Nigeria Basketball Federation has withdrawn its men’s basketball team D’Tigers from the forthcoming window of the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers in Monastir, Tunisia, due to lack of funds.

Concerns had been mounting among basketball fans in the country when the federation had yet to announce the team roster for Nigeria’s involvement in the qualifying event scheduled to be held in Monastir, Tunisia, from February 23rd to 25th.

Also read: D’Tigers could miss AfroBasket qualifiers in Tunisia

D’Tigers were scheduled to tip off their qualifying campaign against Libya on Friday, followed by matches against Uganda and Cape Verde.

The decision to pull the team out of the qualifiers comes as a huge blow according to X account @NigeriaBasket who revealed that several players who represented the team at the 2020 Olympics had committed to playing in the qualifiers.

“Despite several 2020 Olympians committing, D’Tigers will forfeit this AfroBasket Qualifiers window due to lack of funds from the government.”

In a statement, the NBBF pointed to a lack of financial support from the sports ministry as the reason for withdrawing from the competition. This move underscores the ongoing issue of neglect towards sports other than football by the sports ministry.

Over the years, the basketball federation has shouldered the financial burden of such competitions for its athletes without significant assistance from the ministry.