Tag: Scott Nnaji

Former D’Tigers’  head coach, Scott Nnaji, has praised Zenith Bank Plc for its ongoing sponsorship of the Women’s Premier Basketball League, in collaboration with the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF), aimed at fostering the development of young talents across the country.

Nnaji, who was at the stadium to watch some matches of the 2025 league season at the Savannah Conference Centre, currently taking place at the Indoor Basketball Hall, Package B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, noted the emergence of numerous promising young players in the league. He asserted that this trend is a positive development for the future of basketball in Nigeria.

He urged corporate bodies and affluent individuals to follow Zenith Bank’s example by investing in domestic basketball, thereby supporting the growth and development of aspiring players.

Read Also: Zenith Bank urges  D’Tigress to retain AfroBasket title

“We want to see the game improve and grow. The only area where we are truly excelling at the moment is the influx of young people interested in playing the game within the league. This is crucial for our basketball development. It is now up to corporate bodies and individuals to support the game, as Zenith Bank has been doing for many years,” Nnaji stated.

“Zenith Bank has been a long-standing supporter, and we hope other corporate entities will join forces to encourage young players, particularly young female athletes, to pursue their careers in basketball,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nigerian Customs girls bounced  to winning ways with a commanding 79-44 victory over Kada Angeles after losing their matches against Titans 71-57 and Air Warriors 64-56 in matchdays 2 and 3, respectively.

Former D’Tigers head coach Scott Nnaji has appealed to the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to revive the moribund national league to save the career of budding basketballers in order to ensure availability of talents for the various national teams.

Basketball league under Engineer Musa Kida-led NBBF board has experienced so many setbacks. It started with fight over who has the rights to the topflight league before it spiralled into not having a full league season but having games played of the season played at neutral surfaces before the champions are determined.

Nnaji  was in Owerri at the behest of the Imo State Basketball Association led by Kelechi Anosike to serve as resource person at a seminar organised for basketball  coaches, officials and players.

He said D’Tigers suffered a relapse at the second window of the FIBA Afrobasket Championship qualifiers in Tunisia because the coaches went with solely home based players who did not have time to prepare for the qualifiers.

Read Also: NLO approves Black Scorpions FC’s relocation to Abuja

But that the team rebound in Libya after they went with foreign based players who had time to prepare and also were fit because they were playing regularly for their foreign clubs.

“Things have changed. Then we go to international competitions with one or two foreign players but now it is all foreign players or only one or two home based,” Nnaji told NationSport.”Our league has stopped. Players just go to play pickup games here and there. We need to have players stationed in one place and stay with coaches that will build their skills as they play.

“It is not about finishing today and you go play with another coach with another approach. You cannot build your skills nor correct the mistakes you made in your previous games.

“But when you have players with a coach it is easier. Everybody will stand to gain. You will be able to call your home based players to camp and even the female team too.

“We have to start from the scratch to build up again.

“We went to the first phase with only home based players that didn’t camp nor work together. They just took them down and they played the games.

“This time around they went with all foreign based players who are now playing in their clubs. They were all fit and it was easier for them to blend.”