Basketball
By Babatunde Ogunrinde
Lagos, April 26, 2018 (NAN) Nicolas Terraz, the Managing Director, Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria, on Thursday said the company was determined to support basketball at the grassroots.
Terraz made the assertion at the unveiling/signing ceremony between members of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and top executive members of Total at its head office, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Total has provided the N60,000,000 for NBBF to organise the National Division One and Two Basketball championships for the next two seasons.
Terraz said the company was delighted to throw their weight on basketball as it was a very meaningful tool to develop the youth of Nigeria.
“I am delighted to announce that after consultation with the NBBF, we at Total have agreed to be the proud sponsors of the National Male Division One and Two championships.
“As you are aware, Total is already the title sponsor of the prestigious Africa Cup of Nations in football which was renamed the Total Africa Cup of Nations back in 2016.
“The group decided to sponsor this football tournament because we believe that the contingent is part of our makeup and a cornerstone of our global presence and central ambition of partnering Africa.
“We take this bold step of sponsoring the Nigeria basketball because we believe in keeping with our philosophy and ambition.
“Having been in Nigeria for more than 60 years, we are aware that sports means unity, friendship, solidarity and energy, therefore, we want to sustain this by signing the agreement.
“At the end, we hope our support would spur our Nigerian basketball teams to greater glory in both local and international campaigns,’’ Terraz said.
Musa Kida, the President, NBBF, said that he was delighted about the historical agreement between the current board and Total.
He said that this was part of his cardinal goals and objectives to develop basketball at the grassroots, so youths and other stakeholders can compete right in their backyards.
“This would be a pleasant opportunity for the players to play and work very hard so that they can propel themselves with greater challenges in the next level,’’ Kida said.
Kida added that Total as a corporate body had received the victorious female and male national teams when they dazzled Africa at both Afrobasket for men and women in 2017.
“I wish to thank the managing director and the entire management for the great support for also coming to rescue our national league which had been neglected for many years,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the dates and organisational structure of the national division one and two leagues set to take off in May. (NAN)
BAO/PDE
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(Editing by Peter Ejiofor)