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Wed, Jul

The Super Eagles of Nigeria on Sunday produced a rare away win in the first leg of the final round of qualifiers for the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The Ethiopians went ahead in the 56th minute after Behalu Assefa attempted to send a cross into the opponent’s area, but Vincent Enyeama misjudged the ball, which was adjudged to have crossed the line by the time he caught it.

Nigeria Striker Emmanuel Emenike proved why he has been the offensive heartbeat of the team since the 2013 African Cup of Nations, when he unleashed a screamer in the 67th minute that the Ethiopian goal-minder had no answer to.

The Fenerbahçe forward the earned Nigeria the victory on the stroke of full time, when he stepped up to calmly convert a penalty that was awarded after a defended bundled him down in a potentially goal-bound move.

The second leg holds in Calabar, Cross River State, on 16th November 2013.

 

President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday visited members and officials of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, who arrived at the east African country earlier in the day only to be mobbed by Ethiopians who openly fraternised with them.

Chelsea FC of England star, Mikel Obi was the star of the attraction, as hordes of fans descended on him, posing with him for photographs, ahead of the first leg of the final round of qualifiers for Brazil 2014 World Cup, which holds in Addis Ababa on Sunday afternoon.

Visiting the players on Saturday during a training session, President Jonathan, who was in the country for the Extra Ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU), charged them to gun for victory and prove Nigeria’s status as a global football super power.

 “Surely you will make it; the spirit is there. I wish you success. It is a determining match. We have been going to the World Cup, but this year, we are not just going to the World Cup, we will make an impact,” he said.

“The world will begin to know that we have arrived as a nation. We will give you all the encouragement required. Thank you for what you are doing for us.”

 President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Aminu Maigari thanked the president for the visit and promised victory in the encounter

“I assure you, we will be able to deliver and we will deliver,” Maigari said. “We will do our best. We have a good team. Goodluck Jonathan is the only President who has created time amidst his tight schedule to be with the super eagles twice. This is the biggest motivation and we will make you proud. We will be in Brazil.”

An imminent age purge in the Nigerian U-17 Golden Eaglets is threatening to hamper the country’s successful representation at this year’s edition of the U-17 World Youth Championships, billed to hold in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October.

Officials of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) have recommended that players placed on Grade 5 by a recent MRI scan should be decamped rather than risking FIFA’s hammer at the championship.

FIFA accepts Grade 5 for the U-17 World Cup yet there are fears that some of the players currently on the grade could have grown past it by October when the tournament will be staged.

With the possibility that Nigeria’s MRI machine might be inferior to what would be used at UAE, NFF officials split the Grade 5 players to A and B, those in A holding a better chance of scaling the age test in Dubai.

“The final decision to do away with players on Grade 5 has thrown the Eaglets into more confusion as it means many more players will now have to be decamped,” an official, however, said.

“We don’t wish to take unnecessary risks and so this decision. It simply means the coaches have to draft capable replacements for the players to be affected by this.”

The draws for this year’s tournament will be held on August 26 in Abu Dhabi. Nigeria is one of Africa’s hopes of good participation at the final, having reached the final of the African U-17 tournament, losing only to Cote d’Ivoire on penalties

A hunting lion cannot be said to lack high mathematical intelligence in predicting movements of its prey just as humans, more so, we learnt in the modern age that quantum physics can explain key aspects of any ‘matter’ in our universe, regardless of how minute it is in size or weight to us. However, an occasional anomaly will occur but such occurrence can also be predicted by some unknown variance missed by the observer. However, the necessary key to mitigate such anomaly is the obligation we placed on ourselves in implementing relevant practical agenda with all human efforts directed towards it just as the hunting lions.

It was argued that the National Sports Commission (NSC) is doing its best in turning around the country’s sports fortune and this writer doubt whether spending monies on toothless panels constitute an effort. The nation sports’ buffs queried the quality of individuals appointed by Bolaji Abdullahi (sports Minister) to such unnecessary panels but  there’s no suggestion about lack of credentials, however,  the question that was  asked was simple; to what extent can they (panel members) reverse the negative trends’ character of the country’s sports? The answer is quite clear, They can’t do ‘nada’. It is also clear that the NSC agenda must focus on purging every anomaly of the system because they have grown to become the custom practiced by NSC.

The Past

For whatever reason, the British and old Military regime immediately after the country’s independence established (what was then known as) community centre in certain areas of the country at that time. One of such areas is Abule Ijesha borders by Army Military Sports Camp, Yaba College of Tech, UNA (near Shomolu), University of Lagos and St Finbarr’s College.

The products of that area includes; Rashid Balogun (this writer also a former athlete), Tony Osheku (former athlete & foremost athletics Coach), Raymond King (former Super Eagles Goalie), Mike Dominick (former junior eagles star), Hakeem King Joe (former world boxing champion), Bremna (former junior Eagles and Super Eagles star), Muda Lawal (former Super Eagles star) and from those that schooled in the vicinity as a youth; Sunday Uti (Olympic bronze medalist) and Super Eagles stars Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Godwin Odiye and others.

In those days, street by street relays were common to the chagrin of some parents (personally, this writer's father leads the way in maintaining discipline of all children in the area directing them to go to community centres but I ain’t my daddy but very proud of him then and now). At the community centre in Abule Ijesha; there were table tennis competitions and practice among youths, daily football games (also what was called set where boys choose whom they want on their team while the unselected wait until a certain time to eliminate a player on the losing team) along with inter-club championships, Volleyball and basketball were also played there. Swimmers uses a free flowing pond called ‘Odo ogbe’ in Onike and Rowe Park. Boxers used Military sports center on Morocco Road.

The area boast of Archie Moore (former World Boxing Champ. At both Olympics and professional level for USA) as a coach, Coach Mommoh of the army who refused promotion and demoted to private for remaining loyal to his youth team comprising Bremna, Mike Dominick, Hakeem Balogun (younger brother of this writer), Raymond King and others. Football clubs in the area included Mommoh Boys FC, Seven Planners (Muda Lawal team), etc. YES, Glory days indeed and this writer challenges anyone to match the record of this area in the entire country.

One word that can describe these activities is ‘Community’.

Now

As this writer wrote severally on the current affairs of the country’s sports fortune, it is quite unnecessary to repeat them here as the story continues to build on a daily basis. But the challenges of the media are going behind the result of a game and explain how those performances were achieved with qualitative reasoning rather than propaganda spin by the NSC and sports federations. Selling sports’ results may sell very well but to what benefit can the country derive from the new swimming record for men when females from Egypt have better records? Again for what benefit can a report that a Nigerian male ran a “2hrs. 20mins” new national record for the marathon when Kenyan girls are running faster? This writer is very sure that Nigerians got the point because to expose the rot that the country woeful result means globally could better position the country in the future.

Recently, Bolaji Abdullahi noted that the country will henceforth concentrate on six sports, this is clearly ill-advised considering for years now the country relied only on football with its own budget line item exceeding over N3Billions annually with no tangible (World Cup) result. What the Minister should be discussing is how to fund the youth directly in all sports rather than wasting scarce resources on illegal six sports federations.

Advocacy for the status quo is nothing other than a mere selfish foolish act of deception that few media pundits are using Facebook to chide the youth of today that seeks better welfare and training packages. Although, this writer may not agree or disagree with certain views but the youth and others are constitutionally protected to speak or write without fear of retribution but they must not be offended with opposing views.

Way Forward

The Sports Minister keeps shouting about British system and in fact wasting monies for that purpose just as his predecessors did the same thing with Germany, Cuba and when Australia hosted the Olympics and did very well. Such models presuppose adequate facilities and manpower and they are based on restructuring past weaknesses in certain areas of their country’s sports fortune. Even at that, what was being restructured clearly outpaced Nigeria total medal counts for all Olympics games the country participated in.

In fact many swimmers in one Olympics delivered to their respective countries more medal each than Nigeria in all its Olympics outing and this writer simply ask, is it not better to zoom-in this sport and get just two swimmers from the age of 8 and train them abroad than waste N8Billion on good for nothing sports federations? Colloquially, more bangs for our buck because an athlete (swimmer) can potentially flood the country with about 10 medals.

The NSC must recruit athletes for direct electronic funding schemes through the finance Ministry. Federations can no longer receive any fund from NSC due to lack of NSC control as a result of their independence from national government interference, accountability, transparency, in addition to accusations that those federations short change athletes on issues of government transfer payments.

The Ministry of Education must take over National Institute for Sports (NIS) as the NSC simply lacked the skills to handle any form of education because churned attendees of such institute has yet to deliver any athlete of prominence in NIS history.

Patronage of the Director General of NSC and Bolaji Abdullahi must end and detail list of visitors to NSC ought to be published and archived as the official record. This is necessary either as a security necessity or paper trail for auditors in terms of asset protection.

Finally, it should be obvious that Bolaji Abdullahi simply cannot handle this Ministry and all he has been doing is based on ‘trial and error’ that is becoming too costly for any country to progress because correcting a faux pas raises eyebrow on how the error was made in the first place. That is the trend that NSC continues to follow regardless of costs, therefore, NSC must be restructured with new set of qualified (academically, professionally and athletically) people along with at least six commissioners as opposed to none as it is now. Yes, Nigerians can guide a horse to water but they can’t force it to drink BUT THEY CAN MAKE IT HOMELESS AND NO WHERE TO GO FOR NEXT MEAL.

I rest

Dr. Rashid A. Balogun, CPA, LLB(Hons.), LLM(London)

The official handover of the rehabilitated Main Bowl pitch of the National Stadium Abuja to the National Sports Commission by Julius Berger PLC, the contractor that fixed it, will take place on Tuesday, September 17, 2013.

As part of activities marking the handover, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria will take on local side, Amakson Soccer Academy, in a friendly match. Secondary schools in Abuja will also participate in athletics competitions.

Side attractions will include performances by Whizkid, Ice Prince Zamani and White Nigerian.  Leading comedians in Abuja will also perform on Tuesday starting from 3pm.

The contract to rehabilitate the Main Bowl pitch of the National Stadium Abuja was awarded to Julius Berger in January this year, after a disruption of power supply to the stadium affected the regular wetting of the pitch which made it to be overgrown by weed. 

The scope of work completed by Julius Berger includes, removal and replacement of the topsoil; planting the approved specie of grass, well watered and nourished until roots are established; and maintenance of the pitch, including watering and trimming of the grass. It also provided new water sprinklers for the stadium.

Last week, the Sports Minister and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi gave assurances that the Commission has a plan for the regular maintenance of the pitch and also stating that there will be regular activities at the stadium after the handover.

Julius Ogunro

A (Media and Strategy) to HM Sports

 

Cross River State Government has condemned in strong terms, the purported protest by the Football Association of Malawi Chief Executive Officer, Suzgo Nyeirenda, alleging spurious claims of security challenges and substandard hotels ahead of their last Group stage World Cup Qualifier between Nigeria and Malawi slated for 7th September 2013 in Calabar.

In a statement signed by the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development to Governor Imoke, Mr. Patrick Ugbe, who debunked the alleged security threat maintained that the report was untrue and unfounded and that the state is very perplexed by such a protest and demand.

 “It is common knowledge that Calabar, and indeed Cross River State is the safest and most peaceful state in Nigeria, without any incidences of acts of terrorism.  There has been no travel advisory issued against the State by any country or organization to the best of our knowledge” Ugbe explained.

He recalled that the Super Eagles, and the National U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets have played all their Qualifying matches towards AFCON 2013, Brazil 2016, and the African U-17 Championship, Morocco 2013 in Calabar, from June 2012 till date, making a total of over 9 internationally organized matches, without the city recording any security incidence.

The Commissioner maintained that,”Our hotels in Calabar and Cross River State are of World Class standard, which has increasingly attracted Conferences and events, (both national and international) to the State, making the State the No.1 tourists’ destination in the country”.

He expressed shock over the protest by Football Association of Malawi when countries like Rwanda, Liberia, Kenya, Namibia, Mali, Guinea, Niger, have played matches in Calabar in the past one year without having any cause to complain about neither the security nor the hospitality.

“It is also on record that we have hosted the FIFA World Youth Championship twice in 1999 and 2009, and on occasions, FIFA and the countries that were in the Calabar centre commended the organization and the standard of the hotels at the centre.  Newer hotels have even been built since then” he further stated.

Ugbe explained that Calabar hosts annually the biggest festival in the continent of Africa, the “Calabar Festival”, which climaxes with the biggest street party in Africa, “Carnival Calabar”, with over 500,000 revelers and spectators on the streets of Calabar, without any security challenges.

Saying, “We wish to state here clearly that Cross Riverians are peace loving and hospitable people, hence the State has become the preferred destination of choice for many, offering the warmest welcome in Africa” and asked FIFA to disregard such claims as they are baseless and without substance.

 

 

 

 

Honourable Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi has congratulated the home-based Super Eagles for qualifying for the CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) taking place in January 2014 South Africa.

The team qualified for the championship for the first time ever after a 4-3 aggregate win over the home-based Elephants of Cote’d’Ivoire. Although the Eagles lost the return leg 0-2 against the Ivoirians, their superior 4-1 victory in the first leg, which took place in Kaduna earlier, was good enough to ensure qualification for the team.

 The Confederation of African Football (CAF) introduced the CHAN in 2009 and it is strictly for home-based footballers in the national teams. The Honourable Minister commended the players and technical team for a job well done and assured the team of support as they proceed to the championship.  

 “I congratulate the coaching crew and all the players for the hard work, discipline and brilliance which ensured that Nigeria has qualified for the CHAN for the first time,” he said. “I am particularly pleased with the performance of the footballers who gave their best in and out of the field. This goes to show the depth and quality of the Glo Premier League.”

He also noted that the success of the team has demonstrated that the Eagles’ AFCON win was not a fluke and an indication that Nigeria is about to dominate African football for a long time to come.

 

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