Frank Lampard’s Everton have joined David Moyes’s West Ham United and Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United in the race for Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis, according to The Daily Mail.
The Mirror had reported earlier that West Ham were planning to make a £20 million bid for Dennis with further claim that Newcastle are also interested in the 24-year-old Nigeria international striker.
And now, The Daily Mail are reporting that Everton are eyeing a move for Dennis, who is valued at £20 million by his club Watford.
Watford will play in the Championship next season after getting relegated from the Premier League.
The Toffees are reportedly looking at Dennis as a potential replacement for Brazilian forward Richarlison, who is a prominent transfer target for Tottenham Hotspur.
It is likely that Dennis will leave Watford in the summer transfer window amid interest from Everton, Newcastle, and West Ham United.
Denis scored 10 goals and gave six assists in 30 Premier League starts for Watford last season.
The striker has shown that he is good enough to play in the Premier League, and with Watford in the Championship next season, the Hornets will have to sell him if a good offer comes in.
Swiss outfit, Grasshopper Club Zurich have sacked their technical director, Seyi Olofinjana.
The former Super Eagles midfielder spent just one season at the club.
The club announced the termination of Olofinjana’s contract alongside managing director, Jimmy Berisha, on Monday.
Club President Sky Sun stated that the club took the decision after the board agreed a change in management of the squad ahead of the coming season.
“Over the past weeks, intense discussions regarding the future of the club were held. Through these open and fair conversations, the parties came to the joint decision to go separate ways,”Sun stated via a statement on the club’s official website.
“As a club with a strong heritage and ambitious vision, our aim must be to continuously push it forward and challenge ourselves on a regular basis.
“Following the transparent discussions and in light of the diverging views on the future direction of the club, it was mutually recognized that change within the leadership team was inevitable.
“The board of directors together with the concerned parties came to this decision in the best interest of the club’s future in order to keep pursuing its ambitious goals in the years to come.
“We would like to thank Jimmy and Seyi for their always professional and constructive collaboration. Seyi has always shown great dedication and committed fully to any challenge with strong passion.
“Through his work, he ensured we could tackle the season with a competitive squad. I wish them all the best for their personal and professional future and thank them sincerely for their commitment to Grasshoppers.”
Olofinjana was loan manager at Premier League club, Wolverhampton Wanderers before linking up with the Swiss club.
Antonio Rudiger has been officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player following his move from Chelsea.
The centre-back has agreed a four-year deal at the Bernabeu after leaving the Blues at the end of his contract.
Los Blancos confirmed the switch over two weeks ago, but Rudiger has been away on international duty with Germany so has only now been able to arrive in Madrid to be presented to the media at the club’s training complex.
Earlier in the day, the 29-year-old completed his medical at the Sanitas La Moraleja University Hospital.
It has been revealed that Rudiger will wear number 22 at Real Madrid, which is newly vacant following Isco’s departure this summer.
‘It’s a very special day for all of us, but especially for me,’ the defender told reporters at his unveiling. ‘I would like to thank my parents, because without them I could not be here. They have always supported me and that throughout my life has been very very important.
Rudiger will wear number 22 at Real Madrid, which is newly vacant following Isco’s departure
‘I also want to thank the president of Real Madrid for giving me the opportunity to play for this great club. I can promise you that I will give everything for this club. I want to win as many titles as we can. Hala Madrid and nothing else!’
Rudiger also confirmed that Barcelona showed an interest in signing him, but he told his brother, who is his agent and advisor, that it was ‘Real Madrid or nothing’.
The club’s president Florentino Perez added: ‘Today one of the best defenders in the world arrives at Real Madrid. Antonio, from now on you are part of a unique club and family. We are very excited to have a player like you who has done everything possible to make this day come.
‘Your career allowed you to choose between the big clubs and you have chosen for this shield, that will give you the strength to achieve what others believe is impossible.’
Rudiger’s contract with the LaLiga side will be worth in the region of £315,000-per-week and he will also net a hefty signing on fee.
The Lagos State Government says its currently working with the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria for the construction of a cargo airport at the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
The State Head of Investment, Private Public Partnership, PPP, Mr. Akinyemi Olajuwon, made this disclosure at the sideline of the Miami-Dade County Business development Mission Business Meeting organised by FAAN in Lagos.
Recall that the Lagos State government had inaugurated a technical committee for the review of the Lekki Comprehensive Master Plan (2021-2041), which is one of the four important growth corridors in the state.
The development of the Lekki axis, which plays host to growth pole developments such as the Free Trade Zone, Dangote Refineries, the proposed Lekki Deep Sea Port and Lagos International Airport.
African International Documentary Festival Foundation (AFDIFF), an NGO, says UNESCO’s World Heritage site, Sukur cultural landscape in Adamawa is now a source of power after 600 years.
Mrs Malame Mangzha, the Director-General of AFDIFF, made this known in an interview in Abuja on Monday.
AFIDFF is the implementing organisation for the UNESCO 2020/2021 Restoration programme at Sukur World Heritage Site.
The site suffered grave damage as a result of insurgency in 2014 but began a restoration process in 2021 through the intervention of AFDIFF and its various partners.
“As part of the restoration programme, AFDIFF in collaboration with the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and other partners have successfully installed solar power in the community school.
“There’s also power in some strategic places in the community now after its over 600 years of existence, even though we, while installing power, tried not to interfere with the conservation of the site.
“Few months from now, we should, alongside other partners, officially launch this great achievement. It is quite a beautiful `site’ to behold,” Manghza said.
She also said AFDIFF and its partners had provided over 2,000 educational books to a newly-built library in the community school.
The school, she added, now had access to water supply via solar pump and a latrine for just the children.
She explained that the amenities would hopefully be extended to other members of the community with more funds.
While enumerating progress and challenges from the initiative, she said that one major concern was the learning process for the children in the community.
She said the foundation, with support from its partners, was also able to build an additional block of classrooms to add to the two old structures already in place, with chairs and desks for the classrooms.
She, however, said the classes sheltered no fewer than 100 pupils during lessons.
Other pupils, she added, sat outside, under trees, for their lessons.
She explained that not all the volunteer teachers were available to on a daily basis teach the children because of the distance from the base of the mountain to the top where the community was situated.
The Director-General, however, called for more support toward establishing a well structured process of learning for the children in the community.
“The need for more classrooms and manpower in the community school remains a major concern to us. They need more volunteer teachers.
“The school has over 700 pupils of primary and students of Junior Secondary School with less than 10 volunteer teachers who live at the bottom of the mountain, finding it difficult to climb to the top daily.
“At the end of the day, very few go up to teach the children in a day.
“We solicit our partners to help in this area, by providing or helping pay more volunteers, for at least a year, before the local government is able to employ more teachers for the school,” Manghza said.
According to her, lessons are also taught in the native dialect of the community and not in English language, a challenge, she added, would affect them when sitting for any external examination if not tackled.
NAN reports that the Sukur landscape is situated over 1,000 metres above sea level on a hilltop on Nigeria – Cameroun border in Adamawa.
Romelu Lukaku is definitely headed back to Inter Milan, per CBS Sports Golazo. It’s claimed Chelsea will receive a loan fee of around £8.5m plus add-ons.
The Blues had looked to do a swap deal for the Belgian but were unsuccessful, but a move is now close to being finalised.
Chelsea are said to see value in a one-year loan deal with Todd Boehly keen to bring an end to the saga, it is said.
A Nigerian scientist and professor of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Bamidele Iwalokun, has urged the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control to develop a strategy for screening fast food outlets for the possible use of antibiotics in their preparation.
Prof. Iwalokun, who is a Director, Central Research Laboratory, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, said this has become imperative, citing reported cases in other countries where antibiotics were used in fast foods.
The biotechnologist, however, said though no case had been reported in Nigeria yet, the practice could be ongoing in the country.
Speaking in an exclusive interview, the biotechnologist, said NAFDAC should raise awareness of the dangers of abusing antibiotics and sanction any food vendor involved in the practice.
According to the scientist, one of the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance is the use of antibiotics in livestock, poultry, and also in ready to eat foods also known as fast foods.
The researcher explained, “Now, in livestock and poultry, farmers normally use antibiotics as growth promoters. They want to get a bigger size of their farm products to make more money.
“Another reason farmers use antibiotics is to prevent livestock from having diseases. In as much as the same antibiotics would be used to treat diseases when they occur, the first instance of use is an abuse of antibiotics while the last one is the responsible use of antibiotics.
“Currently, there is that indulgence in the use of antibiotics as growth promoters. It should be stopped.
“As much as now they are using drugs like paracetamol to tenderize meat, there is also a high possibility of using antibiotics for similar purposes since a vendor may not be able to distinguish between a paracetamol and an antibiotic.”
According to the World Health Organisation, antibiotic resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality, adding that antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world.
To prevent antibiotic resistance, the expert said it was also important that farmers stop using antibiotics in their feeds, poultries, poultry water, livestock, and pigs’ rearing.
“This is because these antibiotics will contribute to antibiotic-resistant bacteria that would move from the farm to the plate because they will not stay on the farm.
“When they move to the plate and we consume them, they will enter into our system and in case we are immunocompromised and we have an infection, that infection will be antibiotic resistance infection and that is what is causing the problem.
“Currently, 700,000 people die because of antibiotic resistance and if nothing is done about that, it will rise to 10 million by 2050 and Africa will bear the greatest brunt of it”, he said.
The professor stated that there was a need for awareness creation on the use of antibiotics in Nigeria to prevent the ongoing resistance.
He noted, “We have had reports of using antibiotics in fast foods in other countries but we have not had any report of it occurring in Nigeria. We should create awareness that it should not be done. What NAFDAC should do is develop a strategy to screen ready-to-eat foods for possible antibiotic contamination because it has been reported that antibiotics are used in fast foods.
“But we do not have the evidence in Nigeria yet. But as a way of acting proactively to forestall it, the regulatory agency should put a strategy in motion for screening antibiotics in ready-to-eat foods such as sausages, bulgar, meat pie, sausages, among others.”
“NAFDAC should carry out the screening in case such practice is being done unnoticed. By the time we screen and find residues of antibiotics in them, such food vendors should be sanctioned. This is because it is a practice that will further promote the spread of antibiotic resistance if not forestalled.”
The WHO states that new resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally thereby threatening the world’s ability to treat common infectious diseases.
“A growing list of infections – such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, blood poisoning, gonorrhoea, and foodborne diseases – are becoming harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat as antibiotics become less effective
“The world urgently needs to change the way it prescribes and uses antibiotics. Even if new medicines are developed, without behaviour change, antibiotic resistance will remain a major threat. Behaviour changes must also include actions to reduce the spread of infections through vaccination, hand washing, practising safer sex, and good food hygiene”, WHO says.
Peter Olayinka’s representative, William D’avila has confirmed that he is in talks with two clubs in Turkey and another in Saudi Arabia over a possible deal for his client.
The 26-year-old has a year left on his contract with Slavia Prague.
Olayinka caught their eyes when Czech Republic outfit, Slavia Prague won the league title and made it to the quarter-final of the UEFA Europa Conference League last season.
The forward scored 11 goals and recorded five assists in 40 appearances across all competitions for the Slavists.
“I am in talks with two Turkish clubs for Peter Olayinka,” William D’avila told Sabah.
“We also received a very serious offer from Saudi Arabia. But Olayinka wants to play in a club in the Super League.
“Our negotiations with the two Turkish clubs are going very well. The player will decide.
“They offered very good money from Saudi Arabia. We will see if he will prefer a well-organized club in the league.”
Olayinka joined Slavia Prague from the Belgian club, KAA Gent in 2018.
He was part of Nigeria’s squad at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The Federal Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development has asked the Nigeria Football Federation to hold election into its Executive Committee in September.
The tenure of the NFF’s current administration ends in September.
The sports minister, Sunday Dare, quoted the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as giving the directive in a letter addressed to the NFF President, Amaju Pinnick.
Buhari was also quoted as directing that “the instrument of football administration in the country, the NFF Statutes be amended to include other stakeholders”, who had hitherto been disenfranchised, or denied equal representation in the NFF congress.
Buhari was said to reinforce the “Federal Government’s support for football development in the country”.
He also urged the leadership of the NFF to ensure that the “amended statutes reflect the national yearnings, aspirations and peculiarities of Nigeria as a sovereign nation whilst aligning with the principles and objectives of football as set by the world soccer governing body, FIFA”.
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