The decision to lift a ban on the teams
playing in international competitions came after an appeal to the government by
the Nigerian Basketball Federation and “intervention” by former Nigerian
international players, the sports ministry said. Nigerian President Muhammadu
Buhari approved the return to play, the ministry said in a statement.
The Nigerian government withdrew its teams
from international competitions for a two-year period last month citing a
leadership struggle and other administrative problems within the national
basketball federation.
That move led to the women’s team losing
its place at the World Cup in Australia in September. It’s unclear if Nigeria’s
women will be able to get their place at the World Cup back after international
governing body FIBA replaced them with Mali. The Nigerian sports ministry said
it had recently been speaking with FIBA.
The two-year ban also threatened the men’s
team’s qualification for the 2023 World Cup. The World Cup qualifiers start
again on July 1 and the Nigeria men’s team said on Twitter following the
lifting of the ban that it was “scrambling” to see if it can now make the
qualifying competition in Kigali, Rwanda.
The men’s World Cup also serves as the
qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Nigeria is in danger of
missing both if it misses those qualifiers in Rwanda.
The Nigeria men’s team is coached by
Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown and put itself on the map by upsetting the
United States in a warmup game ahead of last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
The government’s decision last month to
pull the teams from international competitions was fiercely criticized by
players on the Nigeria teams but also drew reaction from figures in the NBA.
Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and
Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka, who are both of Nigerian descent, expressed
their frustration with the leadership of Nigerian basketball.
The sharpest criticism of the authorities
came from the men’s team, which posted on Twitter early this month: “We hope
someday Nigeria will be led by a government without corruption & greed. The
future of Nigeria basketball is extremely bright and we are being held back by
our leaders.”
There’s been a long history of problems at
the Nigerian Basketball Federation but the latest issues center on a leadership
tussle after two separate presidents were elected to lead the NBBF in parallel
elections.
The sports ministry said the lifting of the
ban depended on the NBBF honoring a commitment it gave to work with the
ministry to resolve all its “issues.”
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