(NAPTIP) rued the decision of Spain Embassy to deny Nigerian U-17 women basketball team visa for sporting event.

He said: “We deny this report in entirely. NAPTIP never wrote to the Spanish embassy or anybody at all on this matter. It is true that the Nigerian Basketball Federation (NBBF) through a letter signed by its Secretary-General, Okeke Patrick. N wrote a letter to the

Agency seeking assistance for the team. Calls were made to the Secretary-General to visit the Agency to clarify the type of assistance needed. He said he will not be able to come but that he will send his deputy. As we speak, nobody has come from NBBF on the matter and there was no basis to write to anybody or Embassy on it.”  However, he hinted that it was gathered that the visa was denied based on the following reasons: the application was full of irregularities; the application came late and that the person who purportedly signed the application was late and could not have signed such an application.He added: “It is important to state here that NAPTIP does not issue travel visas to intending travellers and only gives clearance based on specific requests from relevant bodies. NAPTIP was not privy to the documents submitted to the Spanish embassy and could not have been part of the visa procurement process in this instance.” It urged the basketball federation to pass across proper information of the matter.