$230,000 donated to Basketball teams intact – Sport ministry

The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has reacted to allegations suggesting its officials have misappropriated funds meant for the payment of bonuses and allowances of players and officials of the country’s basketball teams.

This was contained in a statement signed by Ismaila Abubakar, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, on Wednesday.

The ministry in the statement denied its officials shared some monies donated to the male and female basketball teams ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The statement reads: “The Ministry wishes to make the following clarifications. The $230,000 donated to the basketball teams by the banks under the ‘adopt-a-team’ programme of the ministry is intact in the Nigeria Basketball Federation’s (NBBF) official domiciliary account domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“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.

“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.

“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.”