Blog

Ebonyi first Lady charges citizens on love, forgiveness

Love

By Uchenna Ugwu

Abakaliki, Dec. 23, 2018 (NAN) The Wife of Ebonyi Governor, Mrs Rachael Umahi, has called on citizens to carry on banner of love, forgiveness and friendship beyond the season.

Mrs Umahi said that the act would strengthen the social bond among people and keep the country united to overcome all challenges.

She gave theappeal during an Elders and Widows party celebration at pal Ngele Oruta stadium in Abakaliki on Saturday.

Mrs Umahi applauded the widows and elders on their prayers and support for the present administration.

“Continue your prayers for the state, country and the world to overcome all challenges.

“Love and forgive one another,” Umahi said.

She further advised widows to report any possible property grabbing from relatives of their late husbands.

The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Religious and Welfare Matters, Mr Abraham Nwali, said the present administration had spent N520m on 5,200 widows in the state.

Nwali categorised the widows to include those placed on monthly stipend, those empowered on regular basis with bags of rice, cash, wrappers and other items.

The Reverend father said the state government had repositioned the living standard of elders and widows.

“For the past four years, the state government had already given a special attention to them at end of year parties and democracy events,” Nwali said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr Samuel Okoronkwo, said the widows were drawn from the 13 local government areas of the state.

According to him, the women have promised to ensure the reelection of the governor, as a way of showing support for his good deeds, and to ensure that such deeds were sustained. (NAN)

UVU /AO/IA

NAF begins in-country maintenance on 3 Alpha jet aircfraft in.
Aircraft
By Doris Esa
Abuja, Dec. 22,2018(NAN) The Nigerian Air Force says it has begun the in-country Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) of three Alpha Jet aircraft at the 407 Air Combat Training Group (407 ACTG) , Kainji.

NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, announced this in a statement on Saturday in Abuja.

He said the in-country PDM, which commenced on Dec.19, was expected to further boost aircraft availability for the conduct of air operations, whilst enhancing the capacity of NAF engineers and technicians involved in the maintenance activity.

“It would also further improve the NAF’s self-reliance and prudent management of resources,” he said.

Daramola said NAF was also expecting arrival of two new attack helicopters by March 2019.

He said with the support of the Federal Government, the NAF was also conducting in-country PDM of one of its C-130 aircraft, NAF 917, at the 631 Aircraft TVMaintenance Depot (631 ACMD).

“The PDM on NAF 917 has reached an advanced stage while the in-house life extension programme on another C-130H aircraft, NAF 913, was completed earlier this year.

“These have all contributed to raising the serviceability status of NAF operable aircraft from about 36 per cent in 2015 to its current levels of between 78 and 82 per cent,” he said.

He noted that the NAF recently recovered another Alpha Jet aircraft, NAF 476, from the United States of America.

He said the aircraft, which was ferried into Nigeria on Dec. 6, would soon be deployed for operations in the Northeast.

” Furthermore, the NAF is expecting the delivery of the first batch of Agusta Westland 109 Power attack helicopters, comprising 2 units, ordered from Italy.

He disclosed that the aircraft would be inducted into the service by President Muhammadu Buhari in March 2019. (NAN)
ORD/IA

Christmas: Gov. Ugwuanyi approves bonus for security officers, NYSC members

Bonus

By Emmanuel Acha

Enugu, Dec. 22, 2018 (NAN) Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has announced a N10, 000 Christmas bonus for each of the members of staff of all military and para-military organisations in the state.

Also included in the list are members of Neighbourhood Watch groups, serving corps members as well as staffers of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the state.

The State Commissioner for Information, Mr Ogbuagu Anikwe disclosed this on Saturday while briefing newsmen in Enugu.

Anikwe said that the gesture was to appreciate the doggedness of the security agencies and Neighbourhood Watch group which had placed the state as one of the safest in the country.

The commissioner said that the state government was also appreciative of the role of corps members in the socio-economic development of the state.

He said that the Army, police, Customs, Immigration, Nigeria Prisons, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC0 and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in the state are included in the largesse.

He said that the state government was delighted to extend similar gesture to the 2,500 members of the Neighbourhood Watch group in the state.

“The state government has reviewed the security situation in the state and we are glad that it is still one of the best in the country because of the partnership we have with the security agencies.

“This bonus is a way of saying ‘thank you’ to them in this season of love.

“Each of the 10, 500 corps members currently serving in the state as well as the 106 staffers of the NYSC will also get the bonus,” he said.

He said that the state government was not unmindful of the hardship corps members go through, adding that plans were on to improve their welfare package.

Anikwe said that there was no better way to appreciate what the agencies -were doing in the state in this season of love.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor had earlier approved the payment of 13^th month salary to workers in the state. (NAN)

EOA’/AO/MZA

Hockey
By Victor Okoye
Abuja, Dec. 22, 2018 (NAN) Defending champions El-Sharkia of Egypt on Saturday defeated Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) 3-1 to win a record 24th men’s title of hockey’s Africa Cup for Club Champions (ACCC) in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the championships, involving male and female competitions, were held at the astro-turf hockey pitch of the Abuja National Stadium ended on Saturday.

El-Sharkia of Egypt took on the GRA Men’s club of Ghana in the battle for the men’s competition title, and did not fail to live up to expectations.

Both sides had placed first and second respectively in the round-robin matches, where they drew 4-4 on the opening day.

But the Egyptian side had drawn their other four matches thereafter, scoring 26 goals and conceding 15, while GRA won three and drew one other, scoring 13 goals and conceding nine.

El-Sharkia therefore proved a hard nut to crack for GRA who desperately sought for a goal in the game as the defending champions were quick on the front foot.

Mohamed Ahmed broke the deadlock in the 13th minute to give El-Sharkia the lead at the end of the first quarter.

GRA had several chances of their own to equalise but failed to take their chances.

The greatest chance fell to Ebenezer Arthur who failed to find the net after beating three El- Sharkia defenders.

With only the goalkerper to beat Arthur fluffed his lines as the captain failed to get his team back into the game.

The Ghanaians were punished for their missed chances in the 26th minute when Gamal Ahmed scored a brilliant field goal to give El-Sharkia a commanding 2-0 lead.

Sameer Ibrahim made it 3-0, benefitting from an excellently-worked penalty corner in the final quarter to put the game beyond GRA in the 50th minute.

However, Christopher Dogbe managed to get a consolation goal for the Ghanaian champions in the 57th minute to make it 3-1 at the end of an action-packed final encounter.

“We were very weary of our opponents since we had played them earlier in the course of the tournament and knew what they were capable of.

“We knew how strong and formidable the Ghanaians were and prepared so well for them.

“We came solely for our 24th title and that’s exactly what we got,” Ahmed Ahmed, the Egyptian side’s Team Manager said after the game.

Coach Ebenezer Frimpong of GRA on his part admitted that his team played against a stronger opponent.

He however noted that his team failed to take their goal scoring chances and paid dearly for it.

“We played well as a team, but unfortunately we weren’t able to take our chances, hitting the upright on several occasions.

“I must admit however that we played against a better opponent than the ones we met earlier at the round-robin stage.

“They obviously worked on our weaknesses as a team,” the coach said.

Frimpong however praised his team for finishing second at the championships, adding that it was an improvement from their previous outings were they had finished third and fourth respectively.

NAN also reports that in the classification games in the men category played earlier on Saturday, Eastern Company of Egypt defeated Exchequers of Ghana 2-0 to claim the bronze medal.

Niger Flickers of Minna edged Kada Stars of Kaduna 4-3 to finish fifth and sixth respectively.(NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

La Liga
Madrid, Dec. 22, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Atletico Madrid maintained their excellent run of home form on Saturday by beating Espanyol 1-0 for a seventh win out of nine games at their Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

The victory ensured that Atletico Madrid sustained the pressure on La Liga leaders FC Barcelona.

Antoine Griezmann struck the only goal of the game early in the second half, sending visiting goalkeeper Diego Lopez the wrong way from the penalty kick spot.

But the spot kick was after some confusion, when Angel Correa had a goal ruled out as Koke had been fouled by Espanyol’s Esteban Granero just before then.

Espanyol were the only team to win in the league at the Wanda Metropolitano last season and again proved extremely tough opponents for Diego Simeone’s side.

However, the Madrid side escaped going behind in the first half when Jan Oblak saved from Leo Baptistao and the Brazilian forward struck the post on the rebound.

Atletico Madrid’s third consecutive league win took them into second place on 34 points, level with La Liga leaders FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona will be in action against Celta Vigo later on Saturday.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Victory
London, Dec. 22, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Jamie Vardy’s well-taken breakaway goal helped Leicester to earn a 1-0 win at Chelsea on Saturday to ease the pressure on coach Claude Puel.

The victory also inflicted on the hosts their first home English Premier League defeat of the season.

The English striker’s goal in the 51st minute earned the visitors only their second win in six league matches.

They also put up a determined defensive display to keep Chelsea forward Eden Hazard at bay.

The Belgian winger, deployed in a false nine role by Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri, came closest in the first half as he struck the crossbar with a fierce drive.

The hosts dominated possession but failed to create many clear chances.

Vardy made Chelsea pay shortly after the break, finishing lethally after James Maddison slipped him through at the end of a quick counter-attack.

Hazard came close again but was denied by a brilliant Kasper Schmeichel save, while Cesar Azpilicueta’s last-ditch block stopped Vardy adding another with a clever backheel.

Chelsea almost found an equaliser in the 90th minute but Marcos Alonso hit the inside of the post and the ball rolled agonisingly across the face of goal and out.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Diving
London, Dec. 22, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Diving in the English Premier League (EPL) is ruining football and setting a terrible example for millions of children who love the game, Burnley FC’s manager Sean Dyche said on Saturday.

Dyche’s comment came after Burnley’s 1-3 loss at Arsenal, where he felt aggrieved at numerous refereeing decisions.

The result left Burnley stuck in the 2018/2019 English Premier League’s relegation zone in 18th place.

“I was upset with the referee today (Saturday) because I think these are clear things,” Dyche told reporters, accusing Arsenal’s Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka of going down too easily.

“No-one seems to want to do anything about the diving except for me. I’m still amazed by it,” he said.

The manager said the English Football Association (FA) and the EPL should take action, suggesting that banning players would soon eradicate simulation in the game.

“You wouldn’t ruffle your kid’s hair when they come back from school if they’ve cheated in a maths test. If they cheat in a game of football, then it’s okay.

“There are hundreds of millions of pounds at stake in this game, and we’ve got all kinds of gadgets and everything to view these things and hopefully VAR (Video Assistant Referee) will make a difference,” he said.

Dyche appeared to suggest that one cause of the problem was the influence of foreign players in the English Premier League.

He cited the examples of former Chelsea star Didier Drogba and Tottenham Hotspur marksman Juergen Klinsmann, both of whom he said were nevertheless great players.

“When they came over and they were diving, it was on Match of the Day every week: ‘We can’t have this’, and fans in uproar everywhere… and they slowly morphed into our culture here.

“Now it’s every week and no-one hardly mentions it.”

The Burnley manager was, however, keen to make a distinction between diving and gamesmanship, or going down from relatively-light tackles.

“We’re talking about blatant diving — people who’ve had no contact at all and people going over,” he said.

“My point is this: I’m a father, I’ve got a child who plays football, and I see children copying professionals and diving all over the place. That cannot be right,” he added.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

FRSC

By Martha Agas

(Riyom) Jos, Dec 22, 2018(NAN) The Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), has advised owners of luxurious buses to assign two drivers to vehicles on long journeys to prevent accidents resulting from fatigue.

Mr Charles Badooleng, Assistant Corps Commander in charge of Hawan Kibo unit of the corps in Plateau, gave the advice on Saturday in Hawan Kibo, a hilly area in Riyom Local Government of the state.

Badooleng, who spoke at the official flag-off of the 2018 ’ember months operations, said that two drivers in long journey vehicle had become necessary because drivers were overworked with little time to rest.

“One driver can travel from the north to Lagos and will be expected to return to the same route the next day. This is very risky and has been found to be largely responsible for road crashes,” he said.

The FRSC officer said that the situation was usually worse during the ’ember months with transport companies struggling to make as much money as possible.

He also advised drivers to rest well before embarking on long journeys and adhere to all traffic regulations, and also counseled passengers to always be observant of what their drivers were doing on the highway.

The Unit Commander said that all the 84 personnel in his unit had been deployed to ensure motorists conformed to traffic regulations, adding that the corps was organising campaigns against drunk driving and fatigue driving.

Speaking at the event, Mr Slaku Lugard, the Zonal Coordinator (North Central Zone), of NEMA, said that the exercise was part of efforts to minimise road crashes and assist FRSC during emergency situations.

“The exercise is to provide support for prompt response to road traffic crashes incidents. Sadly, these crashes often lead to loss of lives, valuables and properties causing hardship to many families,“ he said.

He said that NEMA, as a critical stakeholder in disaster management, was working with FRSC to fashion out strategies to mitigate and prevent road mishaps, especially during the ’ember months.

He said that the annual operation was to augment the efforts of FRSC through assisting them with more personnel during emergencies.

“We assist by releasing our officials to join FRSC during this exercise to help reduce crashes; we also give them our ambulance to convey accident victims,”  he said.

He charged motorists to be patient when driving, and advised them to ensure that their vehicles were road worthy before embarking on any journey. (NAN)

MAA/ETS

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Edited by Ephraims Sheyin

Title
By Victor Okoye
Abuja, Dec. 22, 2018 (NAN) Kenyan women hockey club Telkom on Saturday in Abuja defeated defending champions GRA Ladies of Ghana 2-0 to win the 2018 Africa Cup for Club Champions (ACCC).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the championships which flicked off at the astro-turf hockey pitch of the Abuja National Stadium on Dec. 15 ended on Saturday.

Telkom who topped the table at the end of the round-robin phase, after four wins and a loss from five matches, had looked likely to emerge the female competition’s overall winners.

They had four straight wins between Dec. 15 and Wednesday, before losing 0-1 in their final round-robin phase match on Thursday to the GRA Ladies who still placed second.

There were therefore high expectations by the large Ghanaian contingent watching, especially for their team to successfully defend the title.

The Kenyans were frustrated in the opening quarter of the game and the scoreline remained goalless at the end of the first quarter.

Limited to movements just inside their area, the Ghanaians failed to create a single scoring opportunity with Telkom thereafter dominating throughout.

The pressure finally paid off seven minutes into the second quarter as Jacqueline Wangechi opened scoring for Telkom after an excellent team play down the right flank spearheaded by Flavia Mutiva.

Audrey Omaido added a second goal through another brilliant field goal in the 38th minute.

Telkom then held onto the lead till the final whistle to reclaim the title they won two years ago on home soil.

NAN also reports that in the classification games in the women category played earlier on Saturday, Ghana Police defeated USIU of Kenya 2-0 to claim the bronze medal.

Delta Queens of Asaba edged Kada Queens of Kaduna 3-2 to finish fifth and sixth respectively.(NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)

Title
Abu Dhabi (UAE), Dec. 22, 2018 (Reuters/NAN) Defending champions Real Madrid lifted the FIFA Club World Cup for a record fourth time on Saturday after thrashing local side Al Ain 4-1 in the final match in Abu Dhabi.

The Spanish side’s win was not without the help of impressive distance strikes in either half from midfielders Luka Modric and Marcos Llorente.

Recently-crowned Ballon d’Or winner Modric took one touch before thumping the ball into the bottom corner from outside the box to break the deadlock in the 14th minute.

But Al Ain had missed two early chances to take a shock lead.

Real Madrid’s home-grown midfielder Marcos Llorente doubled the European champions lead on the hour mark with a superbly-struck volley from outside the area.

Spain captain Sergio Ramos grabbed his side’s third goal with a powerful header from a corner kick.

Al Ain, who shocked South American champions River Plate in the semi-finals, however got a late consolation goal through Japanese defender Tsukasa Shiotani.

Real Madrid substitute Vinicius Jr. burst through in stoppage time to fire in a shot which defender Yahia Nader diverted into his own net.

Real Madrid have won the last three editions of the tournament, also lifting the trophy in 2014, and moved ahead of FC Barcelona as the club to have won it the most times.(Reuters/NAN)
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(Edited by Olawale Alabi)