1500 players and officials expected at Central Conference playoff of Milo Basketball Championship

1500 players and officials expected at Central Conference playoff of Milo Basketball Championship By Abubakar Hassan About 1500 players and officials are expected to participate in the Central Conference Playoffs of the Nestle Milo Secondary Schools Basketball Championship, hosted by Niger State. Niger State Director of Schools Sports, Alh. Kudu B. Umar made this disclosure while briefing Sports Journalists on the preparation of the state towards hosting the championship slated for 10th-16th May, 2019. He revealed that eight States namely, Benue, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kogi, Kaduna, FCT (Abuja) and Nassarawa will join the host state, Niger state for the Central Conference playoff. Alh. Kudu Umar added that the visiting teams were expected to arrive Minna on Friday, 10th May, while the championship shall kick-off properly on Saturday, 11th May, adding that all the matches shall be played at the College of Education, Minna Basketball Hall. According to the state Director of Schools Sports who is equally the Public Relation Officer National Schools Sports Federation (NSSF), all arrangement have been concluded by the state to host the Championship. He also disclosed that Father O'Connell Science College Minna who were 2017 and 2018 winner of the Championship will represent the state in the boys category, while Government Girls Science College, Bida will represent the state in the Female category. Alh. Kudu Umar explained that the Nestlé Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship has four conferences, which are the Savannah Conference, Central Conference, Equatorial Conference and Western Conference, where a winner is expected to emerge from each conference and two best losers were expected to join the four winners for the finials slated for Lagos in June this year. He also disclosed that as part of the activities of the Championship, the officials of the Championship will pay a courtesy visit to the State Commissioner for Education and that of Sports Development on Wednesday, adding that His Excellency, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and his cabinet members are expected to witness the finals.