Jigawa and Adamawa states’ girls and boys have emerged zonal champions of the 22nd Nestle-Milo Secondary School Basketball Championships at the Indoor Sports Hall of Sani Abacha Stadium, Kano.
The encounter saw the girls basketball team of Government Secondary School Numan, Adamawa, defeat their counterparts from Government Girls Secondary School, Shekarau, Kano, 20-8 to win the trophy.

Dutse Model International Secondary School, Jigawa defeated Nigeria Tulip International College, Yobe, 51-23 to win the boys’ category.

Six teams from group A and B on Thursday locked horns before the winners emerged.

Speaking at the final, Funmilola Oyewole, Category Development Manager Beverages, Nestle Nigeria Plc, said Milo had been in the forefront of the development of grassroots sports in the country.

She emphasised that Milo-sponsored championships had played a crucial role in grassroots sports development in the country.

Oyewole, who said Nestle was committed to sustaining the development, noted that the competition started with 500 schools in 1999 but had risen to around 10,000 across the country.

“The Milo Basketball Championship is Nigeria’s only private company-sponsored school sports and it enjoys the collaboration of Nigeria Schools Sports Federation (NSSF) and the National Collegiate Sports Foundation,” she said.

Oyewole added that the winners would play in the national final scheduled to hold in Lagos later in the year.

Puiami Dickson, star player of the Adamawa team, won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award of the tournament for the girls’ category.

In the boys’ category, the MVP went to Benjamin Ishaku of Dutse Model School, Jigawa.

Winners of both categories went home with a trophy as well as N125,000 and N100,000 each, while the runners up pocketed N75,000 and N60,000 respectively.

(NAN)