The Ministry of Sports in Nigeria has denied allegations making the rounds that it has diverted the sum of $200k of allowances meant for the female basketball team of Nigeria nicknamed, D’Tigress.
This came after D’Tigress threatened to boycott the 2022 FIBA World Cup qualifying tournament over the refusal of the Basketball Federation and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to meet their demands.
The team issued the threat in a video posted on microblogging site, Twitter; it outlined the injustices that have been allegedly perpetrated on them by the outgoing board of the NBBF, led by Musa Kida.
Speaking on behalf of the team in the video, a member of the D’Tigress, Victoria Macaulay said that the team does not feel appreciated or celebrated after recently achieving the historic feat of winning three straight African titles.
A member of the team, Ify Ibekwe, also outlined the monies they are owed.
She said: “We are owed $73,118 by the NBBF, $24,000 by the Ministry for the Tokyo grant, and a $100,000 donation from three banks in Nigeria.”
However, the Sports ministry in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, October 13 denied that it diverted the money meant for the girls as speculated in the media.
The statement reads thus in full; “The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has denied allegations made in a press statement used in a section of the media and in a video clip that its officials shared some monies donated to the Men and Women Basketball Teams ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“The Ministry wishes to make the following clarifications: 1.The $230,000 Dollars donated to the teams by the Banks under the Adopt-a-Team programme of the Ministry is intact in the NBBF’s official domiciliary account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).”
“2.That only the 12 female Team members of D’Tigress have supplied their foreign account numbers. The Ministry waited for the account numbers of the Male Team to be supplied so that the processing of payments can be one off as requested by the CBN.
“3.The Ministry has requested the CBN to commence the processing of the payment to the Female Basketball Players immediately. The Male will be paid as soon as their account details are supplied.
“4. The Ministry wishes to state further that all outstanding -Olympics and Paralympics Games allowances and bonuses are being processed and only slowed down by funds availability.
“Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance has been fully furnished with details of the outstanding allowances and payments due to the NBBF and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and efforts are being made to secure the release. Ismaila Abubakar Permanent Secretary FMYSD,” it concluded.
