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 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).
2. That only the 12 female Team members of D’Tigress have supplied their foriegn 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. 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 NFF and efforts are being made to secure the release.
Ismaila Abubakar
Permanent Secretary
Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development
