Empowering Girls in Northern Nigeria Through Basketball

Abuja, Nigeria – In Kano State, the sound of a basketball on concrete used to belong almost entirely to the boys.

For girls like Khamila Sani Ibrahim, the game had to be squeezed into the margins of the day – and of expectation. Training sessions were not scheduled; they were smuggled.

“It is very hard for me to train in basketball,” she said. “I only go out to play when they are not around, or I tell them that I’m going to visit my friends, and from there I go to the court.”

In much of northern Nigeria, courts and football pitches are still seen as male territory. Girls who want to play run into the same wall over and over again: few facilities that will welcome them, limited access to equipment, almost no structured coaching, and very little chance to compete. The desire is there. The pathway is not.

A new lane opens

That gap is what Grassroots To Greatness (G2G) is trying to fill.

The initiative, built around female empowerment through sport, has started to carve out space for girls to train, compete and grow in an environment that respects both their ambitions and their identity.

Youth sports advocate Jawahir Bello created G2G after watching too many tournaments where girls were either absent or treated as an afterthought. She wanted something different: a stage that belonged to them.

At G2G events, the visual is striking. Players run the floor in custom hijabs, long sports vests and athletic tights, their kits tailored to their beliefs as much as their bodies.

“Our core value is about participating in sports without doing anything that goes against our cultural values or our identity as Muslims,” Bello told Al Jazeera. “Whether you put on a hijab or innerwear under your jersey, modesty is key. You come out modest, decent and fully covered.”

It could easily have sparked pushback. Female-only tournaments. Community training sessions for girls. New norms on old courts. Bello braced for resistance. Instead, she found a surprising amount of support from local leaders who understood that the project was not about tearing up values, but working within them.

To reach the girls who need it most, G2G leans on the people already on the ground. The programme partners with grassroots coaches who run community teams, using their trust and local knowledge to pull girls into the game.

Their own tournament, their own rules

When Ibrahim pulled on a Kano State jersey at a multi-state G2G tournament, it felt like stepping into another world. Teams arrived from as many as nine states. The sidelines, the benches, the court itself – all dominated by girls. No need to ask for space. It was already theirs.

She had grown used to playing with boys, used to being underestimated, used to the sideways glances that came with every made shot. This was different.

“What G2G did for us was incredible,” she said. “They provided jerseys, custom hijabs, basketballs, cover for our transport and even financial stipends for all the teams, regardless of who won or lost. It made us feel seen and valued.”

In Abuja, 11-year-old schoolyard games turned into something more serious for another young player, Fatima Diouf. She joined the programme to see if her talent would hold up when the level jumped.

Her team didn’t reach the finals. That was not the story she carried home.

“I have learned a lot beyond just basketball. I learned teamwork, confidence, discipline and how to keep improving,” she told Al Jazeera.

The scoreboard faded. The lessons stayed.

The battles off the court

None of this erases the daily grind.

For Ibrahim, every training session is still a negotiation. She has to fight through her own doubts, and through the dismissive jokes and comments from male players who assume girls cannot match their intensity. Then there is the clock: schoolwork, domestic chores, and a sport that demands hours if you want to be good at it.

The tension between tradition and ambition is real. That is where people like Mansur Abdullahi see the value of programmes such as G2G.

Abdullahi, assistant coach of Nigeria’s U-20 women’s national football team, the Falconets, has watched how the game grows from the ground up. Big federations have the budgets and the structures. What they often lack is proximity.

“Official sports bodies have big structures, but local groups provide the actual trust and cultural understanding,” he said. “So it’s only through community-led initiatives that more professional teams will understand what’s acceptable for girls and boys and how to frame sports so it fits the existing values instead of clashing with them.”

Trust, in this context, is as important as talent.

Dreams stretching beyond the baseline

On tournament days, the courts become more than a venue. They become a glimpse of what could be.

For many of the girls, these games are their first real test against unfamiliar opponents, their first sense of how far they might go if the door stays open. The questions they ask themselves start to change. From “Can I play?” to “How far can I take this?”

At home, Ibrahim’s biggest hurdle was not a defender. It was doubt in her own house. Her father worried that competitive sport might drag her away from family standards and expectations. Then he went to watch her play.

He saw the kits. The organisation. The structure that G2G had built around the girls. The concern shifted.

“I want to secure a college sports scholarship in the United States and eventually turn professional. More than that, I want other Muslim girls across northern Nigeria to see that sports build your health, strength, and confidence, and that nothing should hold you back from chasing your dreams,” she said.

Diouf’s perspective widened too. Standing in the middle of a network of coaches, organisers and community figures, she started to picture herself not just on local courts, but competing across Africa.

The ambitions are no longer small.

For Bello, that is exactly the point. G2G is not just about putting on female-only tournaments and ticking boxes on a development plan. It is about telling girls, in very visible, practical ways, that sport is a place where they belong – without having to trade away who they are.

“You can keep your identity, stay covered and still achieve something in life,” she said.

The question now is not whether the girls are ready. It is whether the wider sporting system is prepared to catch up.