Burnley Relegated From The Premier League

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May 13, 2024

The Super Eagles of Nigeria are gearing up for their crucial 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin. Information from the NFF show the team camp will open in Uyo on June 1.

Currently positioned third in Group C, the Super Eagles aim to climb to the top in June when they face South Africa’s Bafana Bafana and Benin and will be making this attempt under the tuttelage of a new coach – Finidi George.

Scheduled for June 5, the first match against South Africa will be followed by a game against Benin three days later.

Newly appointed coach Finidi George will lead the team for the first time in competitive fixtures and is under pressure to secure victories.

Reports from the Glasshouse indicate that Finidi George has already submitted a provisional squad list to the Nigeria Football Federation, with the final roster set to be unveiled soon.

All selected players are expected to join the training camp by June 1. Despite the UEFA Champions League final taking place on the same day, Nigerian players are not involved in the competition. Additionally, major European leagues will have concluded their seasons by then.

The Super Eagles will camp in Akwa Ibom State, with the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo hosting the match against South Africa.

Sunshine Stars – Rivers United Clash Marks 34 Years Of Professional Football In Nigeria

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May 13, 2024

Activities in the Nigeria Premier League was limited to just one match this Sunday afternoon as Sunshine Stars host Rivers United in a rescheduled match, the encounter however marks 34 years since Nigeria elite division turned professional.

On the 12^th of May 1990, the Nigeria Professional Football league, NPFL was established. it the dawn of a new beginning as Nigerians, football followers looked up to greater feats in the Nigeria football.

It was on that day that Nigeria amateur elite players changed their names to professionals marking a new dawn in football in the country.

Without any fanfare, such that heralded the first North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1969 and the J-League of Japan in 1993, professional league kicked off in Nigeria. Like it is this Sunday, it was a single match that was played on the same date 34 years ago.

When Nigeria started the professional football, the pioneer clubs included the now defunct Lagos ACB, BCC Lions, Bendel United (now defunct) and Enyimba FC.

Others were Highlanders of Jos (now Plateau United), Iwuanyanwu Nationale, (now Heartland FC) JIB, Kano Pillars, Obanta United (later VIP – now defunct), Ranchers Bees, Enugu Rangers Bendel Insurance and Stationery Stores.

An attempt to have one of the pioneer clubs pitched against the Crystal Palace of England, as a symbolical kick off of professional league failed.

After years of prolonged debates, the professional league finally kicked off with a Super Stores versus Iwuanyanwu Nationale opener at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos.

The Owerri-based Iwuanyanwu, now renamed Heartland, dictated the pace of the away tie, winning 2-1. They kept their form and the pace until the season ended, winning the inaugural championship.

Apart from Iwuanyanwu winning the inaugural match of the professional league, two other clubs also had away wins in their first outings. Enugu Rangers beat their traditional rivals; Shooting Stars 1-0 in Ibadan, while JIB Rocks (later renamed Plateau United) won their first away game, 3-0 against Obanta United (later renamed VIP of Lagos) in Ijebu-Ode.

To make the league higher and make teams have appetite for goals, a new point-scoring device was adopted. Traditionally drawn games attracted just a point.

But the then NFA awarded two points for score draws and one for goalless draw games. The point-scoring device was in use from 1990 season to 1994. Three points are however awarded for won games.

Across ages, Enyimba have been the most successful, winning the professional league eight times. They are followed by the crowd-pulling Kano Pillars who won four times.

Shooting Stars, Heartland and Lobi Stars have each won twice. In 2012, the Nigeria Professional League had its best ranking as the topmost in Africa and the 24th in the world.

Paris 2024 Torch Relay: Cauldron Design Unveiled

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May 7, 2024

The Paris 2024 Olympics cauldron design for the Torch Relay has been unveiled. Designed by Mathieu Lehanneur, it will be lit at each stopover city in France by the last Torchbearer of the day.

The Olympic Torch Relay unfolds as a compelling narrative depicted through three profoundly symbolic objects emblematic of the Games. Originating from Olympia, the Paris 2024 Torch embarks on a journey across Greece, paying homage to the Games’ ancient roots.

Its next appearance in Marseille on May 8 will herald the commencement of four months of celebratory events commemorating the Games in France. As the Torch reaches French territory, 10,000 Olympic Torchbearers will illuminate the regions, bridging the Games’ spirit with the French populace. In every stopover city, the day’s final Torchbearer will ignite the cauldron at the celebration venue, culminating in vibrant festivities.

The transition from the Torch relay cauldrons to the Olympic cauldron will occur solely on the closing day of the relay, 26 July, 2024, marking the commencement of the Olympic Games. The Torch, cauldron, and Paralympic cauldron will feature in the Paralympic Torch Relay, commencing from Stoke Mandeville in England, the renowned birthplace of Paralympic sport.

Upon reaching France in Calais on 25 August, the Paralympic Flame will be distributed into twelve Flames across the nation, each illuminating a cauldron in the stopover cities before converging to ignite the Paralympic cauldron in Paris on 28 August, 2024. “Each day, during the Torch Relay, the lighting of the cauldron by the last Torchbearer of the day will be a highlight,” said Tony Estanguet, President of Paris 2024.

“In each stopover city, the caudron will be a real meeting point to round off these days of celebration and communion in style. We’re inviting everyone to join us there, to share in all the emotions we’ll be experiencing with the Torch Relay and to celebrate, together, the arrival of the Games in France. We can’t wait!”

Crafted by French designer Lehanneur, the Torch Relay cauldron is inspired by the Torch’s essence, integrating its distinctive elements: the simplicity of form, vibrant colours, and the fluidity of water’s texture. With a singular base, three supporting structures, and an almost ethereal ring, the cauldron’s pristine form mirrors the graceful curves of the Torch, symbolising the spirit of peace embodied by the Flame and the Games.

The cauldron shares the radiant hue of the Torch, blending gold, silver, and bronze tones, featuring a glossy finish on its lower sections and a matte finish on the upper sections. “The Torch, the Torch Relay cauldron and the Olympic Cauldron are not separate objects,” said Lehanneur.

“They are chapters in one great story. Each embodies the spirit of the Paris Games. The cauldron takes the form of a ring of fire suspended above a liquid surface. Both pure and magical, it seems to float and is reflected in its metallic base. If the Torch is a sacred fire that is passed on, the cauldron is the object around which we gather and which unites our energies.”

From the Mediterranean Sea to the Seine, spanning the journey from the Torch Relay through the Opening Ceremony stage of the Olympic Games and competition venues, the significance of water in the Paris 2024 Torch Relay and Games is represented by wave and ripple effects adorning both the Torch and the cauldron’s base.

Maradona’s Golden Ball Trophy At World Cup Up For Sale

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May 7, 2024

Diego Maradona’s Golden Ball trophy won for being named the best player at the 1986 World Cup will be auctioned in France in June, the Aguttes auction house said on Tuesday.

This is the first Golden Ball to go for auction and while the value is still to be confirmed, the auction house expects it to fetch millions on June 6.

Maradona, who died in 2020, won the award after leading Argentina to World Cup victory in Mexico, scoring five goals at the finals where he captained his country and played every minute of the tournament.

That tournament is probably best remembered for Maradona’s two goals against England in the quarter-finals.

Maradona outjumped England keeper Peter Shilton as he thumped in the first goal with a raised fist, which he later dubbed as being scored by the “Hand of God”.

The second was an incredible mazy slalom run from his own half, when he dribbled past five English outfield players, and was voted as the “Goal of the Century”

The jersey he wore that day, along with the ball from the match, have both previously been sold at auction.

After his display against England, Maradona went on to score the two goals which defeated Belgium in the semi-final and Argentina won a thrilling final 3-2 against West Germany.

The Golden Ball award was introduced at the 1982 World Cup, and its list of winners include Italy’s Paolo Rossi, Romario and Ronaldo of Brazil, Zinedine Zidane of France, while Argentine great Lionel Messi is the only player to have won the accolade twice.

Maradona’s award had disappeared before resurfacing among several trophy lots in an auction room.

Recently it was entrusted to Aguttes, which carried out an investigation into its provenance and managed to authenticate it as Maradona’s Adidas Golden Ball trophy.

Mourinho Eyes Man United Return With Ten Hag’s Sack Looming

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May 7, 2024

After a devastating 4-0 defeat of Manchester United on Monday night by Crystal Palace, the call for the sacking of the coach, Erik ten Hag expectedly became louder. Former coach, Jose Mourinho has indicated his wish to return to the club.

Mourinho was sacked as Manchester United manager after a mixed two-and-a-half seasons in December 2018 but the Portuguese believes that he has unfinished business at Old Trafford

According to Mirror in the UK, the Portuguese is very keen on a sensational return . He is however aware the club don’t want him back.

Mourinho, 61, has been out of work since being sacked by Roma in January and has told confidants of his strong but fanciful desire to be given a second chance as manager of the Red Devils.

The ex- Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss was sacked by United in December 2018, bringing to an end a mixed two-and-a-half-season tenure which saw them win three trophies but fail to seriously challenge for the Premier League title.

That was long before Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival at the club and although Mourinho considers the new United co-owner his friend, he doesn’t expect to be approached if the Red Devils sack Erik Ten Hag.

Ten Hag’s role has come under increasing scrutiny over the past few months, with Monday’s dreadful 4-0 defeat away to 14th-placed Crystal Palace serving as the nadir to a wretched season.

Should Ratcliffe and Co pull the trigger, the Manchester Evening News report that Mourinho would be willing to ‘walk’ back to Old Trafford

The Portuguese, who’s aware that a reappointment isn’t likely, recently claimed that Ten Hag has been given considerably more support than he received during his time at United – comments which irked the current Red Devils boss.

“My relationship with (former United executive vice-chairman) Ed Woodward was good,” Mourinho told an English tabloid. “Good as in the personal point of view. Even now we sent an SMS. But from a professional point of view it was not the best.

“I am who I am. I am a football man. Ed comes from a different background and what Ten Hag has in his time at Manchester United I didn’t have. I didn’t have that level of support. I didn’t have that level of trust.

JAMB Releases Additional 531 UTME Results

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May 7, 2024

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released the results of 531 candidates that were previously withheld.

Earlier, the results of 64,624 candidates were withheld as they were under investigations for several reasons such as suspected misconduct, verification, procedural and center based investigations

The Board proceeded with the screening of the over 64,000 withheld results. It has, however, released additional 531 results taking the total number of results released to 1,842,897.

This was revealed in a statement signed by JAMB’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin stating that in the course of the screening exercise, other cases of examination misconduct were also established to make a tally of 92 from the 81 initially discovered.

It disclosed that the Board is also looking at cases of unverified candidates and would soon come up with a position.

Similarly, the attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board(JAMB) has been drawn to some fallacious publications purporting that an unknown candidate, who did not sit the Board’s 2024 UTME, obtained scores.

This is fake, malicious and a calculated attempt to undermine the integrity of the Board. The public is urged to disregard such irresponsible publications.

To underscore the fact that the publication is crafted by mischief makers to paint the Board in bad light, the publication, which levels such a grevious allegation, has no details of the candidate for proper verification.

The Board is not surprised as this is the season of mischief makers, who would want to deceive gullible candidates. The examination template of the Board is designed with the highest sense of responsibility and is not an allocation platform where scores are doled out to candidates.

It is most unfortunate that anybody could even believe such narration or that the story could even gain traction given the Board’s integrity.

This again has gone to further vindicate the Board’s stance that candidates should desist from disclosing their classified details to third-parties.

In investigating some of these allegations, the Board discovered that some of these mischief makers copy results sent to other candidates, edit the details sent to themselves and then parade this as emanating from the Board.

The Board challenges any candidate, parent or anybody with such a claim or information to prove it wrong by coming forward with the details of such claims and the phone number with which such results were conveyed.

The attitude of these mischief makers would only propel the Board to further tighten the process of checking its results to make it more personalized and sure would be stringent when it should actually be a simple and straightforward exercise.

The Board reiterated that neither its results nor any of its processes have been compromised. Hence, it will continue to protect the integrity of its systems against such malicious actors, who are hell-bent on creating confusion where none existed.

Consequently, the Board is primed to adding more features like registration number to the existing UTME Result checking process going forward to make it extra difficult for anybody to edit.

Candidates are, therefore, urged to securely keep their details secure for if they are found associating with any of these mischievous elements, they would be treated as collaborators.

For now, the method of checking the 2024 UTME remains sending UTMERESULT to 55019 or 66019 and not through any other process. The result, at the moment, is not on the Board’s website.

Niger Govt To Construct 54 Schools, Renovate 534 Others

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May 7, 2024

Niger State Government has expressed the determination to construct no fewer than 54 schools and renovate 534 other schools in the state through the State’s Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education under the loan facility of World Bank Assisted Program: Adolescent Girls Initiative For Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project.

This was contained in a press statement signed and made available to Newsmen by the information officer of the State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Malam Jibrin Usman Kodo, adding that this is to clarify the earlier report wrongly captured in a news report by some media outlets that the World Bank was to construct and renovate the said number of schools for the state.

The said report was allegedly captured at a 1-Day sensitisation workshop for zonal quality assurance officers on roles and responsibilities of school-based management committees and support development of school improvement plan.

The statement noted that during the workshop, the deputy state coordinator, AGILE, who was said to have represented the state coordinator, Malam Salisu Danjuma, also disclosed that the 54 schools to be constructed comprised of 27 junior secondary schools and 27 senior secondary schools, emphasising that the renovation work would be handled by the school-based management committees.

According to Salisu Danjuma, under AGILE project, girl child education will be supported in the most vulnerable and poorest local government areas to increase enrollment drive of girl child and reduce high rates of drop out due to lack of support and poverty.

In his address, while declaring the workshop open, the Permanent Secretary, Niger State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Wasa Jonathan K. who was represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics of the Ministry, Abdulmalik Nungbe, tasked the quality assurance officers to maintain proper monitoring to ensure that quality works were done.

He also advised them to see the project as their own and take appropriate steps towards improving the performance of the project in the state.

According to Jibrin Usman Kodo, in their separate remarks, the representatives of the Director General,Sustainable Development Goals, (SDG’s) in the state, the Federal Quality Assurance, and the Director Test Measurement and Evaluation of the Ministry lauded the initiative of the state government under the leadership of the incumbent Niger State Executive Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago as it would go along way in changing narratives in the state Eeducation sub sector and the generality of the lives of the girl child in the state.

Meanwhile, the highlights of the workshop, was the presentations made by some of the lead components of the state project implementation unit of the AGILE project and the interactive sessions which gave room for discussions and for better understanding of the project by the zonal quality assurance officers.

NECO Seeks Stringent Laws To Tackle Examination Malpractice

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May 7, 2024

The Registrar/Chief Executive of National Examination Council, NECO, Professor Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, has called for a comprehensive national examination law to specifically regulate all aspects of examinations in Nigeria.

He said this would help in tackling the major challenge of examination malpractices, which remain a persistent threat to the integrity of examinations in the country.

Wushishi spoke in Abuja at a one-day retreat organized by NECO titled Legislative Functions: The Imperatives of Achieving NECO’s Mandate and the Challenges of Examination Legislation in Nigeria.

He noted national law could establish a framework that allows for incorporating new technologies like computer-based testing (CBT) or alternative assessment methods while maintaining core principles of fairness and security.

He said strong examination legislation could contribute to aligning Nigerian qualifications with international standards, adding that this could benefit students seeking educational opportunities abroad or pursuing careers requiring internationally recognized credentials.

This underscores the critical need for a comprehensive national examination law specifically regulating all aspects of examinations in Nigeria.

We lack such a law, relying instead on a patchwork of regulations across examination bodies and individual schools. This creates vulnerabilities in the system. Effective examination legislation offers a multitude of benefits.

According to him, the challenges in fulfilling NECO’s mandate highlight the critical need for a robust legislative framework.

He identified infrastructure constraints, surge in candidate enrollment, adequate funding, examination malpractice, amongst others as some of the key hurdles faced by the examination body.

He also stressed the need for a review of the existing laws of the Council.

Some stakeholders in the education sector at the event also called for a thorough review of existing laws governing NECO.

The review, according to them would instigate reforms that reflect the technological advancements and evolving needs of the educational landscape.

Among those at the event are the governor of Niger state, Mohammed Umar Bago, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, and Senators, amongst others.

On his part, Governor Bago, who was the chairman of the occasion, said it was important to look into the existing laws that guide NECO in the conduct of its various examinations to address issues of artificial intelligence.

This retreat is very timely and I’m very impressed that the members of National Assembly are fully represented looking at what is forward for examination bodies like NECO in terms of innovation, the Imperative of changing or amending our laws to be in tandem with technology, time and innovation.

For instance, artificial intelligence has come to stay so our law must also be able to key into these technological advancements. So this retreat is timely.

Also speaking, the Minister of State for education, Sununu Tanko, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, urged participants to actively engage in the discussions to enable NECO to effectively achieve its mandate.

NECO plays an indispensable role in ensuring the sustainable management of our educational landscape.

Despite the significance of the examination legislation, we cannot ignore the challenges we face, from outdated laws and validation to emerging issues like examination malpractice and digital transformation, there’s an urgent need to review and modernise the legislative framework to effectively address these challenges.

NECO digitalises recruitment of examination supervisors

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May 6, 2024