Kaduna – Players of Kaduna State Basketball team known as, `Kada Stars’ on Friday barricaded in Kaduna the entrance of the Ministry of Youths and Sport to protest the non-payment of their 19 months salaries and allowances.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that it took the intervention of the Police to broker peace between the ministry officials and the players.
The players in early hours of the day locked gate into the ministry, thereby denying officials and visitors access into the premises.
The State Director of Sports, George Desambo, after a closed door meeting with the players, announced approval of a special N10 million to settle the players’ claims for the first quarter of 2015.
NAN reports that the Kada Stars, who competed in the DSTV Premier Basketball League are among the four teams that qualified for the final eight from the Savanah Conference.
Some of the players, who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity, said they suffered untold hardship as a result of non settlement of the salaries and allowances.
“We have been playing on the DSTV league on empty stomachs and yet put up good performances to make the state proud without going on relegation.
“We just qualified for the final eight in the savannah conference in Kano, without support from the state government.
“We have made several appeals to the government since the last two years to settle our salaries and allowances so that we can concentrate on jobs, but to date no favourable response.
“We have staged protests twice in the past, without getting favourable response but only pleas from the ministry. We have endured enough and now decided to protest.
“Some of our players are non indigenes of the state and have been in the Kaduna since last year, without money to visit their homes,’’ it said.
The source added that some of them were ejected from their rented accommodation over inability to settle their rent arrears.
The player said that government ejected some of the players being accommodated at a camping site at the Murtala Muhammed Square.
The players appealed to government to settle their outstanding allowances to enable them to participate in the final eight league in Lagos. (NAN)
