Stop Appointing Sports Ministers Based on Politics, NBA Raptors’ Ujiri Tells Nigeria

The President of NBA’s Toronto Raptors basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, has insisted that Nigeria must stop anti-productive practice of appointing non-professional sports ministers based on political considerations.

According to Ujiri who is a Nigerian-Canadian professional basketball executive and former NBA player, if ‘political correctness’ is stopped in selecting a sports minister, this will “ensure that the country’s largest and most productive population are not denied the quality leadership at the policy level that unleashes their great potentials.”

Speaking alongside the President Muhammadu Buhari, at the launch of the Nigeria Exchange (NGX) Group, Masai said the nation must take its youths and sports very seriously for Nigeria to achieve its economic and political potentials as they remain the country’s surest path to global success.

Describing the National Stadium in Lagos as an eyesore, Masai, who in 2003

founded “Giants of Africa” to discover basketball talent, and once served as

director of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Africa, wondered why such

a great piece of real estate has not become income-generating like other

sports complexes the world over.

He pointed to what has been achieved in the state-of-the-art 10, 000-seater Kigali indoor Arena in Rwanda which is currently playing host to the inaugural Basketball Africa League (BAL) which kicked off in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Sunday, featuring 12 teams from across Africa.

In delivering his remarks prior to sounding the closing gong and bringing the

day’s trading to a close, President Buhari stated, “it is my pleasure to join

you all at this important event organised to amplify the positive narrative

about Africa and its great potentials. Let me start by congratulating Nigerian

Exchange Group Plc on its recently concluded demutualisation, which is the

first in the country. I recall signing the Demutualisation Bill in August 2018,

paving the way for the long-awaited demutualisation of the then Nigerian

Stock Exchange.”

Masai challenged the other speakers at the launch to support sports business

which is one of the biggest income earners the world over.

They included President Muhammadu Buhari; Dr. Zainab Ahmed (honourable minister of finance, budget, and national planning); and Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo (minister of trade and investment).

Other speakers include; Mr. Oscar Onyema, the GCEO of the Nigeria Exchange Group, Mr. Tony Elumelu (former chairman of UBA, and founder Tony Elumelu Foundation); and Mr. Jim Ovia (former chairman of Zenith Bank) amongst others.