Blog

Audio Attached

NAN-S-2

Invitation

By Aderonke Ojediran-Lawal

Lagos, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) Ex-international, Waidi Akanni, has urged new Super Eagles Head Coach, Salisu Yusuf to invite more domestic league players to the national team.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Yusuf was on Monday confirmed new head coach of the senior national team by the NFF Board after several months of speculation about his selection for the job.

He told NAN in Lagos on Thursday that the new coach is very experienced and “knows the Nigerian players’’.

• Cue in audio (Akanni)

“The man is very experienced and he knows the Nigerian players.

“Hopefully he can bring more players into the national team.

“That’s the reason why, when you employ a local coach that knows all the local players very well, you would expect that he should be able to bring in one, two or three local players to play in the first team of the national teams.

“Salisu has been around both in the local league and of course the Super league as well.

“So I’d expect that he will continue from where he left off the last time they played against Zambia.’’

• Cue out audio (Akanni)

Yusuf, a former midfielder with ABU FC started his coaching career with Nasarawa United in 2002.

He later moved to Lobi Stars as an Assistant Coach, where he won the Challenge Cup, now known as the FA Cup.

In1999, he was employed as Assistant Coach to then Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia and later served as an Assistant Coach to the late Coach Stephen Keshi in the same team.

Following the death of Keshi, Yusuf was appointed interim coach of the team, a position he held until his recent confirmation as head coach. (NAN)
OAF/TON/YEE

Edited by Edited by Tony Nezianya/Emmanuel Yashim
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Table Tennis: Egypt reclaims men’s title from Nigeria

NAN-S-8
Championship
By Vezi Isike
Lagos, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) Egypt reclaims the men’s team title by defeating the defending champion, Nigeria, 3-2 in the finals of the 2016 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Africa Senior Championship holding in Morocco.

In a statement on Thursday by the ITTF-Africa, the West African giant’s players gave the fans something to cheer throughout the match.

The trio of Segun Toriola, Bode Abiodun and Rio Olympic Games quarterfinalist, Aruna Quadri matched their Egyptian counterpart strength-for-strength.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mohamed El-Beiali the same player that lost the final game at the 2015 African Games to give Nigeria a 3-2 win in Congo Brazzaville saved the day for the North Africans.

El-Beiali who came from 2-0 down to beat veteran Segun Toriola 3-2, gave Egyptian fans excitement as the team had a 3-2 win.

An excited Ahmed Saleh said: “we knew from the start of the match that Segun Toriola is a dangerous player and we planned to take the lead 2-1

“Hoping that Omar Assar will defeat Aruna Quadri in the fourth game, but unfortunately Omar Assar lost and we were confidence that Mohamed El-Beiali will deliver and he did it for us.

“The victory is sweet because that was our main mission in Morocco to reclaim our men’s team title.

“We lost to Nigeria at the 2015 African Games in Congo Brazzaville.

“ Now I am so happy that I am part of this team and I will cherish this victory for a long time,’’ he said. (NAN)

VOI/DEB/MZA
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Edited by Debo Oshundun/Maharazu Ahmed

NAN-H-23
Networking
By Dele Eniola
Badagry (Lagos State), Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) Mr Linus Bamoba, Acting Director, Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), an NGO, on Thursday urged Nigerians to embrace social media networking as a smart way of connecting with people across the world.
Bamoba said this at the closing ceremony of a youth training programme held at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Topo, Badagry.
According to him, networking through the social media can create business opportunities, if harnessed properly.
“It’s worrisome to see that most people, including the youths, still underestimate the power of social media networking and its efficiency.
“Social media networking helps people to reach out on a wider scale and this helps in extending your outreach, which in turn will benefit you in so many ways that you can’t imagine.
“This is a tool that, if properly exploited, will bring so many business opportunities to your doorsteps.
“So, I urge people to tap into this and they would reap the full benefits of it,” Bamoba said.
He advised youths to strive to be self-sufficient and employers of labour.
“Youths should learn how to be innovative so that they can be employers of labour and creators of employment for people.
“We should learn how to stop relying on the government for every single thing because they can’t do it all for us,” he said.
In her remarks, Mrs Joy Achoba, Director of Administration, ASCON, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that YALI supports entrepreneurial skills of youths in Africa.
“From the interaction with participants, we have seen engineer turn writer, dabble into fishery, farming, amongst other things.
“ASCON focuses on capacity building, performance enhancement and proffering solutions through training for public and private sectors of the economy.
“We strongly believe that the evolutionary change the world at large looks out for would begin with the youths as they are agents of positive change and well equipped through innovative information,” she said. (NAN)
ENI/WOJ
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(Edited by Wale Ojetimi)

NAN-S-5
List
By Vezi Isike
Lagos, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF- Africa) on Thursday unveiled the list of qualified teams for the 2018 World Team Championships holding in Sweden.

The teams were selected based on their performances at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Malaysia and 2016 ITTF African Senior Championships in Morocco.

In the men’s team list, Nigeria and Egypt qualified based on their performances at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The teams finished among the top 36 countries in the world.

Togo also secured its place after finishing second in the fourth division at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships in Malaysia.

Algeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Tunisia, South Africa and Senegal qualified based on their performances in the team events at the 2016 ITTF African Senior Championships in Agadir, Morocco.

Nigeria, however, is missing from the list of qualified teams for women following the absence of its female team at the ITTF Africa Senior Championships.

The country’s rival, Egypt tops the list based on its performance at the Perfect 2016 World Team Championships Kuala Lumpur. Egypt finished among the top 36 countries in the world.

South Africa, Tunisia, Algeria, Congo-Brazzaville and Morocco also qualified based on their result at the team event at the 2016 ITTF African Senior Championships in Morocco. (NAN)
VOI/DEB/PDE
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(Edited by Debo Oshundun/Peter Ejiofor)

NAN-H-20
Candidate
By Lydia Ngwakwe
Lagos, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) A chieftain of Alliance for Democracy (AD), Mr Ajayi Kola, has advised Chief Olusola Oke, the party’s supposed candidate for the forthcoming Ondo governorship election, to make his intention well known.

Kola, the Lagos State Chairman of AD, gave the advice on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Kola said that it was bad for the majority of the party members to know that Oke was the party’s governorship candidate on the pages of newspapers.

AD’s National Legal Adviser, Mr Kehinde Aworele, had last week said that the party’s National Executive Committee did not recognise Oke as its flag bearer for the Nov. 26 election.

NAN reports that Oke had in 2012 contested and lost governorship election in the state on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party.

He defected to the All Progressives Congress where he vied for the governorship ticket for the November poll but was unsuccessful.

He then decamped to AD and claimed to have picked its ticket for the Nov. 26 election.

Kola told NAN that nobody was against Oke’s candidature, urging him to go through the necessary procedure.

“What we are saying is that he should go through the normal way; if he wants to fly the party’s flag in the election, it is beyond two or three people.

“You do not make your intention known to party members on the pages of newspapers.

“We have hierarchy; we have a national leader, a national chairman, we have the National Executive Committee (NEC), and we have the National Working Committee.

“They are supposed to be briefed; he ought to have met these people and not go through the backdoor.

“There are certain rules in the party’s constitution that the leadership of the party must iron-out with him before he receives the nods to go ahead.

“He is a very good candidate, a good brand and a saleable one at that; these people will be of great assistance to him if he meets with them. Nobody hates him,’’ he said.

Kola also faulted the composition of Oke’s campaign team, saying that no member of AD was in the team.

He said that such an arrangement was neither tidy nor done anywhere within the political circle.

Kola, however, described Oke as `a big fish’ which every party would love and want to have.

Meanwhile, Mr Akin Olowookere, who had been in the governorship race on the platform of AD, has said that he  voluntarily stepped down for Oke.

Olowookere was reacting to Aworele statement that AD’s NEC did not recognise Oke candidature.

He claimed that criticisms against Oke was due to jealousy and ill feelings for his popularity.

Oke’s Campaign Manager, Mr Bola Ilori, had also described Aworele’s position as a distraction being sponsored by opposition.  (NAN)
LED/BOLA/IGO
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(Edited by Bola Akingbehin/Ijeoma Popoola)

Presidency says Nigeria’s ranking in World Bank’s doing business 2017 report positive

NAN-HE-13
Ranking
Abuja, Oct. 27, 2016(NAN)The Presidency says the World Bank’s Doing Business R2017 Report, released on Tuesday is an indication that the government’s reform initiatives are yielding positive results.

“The Buhari administration is gratified that the various reform initiatives put in place towards instituting a positive business environment is slowly but gradually yielding some dividends.

“Nigeria’s ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business remains static, halting a falling trend in the past several years,’’ the Vice Presidential spokesman, Mr Laolu Akande, said, via a release issued on Thursday in Abuja.

Akande recalled that the latest report had ranked Nigeria 169 out of 189 countries in the overall Ease of Doing Business rank.

He described the ranking as “a positive indication that the focus and tenacity of President Muhammadu Buhari to reposition the nation’s business and economic environment is working and on course.

“While Nigeria’s position remains the same as at last year on the index ranking, it is encouraging that Nigeria has recorded some positive outlooks in four critical areas of the ranking.’’

Akande listed the areas as: Starting a Business; Dealing with Construction Permits; Registering Property and Access to Credit.

He noted that the objectivity and reliability of the report coming from an international development institution, lent weight to the milestone recorded in particular on the distance to frontier (DTF) metric.

Akande observed that on the metric, the country’s score improved slightly from 44.02 in Doing Business 2016 to 44.63 in Doing Business 2017.

According to the World Bank report, the improvements noted mean that last year, Nigeria’s business regulatory environment as captured by the Doing Business indicators improved slightly in absolute terms.

According to the report “the country is decreasing the gap with the global regulatory frontier.

“This is a morale booster for stakeholders involved in the efforts aimed at removing existing bottlenecks in the business environment.’’

Akande declared that the observation by the World Bank was recognition of the bold initiatives and untiring work of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

He said it was particularly achieved through the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

He said Buhari in August had set-up PEBEC, which had an active collaboration with the private sector, “to remove the bottlenecks that stifle businesses and create the right enabling environment and investment climate.”

PEBEC has nine ministers, the Head of the Service and the CBN governor as members and is mandated to give progress reports to the Federal Executive Council every month.

The council’s secretariat with a team comprising staff from both public and private sector, is supported by knowledge experts and collaborates across ministries, departments and agencies as well as private sector stakeholders to achieve reform objectives.

According to Akande, Buhari is absolutely committed to boosting reform activities so as to continue to arrest the past decline, where the country fell from number 94 in 2006 to number 169 in 2016.

He said the reforms would positively project the business climate to an enviable position in the international business community.

“With the reform efforts being put in place now, indications are that in subsequent years, Nigeria will scale up significantly in the ranking,’’ he declared.(NAN)
DCU/OU/OU
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Edited by Obike Ukoh

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NPFL: Remo Stars FC resumes camp ahead of elite league debut

NAN-S-4

Resumption

By Bushrah Yusuf-Badmus

Ilorin, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) The Technical Adviser of newly promoted Remo Stars FC of Ogun, Nduka Ugbade said the team is resuming training ahead of the commencement of the 2016/2017 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team gained promotion to the NPFL having topped the division B1 of the Nationwide League.

The team amassed an unassailable 28 points from 13 matches.

Ogbade said that the team would be resuming training on Nov. 31.

He said that invited players were expected to arrive on Saturday to complement those on ground for the pre-season training.

“I am glad the players are back and fully rested. Now is the time to get them back to full fitness, mentally and physically, as we hope to prepare for the task ahead.

“I also want to encourage the invited players we have seen last season to
arrive as at when due, because we have no room for late arrivals.

“We are keen to prepare ourselves for the task ahead,’’ Ugbade said.

He said that the team would sign new players to strengthen the squad in areas that need improvement. (NAN)

BAY /DEB/MZA

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Edited by Debo Oshundun/Maharazu Ahmed

NAN-AE-43
Structures
By Vivian Emoni
Abuja, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), on Thursday, said it would soon begin the demolition of illegal structures in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The AEPB Acting Director, Mrs Omolola Olanipekun, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the proliferation of illegal structures by the FCT residents had become worrisome.

“Since I assumed office as the Acting Director of the board, I have encountered some residents erecting illegal structures including wooden or plank houses.

“Also, there are the challenges of proliferation of illegal car wash spots in the FCT, as well as the indiscriminate disposal of wastes in some unplanned communities within the city.

“Even, there is indiscriminate dumping of wastes within the major exits and entrances of the FCT,’’ she said.

“The FCT administration has noted these challenges and mapped out strategies to ensure that these problems are tackled appropriately,’’ Olanipekun added.

She said that illegal structures would not promote the environmental health of the city, adding that such illegal structures and activities were not part of the FCT master plan.

According to the AEPB chief, such illegal structures and activities have negative impacts on the capital city.

She urged Abuja residents to cooperate with the FCT administration by ensuring that Abuja is free from illegal structures and other unsightly activities that dent the environment.

“We should resist any attitude that will not present Abuja’s good standards to the public.

“I want to remind everyone that Abuja remains the window through which the world sees Nigeria, therefore, we cannot afford to fail or permit just anything there,’’ Olanipekun said. (NAN)
VOE/COF/YEMI
Edited by Oluyinka Fadare

Controlled by Yemi Idris-Aduloju

NAN-H-18
Budget
By Sunday John
Lafia, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) Mrs Ramatu Ajuji-Abubakar, the Commissioner for Education in Nasarawa State, on Thursday said that the state government was contemplating education for prison inmates in the 2017 budget.

Ajuji-Abubakar made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lafia.

According to the commissioner, the move will ensure that inmates in all federal prisons in the state are properly reformed, in line with global best practice.

She said that even though the prison is a Federal Government establishment, the state government is a stakeholder, hence, the desire to provide for the education of inmates.

The commissioner said the modern prison yard is supposed to be a place where inmates are reformed morally, and learn one skill or the other, and be educated.

“The education would be at no cost to the inmates because the state government has made education free from primary to secondary school levels,” the commissioner said.

Ajuji-Abubakar said that any principal or head of school caught collecting money as schools fees from students would face disciplinary action by the ministry.

“Students are not supposed to pay money and any principal caught extorting money from unsuspecting students in the name of school fees will be sanctioned.

“Students in all public boarding schools in the state are not also supposed to pay money or give any food item, as the government has taken full charge of their feeding,” she said.

The commissioner expressed satisfaction with the performance of public schools students in examinations like JAMB, NECO and WASSCE. (NAN)

SDJ/FLP/SOA
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Edited by Folorunso Poroye/Oluwole Sogunle

Police arrest Peace Corps officer over alleged rape

NAN-DS-6

Rape

By Victor Adeoti

Osogbo, Oct. 27, 2016 (NAN) The Osun Police Command said it had arrested a member of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN), Mr Imran Olalekan, 24, for alleged rape.

SP Folasade Odoro, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday in Osogbo.

Odoro said that the suspect committed the offense at St. Charles High School, Osogbo.

She said that the 17-year-old victim (names withheld), is an SSS III student of the school.

She said preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect had intercourse with the victim.

The PPRO said that the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigation into the crime was concluded.

Narrating her ordeal to newsmen, the victim said the accused, after raping her inside one of the offices allocated to PCN, warned her not to tell anyone, else, she would die.

“On the sad day, I was in school very early with my friend when Olalekan made sign that one of us should come.

“Initially, I did not know I was the one he was calling but he later pointed at me and I went to him.

“I wore a shirt on my school uniform and because of that he threatened to punish me.

“I immediately knelt down and started begging him.

“He then pushed me inside the office and because it was still early, no student was near the office.

“He asked me if I was a virgin or I owned a cell phone, and I answered no.

“Despite pleading with him to let me go, he pulled my skirt and blocked my mouth with his hands and raped me.

“When he finished, he warned that if I tell anyone, I would die,’’ she said.

Olalekan, who initially denied the allegation, later admitted committing the act, “but not with force”.

“I slept with her but it was not forcefully. I did it with her consent,’’ he said. (NAN)

VE/FF/AMY

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Edited by Fela Fashoro and Abdullahi Yusuf