Fri. Aug 29th, 2025

D'Tigress

President Tinubu Gives Each D’Tigress Player with OON National Honours, $100 Cash Gifts, and Flats

By Dele Fashomi 4 weeks ago

President Bola Tinubu has conferred the prestigious Order of the Niger (OON) national honors on Nigeria’s female basketball team, D’Tigress, following their record-breaking fifth consecutive AfroBasket Women’s championship.

Each player received $100,000 and a flat, while members of the technical team, led by Coach Rena Wakama, were awarded $50,000 each.

The announcement came during a presidential reception on Monday evening, where Tinubu celebrated the team’s dominant performance in the tournament.

Only last week, the President similarly honored the Super Falcons for their victory at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

D’Tigress secured their seventh AfroBasket title after a hard-fought 78-64 win over Mali in Sunday’s final. The team has now gone an incredible 29 games unbeaten in African competitions since 2015, cementing their status as the continent’s most formidable women’s basketball squad.

Despite a slow start in the final, Nigeria rallied in the second quarter to level the scores at 41-41 by halftime.

A strong defensive effort in the third quarter gave them the edge, and they sealed the victory in the fourth.

Key contributions came from Amy Okonkwo (19 points) and Ezinne Kalu (20 points), alongside crucial plays from Promise Amukamara, Victoria Macaulay, and Musa.

Their path to the final included a tough 75-68 semifinal win against Senegal, a match many considered the “final before the final.” With this latest triumph, D’Tigress has further solidified their legacy as Africa’s undisputed basketball queens.

About The Author

Dele Fashomi

Dele Fashomi, seasoned journalist and communication teacher, is a holder of Master of Arts degree in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan in 1992/93.

Earlier, he had bagged a Bachelor degree from the same university in 1984, after which he proceeded to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos, in 1990, for a postgraduate diploma in Journalism.

He had done many courses in communication, including the EU-BBC Editing Course in 2002.

Mr. Fashomi combines effectively the practice, research and teaching of communication. And to date, he has published two academic works in communication: Issues in Communication Technology and Policy (2010) and Economic and Social Issues in Advertising and PR (2013).

He had his first break in the Nigerian media in Concord Newspapers in 1990 and today, he has over two and half decades experience earned in several newspapers.

He has been part of many start-ups, such as The Republic (1987), The Comet (1999), The Anchor 2001 – 2002; Sun Newspapers (2003); Westerner newsmagazine (2005 – 2010) as Editor; National Life (2011) as Sunday Editor, and Newswatch Newspapers (2012- 2016) as Daily Editor.

Dele Fashomi is now the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Newstide247.com newspaper online, which he started in July 2015. He is also into biography writing, with many books in his trail, some of which he wrote alone and one he co- authored with his mentor, Mr Dare Babarinsa, entitled:  Olabiyi Durojaiye – DARE TO BE DiFFERENT. He also guided and collaborated with Pa Olatunji Odusanya in writing his autobiography – AGAINST ALL ODDS. There are many other books in the works under his pen.

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