NBBF Must Learn From Nigerian Football’s Woes

Not long ago, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, led by Alhaji Aminu Maigari, were bombarded with intense criticism for failing to guide the Super Eagles of Nigeria, one-time giants of African football, to the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Nigeria’s absence at the tournament was considered as an anomaly because it was the first time the country missed out of the biennial championship after it failed to qualify for the 1986 edition hosted in Egypt, 26 years ago.

Surprisingly, the NFF failed to learn from the ouster of coach Samson Siasia-tutored side from 2012 AFCON but despicably, recorded more failures with the Super Falcons and the men’s U-23 team led by coach Austine Eguavoen, as both teams failed to qualify for the Olympic football after losing in the qualifiers.

Now is the time for Nigeria’s basketball ruling body, the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, to take a cue from the aforementioned misfortunes of the NFF and begin to prepare the senior national men’s team, D’Tigers, for the challenges that lie ahead of them.

Ironically, it seems that the NBBF are not aware of the hurdles ahead of it, if Nigeria are to make a berth at the baskketball event of the summer Games; as there is no any physical sign that points otherwise.

If Nigeria’s senior national men’s team, D’Tigers, fail to qualify for the summer Games, holding from 26 July to 25 August, 2012, it will not be a surprise.

This is because an Olympic ticket has remained elusive to the D’Tigers since 1964, when Nigeria joined the Federation of International Basketball Association, FIBA.

The highest feat achieved so far by D’Tigers outside the continent of Africa was in 2006 World Championship in Japan. The Sanni Ahmed-led team made world headlines when they out-dunked Serbia and Montenegro by 82–75 in one of their preliminary matches. The D’Tigers finished 14th at the championship which was regarded as a laudable milestone.

For Nigeria’s flag to fly in the basketball court in London, the venue for slamming and dunking of the Games, the D’Tigers will have to make the podium at an Olympic Qualifying Tournament holding in Caracas, Venezuela, from 2-8 July.

They qualified for the tournament after winning a bronze medal at last year’s Afrobasket in Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Heartwarmingly,the D’Tigers, coached by Sanni Ahmed,after the exit of coach Ayo Bakare who took them to Madagascar, went two steps higher on the podium at the All Africa Games in Mozambique, as they defeated their perennial rivals, Angola, in the semi final before winning the final match against hosts, Mozambique, by 62-57 points.

Shortly after the victory, coach Ahmed attributed his team’s victory to the players’ determination to triumph, coupled with the defensive play pattern adopted by the technical crew during their intensive training period.

Four months after, the NBBF have not deemed it fit to call the players to camp to begin preparation for the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament in July.

The first jump ball of the tourney may seem a long time to come, but no one needs to be reminded how time flies, especially when a major tourney like the Olympic Games is on the horizon.

Like they say, failure to plan is planning to fail!

Now is the time for the NBBF, to take a cue from what happened in the football sector and begin preparation for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela.

Coach Bakare said: “The fact that majority of the players are based in Europe and U.S.A emphasised the reason we need to camp them for a long time.”

Bakare added : “The European teams are always tough to beat. We need to get all our players together to increase our chances of selecting a strong team.”

Nigeria are second to Angola in the FIBA Africa Rankings, and 21st in the FIBA World Rankings, yet they have never played in an Olympic tournament.

Now is the time for the NBBF to map out its strategies and begin preparation for the Olympic qualifying tournament before it is too late, after getting this far on the road to London.