genuine stakeholder to the table," Kida said.

"We have also resolved to maintain a very high level of respect for the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Sports, as we recognise their supervisory role in line with global laws governing sports federations."

The NBBF board led by Kida -- and now recognised by the government as the legitimately elected leadership of basketball in the country -- will now be officially sworn in on July 1.

It is not the first time Nigeria has withdrawn a sports team from international play and then reversed the decision when faced with the dire consequences. In 2010, then-president Goodluck Jonathan announced the withdraw of Nigeria men's football team from international competition, but also made an immediate U-turn barely four days later when FIFA reacted by handing down a provisional ban on the country.

By Colin Udoh

ESPN

Related story: Nigeria withdraws from international basketball over NBBF crisis

Nigerian senator accused of organ harvesting attempt in UK

Two Nigerians, including a serving senator, have been charged with plotting to have a child brought into the United Kingdom to harvest their organs, the London police have said.

“The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation, in May 2022,” the police said in a statement on Thursday.

Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, and Ike Ekweremadu, 60, were charged with conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.

They will appear at Uxbridge Magistrate’s Court in London later on Thursday.

The child has been safeguarded, and work was under way to provide additional support, the police said. No other details were given.

Ekweremadu, a former Nigerian deputy senate president, is from the southeastern state of Enugu.

Al Jazeera

Nigeria has 11 million of out-of-school children, highest in world

The World Bank has said that Nigeria has the highest number of out of school children in the world with 11 million pupils recorded in 2020.

The Nigerian out of school children was 15 million in 2003.

According to the global financial institution, the number of school children under review who are between 6-15years increased by 100% between 2003 and 2020.

This was disclosed in the World Bank document titled “Nigeria Development Update (June 2020): The Continuing Urgency of Business Unusual.”

It revealed that the number of in-school children in 2003 was 20 million and has increased to 40 million in 2020, stating that the population of Nigerian children aged 6-15years in 2003 was 35 million and 51 million in 2020.

It, however, stated that more efforts need to be made to ensure Nigeria’s children are back to school.

The Bank said, “Although Nigeria has experienced a significant expansion in access to education during the last few decades, it still has the highest number of out-of-school (OOS) children in the world.”

The bank continued, “Nigeria’s more than 11 million OOS children between the ages of 6 and 15 represent 1 in 12 OOS children globally. The OOS children phenomenon in Nigeria is multi-causal and will require a combination of interventions. On the demand side, reducing the cost of education by eliminating school fees, providing cash transfers, and shifting socio-cultural norms that prevent school enrollment are critical steps.”

Reacting to the report, Statisense disclosed that the number, “represents 1 in 12 of all out-of-school children globally and 22% of all children in this age group in Nigeria.”

By Biodun Busari

Vanguard

Two kidnapped Chibok girls freed in Nigeria after eight years

 Nigerian troops have found two former schoolgirls who were abducted by Boko Haram jihadists eight years ago, the military said Tuesday, freeing some of the last victims of the 2014 Chibok abduction.

The two women each carried babies on their laps as they were presented by the military, after captivity with militants who stormed their school in April, 2014 in northeast Nigeria in a mass kidnapping that sparked international outrage.

Major-General Christopher Musa, the military commander of troops in the region, told reporters the girls were found on June 12 and 14 in two different locations by troops.

"We are very lucky to have been able to recover two of the Chibok girls," Musa said.

Dozens of Boko Haram militants stormed the Chibok girls' boarding school in 2014 and packed 276 pupils, aged 12-17, at the time into trucks in the jihadist group's first mass school abduction.

Fifty-seven of the girls managed to escape by jumping from the trucks shortly after their abduction while 80 were released in exchange for some detained Boko Haram commanders following negotiations with the Nigerian government.

In the recent releases, one of the women, Hauwa Joseph, was found along with other civilians on June 12 around Bama after troops dislodged a Boko Haram camp, while the other, Mary Dauda, was found later outside Ngoshe village in Gwoza district, near the border with Cameroon.

On June 15 the military said on Twitter that they had found one of the Chibok girls named Mary Ngoshe. She turned out to be Mary Dauda.

"I was nine when we were kidnapped from our school in Chibok and I was married off not long ago and had this child," Joseph told reporters at the military headquarters.

Joseph's husband and father-in-law were killed in a military raid and she was left to fend for herself and her 14-month-old son.

"We were abandoned, no one cared to look after us. We were not being fed," she said.

Thousands of Boko Haram fighters and families have been surrendering over the last year, fleeing government bombardments and infighting with the rival group Islamic State West Africa Province.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced 2.2 million more since 2009.

Dauda, who was 18 when she was kidnapped was married at different times to Boko Haram fighters in the group's enclave in the Sambisa forest.

"They would starve and beat you if you refused to pray," Dauda said about life under Boko Haram.

She decided to flee and told her husband she was visiting another Chibok girl in Dutse village near Ngoshe, close to the border with Cameroon.

With the help of an old man who lived outside the village with his family, Dauda trekked all night to Ngoshe where she surrendered to troops in the morning.

"All the remaining Chibok girls have been married with children. I left more than 20 of them in Sambisa, she said. "I'm so happy I'm back."

After the Chibok school mass abduction jihadists carried out several mass abductions and deadly attacks on schools in the northeast.

In 2018, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters kidnapped 110 schoolgirls aged 11–19 years from Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC) Dapchi in neighbouring Yobe state.

All the schoolgirls were released a month later except Leah Sharibu, the only Christian among the girls, who was held by the group for refusing to renounce her faith.

AFP

Related stories: Boko Haram attacks the same town it kidnapped the schoolgirls from

Video - Aljazeera speaks with Nigerian military about kidnapped schoolgirls

Video - The state of Nigerian governance and Boko Haram

Millions in Nigeria Face Food and Nutrition Crisis

A senior U.N. official warns of catastrophic consequences for millions of people in northeast Nigeria facing a food and nutrition crisis if the U.N. does not receive the funds needed to assist them.

U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator for Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, says he is ringing the alarm bell now because the United Nations has received less than 20 percent of its $350 million appeal for Nigeria.

He says people in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states are struggling to survive after 12 years of conflict. Of the 8.4 million people who need humanitarian assistance, he says the U.N. plans to support at least 5.5 million of the most vulnerable. He says nearly 600,000 people are starving and go for days without food.

Malnourished children, he says, are of particular concern.

“Approximately, overall, 1.74 million children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition across the northeast this year. Of these, over 300,000 … are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and are, indeed, at high risk of death," said Schmale.

He says about 80 percent of U.N. aid will be used to assist women and children who often suffer the most in conflict zones. He says they are subject to violence, to abductions, to rape, and other forms of abuse.

Trond Jensen is Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Nigeria. He says much of the northeast lacks adequate protection for civilians. He says people who venture outside the fortified military garrison towns are in danger of being killed.

“It is a serious crisis in the sense that there is no freedom of movement, in the sense that much of the countryside is under the control then or the influence of the various different factions of Boko Haram," said Jensen. "So, that there are indiscriminate killings of civilians.”

U.N. officials recognize Nigeria’s crisis is overshadowed by the disastrous war in Ukraine and is in danger of being forgotten. However, they warn ignoring the humanitarian needs of Nigeria would have far reaching consequences in further destabilizing the region.

By Lisa Schlein

VOA