By; AYO OJEDOKUN, Lagos
The University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) has credited the NBBF President, Engr Musa Kida for his role in their qualification for their first ever Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA) finals slated to hold in Lagos.
Head Coach, UNIMAID, Yakubu Usman while speaking with NNSports after a friendly match held in honour of Kida in Maiduguri said his tremendous support played a huge role in encouraging the players and giving them the best preparation to emerge from the North East on the back of an unbeaten run.
“His help has been so huge and this friendly in his honour is just our own little way of saying thank you for all he has done till now. His coming here is a big plus for the university and Borno state at large because there is no way he is going to walk away and leave us like this”.
A basketball veteran and Assistant Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp, Umar Usman Bala advised upcoming players to consider Kida’s visit as a great challenge and huge inspiration to follow their dreams
“Every one of them will like to live up to expectation as well as have a dream of becoming the president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation in the near future. So, his coming here is a great encouragement to us and at the same time that will encourage the young ones in the field of basketball to do better”.
Explaining the reason behind the friendly which took place over the weekend, UNIMAID Deputy Director, Sport, Dr Kamari Abdulkadir revealed that Kida’s efforts in giving back to his alma mater and development of Nigerian basketball at the national level has been tremendous and unprecedented.
“These players went to Gombe for the preliminaries and conquered all to qualify for NUGA. We just want to show him a bit of what they did there, appreciate his efforts and that is why you can see him here today”.
While thanking all who made the occasion possible, Kida announced that in line with the mandate of the NBBF board, upcoming players will be provided an enabling environment to succeed.
“We are working round the clock to provide an enabling environment for them that they can exercise their talents to the best”.
Again, they need to play games, have their eyes on the ball and I am sure I will see some of them in the NBA in a few years to come”, he concluded.
