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Nigeria is a free-press state – Amosun
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Sunday 21 January 2018
Nigeria is a free-press state – Amosun
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Politics: Trump campaign ad says Democrats are 'complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants'
The Trump campaign released an ad Saturday announcing its intention to blame Democrats for murders committed by unauthorized immigrants.
- The Trump campaign released an ad Saturday announcing its intention to blame Democrats for murders committed by unauthorized immigrants.
- The ad came on the first day of a government shutdown, caused in part by deadlocked negotiations on immigration policies.
- But Democrats said Saturday they offered Trump funding for the border wall, only to have him back away from a tentative deal hours later.
President Donald Trump on Saturday released a vitriolic campaign ad attacking Democrats on immigration, calling them "complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants."
The 30-second ad, debuted on YouTube and titled "Complicit," used footage from the ongoing trial of Luis Bracamontes, an unauthorized immigrant accused of killing two northern California deputies. Bracamontes made headlines on Wednesday after shouting in the courtroom that he killed cops, didn't regret it, and wanted to kill more.
"It's pure evil," a narrator in the Trump campaign ad intoned. "President Trump is right: build the wall, deport criminals, stop illegal immigration now. Democrats who stand in our way will be complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants. President Trump will fix our border and keep our families safe."
The campaign ad follows a long series of efforts by the Trump administration to portray immigrants as criminals, but experts have found that immigrants — including unauthorized ones — are less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes.
The ad was released on the first day of a government shutdown, caused in part by a deadlocked debate between Congressional Democrats and hard-line Republicans over how to handle several immigration issues.
At issue is the fate of hundreds of thousands of young unauthorized immigrants known as "Dreamers" protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump administration was set to phase out by March 5.
Trump and his allies have demanded Congress fund his long-promised wall along the US-Mexico border and reform several other immigration programs in exchange for permanently protecting the Dreamers.
Democrats have attempted to compromise, and even conceded to Trump on the border wall. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced he had offered to put the border wall "on the table" to Trump in a White House meeting on Friday — a negotiation he said Trump appeared amenable to, before abruptly backing away that same day.
"The president said many times he would take a deal that had included DACA in exchange for the wall," Schumer said Saturday in a speech on the Senate floor. "I put that deal on the table in the Oval Office in a sincere effort at compromise. I put the wall on the table in exchange for strong DACA protections."
But the tentative deal ultimately failed because Trump was an unreliable negotiator, Schumer said.
"Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with Jell-O," he said. "It's next to impossible."
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NDDC Should Focus On Its Core Mandate Areas – Nwaobosi
Senator Peter Nwaobosi represents Delta North Senatorial District at the Senate. In this interview with FELIX IGBEKOYI, the former Delta PDP Chairman and presently Senate Chairman of Niger Delta Affairs speaks on everything about the Commission Act 2000. Excerpts:
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration is gradually running to an end as it has already run through two and half of the four-year tenure. Within this period in the life of the administration, it has been observed that some of the government agencies are still running without a constituted board of directors.
Some of the agencies currently running without constituted boards include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Pension Commission (PenCom), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the financial subsector, and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in the aviation, among others.
While it is viewed in some quarters that the extant laws that established some of these agencies are fragmented and overlapping with multiplicity of obnoxious enactments whereby rendering system ineffective and inefficient, some are contending that the purpose of having a constituted board is majorly to check infractions and overbearing influences of the chief executive officers designated as director generals and the executive management and ensure checks and balances.
A typical instance is the feud between the immediate past Director General of the SEC; Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, and the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, which eventually cost the later his job. A school of thought has it that such scenario would have been averted if there was a board of directors in place.
Also, the overbearing influence of the former CBN Governor, now an Emir, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, who occupied the position of a chairman and the chief executive of the apex bank, is another case in question.
Another instance where the board plays significant role in an agency structure is to guarantee a smooth-running of the system without a hitch was the case of PenCom, where the board was dissolved in late 2016 and the director general relieved of her job. It was said that the system was running abnormally due to the failure of the government to constitute a substantive board. The entire system is currently being run in an acting capacity.
To provide continuity for the organisation by setting up a corporation or legal existence, and to represent the organisation’s point of view through interpretation of its products and services, and advocacy, select and appoint a chief executive to whom responsibility for the administration of the organisation is delegated, including: – to review and evaluate his/her performance regularly on the basis of a specific job description, including executive relations with the board, leadership in the organisation, in product/service/programme planning and implementation, and in management of the organisation and its personnel and to offer administrative guidance and determine whether to retain or dismiss the executive.
The board governs the organisation by broad policies and objectives, formulated and agreed upon by the chief executive and employees, including assigning priorities and ensure the organisation’s capacity to carry out products/services/programmes by continually reviewing its work, acquire sufficient resources for the organisation’s operations and to finance the products/services/programmes adequately and Account to the stockholders (in the case of a for-profit) or public (in the case of a nonprofit) for the products and services of the organisation and expenditures of its funds, including:- to provide for fiscal accountability, approve the budget, and formulate policies related to contracts from public or private resources and to accept responsibility for all conditions and policies attached to new, innovative, or experimental products/services/programmes.
Roles And Responsibilities Of Corporate Board Of Directors
There are a variety of views about the roles and responsibilities of a board of directors and most of these views share common themes. Depicting various views, a board of directors is a group of people legally charged with the responsibility to govern a corporation.
In a for-profit corporation, the board of directors is responsible to the stockholders — a more progressive perspective is that the board is responsible to the stakeholders, that is, to everyone who is interested and/or can be effected by the corporation. In a non-profit corporation, the board reports to stakeholders, particularly the local communities, which the non-profit serves.
According to experts, core company law is concerned with addressing three main sets of principal/agent problems.
These arise out of the relationships between the management and the shareholders as a class; between majority shareholders and minority shareholders; and between the controllers of the company (whether managers or majority shareholders) and non-shareholder stakeholders.
Following the three propositions, the rules relating to board composition, structure, duties and powers (‘board rules’) are capable of being utilised to address any one or more of these sets of agency problems.
However, there is a swap in-between if the board rules address more than one set of the agency problems; and their effectiveness in relation to any one set is reduced.
Experts have also added that the focus of the recent corporate governance movement has been on enhancing the board’s effectiveness in addressing the management and shareholders as a class and in consequence the burden of addressing the other two agency problems, that is, between controllers and non-shareholder stakeholders.
Core company law addresses three sets of principal/agent problems, which are inherent in the structure of large companies: those arising between management and the shareholders as a class; between majority shareholders and minority shareholders; and between the controllers of the company (whether managers or majority shareholders) and non-shareholder stakeholders. Within a particular company the first two sets of problems are mutually exclusive (at least at any one point in time) and which predominates depends upon the structure of shareholdings. Where shareholdings are dispersed, the principal/agent problem, which emerges is that between shareholders as a class and the management of the company.
No matter what the formal governance rights of the shareholders may be, their collective action problems may make it in practice impossible or very difficult for the shareholders to exercise effective control over the management of the company.
In consequence, management may give priority to non-shareholder interests, including the interests of the managers themselves.
The question for company law, therefore, is what contribution it can make to reduce the costs of diversified ownership and the principal/agent problem generated by such diversification.
The post NDDC Should Focus On Its Core Mandate Areas – Nwaobosi appeared first on Independent Nigeria.
NDDC Should Focus On Its Core Mandate Areas – Nwaobosi
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How Agencies Struggle With Corporate Governance Without Boards
Recently the Federal Government was embarrassed when it appointed dead persons into its organisations, thus stoking the controversy over the non-constitution of many organisations in the country. In this piece, BAMIDELE OGUNWUSI, CHRIS EBONG, IKECHI NZEAKO, ISAAC ASABOR and SEGUN KOIKI write on why the boards have not been constituted after the government has just two years more and its implications on the nation’s economy.
The President Muhammadu Buhari administration is gradually running to an end as it has already run through two and half of the four-year tenure. Within this period in the life of the administration, it has been observed that some of the government agencies are still running without a constituted board of directors.
Some of the agencies currently running without constituted boards include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Pension Commission (PenCom), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the financial subsector, and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in the aviation, among others.
While it is viewed in some quarters that the extant laws that established some of these agencies are fragmented and overlapping with multiplicity of obnoxious enactments whereby rendering system ineffective and inefficient, some are contending that the purpose of having a constituted board is majorly to check infractions and overbearing influences of the chief executive officers designated as director generals and the executive management and ensure checks and balances.
A typical instance is the feud between the immediate past Director General of the SEC; Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, and the Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, which eventually cost the later his job. A school of thought has it that such scenario would have been averted if there was a board of directors in place.
Also, the overbearing influence of the former CBN Governor, now an Emir, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, who occupied the position of a chairman and the chief executive of the apex bank, is another case in question.
Another instance where the board plays significant role in an agency structure is to guarantee a smooth-running of the system without a hitch was the case of PenCom, where the board was dissolved in late 2016 and the director general relieved of her job. It was said that the system was running abnormally due to the failure of the government to constitute a substantive board. The entire system is currently being run in an acting capacity.
To provide continuity for the organisation by setting up a corporation or legal existence, and to represent the organisation’s point of view through interpretation of its products and services, and advocacy, select and appoint a chief executive to whom responsibility for the administration of the organisation is delegated, including: – to review and evaluate his/her performance regularly on the basis of a specific job description, including executive relations with the board, leadership in the organisation, in product/service/programme planning and implementation, and in management of the organisation and its personnel and to offer administrative guidance and determine whether to retain or dismiss the executive.
The board governs the organisation by broad policies and objectives, formulated and agreed upon by the chief executive and employees, including assigning priorities and ensure the organisation’s capacity to carry out products/services/programmes by continually reviewing its work, acquire sufficient resources for the organisation’s operations and to finance the products/services/programmes adequately and Account to the stockholders (in the case of a for-profit) or public (in the case of a nonprofit) for the products and services of the organisation and expenditures of its funds, including:- to provide for fiscal accountability, approve the budget, and formulate policies related to contracts from public or private resources and to accept responsibility for all conditions and policies attached to new, innovative, or experimental products/services/programmes.
Roles And Responsibilities Of Corporate Board Of Directors
There are a variety of views about the roles and responsibilities of a board of directors and most of these views share common themes. Depicting various views, a board of directors is a group of people legally charged with the responsibility to govern a corporation.
In a for-profit corporation, the board of directors is responsible to the stockholders — a more progressive perspective is that the board is responsible to the stakeholders, that is, to everyone who is interested and/or can be effected by the corporation. In a non-profit corporation, the board reports to stakeholders, particularly the local communities, which the non-profit serves.
According to experts, core company law is concerned with addressing three main sets of principal/agent problems.
These arise out of the relationships between the management and the shareholders as a class; between majority shareholders and minority shareholders; and between the controllers of the company (whether managers or majority shareholders) and non-shareholder stakeholders.
Following the three propositions, the rules relating to board composition, structure, duties and powers (‘board rules’) are capable of being utilised to address any one or more of these sets of agency problems.
However, there is a swap in-between if the board rules address more than one set of the agency problems; and their effectiveness in relation to any one set is reduced.
Experts have also added that the focus of the recent corporate governance movement has been on enhancing the board’s effectiveness in addressing the management and shareholders as a class and in consequence the burden of addressing the other two agency problems, that is, between controllers and non-shareholder stakeholders.
Core company law addresses three sets of principal/agent problems, which are inherent in the structure of large companies: those arising between management and the shareholders as a class; between majority shareholders and minority shareholders; and between the controllers of the company (whether managers or majority shareholders) and non-shareholder stakeholders. Within a particular company the first two sets of problems are mutually exclusive (at least at any one point in time) and which predominates depends upon the structure of shareholdings. Where shareholdings are dispersed, the principal/agent problem, which emerges is that between shareholders as a class and the management of the company.
No matter what the formal governance rights of the shareholders may be, their collective action problems may make it in practice impossible or very difficult for the shareholders to exercise effective control over the management of the company.
In consequence, management may give priority to non-shareholder interests, including the interests of the managers themselves.
The question for company law, therefore, is what contribution it can make to reduce the costs of diversified ownership and the principal/agent problem generated by such diversification.
The post How Agencies Struggle With Corporate Governance Without Boards appeared first on Independent Nigeria.
How Agencies Struggle With Corporate Governance Without Boards
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Police Rescue Kidnapped US, Canadian Nationals
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Police Rescue Kidnapped US, Canadian Nationals
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Giggs keen to help Bale overcome injury woes
The new Wales boss feels his experience could help the Real Madrid attacker get over his injury worries
Giggs keen to help Bale overcome injury woes
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NPFL: Katsina will prolong Enyimba’s misery, says Biffo
Katsina United manager, Abdul Usman Biffo has said his wards are out to deny Enyimba of Aba their first win of the season, when both sides clash at the Mohammed Dikko Stadium in Katsina today.
Though, Biffo described the tie against the seven-time Nigerian champions, a tough task, he added that Katsina United are equal to the task. Katsina United were beaten 2-1 by Sunshine Stars in Akure while Enyimba shared the spoils with Heartland in Calabar in their last NPFL games.
“The clash is not going to be easy as Enyimba are most likely coming to get their first victory after two draws previously,” Biffo stated
“There is no small or big match as every match has equal number of points. We do not want the name, Enyimba to distract us from our focus to claim the whole points at stake.
“That dream however, will not happen but remain a pipe dream, Enyimba will see reason to put their hope for three points elsewhere.
He said his side is not under pressure after two matches without a win
“The team is not bad in the last two matches, at least we have somehow demonstrated with our performance how badly we need to start winning matches.
“We cannot afford to drop points any more so we are going all out to grab our first win in the premiership irrespective of the opposition.
“In fact, I’m keenly looking forward to grab my first three points in the premier league as Katsina United manager,” the former Abia Warriors and Niger Tornadoes coach told supersport.com.
The post NPFL: Katsina will prolong Enyimba’s misery, says Biffo appeared first on Vanguard News.
NPFL: Katsina will prolong Enyimba’s misery, says Biffo
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Politics: 'It was Moscow's victory, after all': At least 6 Putin-allied Russians reportedly attended Trump's inaugural celebrations last year
Lobbyists Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin weren't the only influential Russians to attend Trump's inaugural day festivities.
- The Washington Post identified at least six politically influential Russians who attended President Donald Trump's inaugural celebrations last year.
- Lobbyists Natalia Veselnitskaya and Rinat Akhmetshin attended the festivities, as did gun rights activist Maria Butina, who used to serve as an assistant to Russian banker Alexander Torshin.
- Veselnitskaya, Akhmetshin, and Torshin are all being scrutinized by investigators probing Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
The two Russian lobbyists who met with then-candidate Donald Trump's top campaign officials at Trump Tower in June 2016 also attended the inaugural festivities when he was sworn in as president seven months later, The Washington Post reported.
One of the lobbyists, Natalia Veselnitskaya, is a Kremlin-connected lawyer who lobbies aggressively against the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which blacklisted powerful Russians suspected of human-rights abuses. The other lobbyist, Rinat Akhmetshin, is a former Soviet military intelligence officer and an ally of Veselnitskaya who also advocates against the Magnitsky Act.
Both attended a party on Inauguration Day last year at the Library of Congress that was sponsored by Russia-friendly Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's campaign committee, The Post reported.
It was not the first time Rohrabacher had interacted with Veselnitskaya. The two also met in Moscow in April 2016 to discuss issues related to the Magnitsky Act, a law Russian President Vladimir Putin has derided as a "purely political, unfriendly act."
Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin invited scrutiny last July, when news of the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting first broke. Trump Jr. said in response to initial reports about the meeting that they discussed Russian adoptions and not campaign business. He was forced to amend his statement, however, when it emerged that he accepted the meeting after being offered kompromat on then Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump."
That meeting, its attendees, and the Trump campaign's subsequent response have been a red-hot focus for special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional intelligence committees investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
In addition to Veselnitskaya and Akhmetshin — both of whom are under FBI scrutiny — at least four other politically influential Russians attended Trump's Inauguration Day celebrations last year, according to The Post.
'Kremlin Connection'
Wealthy Russian pharmaceutical executive Alexey Repik and his wife were there, as was energy tycoon Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg is said to be closely aligned with Putin, with whom he frequently meets to discuss business. According to federal filings reviewed by The Post, two of Vekselberg's American associates donated a combined $1.25 million to Trump's inaugural committee.
Also in attendance was Russian presidential candidate Boris Titov. Though Titov is running as a liberal-leaning competitor to Putin in the country's 2018 presidential race, he is part of the Kremlin establishment and is friends with the Russian leader, according to The Moscow Times.
Avid gun rights activist Maria Butina was also there. The Daily Beast reported last year that Butina has referred to herself at various times as a Russian central bank staffer, a gun enthusiast, a graduate student (she studies at American University in Washington, D.C.), a journalist, "a representative of the Russian Federation," and a link between the Trump campaign and Russia. She also served as an assistant to Putin-allied Russian banker and politician Alexander Torshin, who has been accused in the past of money laundering and other financial crimes.
Butina had a birthday party on November 12, 2016, four days after Trump was elected, at a cafe near American University, according to the report. The gathering featured several top Trump campaign advisers and National Rifle Association activist and Republican strategist Paul Erickson, who reportedly told attendees Butina was on the Trump transition team. Butina and Erickson have been acquainted since at least 2013, and Erickson has touted himself as being well-connected to the Kremlin.
Erickson invited scrutiny last year, when The New York Times reported that he emailed Trump campaign aide Rick Dearborn in May 2016, with the subject line "Kremlin Connection," telling him that he could arrange a backdoor meeting between Trump and Putin.
Russia is "quietly but actively seeking a dialogue with the US," Erickson wrote, according to the email, which was described to The Times. He added that Russia would try to make contact with the Trump campaign at the NRA's annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
Torshin was the individual designated to make "first contact" with Trump from Russia's side. Erickson described him in his email as "President Putin's emissary on this front."
Erickson wrote that Torshin would make "first contact" with the campaign at a dinner honoring wounded veterans that was organized by conservative Christian advocate Rick Clay, the report said. Neither Trump nor his campaign advisers attended the reception. Trump Jr. and Torshin did, however, attend a separate NRA dinner the same night.
Investigators are said to be reviewing the correspondence and any others related to Dearborn, Erickson, Clay, and Torshin. The FBI, in particular, appears to be homing in on Torshin's role in leveraging the NRA to influence the US election.
McClatchy reported this week that the bureau is looking into whether Torshin illegally funneled money to the NRA to help sway the race in Trump's favor. The NRA, according to the report, said it spent a record $55 million on the election, most of which came from a sector of the organization that isn't required to disclose its donors.
The US's former ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, told The Post it was "strange" that so many Putin-linked individuals attended Trump's inauguration.
But Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who served as Senior Director of the National Security Council under President Barack Obama, said he wasn't surprised.
"This team courted and potentially colluded with the Russians since day one without any apparent shame," he said in an email. "I would've been surprised had prominent Russians NOT attended the inauguration. It was Moscow's victory, after all."
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January transfer news & rumours: Alexis & Mkhitaryan in straight swap deal
Goal takes a look at the biggest transfer rumours from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and beyond as we head into the winter window
January transfer news & rumours: Alexis & Mkhitaryan in straight swap deal
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'Arsenal should have got Martial not Mkhitaryan' – £50m spend better than swap, says Nicholas
The Gunners appear set to complete a trade with Manchester United involving Alexis Sanchez, but should they have pushed for a different player?
'Arsenal should have got Martial not Mkhitaryan' – £50m spend better than swap, says Nicholas
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X-Raying Super Eagles World Cup Programme
Lagos – The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday released its FIFA World Cup programme for the Super Eagles amidst applauses and commendation for good planning and focus.
The programme reveals that Super Eagles will play Poland, Serbia, Congo DR, England, Czech Republic and possibly Chile on the way to the World Cup finals in Russia.
The team’s first phase camping will hold in Abuja or Uyo between May 22 and 30, while the second phase camping will hold at a health resort in Austria June 3 to 11.
The close camp at the Super Eagles’ official World Cup team base camp is at Yessentuki, Stavropol Territory in Russia’s southern region, starting June 11.
The Super Eagles have been drawn against Argentina, Iceland and Croatia in Group D at the World Cup beginning June 14 in Russia.
X-raying the friendly matches, INDEPENDENT took into recognition the strength of the teams in the group.
Nigeria will play Poland in Warsaw on March 23 and four days later, March 27, will play Serbia in London.
On May 28, football fans in Nigeria will have opportunity to see the team before the World Cup begins as they will take on Congo DR in either Abuja or Uyo and will play England on June 2 in London.
On June 6, the team will take on Czech Republic in Austria and three days later will take on Chile also in Austria.
When the draw was made on December 3, Super Eagles’ coach, Gernot Rohr, reacted with cautious optimism.
The coach said he believes Nigeria would have a good start to the competition if they get a favourable result against Croatia in the group’s opening game on June 16.
“It’s the first game and if we start well we can have a chance to go through. Croatia will be the most important game because they have technical quality and play very good football.
“At the moment, they are one of the best teams in Europe and beat Greece 4-1 in the play-offs so we have to be prepared and ready for them.”
According to Rohr, if the Super Eagles win their first game in the group, it will ease the pressure and help them against Iceland in the second game.
This will be Nigeria’s sixth World Cup appearance– and their third in a row. The Super Eagles have reached the last 16 three times – 1994, 1998 and 2014 – but have never advanced beyond that stage.
Captain John Mikel Obi is the most experienced member of the squad with 80 caps and will be a key figure for the Super Eagles in Russia. This will be the former Chelsea midfielder’s second World Cup – the 30-year-old helped the team reach the knockout stages in 2014 for the first time since 1998. He now plays in China with Tianjin Teda.
Rohr has managed all over the world. From Nice to Gabon, Burkina Faso to Nigeria, the 64-year-old German has extensive experience. Rohr played at Bayern Munich and Bordeaux. He then coached Bordeaux when they lost to Bayern in the 1996 UEFA Cup final.
His previous managerial jobs also include French club Nantes, Young Boys Berne in Switzerland, Tunisian side Etoile du Sahel and the Niger national team.
Argentina have won the World Cup twice – in 1978 and 1986 – and have been runners-up on three occasions, in 1930, 1990 and in Brazil in 2014, when they lost 1-0 to Germany in the final.
The team’s key player is Lionel Messi, who has been voted the best player in the world on five occasions, scored a hat trick in the last round of the South American qualifying series against Ecuador to take Argentina to the finals.
Coach Jorge Sampaoli guided Chile to the Copa America in 2015, became Argentina boss in May 2017 and succeeded in his first task – to ensure Argentina qualified for the World Cup when at a point it incredibly looked as if they were in danger of missing out.
Iceland on the other hand, will be the smallest nation at the competition with a population of less than 350,000. Iceland are heading to their first World Cup after victory over Kosovo on October 9 secured their place in Russia. This is clearly a golden era for the Icelanders after they reached Euro 2016, where they memorably defeated England in their second-round tie before losing 5-2 against hosts France in the quarterfinals.
The team’s key player is Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson. The 28-year-old midfielder scored the opening goal against Kosovo and is a superb striker of the ball from long range.
Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, 50, is a dentist who was in joint charge of the team in France alongside Swedish veteran Lars Lagerback. Hallgrimsson took sole charge after Euro 2016 and presided over a successful qualification campaign. Nigeria will play Iceland on Friday, June 22
The Group’s opponent, Croatia gained admission to FIFA in June 1993, meaning they were too late to compete for a place at the finals in the United States in 1994.
However, they qualified for the finals at the first time of asking at France 98 and have reached all but one of the five tournaments since. Their best performance to date remains their first, when Davor Suker, Zvonimir Boban et al helped them to a third place finish after losing to hosts and eventual winners France in the semis.
Luka Modric is the creative force at the heart of the Croatian side. Blessed with superb touch and vision, the 32-year-old has won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid. He recently clocked up a century for his country, for whom he has scored 12 times.
Zlatko Dalic’s reign as Croatia national team boss has been short and sweet thus far. He only took over in October 2017, replacing Ante Cacic, who left with one qualifying game left and the country at serious risk of failing to make the play-offs.
Dalic led Croatia to a 2-0 win in Ukraine in his first game in charge to seal a play-off spot, where they dispatched Greece 4-1 on aggregate. A midfielder in his playing days, he spent the first seven years of this decade coaching in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Nigeria versus Croatia will come up on Saturday, June 16 at Kaliningrad stadium.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Olusade Adesola praised the NFF for the well –tailored, programme, saying, “ This is commendable. I see a lot of excitement among the leaders of the football community and I am equally enamoured by the clear–cut nature of the World Cup plan,” he said.
“So far, I want to believe that the friendly matches are good for the team considering the strength of teams in Group D. The matches will help to shape up the team for the World Cup,” said ex-international, Taiwo Oloyede.
For former Team Manager of defunct Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Mactony Taiwo, the teams lined up for the friendly matches will give the Super Eagles a solid preparation for the World Cup.
“Poland is not a push over team likewise Czech Republic and Serbia. So I think the NFF is in the right direction with the friendly matches.
“But the players must take it lightly to avoid injuries which could prevent them from playing at the World Cup,” Taiwo advised.
Ex-international, Mutiu Adepoju said: “A good development for the country and the team. Matches like those lined up will really shape up the players for the big tasks expected at the World Cup.
“They must however take things easy as the purpose of friendly matches is not always to win but to prepare a team for an important task such as the World Cup.”
Former Secretary General of the NFF, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi was also in full support of the World Cup plan for the team and urged the leadership of the NFF to continue to encourage and boost the morale of the players and coaches.
“From now on, NFF officials should as a matter of fact continue to encourage and boost the morale of the players and officials.
“Monitoring the friendly matches is also very important. The matches are good for the team and it will really give them the needed fireworks expected at the World Cup,” he said.
The post X-Raying Super Eagles World Cup Programme appeared first on Independent Nigeria.
X-Raying Super Eagles World Cup Programme
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S’Eagles’ Moses, Iwobi Fire World Cup Signal
Lagos – The FIFA World Cup may be five months away but key players of the Super Eagles are showing signs of good things to come when the tournament kicks off in Russia in June.
The duo of Victor Moses and Alex Iwobi were on the score sheets on Saturday as their clubs’ Chelsea and Arsenal respectively dispatched their opponents in the English Premier League matches.
Chelsea were ruthless against Brighton & Holves at The American Express Community Stadium, scoring four, with Moses, who was instrumental to two of the goals, scoring the fourth in 89th minute. He scored after William scored in between Eden Hazard brace for a 3-0 lead.
Moses’ goal was remarkable because the Nigeria international, through the strike, scored his first goal since the Community Shield defeat by Arsenal at the start of the season.
At the Emirates, Iwobi, who was handed a starter’s shirt, grabbed Arsenal’s second goal in a 4-1 mauling ofCrystal Palace. Nacho Monreal put Arsenal ahead as early as the 6th before the Super Eagles forward made it two in the 10th minute. Laurent Koscielny made it three nil three minutes later before Alexandre Lacazette scored in the 22nd minute to hand Arsenal all the three points. Palace, meanwhile, reduced the tally through Luka Milivojevic goal in the 77th minute.
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S’Eagles’ Moses, Iwobi Fire World Cup Signal
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Klopp explains why Liverpool won't be spending Coutinho cash in January window
The Reds brought in €160m by moving the Brazilian star to Barcelona, but are in no rush to reinvest those funds and may wait until the summer
Klopp explains why Liverpool won't be spending Coutinho cash in January window
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We’re not part of Warri Kingdom, people of Ugborodo tell Buhari
The people of Ugborodo Community in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State have maintained that they are not part of Warri Kingdom, insisting that they are autonomous Kingdom.
They commended the House of Representatives for passing the Bill Establishing the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko into Law and urged the Federal Government to step up the take off of the University.
Ugborodo Community Council of Elders had in a recent open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari said that the Community is part and parcel of Warri Kingdom.
But in a swift reaction, the people of the Community in a petition to President Buhari,urged the Federal Government to count them out of Warri Kingdom, describing those parading themselves as Ugborodo Community Council of Elders as “fake and stranger elements based in Warri”.
In a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari signed by Pa Douglas Omagbemi (Ugborodo Community), Pa Pasco Oritsegbami (Elder, Ugborodo community) and Hon Thomas Metseagharun (The Toritsemogha of Ugborodo Community), they insisted that they are not part of Warri Kingdom.
“Ugborodo is in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State, close to Gbararmatu kingdom and not near to the Olu and his Kingdom in Warri South Local Government. Those parading themselves as Ugborodo Community Council of Elders should be ignored completely”.
They clarified that;”Our Letter Head Carries Palm Trees, but that of other Itsekiris carries a Crown and Sword. We are on our own and we want the whole world to know this”.
According to them;”The Olu of Warri Kingdom and his numerous Chiefs should also allow the Ugborodo people to rule themselves without influencing and interfering in their affairs. All these palace meetings with the sole aim to invade Ugborodo when we do not have any strategy yet to handle other threats is laughable. We are only good in fighting ourselves”.
“The word Olaja means king or owner of a property or thing. According to historical facts, the Olaja Orori or the Eghare Aja is not installed by the Olu of Warri and none of them are answerable to him in any capacity. The Ugborodo culture and traditions are very different from that of other itsekiris in burial rites and even where they are buried.
All the lands that have been given out in Ugborodo till date is through the Olaja Orori and the Eghare Aja on trust on behalf of Ugborodo people. The Olu has never given out any land belonging to Ugborodo because he do not have such powers”, they informed the President.
While commending the House of Representatives for the recent passing of Bill Establishing the Nigerian Maritime University Okerenkoko into Law, they averred that;” Mr President, let no one deceive you about the location of the Nigerian Maritime University Okerenkoko.
The place where the University is located belongs to the people of Gbararmatu kingdom of Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta and we the people of Ugborodo Community are in support of the University and it’s location.
We the people of Ugborodo Community want to go to School and therefore, we need the Nigerian Maritime University Okerenkoko. The Federal Government should let the University get off the ground now. The University will bring rapid development to the entire Niger Delta Region”.
“We want to commend the House of Representatives for passing the Bill Establishing the Nigerian Maritime University Okerenkoko into Law. This is a welcome development. The Federal Government should do the needful now for the smooth take-off of the University to put all controversies surrounding it to rest”, they stated.
The post We’re not part of Warri Kingdom, people of Ugborodo tell Buhari appeared first on Vanguard News.
We’re not part of Warri Kingdom, people of Ugborodo tell Buhari
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Politics: Congressman removed from ethics committee amid reports he used taxpayer money to settle sexual misconduct complaint
GOP Rep. Patrick Meehan used taxpayer money to settle a misconduct complaint from a former aide to whom the congressmen repeatedly expressed romantic desires.
- GOP Rep. Patrick Meehan used taxpayer money to settle a misconduct complaint from a former aide to whom the congressmen repeatedly expressed his romantic desires, The New York Times reported.
- House Speaker Paul Ryan's office said Saturday that Meehan has been removed from the House Ethics Committee and told he should repay the money.
- Meehan's office said he denies the allegations and has requested that all parties be released from confidentiality agreements "to ensure an open airing of all the facts."
Rep. Patrick Meehan was removed from the House Ethics Committee on Saturday after The New York Times reported that he had settled a misconduct complaint after a former staffer accused him of making repeated unwanted romantic advances, House Speaker Paul Ryan's office said.
It's unclear how much taxpayer money Meehan's office doled out to the former aide, but people familiar with the settlement told The Times that it was thousands of dollars from Meehan's congressional office fund. Ryan told Meehan on Saturday that he should repay the money, Ryan's spokeswoman AshLee Strong told The Times.
Meehan, a four-term Republican congressman, represents Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district. Meehan sits on the House Ethics Committee, which is partly responsible for investigating sexual misconduct claims in Congress.
Last year, Meehan reportedly expressed his romantic desires for one of his aides, who was decades younger than him, on multiple occasions. After she rebuffed his overtures and news spread that she had a boyfriend outside of work, Meehan became hostile, The Times said.
The aide then filed a complaint and ultimately left the job.
Meehan's office said in a statement Saturday that Meehan denied all allegations against him, adding that he has requested that the aide's lawyers "release all parties from the confidentiality requirements of the agreement to ensure an open airing of all the facts."
The statement continued: "Rep. Meehan believes there must be real reform to the process for resolving complaints so that those who are truly wronged are given a fair forum to be heard and vindicated, and those accused are provided with an ability to respond to baseless accusations."
Meehan's alleged behavior comes amid an ongoing national conversation about sexual misconduct, especially in the workplace. Over the past few months, powerful men in media, entertainment, and politics have been accused of perpetrating some form of sexual misconduct.
Four congressmen—two Republicans and two Democrats—have either resigned or announced they will not seek re-election over allegations of sexual harassment. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken resigned earlier this month amid several accusations of unwanted groping and kissing.
In October, Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania announced he would resign after it was reported that he told a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair to get an abortion. A special election campaign to replace Murphy's seat is already underway.
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Politics: Congress is scrambling to find a deal to end the government shutdown
Congress is trying to end the government shutdown at the same time as President Trump, Republicans, and Democrats are all laming each other.
- After the Senate failed to pass a funding bill Friday night, the federal government is now in a partial shutdown.
- The two parties in the Senate failed to reach an agreement on immigration, funding, healthcare, or the timing of a government funding extension.
- The Senate reconvened at 12 p.m. ET to continue their work, while the House was on standby in case a bill passes that needs another vote. No deal has been reached.
The federal government entered into its first partial shutdown in more than four years Saturday after the Senate failed to pass a funding bill late Friday night.
Deliberations between the Democratic and Republican party leaderships are ongoing in an attempt to reopen the government, but the two sides spent much of Saturday engaged in a nasty blame game over the funding fight.
It was unclear how close the parties were to a deal. Both the House and Senate are reconvened on Saturday to continue their work, but little progress appeared to be made.
"This is the One Year Anniversary of my Presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present. #DemocratShutdown," President Donald Trump tweeted early Saturday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are left locked out of their jobs and unsure of when their next paycheck will arrive.
What happened last night
Shortly after midnight, the Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to federal agencies directing them to initiate contingency plans due to the Senate's failure to pass a bill funding the government.
This officially kicked off the government shutdown — and was also the culmination of a wild day of negotiations.
Democrats held a significant number of the cards in the shutdown fight since the House-passed funding legislation — known as a continuing resolution (CR) — needed 60 votes in the Senate to avoid a filibuster.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell worked throughout the day to try and come to an agreement on a range of issues and avoid the shutdown. In the end, no deal ever came.
Schumer went to the White House to negotiate a deal with Trump directly. According to Schumer, the two men agreed to a wide-ranging deal on everything from immigration to military funding.
The deal included funding for Trump's border wall, Schumer said in exchange for the codification of the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA, which protects from deportation roughly 700,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as minors from deportation, was the key sticking point for Democrats.
Trump announced that he would end the program in September, but gave Congress until March to codify it into law. Democrats attempted to force a vote on the DACA issue as part of a funding deal to increase its chances of passage.
Despite reaching a deal, Schumer said Trump and the GOP reneged on the offer soon after the Democrat returned to Congress.
With the Trump-Schumer deal dead, Democrats and many Republicans scrambled to agree to a shorter-term CR than the one offered by the House. The House bill extended the shutdown deadline until February 16, and Democrats wanted a bill that would keep the government open for five days in order to get a deal on DACA and more.
Republicans countered with a delay until February 8, which Democrats rejected. In the end no deal was reached, most Democrats and a handful of Republicans rejected the House bill, and the shutdown began.
Moving forward
Work to reopen the government began almost as soon as the funding lapsed, with lawmakers from both parties conferring on the Senate floor about a deal until after 1 a.m. ET.
With no agreement in place, the Senate reconvened at noon ET but made little progress. Democrats attempted a series of parliamentary tactics to force votes on measures that would have funded pay for the military during the shutdown, funded the Children's Health Insurance Program, and ensured furloughed employees were given back pay. McConnell rebuffed those attempts.
Members from both parties seemed open to a new funding bill with a February 8 deadline, and GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham — who voted against the House-passed CR — was optimistic Saturday morning.
"After extensive discussions with senators on both sides of the aisle, I believe such a proposal would pass if there was a commitment that after February 8th the Senate would move to an immigration debate with an open amendment process if no alternative agreement was reached with the White House and House of Representatives," Graham said in a statement.
Any deal that makes changes to the House-passed funding measure would require a new vote on changes by the House.
Anticipating a new deal, the House leaderships told their members to stay close for the weekend, and the chamber was set to be in session Saturday. The House voted on a rule change to allow any bill sent down by the Senate to be considered on the same day, thus expediting the process when the deadlock is finally broken.
Blame game
While the two sides attempted to work toward a deal, leaders from each party are also hurled insults and blamed the other for the current predicament.
Trump took to his usual platform of Twitter on Saturday morning to sarcastically thank Democrats for the shutdown. Vice President Mike Pence and McConnell launched their own attacks on Saturday, pointing the finger the Democrats for shutting down the government over illegal immigration.
Democrats, on the other hand, pointed out that this was the first time that a government has shut down and sent employees on furlough in the modern budget era when one party controls the House, Senate, and White House. Republicans countered by noting that Democrats were needed to get the Senate bill past a filibuster.
Democrats also said a larger deal could have been possible if not for Trump, whom Schumer blamed for the dysfunction.
"This will be called the Trump shutdown," Schumer said. "This will be called the Trump shutdown because there is no one, no one, who deserves the blame for the position we find ourselves in other than President Trump."
Negotiating with Trump, Schumer said, was liking doing so with "Jello.'
Politics: Congress is scrambling to find a deal to end the government shutdown
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Saturday 20 January 2018
Blame game: Congress reconvenes but makes no apparent progress on ending shutdown
Blame game: Congress reconvenes but makes no apparent progress on ending shutdown
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Politics: Jacob Zuma might be the next African president to receive the Mugabe treatment
Africa is currently not willing to tolerate bad leadership from anyone again.
There are indications that South Africa’s ruling, African National Congress (ANC), is planning to give Jacob Zuma the Mugabe treatment. This means they plan to force him to quit as the country’s president.
According to reports by eNCA, the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) have resolved to ask Zuma to resign and if he refused, he would be forced to step down by all the six powerful blocs in the party.
If this happens, Zuma will be the second president that would be ousted by his own party. The first was Robert Mugabe who was forced to step down by the military with the full support of ZANU-PF, Zimbabwe’s ruling party.
However, ANC spokeswoman described the reports as rumour.
“We can’t confirm rumours of things that we don’t know. The NEC has issued a statement on the totality of discussions yesterday.”
News24 also reported that a member of ANC's NEC, who craved anonymity, told its reporters that the decision to oust Zuma is a collective one by the top echelon of the party.
Zuma’s second term as president of South Africa has been tainted with corruption allegations. Although, he denied all of them.
Investors and markets have been responded positively to the election of Ramaphosa as ANC leader. Many analysts have concluded that his promises to root out corruption and kick-start economic growth are the main causes of his warmth reception by investors.
Politics: Jacob Zuma might be the next African president to receive the Mugabe treatment
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