Cameroon’s U20 girls, Young Lionesses will fly into the Federal Capital, Abuja on Thursday morning for their FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup, fourth round second leg clash with the Falconets of Nigeria, scheduled for Saturday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.
The Lionesses, who held the rampant Falconets to a scoreless draw in the first leg played at the Stade Reunification in Douala penultimate Saturday, will arrive aboard an Air Ivoire flight.
Thenff.com can also report that the match officials for the encounter slated to kick off at 4pm on Saturday will arrive in Nigeria latest Thursday, with the Confederation of African Football having appointed Togolese official Vincentia Amedome as referee.
Amedome will be assisted by compatriot Abra Agbedanou (assistant referee 1); Ghanaian Doris Essuman Darko (assistant referee 2) and yet another Togolese Edoh Kindedji (fourth official). The match commissioner is Aisha Nalule from Uganda while Ghanaian Emmanuella Grace Aglago will serve as referee assessor.
The winner over two legs will proceed to the final round of the qualification series, scheduled for March.
This year’s FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup finals will hold 10th -28th August in Costa Rica.
Burkina Faso and Senegal battle for a place in the final match of the Africa Cup of Nations
Senegal lost via penalty shoot-out to Cameroon in the 2002 final in Mali and again to Algeria in 2019 through a freak goal.
Burkina Faso on the other hand were losing finalists to Nigeria in 2013 at South Africa.
What the fixture portend in the fact that a West African team will be in the final on Sunday. With both teams looking for their first ever title, the match is potentially titanic.
This is different from the following day fixture of Cameroon and Egypt where each of the two teams looks forward to adding to previous titles.
The Stallions of Burkina Faso have impressed since the start of the competition with a fluid, offensive and forward-looking game.
The Burkinabe finished third in their last appearance in Gabon 2017. After missing the last edition in Egypt, they are now eyeing to better their best AFCON record when they finished as losing finalists in 2013.
“The match against Senegal will be like a final. We will play all our assets to go to the final and seek the crown,” said goalkeeper Hervé Koffi, one of the team’s best performers in Cameroon so far.
The Nigeria Football Federation has strongly demanded that the country’s referees and assistant referees up their game in order to become very relevant and indispensable on the international scene.
This was the central theme of remarks during the badging of Nigeria’s 2022 FIFA referees, assistant referees, beach soccer and Futsal referees at the NFF/FIFA Goal Project inside the package B of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Tuesday
Member of the NFF Executive Committee and Chairman of the Referees Committee, Sharif LMC Rabiu Inuwa set the ball rolling by reminding the auditorium that Nigeria had only one official – an assistant referee – at the ongoing 33rd Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon.
“That we could only have one assistant referee at the AFCON is a big indictment on all of us. We are not doing enough as professionals, and we must take this as a big challenge.
“We are proposing that we have a monitoring team for our referees who officiate internationally so that we can have accurate assessment of how they perform and conduct themselves.”
President of the NRA, Tade Azeez minced no words in saying that “Nigerian referees have failed. The NFF has been doing well to provide all the support that we need, and our FIFA and CAF instructors have also been doing their bit in trying to put us in great physical shape. But we have let them all down and we must turn a new leaf and aim for better performances.”
NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi said: “To whom much is given, much is expected. Nigerian refereeing should be at a much higher level by now if the values of discipline, commitment, professionalism and integrity are held sacrosanct.
“Apart from officiating ability, there are other parameters that assessors look at that you may not be aware of. If you wish to grow, you have to be honest and fair to yourself in all that you do.”
After decorating the referees with their badges, NFF 2nd Vice President/Chairman LMC, Shehu Dikko charged the referees to develop the mental strength and fortitude to overcome their present challenges and any form of handicap, and commit to greater performances and upholding of the highest professional values at home and internationally.
A total of 30 referees, made up of 11 referees, 11 assistant referees, 4 beach soccer and 4 Futsal referees received their badges at the occasion.
Also at the event were LMC COO, Salihu Abubakar; referee instructors Calistus Chukwudi Chukwujekwu, Dave Egwu and Mohammed Ameenu; NFF Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire and; NFF Chief Technical Officer/former Nigerian international Garba Lawal.
The Nigeria Football Federation confirmed on Tuesday that it has received an in-depth technical report on the Super Eagles’ outing at the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon from the team’s technical crew led by Augustine Eguavoen.
“We have received the technical report on the AFCON 2021 and we are presently studying it, in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development. Once the study and appraisal are done with, we will make known our position,” NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi said.
Nigeria won all her three group phase matches against Egypt, Sudan and Guinea Bissau in Garoua, and emerged the only team in the tournament to log maximum nine points from three matches. The team however lost by the odd goal to Tunisia in the Round of 16.
The Super Eagles will take on Ghana’s Black Stars in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 play-off round scheduled for the month of March.
Arsenal have confirmed that striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has left the club by mutual consent, however Barcelona are yet to complete a deal for the Gabon international.
The 32-year-old flew to Spain on Monday to sign for Barca and was pictured training with them on Tuesday.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said he hopes to unveil the forward this week.
“We wish Auba all the best for the next chapter in his career,” Arsenal said.
The Premier League side also thanked Aubameyang for his “contribution to the club”, having scored 92 goals in 163 appearances.
He scored both Arsenal’s goals in their 2020 FA Cup final triumph against Chelsea as they won the tournament for a record 14th time.
However, he had not played for the Gunners since a disciplinary breach in December.
“Having the chance to win trophies and the honour of being the captain of this club is something I will forever keep in my heart,” he wrote on Instagram.
“I have always been 100% focused and committed on doing everything I can for this club which is why leaving without a real goodbye hurts – but that is football.
Aubameyang’s departure on a free transfer comes four years after he made his £56m move to London from Borussia Dortmund.
Barcelona had feared the move was dead earlier on transfer deadline day, even though Aubameyang had flown to Spain, but managed to resurrect the transfer.
On Tuesday, Barca president Laporta said: “We will present Adama Traore tomorrow and, if everything continues well, we will also present Aubameyang.”
Experts at the Africa Business Convention have stressed a radical reform of the education system in Nigeria and Africa as a whole, particularly in terms of the curriculum and approach to learning,
This is required If the continent must produce a workforce with the right skill-set to drive industrialization and curb unemployment.
Founder Of Engagement Dynamics, Janet du Preez noted that though the 2020 Pandemic brought some disruption and change especially in digital learning, it was still inadequate.
“We need to think about the curriculum, we are so stuck in a particular way of delivering education. There is a strong argument for core curriculum, rapid and early specialisation.
“We have to get our population up to speed, to deliver a very high level of education and we need to do that very quickly, we can’t wait for 20 years for this to happen. We need a shift on how we learn, we need a project-based learning technology, an action-based learning. We need to capture the spirit of who we are in Africa,” du Preez said.
Director of the Dunning Africa Centre, Rajneesh Narula informed that the unemployment rate in Africa has increased, largely because the system keeps producing a workforce that is unemployable, lacking the appropriate skills for the 21st century.
Narula, while acknowledging that online learning is a good development in the education system, however pointed out that there is a limit to how much students can really learn digitally. According to him, some courses such as medicine and science cannot be effectively taught online . He also said that it is more time consuming and difficult to communicate online, hence, he advised that physical learning is still very key and focus should not remain on digital learning.
Vice president online, Champlain College also noted that there are still lingering challenges around access to Internet and infrastructure acrossAfrica to effectively maximize the opportunities that digital learning presents.
In her submission, The executive director, Salma Private School, Jennifer Ekwueme disclosed that there is a gap in the quality of learning between private schools and public schools. This according to her will affect the quality of Nigeria’s workforce as private schools only constitute 10% of total schools.
Ekwueme urged private schools to adopt public schools especially in rural areas, and introduce digital technology, emotional intelligence and other advanced form of learning to give other children an equal opportunity.
The Prince of Wales Hotel is a historic and quite iconic hotel which is located in the hamlet Waterton, in the southwestern part of the Province of Alberta, within the western part of Canada.
As the hotel is part of the Waterton Lakes National Park, where it overlooks the Upper Waterton Lakes, it stands proudly since 1927 when it was officially opened for guests.
The official date of construction was in August 1926, and it was designed by Thomas D. McMahon and specifically built for the former American Class I railroad company, the Great Northern Railway Company.
An interesting fact is that this is the only grand railway hotel in Canada that was built by a company that was based in the United States of America.
Still, the hotel building follows a very unique and original rustic architectural style, although some people would say that it also adopts some elements from the Swiss chalet style.
The wooden building has 7 floors, it is 37 meters (121 feet) tall with great detailing and it is considered to be one of the best railway hotels in North America.
The hotel was named after Edward VIII, who was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India until his abdication in December 1936.
This was an attempt to allure the then Prince of Wales to stay in the hotel during his 1927 Canadian tour, although in the end, the Prince stayed at his ranch that was nearby.
As the hotel is surrounded by magnificent mountains and mesmerizing vistas of the Waterton Lakes, its near location to the Alberta Highway 5 attracts many visitors who would like to see the excellent architecture and also to discover the other major landmarks and local attractions that are in the vicinity of the Prince of Wales Hotel.
Probably the main reason for the construction of the hotel by an American company and near the Canada-US border was to lure more American tourists who would want to drink during the US prohibition era where between 1920 and 1933 there was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages in the USA.
This was a nice attraction for many Americans to come to this place, and not just then, but even nowadays the hotel is frequently visited by many people.
There is a great number of guests rooms that offer a comfortable stay, in addition to the two luxurious suites.
Furthermore, there are also events which are organized here, so the Royal Stewart Dining Hall is definitely a place to be since it features large windows that look over Upper Waterton Lake, and it is a perfect spot to sit, enjoy a meal while the stupendous landscape inspires with its amazing beauty.
All in all, the Prince of Wales Hotel is definitely something that should not be missed whenever in the southern part of Alberta.
This will give every visitor a glimpse of the historic past of the Waterton Lakes National Park, and if those traveling have a checklist of seeing each of the National Historic Sites of Canada, then they would be able to cross this amazing architectural treasure.
The United States embassy in Nigeria has lifted the restriction on drop box service or interview waiver for those renewing visas in the country.
The interview waiver was suspended for Nigerian applicants in May 2019.
US Mission Country Consular Coordinator, Susan Tuller announced this during a press conference at the U.S. Embassy, Lagos. She said the new application procedure will begin in February at the U.S. Consulate in Lagos and will be extended shortly thereafter to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja.
The number of qualified applicants who can apply using the new procedure will be limited initially, she said.
Those eligible for a Visa renewal without an interview include applicants for B1/B2, F, M, J (academic only), H, L, or CI/D (combined only) Visa.
Applicants must meet the following criteria: your previous Visa was issued in Nigeria, your previous Visa is in the same classification as your current application, your previous Visa was a full validity, multiple entry Visa, your previous Visa expired within the last 24 months or will expire in the next three months from the date of application, among other criteria.
The embassy added that only applicants with scheduled appointments can drop off documents at the US Consulate.
Ecuador’s environment ministry says an oil spill in eastern ecuador has reached a protected area of the nation’s amazon rainforest and contaminated a river that supplies water to indigenous communities.
Nearly two hectares of a protected area of the cayambe-coca national park have been contaminated, as well as the coca river – one of the biggest in the ecuadorian amazon.
The park of some 400,000 hectares is home to a wide variety of animals, including red brocket deer and various amphibians, and holds important water reserves.
Neither the government nor ocp ecuador has quantified the extent of the spill, but the environmental authority has described it as a “major” pollution event.
South Korea on Tuesday said it reached a $1.6 billion arms deal with Egypt a week after President Joe Biden’s administration approved another massive arms sale to the Middle Eastern nation.
The office of President Moon Jae-in in Seoul said the deal to provide K9 self-propelled howitzers to Egypt is the country’s biggest export contract for the weapon. It is manufactured by Hanwha Defense.
Moon’s office did not provide further details on the deal, including how many of the howitzers Egypt will acquire. There was no immediate comment from Egypt.
Tuesday’s announcement comes two weeks after Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi met with Moon in Cairo. It was the first visit by a South Korean president to Egypt in 16 years, according to the state-run al-Ahram daily.
Last week, the Department of State announced a $2.5 billion arms sale to Egypt. That deal included 12 Super Hercules C-130 transport aircraft and related equipment worth $2.2 billion and air defense radar systems worth an estimated $355 million.
Egypt, one of the world’s leading arms importers, has in recent years upgraded its military, striking massive arms deals with Western nations and Russia. It has built new military bases and expanded its naval and air power to help secure the country’s vast desert and sea borders, especially after the discovery of significant gas deposits in its Mediterranean waters.
Such deals have drawn criticism from rights activist who accuse the Egyptian government of carrying out a wide-scale crackdown on dissent.
The Biden administration said last week it canceled $130 million in military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns.
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