Attention of the NBBF has been drawn to a publication by BSN Sports, which was widely circulated on all social media platforms yesterday, 18th of May, 2023, with a very inciting and frivolous title “Kida Directs Treasurer To Refund Monies Paid D’Tigers, D’Tigress, NBBF Staff.
BSN Sports quoted word for word some sections of an official confidential letter written to the Treasurer of the Federation regarding the payments of the NBBF long outstanding liabilities of 2017 to 2020, and gave it a completely wrong narrative, and left out the essence of the letter.
BSN Sports intended purpose is to stir up anger, unrest and bad blood amongst Nigerian Basketball stakeholders and the Men’s and Women’s National players, with the connivance of some NBBF insiders.
Unfortunately for them all, they got the facts of the issue flatly wrong. Engr Musa Kida, the President of the NBBF, is not asking for the refund of legitimate claims of the players and officials of the Women’s National team, but the amount that was paid in excess of the monies which should be legitimately paid to everyone.
Without going into the details of what transpired, we want to authoritatively state that BSN Sports, got their story completely wrong and presented a misleading statement that can be regarded to be full of malicious intents and playing the script of some people who want to always see crisis in the NBBF, even when things are working.
Facts of the issues regarding the directive for refund by those paid in excess of their legitimate claims are:
1) BSN Sports wrongly included the National Men’s team, the D’Tigers in the payments made without verifying facts. The D’Tigers are not owed anything as they have since been all paid. These liabilities paid are only that of the Women’s National team the D’Tigress and accompanying officials, and nothing else. So BSN sports did not investigate and get the facts to their story before rushing to the press, and presumably doing the bidding of some disgruntled elements in the NBBF.
2) There was a reconciled position of the outstanding claims of the staff and medical team of the Women’s National team, the D’Tigress, which was recommended for approval by the Treasurer, to which the president promptly approved for immediate payment. Payments were made outside the reconciled position and approval given, and that was why the President directed that all those over payments be refunded.
3) In a similar situation, Players of the D’Tigress had presented their outstanding claims, in a petition to the Honourable Minister and in another breath taken up by the House Committee on Sports. The Honorable Minister handed over the petition to the NBBF, with a firm directive to fully pay the legitimate claims, when funds are eventually released for the payment of all liabilities. The NBBF President gave approval for the payment of all their claims when funds were released, but a different amount was said to be paid, outside of the D’Tigers claims, and outside of the approval granted by the President. This is why the President directed that all excess or over payment be refunded, as other liabilities have to be paid from the funds released as reconciled.
4) The treasurer of the NBBF, and indeed all administrative officials of NBBF, are bound by laws and regulations, and Standard Operating Procedures, to only pay items approved by the Federation’s President, and not those borne out of any other imagination.
Therefore, any payment that is not backed by approval of the President is an unauthorized payment and that was the essence of the letter BSN Sports had access to and wickedly twisted to do the bidding of its paymasters.
We implore journalists to desist from cooking up stories to ferment crisis in the NBBF, more so, as some disgruntled stakeholders within and outside the federation are going round to try and pick holes in the activities of the NBBF to stir up unnecessary controversies and conflicts.
The NBBF media is ready to expose all elements that do not wish for peace in the NBBF, and to give the correct account of all happenings in the NBBF.
