Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has appealed to Africanleaders to focus on good governance,

By Abiodun Alade Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has appealed to African leaders to focus on good governance, equity and other variables that would bring about growth on the continent. Obasanjo made this known at the recently concluded Commonwealth Day Service and The Commonwealth Africa Summit event in commemoration of the Commonwealth Week in London, organised by the Commonwealth Africa Initiative and GLEEHD Foundation. The former President said: “If Globalisation means I open my door and you take things out but you close your own door to me, then to hell with globalisation.” “Africa is not an unmitigated failure, there are good things in Africa. Africa remains the cradle of humanity. We need to put our pad on our head as Africans and stand by our load and be ready to carry, then they will help us”, he said. He added that “our greatest asset is our people. Let us train and educate our people. People will say, too many people, the truth is that the so called youth budge can be an asset and a responsibility. Let us educate them and give them skills”. “60% of arable land in the world is in Africa, what are we doing with it. Let us stop regarding agriculture as a development project; it’s a business, Agriculture business”, he said. Obasanjo, who is also the Chairman of Commonwealth African Initiative said that Leadership can do and undo. “What I have seen in Africa is that I think on incremental basis, our leadership qualities are improving, but our leaders need to be educated. They need to understand the world and know that by themselves alone we can’t go farther Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/03/obasanjo-calls-good-governance-africa/

Over 9,000 adhoc staff for FCT election – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it has now recruited the required number of ad hoc staff for the April 9 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council elections. INEC boss, Mahmood Yakubu INEC boss, Mahmood Yakubu The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the FCT, Prof. Jacob Jatau disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja. NAN recalled that INEC FCT had on March 16 postponed the area council election from March 19 to April 9 due its inability to recruit over 9,000 ad hoc staff required for the conduct of the election. “I can confirm to you that the commission is fully ready for the April 9 election. “We have been able to recruit the additional ad hoc staff to meet the shortfall that made us postponed the elections. “The commission has also trainined the additional adhoc staff recruited for the exercise. “All is now set for the conduct of free, fair and credible election in the FCT,’’ Jatau said. Mrs Ndidi Okafor, the INEC Deputy Director of Publicity in FCT, told NAN that the commission had recruited 9,374 ad hoc staff for the exercise. Okafor added that the commission had also recruited and trained extra personnel in addition to the 9,374 ad hoc staff to address likely shortage on Election Day. “The ad hoc staff are employed from the serving National Youth Serving Corps (NYSC) members, students of the University of Abuja and ex-NYSC corps members from our data bank,” Okafor said. Okafor called for the collaboration of stakeholders to ensure credible and violence free election comes April 9. 6 0 1 0 Ikenna View all posts

Sunderland sack Emmanuel Eboue 3weeks after signing him after he's banned by FIFA

Sunderland sack Emmanuel Eboue 3weeks after signing him after he's banned by FIFA Sunderland football club in it's bid to stay away from another controversy after the Adam Johnson saga, has moved swiftly to sack Ivory Coast defender Emmanuel Eboue after the Ivorien was this morning slapped with a one year football ban by FIFA for refusing to pay his agent. The former Arsenal defender, aged 32, signed for the Black Cats earlier this month on a short-term deal until the end of the season. But that contract has now been torn up after it emerged that the former Ivory Coast international will not be available to feature. Eboue has been banned by FIFA for 12 months for failing to pay his former agent. He can return to action sooner than that if he pays an amount owed to his former agent Sébastien Boisseau. Eboue was initially ordered to pay the money in July 2013 and fined for failing to comply with the judgement in September 2014. He subsequently appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but his appeal was dismissed. A statement released by Sunderland confirmed the players had two weeks in which to appeal against their decision to sack him.

Manchester United and Liverpool await Uefa decision on Europa League chanting

Manchester United and Liverpool await Uefa decision on Europa League chanting From the section Football Flare Liverpool were also charged with their fans setting off fireworks Manchester United and Liverpool are expected to discover next week if they will face more charges for illicit chanting at their Europa League tie. Some fans of both clubs sang songs related to tragedies involving the other side in the 1-1 second-leg draw at Old Trafford on 17 March, with Liverpool winning the tie 3-1. Uefa has already charged both clubs for crowd trouble, and Liverpool for illicit chants - reportedly critical of Manchester, rather than referring to the Munich air crash. Europe's governing body was then made aware of the allegations of chanting about that disaster and the Hillsborough tragedy - and is expected to make a decision on possible new charges next week. In 1958, eight Manchester United footballers were among 23 people who died after their plane caught fire and crashed in Munich. The Hillsborough tragedy saw 96 Liverpool fans crushed to death at an FA Cup semi-final tie with Nottingham Forest in 1989. The initial charges will be heard on 19 May.

Five top US women footballers sue for better pay

Five top US women footballers sue for better pay 1 hour ago From the section US & Canada Image copyright AP Image caption United States goalkeeper Hope Solo is one of the world's biggest female sports stars Five senior members of the World Cup-winning US football team have filed a lawsuit against the national federation for wage discrimination. Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo say they are paid less than half of what the male USA players receive. "The numbers speak for themselves," said goalkeeper Solo in a statement. The US Soccer Federation said it was disappointed, given the work it had done in building the women's game. American women's football has dominated the international game in recent decades, with a string of titles. "We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships, and the USMNT [men's team] get paid more just to show up than we get paid to win major championships," said Solo. Her team-mate Lloyd, who was named the best player at last year's World Cup, said they had been patient over the years in waiting for action to deliver fair pay. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Carli Lloyd (number 10) celebrates a goal in the World Cup Former Everton and LA Galaxy winger Landon Donovan - who won 157 caps for the US men's team - tweeted his support for the women's team's cause. "#USWNT absolutely deserve to be treated fairly in all ways," he said. "Important to remember that these issues are/can be collectively bargained." The lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation was filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Thursday morning. One of the lawyers representing the players, Jeffrey Kessler, said the women's game generated more income for US Soccer than the men's and it was time to address the "discriminatory and unfair treatment'' they have endured for years. The five players were acting on behalf of all the players, he said. There has been an ongoing legal battle between the federation and the players' union over collective bargaining. A statement from US Soccer said it had not yet seen the complaint. But it added: "We have been a world leader in women's soccer and are proud of the commitment we have made to building the women's game in the United States over the past 30 years."

I think we've achieved, I won't resign- NFF boss Amaju Pinnick says

I think we've achieved, I won't resign- NFF boss Amaju Pinnick says Nigeria Football Federation President Amaju Pinnick has come out to defend his term in office after critics called on him to resign following Super Eagles failure to qualify for AFCON 2017. Amaju highlighted his achievements with other national football teams during his tenure as enough proof his stewardship has been a success and categorically stated he won't resign as he had a four year tenure to complete. "I was elected by the Congress of the Nigeria Football Federation for a four-year team and I don't see why I should be asked to resign with over two years to serve," said Pinnick. With all due respect, I don't think we have done badly in these past one and half years that we have been in office and I have a four-year mandate which I intend to see through. When we came in we had a case running for nine months and this affected us. "In between we won Fifa Under 17 World Cup, we won the Africa Women's Championship and we also qualified for the women' s Under17 and U20 World Cups coming up this year. “I think we have achieved. Again we have very young Super Eagles players that should be the future of the game in the country. On the choice of Kaduna as venue of the Afcon match against Egypt, we picked Kaduna because of the passion the people have for the game and the fact that the venue boasts of the best pitch in the country presently and they stood behind the team all through. Aside from that, the Super Eagles have never lost a match there so it was all these that we considered on picking the Ahmadu Bello Stadium to host Egypt,” he said.