- Nigeria basketball men’s to miss AfroBasket qualifiers
- D’Tigers to missed on a second international competition
The Nigerian men’s Basketball team (D’Tigers) has announced their forceful withdrawal from the upcoming AfroBasket qualifiers,for of lack funds and support from the government.
D’Tigers through their official social media platform, confirmed that the team will not be featuring in the highly anticipated AfroBasket qualifiers which will debut in February, to identify the African countries that will feature at the FIBA Afrobasket tournament in 2025.
The D’Tigers had failed to secure tickets for their flight, on February 21,ahead of the competition. Initial hopes had many speculating that, the team might receive the support in the final minutes but the statement released indicates, that D’Tigers would not be participating in the competition.
This would be a huge blow to the game of basketball in Nigeria, as this points towards the direction of lack of interest by the Ministry of Sport in other sport activities aside from football and it also raises concern as to if Nigeria will be properly represented at the Olympics 2024 in Paris.
It is not the first time that lack of funds has threatened the D’Tigers’ participation in a major basketball competition.
The 2015 champions, drawn in Group B of the 2025 AfroBasket qualifiers alongside Cape Verde, Libya and Uganda, were, due to participate in the qualifying tournament scheduled for Tunisia in the next two days.
It is not the first time that the absence of funds has threatened the D’Tigers’ participation in a major basketball tournament.
In 2019, the team nearly missed out on featuring in the 2019 FIBA World Cup until a late intervention by Muhammadu Buhari-led government.
D’Tigers’ fate is completely different from that of the Nigeria national football team, Super Eagles, who recently participated at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations as President Bola Tinubu released 12 billion naira for the team heading into the tournament.
Meanwhile, it is unclear whether President Tinubu’s government will come up with a late intervention plan for the team to participate in qualifiers in the face of economic crisis raging the whole country as the naira continues to free fall.
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