The National U-12 and U-15 handball championships began in Sokoto State with boys and girls’ teams from across the country fighting for honours.
The developmental handball championship, organised by the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), is sponsored by the state government. It began on Friday and will end on September 4, 2022.
According to HFN’s Secretary General, Almo Umar Lambu, the championship is a grassroots developmental event, which winners will represent Nigeria in selected under age international championships.
The participating teams in the U-12 boys’ category are C&S FPS Academy, Kebbi, Sokoto and FCT, as well as Caliphate Academy, Sokoto. In the U-12 girls’ category are Kebbi, Sokoto and FCT. The competition in the U-15 boys’ category involves Kebbi, Calipate Academy, Sokoto, Suleja Shooters Zamfara and Katsina states’ teams, while in the U-15 girls are C&S FPS Academy, Kebbi and Sokoto states’ teams.
The Nigeria Scrabble Federation (NSF), at the weekend, said it has stepped up preparations for a successful defence of its title at the 2022 edition of the Africa Scrabble Championship holding in Zambia from October 21 to 24.
National team coach, Prince Tony Ikolo, told The Guardian that Nigeria, as defending champions, expect a tougher challenge to its crown this year, adding that top African nations have indicted desire to dethrone the country.
Ikolo said Nigeria’s success at the recent West Africa Scrabble Championship has lifted the players’ morale ahead of the African Championship. He added, however, that the players would not rest on their oars despite recent successes in both regional and continental competitions.
He said: “We are kicking off with the Abuja National Scrabble Open Tournament from September 24 to 25, which is part of preparations for the African Championship.
“The main selection process for the African Scrabble Championship will hold from October 1 to 4. The NSF is working hard to ensure the best players represent the country in Zambia.
“Going by the outstanding performance of the players at international and domestic competitions this year, it is certain Nigeria will excel at the championship. But this does not mean the players will not go through serious training and preparation to ensure Nigeria retains its title in Zambia.”
Ikolo pleaded for more corporate and individual sponsors to help develop the sport and ensure the country maintains its status as the best scrabble-playing nation in the world.
Nigeria became the first African nation to win the World English Language Speaking Scrabble Players Association Championship (WESPAC) when Wellington Jighere made history in Perth, Australia in 2015.
Powerful rains that have swept the arid state of Niger since June have left 75 dead and affected 108,000 people, the government said on Tuesday.
The previous toll issued by the Civil Protection Agency on August 14 was 32 dead and nearly 67,000 affected.
The worst-hit regions are Maradi in the central south, Zinder in the central east, and Tillaberi and Tahoua in the west.
The landlocked Sahel state’s annual rainy season typically runs between June and August or September.
But in recent years, rainfall has become more intensive, accelerating the risk of deadly flooding in shantytowns.
More rain is forecast for the coming weeks, and the Niger Basin Authority has issued a warning for the capital Niamey, through which the Niger River flows.
Floods last year claimed more than 70 lives and affected more than 200,000 people. According to UN estimates, at least 350,000 could be affected this year.
The floods have combined with regional droughts and jihadist insurgencies that have badly hit harvests.
More than 4.4 million Nigeriens — around one in five of the population — suffer from “severe” food insecurity, according to health monitors.
Everton’s Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi takes a throw-in during the English Premier League football .
Everton midfielder, Alex Iwobi, has insisted Frank Lampard’s ‘belief’ in him has been paramount to his impressive individual turnaround at Goodison Park this year, reports liverpoolecho.co.uk.
Iwobi, who made the move from Goodison Park for a fee of £34m in 2019, endured a difficult start to life on Merseyside under managers Marco Silva and Carlo Ancelotti, as he was deployed in a plethora of positions and subsequently unable to nail down a regular role in the Blues’ side.
However, since the appointment of Lampard in January, the Nigeria international has gone from strength to strength at Goodison Park and ultimately played a huge role in helping the club avoid relegation to the Championship at the back end of last season.
“I’m going into the games confident, I always feel like I can influence the game whether that’s in a defensive part or an attacking part,” said the midfielder, speaking to Everton’s official website after the draw with Brentford on Saturday.
I mean the team always helps me, they help me perform to the level I’m doing at the moment, so I’m enjoying it.” Iwobi, who has cemented himself as one of the club’s best midfield options after a string of impressive performances so far this campaign, believes his revival has been down to the trust Lampard has placed in him.
“When he (Lampard) first got appointed, I came back from AFCON (Africa Cup of Nations) and he’s always given me the belief to go and express myself and play the way I train. He’s always given me the belief and confidence that I can just go out there and enjoy my football, and so ever since he’s been appointed I’ve been doing that and repaying the faith that he’s shown in me.
“I mean, sometimes he does tell me to cool down and keep the ball, enjoy the ball, but he also enjoys the fact that I’m always trying to progress with the ball and get the team up the pitch with the ball, so as long as I’m just expressing myself I don’t think he minds.”
The capital city of Kano state, Kano is a major agricultural and commercial region. It is the oldest city in West Africa and has a rich medieval history.
A charming city, Kano is popular for its various festivals, and is renowned for its horseback riding, due to its location in the south of the Sahara Desert.
Some of the main attractions in Kano city are the Emir’s Palace, the Murtala Muhammed Library, the Kajuru Castle, Dala Hill, and the Gidan Makama Museum.
Leather works, weaving, and cloth dyeing are central to the traditional arts and crafts of Kano. Tourists can also enjoy architectural structures that date back to the 15th century.
The city lies south of the Sahara Desert in the Sudanian Savanna region that stretches across the south of the Sahel.
The city lies near where the Kano and Challawa rivers flowing from the southwest converge to form the Hadejia River, which eventually flows into Lake Chad to the east.
Kano is 481 metres (1,578 feet) above sea level. Kano has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw).
The city has on average about 980 mm (38.6 in) of precipitation per year, the large majority of which falls from June through September.
Like the vast majority of Nigeria, Kano is very hot for most of the year, peaking in April.
From December through February, the city is less hot, with morning temperatures during the months of December, January and February averaging between 14 and 16 °C (57.2 and 60.8 °F).
Head Coach of Nigeria’s U-19 girls volleyball team, Elishama Elam, yesterday, released a list of 14 players that will represent the country at the African U-19 Girls Nations Volleyball Championship, which spikes off today at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja. Nigeria is hosting the championship.
Elam will be assisted by Tina Azomani from the Delta Force Volleyball Team and NBVF’S new technical adviser, Alexander Boskovic.
Elam said the best players were selected after two months of camping and training at Ahmadu Bello Stadium (ABS), Kaduna State.
He said the players are ready to make Nigeria proud, adding that the team is prepared for any challenge at the championship.
“After six weeks of preparations, we are ready for the championship. The girls have been active throughout this year. Some of them played at the National Division 1 League; others played in several invitational championships, including beach championships.”
Elam was in charge of the country’s U-19 Girls when Cameroun defeated them in three games recently, but he said that ‘blip’ will not happen again.
“Nigeria is better prepared and will put in her best at this year’s championship. In the coaching crew is the new technical adviser, Boskovic and I am sure his tactical experience will be the joker for us,” he said.
He named the full squad to include Miriam Usman and Aishat Abdulraheem from Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Spikers; Christiana Laban from Plateau Rock; Blessing Unekwe from Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mary Gana from Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Naomi Yaro and Marvelous Chilota from Kada Emeralds.
Others are Charity Joseph from Niger Raven, Gift Michael, Verity Onyegwu from the Queen VC, Ifeoma Mordi, Deborah Chukwua and Sarah Ali from Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Spikers and Joy Owoniyi from Phoenix.
Taï National Park is a very important national park which is located in the southwestern part of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire.
Considered to be the largest and best preserved remnant of the primary rainforest in West Africa, more precisely of the Upper Guinea, Taï’s rainforests are separated from the rainforests of central Africa by the dry Dahomey Gap, which made it possible for the national park to have quite distinctive flora and fauna.
Due to this diversity, the national park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1982, nonetheless, this did not help for five mammal species to be taken from the Red List of Threatened Species.
Those five species are: pygmy hippopotamus, olive colobus monkeys, leopards, chimpanzees and Jentink’s duiker.
Covering and area of about 3,300 sq km (1,300 sq mi), Taï National Park was established as such on 28 August 1972, the last swathes of primary evergreen forest is something out of the ordinary.
It is considered as such, due to the consideration of being a natural reservoir of the Ebola virus, where the World Health Organization has expressed great concern over the proximity of this reservoir to the towns that surround it and especially the International Airport at the economic capital, Abidjan.
As the park is located in the vicinity of the border with the Republic of Liberia, it is a subject of poaching alongside its boundaries, nevertheless, a higher activities of timber removal have been present in the north side of the park as well, which fortunately ceased by 1972.
Still, inspiring a great scientific interest of what once was a primary Upper Guinean rainforest that stretched across the countries of Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau, nowadays is mostly secluded here.
It is by far the largest island of forest remaining in West Africa remaining relatively intact, where two main types of forest can be recognized, those being diverse moist evergreen and moist semi-evergreen forest.
There have been more than 250 bird species recognized here, as it lies within one of the world’s Endemic Bird Areas, at least 28 are recognized to be endemic to the Guinean zone.
All in all, the Taï National Park takes part in plenty of scientific projects which are brought to Côte d’Ivoire in order to try and keep it safe, in order to make it safer for the future generations to be able to marvel one of the last standing tropical forests of West Africa.
D’Tigers are hoping to turn things around in the final qualifying window billed for February
Mfom Udofia, the Head Coach of Nigeria’s Men’s Basketball Team, is confident that the D’Tigers can still qualify for next year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup.
With only one victory over Guinea in the recently concluded fourth qualifying window in Abidjan, the D’Tigers are in a precarious position in the race for World Cup qualification next year.
While the chances appear bleak, the D’Tigers coach insists that his team’s season is not yet over, pointing out that there is still one more qualifying window to salvage things.
Coach Udofia, who is particularly disappointed that D’Tigers did not obtain the much-needed victory over Angola on Sunday, stated that he and his players will continue to work hard to make their dream a reality.
“It was a tough loss (against Angola) for us and I must say that the players fought hard but the victory did not come our way. It’s not over for Nigeria yet given that there is another window. We will keep playing and giving our best till the last day of the qualifiers.” the coach declared in an interview with FIBA.
While Nigeria hopes for a miracle, Cote d’Ivoire has already qualified as the first African nation for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which will be held in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines.
The D’Tigers qualified far ahead of the Ivorians for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China, but the tables have now turned.
The Elephants officially qualified for the World Cup after defeating Cape Verde 77-69 last Sunday.
The African Qualifiers resume in February 2023 with Window 5, but the Ivorians, Africa’s only undefeated team thus far, will have no need to break a sweat because they have already secured their second consecutive World Cup qualification.
CAF Security Chief, Christian Emeruwa was the first person to pick the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Presidential form on Monday.
Former Super Eagles goalkeeper, Peterside Idah and Imo State FA Chairman, Amanze Uchegbulam were also seen in Abuja to purchase the form to contest for the vacant NFF top job position.
The form is now being sold for Four hundred thousand (N400,000) Naira, same price it was four years ago.
Long-serving Uchegbulam, 74, was NFF 1st Vice President to Sani Lulu between 2010 and 2014, while Peterside, who is now based in South Africa, has led an aggressive campaign to replace Amaju Pinnick as NFF President.
Emeruwa has been very visible since April 2022, when he declared his ambition to be the next NFF President.
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