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Players and officials of Nigeria’s Senior Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress, have thanked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu after receiving the financial rewards promised to them for winning the 2025 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket title.
The payment completes the Presidential Rewards package announced for the team following their continental triumph. It came after the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko, met with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, to finalise arrangements for the outstanding payments. Within three days of that meeting, both D’Tigress and the Super Falcons had received their rewards.
Speaking on behalf of the team, D’Tigress captain Amy Okonkwo said the players were deeply grateful to the President, whom she described as a father figure committed to the welfare of Nigerian athletes.
“On behalf of the entire D’Tigress team, I want to specially thank our dear President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for this show of love and support,” Okonkwo said. “We are truly grateful for everything he has done to ensure that we receive all that he promised us after winning the Afrobasket last year.”
“This is an unprecedented gesture from Mr. President,” she added.
“We have received the houses he promised us, the national honours he bestowed on us, and now we have all received the financial rewards promised to us in our various accounts.”
Okonkwo also extended appreciation to the First Lady and sports administrators. “We are more than grateful to Mr. President, the First Lady, and the leadership of the National Sports Commission, led by the Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko, and the Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade.
We are also very grateful to the Nigeria Basketball Federation and its President, Engr. Musa Kida,” she said.
She concluded: “This has shown us that Nigerian sports is taking a major positive shift in administration and that we truly have a sports-loving President.”
D’Tigress remain the reigning queens of African women’s basketball, having won the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket a record five consecutive times. They claimed the 2025 title in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, beating Mali 78-64 in the final to secure their seventh continental championship overall — a win that extended Nigeria’s unbeaten run in the competition to 29 straight games and made them the first team in the tournament’s history to win five titles in a row.
