2026 W/Cup Qualifiers: Sports Minister Summons NFF Over Poor Results

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June 12, 2024

With projected group favourites, Super Eagles, out of the equation, the Group C of the World Cup qualifying series in Africa has turned a three-horse race of Rwanda, South Africa and Benin all tied at the top with seven points each.

South Africa shrugged off an early fright from bottom-placed Zimbabwe who equalised within seconds of South Africa’s opening goal which came in the first minute.

The South Africans consequently reasserted themselves with two other goals to earn a 3-1 win. They are however displaced at the top by Rwanda who beat Lesotho 1-0 away from home and consequently have a better goal difference to South Africa. Both, like Benin, have seven points.

The Super Eagles have nine months to rediscover their flair as they will be away to table-topper, Rwanda in Kigali on 19 March 2025.

On that same day, South Africa will be at home to Lesotho while Benin will be away to Zimbabwe.

NPFL: Leaders Enugu Rangers Face Tricky 3Sc Test

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June 12, 2024

Leaders Enugu Rangers have a mountain to climb in cementing their place at the top of the 2023/24 Nigeria Premier Football League table as they face Shooting Stars at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan on Wednesday.

The Flying Antelopes’ charge for an eighth NPFL title and the first since 2016 received a boost on Monday after they were awarded three points and three goals as a result of Enyimba’s refusal to complete their match-day 35 derby in Enugu.

That decision takes them up to 64 points in the table, five points above Enyimba and Remo Stars who are second and third with 69 points each.

However, Fidelis Ilechukwu’s men must avoid defeat during the match-day 36 encounter in Ibadan today in order to prevent their challengers from cutting the gap on them.

They face an in-form 3SC who are also lurking behind Remo and Enyimba for a place on the continent next season.

NPFL commentator, Ralph Chidozie-George, believes they Flying Antelopes will be on their way to winning their eighth title if they avoid defeat in Ibadan.

“Enugu Rangers still have work to do, they are leading at the moment but the most important thing they can do is to get a draw in Ibadan and maybe they can begin to look home and dry in the title race. But at the moment, nothing is decided.”

While Rangers seek a positive result in Ibadan, reigning Champions Enyimba will be nursing the wounds of the NPFL board verdict when they face relegation-threatened Bayelsa United in Aba while Remo Stars will also bring out their amour against another club facing relegation Heartland.

For Heartland, a defeat in Ikenne will condemn them to second-tier football next season.

In other key battles in the relegation zone, 16th-placed Sporting Lagos will welcome Plateau United to the Mobolaji Johnson Arena as they hope to get a win that will boost their chances of survival while 15th-placed Akwa United are at home to Katsina United.

Both Sporting and Akwa have 43 points and are only above the drop zone by goal difference

Eagles Believed They’Ve Won After Scoring – Rohr

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June 12, 2024

Head coach of the Benin Republic national football team and former Super Eagles coach, Genort Rohr, has said the Cheetahs were better organised than the Eagles during their famous 2-1 win over Nigeria in a 2026 World Cup qualifier at their adopted home in Abidjan on Monday.

The Cheetahs dealt a blow to Nigeria’s hopes of reviving their qualifying campaign at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny thanks to two responsive goals from Jodel Dossou and Steve Mounie after Raphael Onyedika had given Nigeria the lead.

As a result, Benin moved to the top of the group with seven points, leaving the Eagles to languish in fifth with just three points after four matches and nurse the fear of missing a consecutive World Cup after 2022’s failure.

Rohr rubbed salt to the Eagles’ injury during the post-match interview, describing his team as better organised than his former side.

“These players always have solidarity. The belief is strong and they can score goals as well.

“I think we had the right organisation, they scored the first goal and perhaps believed it was already done but the reaction and the desire of my team was so strong that they could come back in the game,” Rohr said.

Super Eagles head coach Finidi George, who was appointed in April is yet to win in two games in charge of the team but remains optimistic that the Eagles will bounce back.

The Eagles will be back in action for two more games in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers by March 2025 when they visit Rwanda on March 17 and host Zimbabwe on March 25.

Akpabio Chides NOA For Circulating Wrong National Anthem

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June 12, 2024

The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, on Tuesday, called out the National Orientation Agency for teaching Nigerians the wrong version of the newly adopted old National Anthem.

Akpabio noted that what the agency was circulating was different from the one approved by the Senate.

The Senate after deliberations had gone on executive sessions for over two hours, after which the Senate adjourned plenary to July 2.

Before the Senate ended the plenary, Akpabio requested that the Senate recite the first stanza of the new National Anthem.

While the lawmakers recited the anthem, the Senate President looked at his book intermittently.

After they were done, Akpabio stated that the lawmakers should take note of the wordings of the anthem approved by the Senate and discard the one being presented by the NOA.

He said, “Take note of what we have here; what we have is different from what the NOA has.

“Where we have Nigerians ‘all’ are proud to say, they have Nigerians all and proud to say.

“Also, where we have ‘though’ tribes and tongues may differ, they have ‘those’ tribe and tongues

“Also at the end where we have ‘Nigeria shall be blessed’, they have Nigeria ‘may’ be blessed.”

“We are using shall, which is a compulsion that this country shall be blessed, so, tell the National Orientation Agency to drop what they are circulating now,” the Senate President said.

The Senate had two weeks ago, passed the National Anthem Bill 2024 to revert to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee,” replacing the “Arise, O Compatriots” version.

The bill, which speedily passed first and second readings on the same day, was assented to by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.

Lagos-Calabar Highway: Fg Reroutes Mega Project, Slashes Lanes To Six

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June 12, 2024

The Federal Government says it has rerouted the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway path to avoid any possible damage to subsea cables belonging to telecommunication companies.

The government also said it had reduced the project’s size from 10 lanes to six as a cost-saving measure for the legacy project.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, who made the announcements at a meeting with contractors on Tuesday in Abuja, also said the government had disbursed a total sum of N10bn as compensation to property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

This was as it announced that the first 47 kilometres of the project would be open to the public by May of next year.

The government early this year began the construction of the Lagos-Calabar highway, which is designed to extend through nine states with two spurs leading to the northern states, using concrete pavement.

It later established a committee tasked with the responsibilities of reviewing, assessing and compensating landowners affected by the construction of the expressway.

On May 1st, the government began payment of N2.75bn in compensation to property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of the expressway.

Section one is scheduled to begin at Eko Atlantic and end at the Lekki deep sea port.

He said, “For the three legacy projects by the administration, the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, we have cut down the project size to six lanes, especially from sections two, three, and four, it shows you that we mean business. Some people have been writing that we have stopped the project. No project is stopped. As we are talking now, over four kilometres of concrete road has been completed on six lanes.

“We had to establish a new path due to complaints made by MTN on its subsea cable and Okuaja community, we had to reroute not to the new alignment, not to the gazetted alignment but far away from the two, and we came back to a new alignment at kilometre 25. So the work is going and it’s moving smoothly. We have paid the total compensation of close to N10bn. we are not owing and the contractor is highly commended for a very beautiful job, commitment and being very reasonable.

“These projects are investments, and they have inherent returns on investments, By May 29, 2025, we will have completed section one of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. Apart from the land, we are going to acquire for tourism, factories and industries when we tow the road within 10 years we would recover the cost of the money so it is an investment.”

He added, “Sections three and four have been finalised, but we are going to do stakeholder engagement in either Cross River or Akwa Ibom because that is where those sections will get started so that we can ensure procurement. But the design is almost completed.”

Speaking further at the meeting, the minister expressed regret over the scarcity of funds, noting that the government inherited over 2,600 projects valued at N15tn.

In explaining the delay in payments to contractors, Umahi mentioned that aside from the inherited projects, the government initiated 330 emergency projects totalling N260bn.

He noted that over 80 per cent of these projects have already been completed.

He further explained that the ministry would no longer allow contractors to determine the cost of projects through the excessive use of variation of prices.

Meanwhile, the minister of works has announced that Julius Berger is expected to resume construction on the remaining section of the Abuja-Kano after resolving some challenges.

“I commend Julius Berger very highly, some of you thought we were going to be quarrelling but yesterday we resolved a lot of our issues and by this week, the Abuja-Kano work will resume.”

On the recently flooded Kara bridge, the minister stated that the issue has been rectified, ensuring there will be no further flooding.

“Also, in the next few days or weeks, we would have completed the installation of CCTV on the bridge so that we can checkmate what is happening there and we have less than 5 minutes of response time from securities agencies to avert any form of incidents,” he concluded.

Governor Yusuf Employs 10,000 Teachers, Builds 300 Labs To Revamp Education

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June 10, 2024

The Kano state Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf has resolved to employ additional 10, 000 teachers and build 300 laboratories across the state, Determined to revamp the dilapidated state of primary and secondary education in Kano.

Governor Yusuf who stated this while declaring a State-of-Emergency on education in the state, said his ambition is to ensure that public schools are better than private schools in the state, even with the free-education policy of his administration.

He spoke at the Open Arena, Kano Government House, in a well-attended ceremony with dignitaries from across the globe, including his mentor, former Governor of Kano state and National Leader of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso.

According to him, before taking over as Kano state Governor, about a year ago, the problems in the education sector were multi-faceted.

He added that We faced a severe shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate teacher training programs, and a lack of basic amenities such as clean water and sanitation in many of our schools.

Governor revealed that his administration has resolved to build an additional 300 state- of-the-art laboratories in 100 schools across the state.

He said the provision of these facilities will provide the students with hands-on experience in scientific inquiry, fostering a culture of experimentation and discovery that is essential for their future success.

Governor Yusuf also announced the construction of 1000 classrooms across the State within the next academic session.

He revealed that his administration met no fewer than 4.7 million pupils sitting on bare floor in primary schools across the state upon assumption of office in May 29, 2023.

Governor Yusuf made the revelation during the occasion of the Declaration of State of Emergency on Education in Kano state held on at the Open Arena, Kano Government House.

He said the state government was declaring the State-of-Emergency on education with the full support of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).

Governor Yusuf stated that the lack of instructional materials further compounded the problem, leaving our teachers and students to struggle with outdated and insufficient resources.

UK Labour Party Pledges 100,000 New Childcare Places

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June 10, 2024

UK’s Labour party has pledged to create 100,000 additional childcare places and more than 3,000 new nurseries as part of its childcare plan.

Labour says it will turn classrooms in existing primary schools into school-based nurseries, for an estimated cost of around £40,000 per classroom.

The money would come from VAT levied on private schools, a move which has been previously criticised in the sector and by other parties.

Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer said if elected, his party will create the childcare places needed to turn the page and rebuild Britain.

The number of nursery and primary school children in England is predicted to fall in the next four years.

Labour says it will use the space freed up in primary school buildings for the 3,334 new high quality nurseries, which would be set up in high-need areas which lack enough childcare places.

They could be run by the primary schools themselves or by local private and voluntary sector nursery providers.

The funding will come from Labour’s plan to remove what it has called unfair tax breaks from private schools.

Last year, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak said Labour’s plans to remove the tax breaks and charge private schools 20% VAT was part of a class war to punish aspirational parents.

On Sunday Labour’s shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry told Newsmen that the policy could increase class sizes in the short term.

However, her colleague, the party’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said that wasn’t right and that there had been a misunderstanding.

She told Newsmen that pupil numbers were forecast to fall and that increased class sizes won’t be the outcome.

Labour said its announcement is the next stage in its long-term plan to deliver a modern childcare system that better supports parents from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school.

Tanzanian Education Ministry to Renovate 500 Nursery Schools

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June 10, 2024

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has launched a-five year Challenge Fund project for rehabilitation and renovation of about 500 nursery schools in the country.

The Project, to be carried out by the government and Montessori Community of Tanzania (MCT), will spend over 50,000 US dollars for each centre, under sponsorship of the Arthur Waser Foundation.

MCT Director, Sarah Kiteleja, said this recently during the organisation’s annual general meeting.

Ms Kiteleja explained that the project will be covering both public and private nursery schools, in efforts to improve teaching and learning environment for babies from an early stage.

He said improvements will also involve in-office capacity building training to teachers. We need every child to be well.

He affirmed that the project is set to takeoff any time after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between MCT and the government, with the former having already submitted important documents to the latter.

Launching the Project, Director of Primary Education in the Ministry, Abdul Maulid commended MCT for supporting the government’s efforts towards improving the learning environments for babies.

He also praised MCT partners, including the Mwanza-based Amani Girls Organization that has been promoting nutrition, in a bid to develop cognitive abilities at childhood level.

Nutritionist for Amani Girls, Margareth Cyprian, supported the motion that free education misinterpretation hinders the efforts, with majority parents skipping school feeding programmes, under the pretext that the government does everything for school children.

Education Ministry Nudges Private Investors to Close Staggering 3,000 Schools Gap in Zimbabwe

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June 10, 2024