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Players in Nigeria’s female basketball national team, D’Tigress have threatened not to feature in upcoming matches of the FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifiers unless money being owed them is paid up in full, megasportsarena.com reports.
Megasportsarena.com reports that this threat is contained in a message posted via a portal that has been used in recent time to express messages about players of D’Tigress and help them put in the public domain issues affecting the team.
The social media handle, which is stylishly tagged dtigressng, has now been used to put across latest information about the contentious issue of money being owed the players and coaches for their participation at the Olympic Games last year in Tokyo, Japan as well as bonuses accruing to them for the period they spent in camp while preparing for the competition.
The protest dates back to October last year, when the players first expressed grievances over what they described as unfair treatment meted out to them by the federal government and Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) after their victory at the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket Women’s Championship in Cameroon.
Some members of the team, who took to social media back then with tell tale complaints that their efforts in winning the championship for a fifth time were not appreciated by Nigeria’s government and sports authorities.
The latest statement on the matter acknowledged that it has been brewing since the tenure of NBBF’s former president, Engineer Ahmed Musa-Kida, but no resolution of the issue has been seen despite interventions by sports minister, Chief Sunday Dare and the House of Representatives committee on sports.
D’Tigress’ players also stated through the post that the sports ministry has failed to take up the gauntlet of resolving the issue as the umbrella body under which the team played at the Games in Tokyo, and reasoned that the avenue of communication through the team’s captain, Adaora Eleonu has not been utilized by the country’s sports administrators.
That has led to the players taking up the option of boycotting matches of the forthcoming qualifiers for the FIBA championship in Serbia, heading into which the message expressly pointed out that none of the lasses will respond to hasty calls for them to report to camp unless the outstanding payments are first settled by the authorities.
The ominous message noted at length: “Since the conclusion of he hearing at the beginning of November, no line of communication or responses have been received by D’Tigress from the House, Sports Ministry nor Musa-Kida concerning repayment of the debts.
“More than seven weeks have elapsed since the Chairman’s decision to the former NBBF president, Musa-Kida to settle the players’ and coaches’ debts of D’Tigress, while the ministry completes the Olympics training grants balance, but no engagement.
“We are sending a reminder to all involved, including the Sports Ministry, the former NBBF president, Musa-Kida, the House of Representatives and FIBA, concerning these debts. Adaora Eleonu, our representative, can be a bridge for communication.
“However, no official communication has been established through her either. With the FIBA World Cup qualifiers approaching in Serbia, we STAND our ground and will not be scrambled into competition at last minute.”
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