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.
In a press statement signed by Ismaila Abubakar, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, an attempt was made to explain the reasons for the delay while an order for prompt payments has also been made.
Read the full press statement below…
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 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.
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 the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) and efforts are being made to secure the release.
Ismaila Abubakar
Permanent Secretary
Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development
13-October-2021.
