Sponsor of the Nigeria Women Basketball League, Zenith Bank Nigeria PLC has pledged its commitment to the development of basketball in Nigeria.
The bank has solely sponsored the women basketball league for 12 years and at yesterday’s media parley at the bank’s headquarter in Lagos, the General Managing Director, Peter Amangbo assured the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) and clubs of Zenith Bank’s desire to develop the league to an enviable height.
He stated that the bank was committing N35 million to this year’s league, which will commence on March 18 in Abuja, noting that the league has grown since it started with N7.5 million sponsorship fee. He said it was note-worthy that the participating teams have also grown from eight to 18 teams, assuring that the bank would continue to encourage kids and women to actualise their dreams.
While commending last year’s finalist- Dolphins Basketball Club and First Bank BC, Amangbo also commended the NBBF for their efforts towards improving the quality of the women’s league. He called on stakeholders to join hands with the NBBF in giving awareness to the league.
He expressed confidence that this year’s edition would be better than previous ones, assuring that both parties would renegotiate the guaranteed sponsorship, which comes to an end this season.
According to the President of the NBBF, Tijani Umar, the partnership is a life building relationship with the players and their families benefitting from the financial backing of the Zenith Bank for the league. He applauded the sponsors for helping to develop the league and the players.
To ensure the league become a better commodity, Umar assured that the NBBF would ensure better game schedule and expand the league system as soon as more money is made available. He also called on sponsor to improve branding at game venues, make publicity better and ensure that branded product of the bank is made available to fans, noting that officiating will be better this year.
“The team would also get about N20 million as grants, while the rest would be used to organise the league, pay prize money, buy trophies and boost publicity.”
He also called on the sponsors to support the National women basketball team, D’Tigress who would play at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in France in June.