Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Australia, Amb. Anderson Madubuike, has said that early preparation for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup would be a major step towards achieving the set goals.
He said such attribute is also the major character trait of all individuals that have made serious impacts in every life’s endeavours and nations that keep succeeding in their national goals and aspirations.
Madubuike stated this in Sydney, Australia, after joining other notable world figures and sports personalities at the draws of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup scheduled for the country later this year.
The statement was made available in Abuja on Saturday by Garba Sufiyanu Malam, an aide to the envoy.
Madubuike, who represented Nigeria at the event, commended members of the Local Organising Committee of the championship for demonstrating their readiness to host the world this month in an event that is slated for September.
While considering the huge success that is already being envisaged for the event with their early preparation, the Nigerian envoy told some Nigerian reporters at the venue of the exercise that Nigerians could borrow a leaf from the actions of the Australians in that regard.
“We must learn to start early by changing our orientation for crash work, which sabotages efforts, to following a long and detailed plan of action.
“The advantage of the foregoing cannot be overemphasised. For instance, it gives you the benefit of returning to the drawing-board every now and then to keep cross-matching your vision with what is on ground,” he said.
Earlier, the Nigerian representative, who was accompanied by Mrs Mercy Clement, a senior official at the Nigeria High Commission in Canberra, had met with individuals and groups and shared perspectives on the progress that is being made in the country in the last few years.
The official extended invitation for them to visit Nigeria for business or tourism.
While some had expressed fascination with the current transformative efforts of the Buhari administration in the areas of fighting crimes, promoting peace globally through sports, and committing to a safer world in words and deeds, others still pointed out that Nigeria could still do better in the fight against insecurity.
The FIBA Women’s World Cup is a quadrennial event that showcases the supremacy of countries, that have qualified from their regions, against other regional qualifiers.
The Nigerian female basketball team is, as in the last three events, representing Africa in this year’s event holding in Sydney, Australia and has been drawn to compete in Group B at the championship.
It would be recalled that Nigeria and Mali had both slugged it out in Cameroon late last year to make it to Australia 2022.
