Life of a Campus Boy: Messi named La Liga player of month...for first ti...

Life of a Campus Boy: Messi named La Liga player of month...for first ti...: Barcelona - In a stellar 12-year career, Lionel Messi has won the world player of the year award five times and broken endless goalscori...

Messi named La Liga player of month...for first time

Barcelona - In a stellar 12-year career, Lionel Messi has won the world player of the year award five times and broken endless goalscoring records, but he had never been named player of the month in Spain, until now.

The 28-year-old Argentine forward received the award for La Liga's player of the month for January on Friday, the first time he has won a prize inaugurated in 2013.

Also read: Barca, Real Madrid rivalry spills into Copa del Rey final

His eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo won the award back in November 2013 and the likes of Atletico Madrid pair Antoine Griezmann and Diego Godin and Nolito of Celta Vigo have won it twice.

Messi, meanwhile, has had to wait until now despite winning the La Liga title seven times in his career.

As well as winning the Ballon d'or in January, Messi scored six goals in five games in La Liga to help Luis Enrique's side hold a three-point lead at the top of the table over Atletico Madrid while also having a game in hand.

Messi, who became the all-time leading scorer in La Liga in 2014, has scored 298 goals in Spain's top flight and will have the chance to reach the 300 mark at home to Celta on Sunday.

NAMA director and others arrested by EFCC

Abuja - It has been alleged that the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam, has been arrested by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission.
Abdulsalam has been arrested alongside a number of directors in the company.

Plateau recovers N2,7million through TSA

Abuja - Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau on Friday disclosed that the state government had recovered N2.7 billion through the implementation of Treasury Single Account (TSA) in the state.

Lalong made this known at the All Progressives Congress (APC) media roundtable in Abuja.

According to him, the money, which had hitherto been missing, was traced to some accounts in the state and have been recovered.

He said that the recovery had enabled him to pay workers in the state, who had been on strike for months, at a time. "Recently, we recovered about N2.7 billion in the state, money that was regarded as lost. We traced and recovered the money which was meant for teachers.

"Teachers, civil servants, the judiciary had gone on several months of strike; some nine, some 11 but now, since I came on board, we did our best. We now have arrears of salaries of only two months.

"For teachers, we paid all; they are back to work. The judiciary is also back to work. So, for the plateau, we are moving on well.

Also read: Kano State Govt spends N10m on recovered cattle

"In the area of corruption, we are putting pressure on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to hasten their investigations so that they can begin prosecution and we can also gain recovery of looted funds,’’ Lalong said.

He said that several other cases had also been sent to the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), "which will yield results soon’’.

He disclosed that like the Federal Government, there was pressure to stop prosecution of some cases, while some people with concrete evidence refused to come out to testify.

He, however, said that such antics did not and would not deter the government from pushing for the recovery of stolen funds in the state. The governor said that he was unsure why other governors were finding it difficult to implement the TSA, disclosing that the merits of the system outweighed its demerits.

"I am not an accountant but immediately I became aware of both the advantages and disadvantages of TSA, I gave the instruction that it should be implemented.

"I organised a committee immediately and today, TSA is being implemented.

"I don't know why some governors are finding it difficult to implement TSA in their states but out of the TSA implementation in our state, we have gained some dividends.

"We are now tracing some accounts that were not known to us before and we are seeing some excesses in those accounts, especially in some of the ministries.

"So, I will advise other states that have not yet implemented TSA to do so,’’ he said.

Lalong assured that in spite of the reduction in monthly allocation to the state, there would be no downsizing of workers in the state. "It will be very difficult to downsize on the plateau; I don't intend to and I will not. All I want to do is to maintain what I have and also improve on it.

"That's why our concentration is on improving on the revenue so that we can, if possible, employ additional workforce.

"Downsizing in this present administration is going to be very difficult; the president has advised state governments and even corporate organisations not to downsize,’’ he said.

The governor said that although he was yet to pay all outstanding salaries, he would do so as soon as the Federal Government paid the bailout he applied for in full.

"Before the issue of bailout, we had already started paying workers in the state.

"When the issue of bailout came, we applied for N10 billion which was supposed to be for the arrears of salaries for about eight to nine months and so far, we have only received N5 billion.

"Plateau was supposed to get N10 billion for salaries and for infrastructure but all we have got so far from the Central Bank of Nigeria is N5 billion.

"Even with that, we have been able to clear most of the arrears of salaries; we only have an outstanding of two months salaries not paid in our state.

"We have paid all the outstanding salaries for all our local governments. If I am able to get my balance of N5 billion, within a week, all the remaining salaries would have been cleared.’’

TMG blasts Supreme Court over Rivers, Akwa Ibom judgements

Abuja - Leading election monitors in Nigeria, Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has accused the Supreme Court of legalising electoral robberies with the judgments which validated the victories of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State in the 2015 general elections.

According to the group, the Supreme Court had by the verdicts refused to give judgments to the people of the two states whose will have been subverted by politicians.

The group in a statement by its  Chairman, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said the court has decided to give judgments and not justice.

The apex court had about two weeks ago upturned the decision of the Appeal Court which nullified the election of Governor Wike.

The apex court also on Wednesday reversed the nullification of the electoral victory of Governor Udom by the Court of Appeal.

The apex court is yet to give reasons for the reversal of the judgments of the appellate court which was based on complaints of massive violence and electoral malpractices during the election.

The group statement reads: For us, it is absolutely shocking that the Supreme Court has decided to act as if it exists in another planet. The TMG is perturbed by the strange legal reasoning that has informed the blank cheque that the court has given to election riggers.

“We make bold to say that while the legal premise behind these judgments is best known to the apex court, the open reward for electoral impunity does not resonate with the Nigerian people.

“As the foremost election observation coalition in the country, we see the Supreme Court judgments as clear cut attempts at legalising electoral robberies. These judgments, particularly on Rivers and Akwa Ibom States, have merely given judicial imprimatur to the damaging mind set of rapacious politicians who would stop at nothing in their bid to subvert the will of the people.

“What these judgments what they have effectively done is to ridicule Nigeria in the eyes of the international community, while diminishing our country’s stature in the comity of lovers of democracy around the world.

“Painfully, the biggest losers are the ordinary people in the states who have been denied their democratic choices on account of the violence and impunity that characterised the polls in those states.

“In the end, what the Supreme Court has succeeded in doing is to spit on the graves of all those innocent Nigerians who lost their lives as a result of the activities of those hell bent on subverting the will of the people.”

“And in due course, those who wilfully killed and maimed in the desperate bid to capture power, would be held to account” .

“Even beyond the justice of the Supreme Court, there is the justice of the Almighty.”

Presidency raises alarm over impending starvation

Abuja - Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has revealed that Nigerians might starve to death by 2025 if the country does not embrace all round farming.

Ogbeh was speaking on Thursday during the budget defence of 2016.

He said the present mode of farming will not sustain the increasing population in the country which is likely to be around 509 million by 2025.

He noted that there was the urgent need for all major stakeholders to work towards improving mechanized farming and irrigation, to ensure an all year farming to avert the problem.

He stated that the federal government is looking at intensifying and consolidating on the local staples, the yams, the cassava, the beans, especially rice and wheat. Both of which consume $11 million per day in import.

Facebook records massive adoption in Nigeria

Lagos  - Some 16 million people in Nigeria visit popular social networking site, Facebook every month, the company’s Head of Africa has disclosed.

Further statistics suggest all these users access the service on mobile while each day, some 7,2 million people visit Facebook, with 7 million on mobile.

Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Africa for Facebook, disclosed the figures to coincide with Friends Day (February 4), which is Facebook’s 12th birthday.

She said during the past five years, the global Facebook community had more than doubled in size, and its community in Nigeria continued to grow.

Ntshingila said they would this year deepen their partnerships with Nigerian businesses.

“We’re committed to Nigeria, and during this visit we shared insights with our business and agency partners on how to deliver personalised marketing, at scale, where people are – on their mobile phone. We want to make sure Nigeria - its people, its agencies and its businesses - realise the opportunity that technology and mobile bring,” she said.

She said they knew the mobile platform people used the most in Nigeria was Facebook and up to 77 percent of Nigerians on Facebook used their mobile device to discover new products and services.

“Nigerians are sophisticated mobile users and this sophistication is increasing fast – people are ahead of businesses, and we’re here,” Ntshingila said

Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice President, EMEA, at Facebook, said Friends Day in Nigeria was about hearing the stories of the community using Facebook our platform to grow and connect with others.

“We have made amazing progress over the past year.  We’re only 1 percent done in Nigeria and inspired to do even more in this fast-moving, mobile first country,” said Mendelsohn

Oliseh: NFF must address issues of players’ bonuses

Lagos - Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh says the Nigeria Football Federation must address the issues of players’ bonuses and allowances to avoid a repeat of the unfortunate incident that happened in Rwanda.

Nigeria crashed out of the 2016 African Nations Championship, a situation Oliseh attributed to lack of payment of players’ bonuses and allowances.

Oliseh disclosed on Brila FM that “for 50 days the Football Association had not provided basic allowances to the players who cannot afford to buy a bottle of soft drink.”

Meanwhile, ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against 7-time champions, Egypt in March, Oliseh has declared the NFF must address the problem of funding.

Oliseh informed that he has identified 10 players from Nigeria’s failed CHAN 2016 campaign, who will be integrated into the main team.

Egypt top group G with six points, two more than Nigeria and Oliseh expressed concerns that the dire financial straits of the Federation could hinder the country’s chances of making it to Gabon in 2017.

NFF present N5.9B budget, National Assembly approve N1.2B

Out of the N5.9 billion 2016 budget presented by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to the National Assembly, only N1.2 billion was approved.

The reason for the approval of N1.2 billion was due to bad presentation of the budget by the NFF, a source revealed.

Prior to the approval, a sum of N1.5 billion was budgeted to be spent on Super Eagles’ participation in the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) scheduled for Rwanda from January 16 to February 7, 2016. Nigeria crashed out of the tournament in the group stage.

Also read: Oliseh: NFF must address issues of players’ bonuses

The NFF also budgeted 672 million naira for the U20 Fifa Women World Cup billed for Papua New Guinea from November 13 to December 3 and earmarked 369 million naira for Dream Team’s Rio 2016 Olympics campaign.

The Federation set aside 920 million naira for Super Falcons' preparation, qualifiers and participation in the 2016 African Women Championship in Cameroon, while the Flying Eagles' preparation and participation in the U-20 Cup of Nations would require 620 million naira.

It also budgeted 651 million naira for Super Sand Eagles campaign in the 2016 COPA Lagos Beach Soccer championship, 115 million naira for grassroots youth championships as well as 286 million naira for payment of coaches' salaries.

Supreme Court okays Saraki’s trial at CCT

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal filed by the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki to stop his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal for false declaration of assets.
In its judgement, the apex court declared that Saraki’s CCT trial is proper and in order.

Reading out the judgment of the apex court on Friday, Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen held that the Danladi Umar-led CCT was properly constituted to exercise jurisdiction over Saraki’s trial. 

The Court dismissed all the grounds Saraki brought for determination in seeking to discontinue his trial by the CCT.

The Code of Conduct Bureau had leveled a 13-count criminal charge against the former Kwara State Governor before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) over alleged false declaration of assets.
Saraki was accused of deliberately manipulating the assets declaration form that he filled prior to his assumption of office as the Senate President, by making anticipatory declaration of assets as well as operated foreign bank account while in office as a public servant.

PDP demands arrest of APC Rivers chairman

Abuja - Reports of an alleged plan to assassinate Rivers State leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have taken a new twist with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) demanding the arrest of APC state chairman, Davis Ikanya.

Jerry Needam, spokesperson to Felix Obuah, PDP regional chair, said the party was aware of a media statement emanating from Ikanya alleging plot by members of our party to eliminate some selected chieftains of the APC.

"To the best of our knowledge and for record purposes, there is no such plan, and we also vouch that no member of our great party, the PDP, has contemplated or has any reason to carry out such action, especially now that all our attention is geared towards sustaining the hard earned prevailing peace and total development in the state,” said Needam.

“We strongly condemn this damaging step and deliberate plot by Mr Ikanya and the APC leaders to paint our party in bad light, all in their quest to cause disaffection, social and political unrest in our State, apparently irked by the outcome of the Supreme Court Judgment, which gives victory to our Party and Governor Wike.”

Needam said the allegation was thus “false”, "ill-conceived” and "unsubstantiated.”

While calling on the law enforcement agencies to immediately investigate Ikanya’s allegation, which he said were capable of destabilising the state, Needam reiterated the party valued life and would not do anything in disregard of its sanctity.

“The PDP chairman also calls on the general public to discountenance Ikanya’s malicious and unfounded allegation, urging the Police and the State Security Service to investigate and charge him accordingly, for false information and incitement.”

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