It was a sweet homecoming for a former General Manager and Executive vice president of NBA’s Denver Nuggets, Masai Ujiri, who visited his alma mater, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria and pledged to support in upgrading of the foremost university’s sports facilities.
The 2019 NBA champion made this known recently during a courtesy call on the current Vice Chamcellor of the university, Prof. Adamu Ahmed, who was his school mate and basketball teammate.
Ujiri who was born in the UK to Nigerian and Kenyan parents, was raised in Zaria, and attended Staff School and Demonstration Secondary School all in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
‘First of all, I came to congratulate you on your new appointment as Vice Chancellor of our great university and also discuss areas of critical need, especially sports entertainment and infrastructure around the university,’ he said.
Ujiri said it is part of his intention to see ABU have a befitting sports complex akin to the Zaria Court in Kigali in Rwanda, a sports entertainment infrastructure which he personally built for sports development.
While appreciating the visit by the legend, Prof. Ahmed said Ujiri’s visit was timely as the university was recently designated by the federal government as one of the eight sports centres of excellence.
According to him, the decision to assist the university upgrade its sports infrastructure would certainly complement the federal government effort towards sports development in Nigeria.
Going down memory lane, the Vice-Chancellor recalled how he and Ujiri were part of the team that travelled to Pretoria in South Africa for a basketball tournament. He said they qualified for the World Cup in Japan where they almost made it to the quarter-final.
‘That was when I tried to convince Michael Ujiri to be part of the Nigerian Basketball Team,’ he noted.
It would be recalled that after ending his professional basketball playing career in 2002, Ujiri worked briefly as a youth coach in Nigeria.
He has also worked at various times for NBA clubs like Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, and Denver Nuggets, where he rose to the rank of General Manager and Executive vice president in charge of basketball operations.