The Nigerian Army on Wednesday said that media reports alleging the killing and drowning of 150 people in Kukuwa-Gari, Gujiba Local Government Area of Yobe, “cannot be substantiated’’.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman.
Usman said in the statement that reports in some quarters had alleged that more than 150 civilians had been massacred and drowned by the Boko Haram insurgents.
He, however, assured the general public of the “Nigerian Army’s commitment in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists and ensuring security for law-abiding citizens in the affected areas “.
According to the statement, troops have arrested two fleeing key members of the terrorist group with two pick up vehicles in Geidam, Yobe.
It said those arrested were currently being interrogated by the authorities.
Usman, in the statement, also said that there were reports and distressed calls about suspected movements and planned attacks by the
Boko Haram terrorists around Damasak general area.
He, however, stated that the Nigerian Air Force had conducted air surveillance and armed reconnaissance in the area, while the Nigerian Army troops had also been reinforced.
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Brookings tips Jonathan to win Feb polls
Brookings tips Jonathan to win Feb polls
A WASHINGTON, US-based influential think-tank, the Brookings Institution/Africa Growth Initiative has rated President Goodluck Jonathan as the favourite to win the February 14 presidential polls
In a report entitled: “The 2015 presidential elections in Nigeria: The issues and challenges,” Brookings said the article published under the Africa Growth Initiative said Jonathan’s Peoples Domocratic Party, PDP, was more likely to win the February election.
The paper, which dwells on several aspects of the Nigerian election said that “though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favour President Jonathan.”
Jonathan
Jonathan
While highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the two main political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, the institution said the APC will be unable to unseat the PDP in the February elections.
The paper said: “After suffering a wave of defections to the APC last year, including five of its governors, the PDP seems to have rebounded strongly. In the battleground South-West, for instance, the party won recent governorship elections in Ekiti State and got the governor of Ondo State to defect from the Labour Party to the PDP.
“The party is especially strong in the South-South (where Jonathan comes from), the South-East and among Christians in the North. Again, while the PDP remains weak in the Muslim North, it has gained new influential members who decamped from the APC including the former governors of Kano and Borno States.
And, of course, the PDP has power of incumbency.
“APC gets much of its strength from tapping into Jonathan sentiments in the Muslim North and grievances among the Yoruba who feel that the Jonathan administration has ignored them in key political appointments.
A WASHINGTON, US-based influential think-tank, the Brookings Institution/Africa Growth Initiative has rated President Goodluck Jonathan as the favourite to win the February 14 presidential polls
In a report entitled: “The 2015 presidential elections in Nigeria: The issues and challenges,” Brookings said the article published under the Africa Growth Initiative said Jonathan’s Peoples Domocratic Party, PDP, was more likely to win the February election.
The paper, which dwells on several aspects of the Nigerian election said that “though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favour President Jonathan.”
Jonathan
Jonathan
While highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the two main political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, the institution said the APC will be unable to unseat the PDP in the February elections.
The paper said: “After suffering a wave of defections to the APC last year, including five of its governors, the PDP seems to have rebounded strongly. In the battleground South-West, for instance, the party won recent governorship elections in Ekiti State and got the governor of Ondo State to defect from the Labour Party to the PDP.
“The party is especially strong in the South-South (where Jonathan comes from), the South-East and among Christians in the North. Again, while the PDP remains weak in the Muslim North, it has gained new influential members who decamped from the APC including the former governors of Kano and Borno States.
And, of course, the PDP has power of incumbency.
“APC gets much of its strength from tapping into Jonathan sentiments in the Muslim North and grievances among the Yoruba who feel that the Jonathan administration has ignored them in key political appointments.
Death wish advert: Jonathan, PDP distance selves from Fayose
Death wish advert: Jonathan, PDP distance selves from Fayose
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have distanced themselves from the advertisements in some major newspapers by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, warning against voting for the APC presidential candidate, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), because of the possibilities that he would die in office because of his age.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, APCPCO, yesterday dismissed the denial by the PDP as “merely a case of a master dissociating himself from the errand boy after the message had backfired.”
Fayose had in the publications entitled “Enough of state burials,” warned that almost all the past Presidents from the North-West died in the office, adding: “Will thou allow history to repeat itself? Enough of state burials, Nigerians vote wisely, vote Goodluck Jonathan, Northern Presidency should wait till 2019.”
Reacting to the advertisement, yesterday, in Abuja, Director of Media and Publicity of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, noted that the organisation and the party were not in support of the governor’s position on the issue.
Fani-Kayode said: “Governor Ayo Fayose is a distinguished leader of our party; a democratically elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for and he released this advert in his own name. That represents his own personal opinion which he is entitled to.
“What I can tell you on our part is that it does not represent the opinion of the Presidential Campaign Organisation or indeed the President. It is his (Fayose’s) opinion, which he is entitled to and he is somebody that we have immense respect for.
“He is a leading member of the party. I have spoken with him and we respect him but for any body to suggest that this is the position of the Presidential Campaign Organisation or President Goodluck Jonathan, that will be most unfair.
“If we wanted to say something like that we will say it without any kind of apology but of course, we will never say that because we believe in the sanctity of life. Age is not a function of how long you will live.
“It is important that we recognise the fact that age is not an indication of how long somebody will live. We believe strongly that we must continue to show immense respect to the person of General Buhari.”
He is entitled to his opinion
Fani-Kayode, however, said that he would not disclaim the advertisement since Fayose never claimed that he made his publication on behalf of either Jonathan or the PDP.
He said: “Fayose never said that he was speaking on behalf of President Jonathan but for himself and he said that he issued it in his name. And I have emphasised that, that is his opinion and he is entitled to it.
“I could only disown if a statement was purportedly made on our behalf and in fairness to him, he never said that. What is important is to emphasise that fact that his position does not represent our position on this. He is entitled to that position, he is a leading member of our party.
Questions relating to Buhari’s health
Fani-Kayode, however, insisted that although the PDP never wished the APC presidential candidate dead, “we will continue to raise questions over issues relating to his health.”
He further said: “We do not wish him ill, we do not wish him dead, we wish him long life and we believe strongly that such sentiment can be aired by individuals certainly not in our name.
“We believe it is important to always raise questions about facts; you know what these questions are and we will continue to raise them.”
PDP’s self dissociation not convincing – APC
In rejecting the denial by the Jonathan Campaign, the APC Campaign said that the response on the matter was “too casual and off-handed to impress anyone. It doesn’t sound convincing.”
It said the party “needs to take this issue more seriously to underscore its commitment to the sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy and the non-violence pact entered into by the party and its presidential candidate.
“It is very irresponsible for the PDP to want to distance itself from the death threat to General Buhari, made by not only a sitting governor of the PDP but also a high ranking member of the PDP Presidential Campaign Committee.
“Just in case the PDP had forgotten, what was Fani-Kayode thinking in his mind when he challenged General Buhari to make a jog round a field? Was it to put him through a body fitness workout or to plant a sniper somewhere around the field?
“Whatever the intention of the PDP was about the health status of General Buhari, we in the APC Campaign believe in the exclusivity of the divine role in the matters of life and death.
“It is not difficult for Nigerians to discern what the PDP odd intention towards the APC and its presidential candidate is. The PDP’s uncivilised death plot only exposes the mindset of the party and their cohorts.
“That the PDP can place such noxious campaign advertorial into the public domain, in a desperate attempt to promote an incompetent incumbent president is tantamount to PDP’s tradition of violence and victimization as well as an eloquent commentary on how President Goodluck Jonathan runs his administration.”
The Campaign Organisation, however, restated its request for an independent investigation into the PDP threat against General Buhari to ensure his safety and free and fair election on February 14.
President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have distanced themselves from the advertisements in some major newspapers by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State, warning against voting for the APC presidential candidate, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), because of the possibilities that he would die in office because of his age.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, APCPCO, yesterday dismissed the denial by the PDP as “merely a case of a master dissociating himself from the errand boy after the message had backfired.”
Fayose had in the publications entitled “Enough of state burials,” warned that almost all the past Presidents from the North-West died in the office, adding: “Will thou allow history to repeat itself? Enough of state burials, Nigerians vote wisely, vote Goodluck Jonathan, Northern Presidency should wait till 2019.”
Reacting to the advertisement, yesterday, in Abuja, Director of Media and Publicity of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, noted that the organisation and the party were not in support of the governor’s position on the issue.
Fani-Kayode said: “Governor Ayo Fayose is a distinguished leader of our party; a democratically elected governor and someone we have immense respect and affection for and he released this advert in his own name. That represents his own personal opinion which he is entitled to.
“What I can tell you on our part is that it does not represent the opinion of the Presidential Campaign Organisation or indeed the President. It is his (Fayose’s) opinion, which he is entitled to and he is somebody that we have immense respect for.
“He is a leading member of the party. I have spoken with him and we respect him but for any body to suggest that this is the position of the Presidential Campaign Organisation or President Goodluck Jonathan, that will be most unfair.
“If we wanted to say something like that we will say it without any kind of apology but of course, we will never say that because we believe in the sanctity of life. Age is not a function of how long you will live.
“It is important that we recognise the fact that age is not an indication of how long somebody will live. We believe strongly that we must continue to show immense respect to the person of General Buhari.”
He is entitled to his opinion
Fani-Kayode, however, said that he would not disclaim the advertisement since Fayose never claimed that he made his publication on behalf of either Jonathan or the PDP.
He said: “Fayose never said that he was speaking on behalf of President Jonathan but for himself and he said that he issued it in his name. And I have emphasised that, that is his opinion and he is entitled to it.
“I could only disown if a statement was purportedly made on our behalf and in fairness to him, he never said that. What is important is to emphasise that fact that his position does not represent our position on this. He is entitled to that position, he is a leading member of our party.
Questions relating to Buhari’s health
Fani-Kayode, however, insisted that although the PDP never wished the APC presidential candidate dead, “we will continue to raise questions over issues relating to his health.”
He further said: “We do not wish him ill, we do not wish him dead, we wish him long life and we believe strongly that such sentiment can be aired by individuals certainly not in our name.
“We believe it is important to always raise questions about facts; you know what these questions are and we will continue to raise them.”
PDP’s self dissociation not convincing – APC
In rejecting the denial by the Jonathan Campaign, the APC Campaign said that the response on the matter was “too casual and off-handed to impress anyone. It doesn’t sound convincing.”
It said the party “needs to take this issue more seriously to underscore its commitment to the sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy and the non-violence pact entered into by the party and its presidential candidate.
“It is very irresponsible for the PDP to want to distance itself from the death threat to General Buhari, made by not only a sitting governor of the PDP but also a high ranking member of the PDP Presidential Campaign Committee.
“Just in case the PDP had forgotten, what was Fani-Kayode thinking in his mind when he challenged General Buhari to make a jog round a field? Was it to put him through a body fitness workout or to plant a sniper somewhere around the field?
“Whatever the intention of the PDP was about the health status of General Buhari, we in the APC Campaign believe in the exclusivity of the divine role in the matters of life and death.
“It is not difficult for Nigerians to discern what the PDP odd intention towards the APC and its presidential candidate is. The PDP’s uncivilised death plot only exposes the mindset of the party and their cohorts.
“That the PDP can place such noxious campaign advertorial into the public domain, in a desperate attempt to promote an incompetent incumbent president is tantamount to PDP’s tradition of violence and victimization as well as an eloquent commentary on how President Goodluck Jonathan runs his administration.”
The Campaign Organisation, however, restated its request for an independent investigation into the PDP threat against General Buhari to ensure his safety and free and fair election on February 14.
14 yrs of GSM revolution: The thorns, the thrills
14 yrs of GSM revolution: The thorns, the thrills
It seems like yesterday; but 14 years have goneby since the Global system for Mobile communication, GSM debuted in Nigeria.
Telecom-mast
In fact, last Monday, January 19, 2015, marked exactly 14 years Nigeria concluded the historic Digital Mobile Licensing round which came at the heels of telecoms deregulation in Nigeria.
The auction actually commenced on January 17 and ended on January 19, 2001. Radio Spectrum International, RSI, Charles Rivers Associates, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) and Mr.Paul Usoro (SAN) were consultants to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the auction.
Although, this licensing regime ushered in the ubiquitous GSM which consequently changed the face of the telecoms landscape in Africa and made Nigeria the haven for telecommunications investors, the story is not all- through rosy.
However, industry practitioners who took a critical look at the road this sector has taken from the country’s paltry 450, 000 connected lines in 2001 to over 135 million active subscribers as at the end of 2014, are seeing tremendous growth with multiplier effects in all other sectors of the economy, including the banking, education, e-commerce/retailing, agriculture, medicine, media, oil and gas, among other sectors.
Even at that, the problem of perennial low quality of service in the sector, apparently puts a clog in the wheel of progress and perhaps slowed down the pace of growth that would have made the country greater.
Besides poor quality of service with its attendant problem of dropped calls and poor voice clarity, there are other issues that bother on poor services from the operators, like unsolicited text messages, unwanted and nauseating telemarketing and locked-messages which infringe on subscribers’ right of privacy.
Increased investments
Despite these deluge of problems, Foreign direct Investment inflow in the sector is on the rise.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr, Eugene Juwah, “Over $32 billion investment has been recorded in the sector as at June 2014 from $50 million in year 2001. The investment stood at $18 billion in 2010 and $25 billion in 2012.”
With the investment, telecoms companies have been able to successfully deploy 68,124 kilometre of fibre optic cabling as at the end of December, 2013 while in 2014 alone, additional 38, 000 kilometre of fibre optic cables were laid, representing an increase of about 44.2 per cent investment in fibre optic cabling by the telecoms companies last year alone.
Increased base stations
Meanwhile, in the last 14 years, telecoms companies in Nigeria have also increased their base transceiver stations (BTS) expansion efforts from few thousands to over 27, 000, making it possible for more people to have access to telephone services thus covering many hitherto unserved and underserved communities across the country.
Beyond carrying voice signals, the industry operators are also making their BTS either 2G-enabled or 3G-enabled to be able to carry adequate data services, with the country relying on the 11 terabyte of internet capacity brought into the country by the likes of Main One, Glo1, West African Cable Systems (WACS), among others.
According to data from the Ministry of Communication Technology, between 2013 and December, 2014, 2G-enabled sites have increased from 22, 578 to 28,289 while 3G-enabled sites have increased from less than 10,000 to 15,048 during the same period.
USPF’s subsidy-based backbone transmission
In a similar vein, the commission said through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), it has bridged the gap between the served and underserved areas of the country, with a subsidy-based project designed to facilitate the connection of rural and semi-urban areas to the national transmission backbone infrastructure with the intention to facilitate the build-out of backbone transmission infrastructure.
The project is expected to be implemented in all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, using targeted subsidies.
Just recently, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said that about 1, 200 kilometres of fibre optic cabling has also been run so far, through the project.
The minister listed that over 170 base stations, in total, had been deployed only through the USPF to un-served and underserved areas by the end of 2014, with each of the base stations serving a cluster of communities.
Consequently, telecoms sector has grown from obscurity to limelight, emerging as a major contributor to the country’s economy with its current contribution of 10 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
These metrics contributed immensely in the International Telecommunication Union, ITU’s rating of the country as the fastest growing telecommunications market for five consecutive years. Perhaps, other areas of positive impact of the sector in 14 years includes the areas of service tariff, cost of owning communication devices and cost of acquiring telephone line.
From N50 per minute of phone call in 2001, the cost has crashed by 78 per cent today as telecoms subscribers now make call for as low as N10 or N9 per minute across networks.
The NCC adopted in 2013 Progressive reduction interconnect termination rates whereby New Entrants and small operators had termination rates for voice services pegged at N4.90 in April 2013, N4.40 in April 2014 and by April this year it will drop to N3.90 for all networks.
Also, SIM cards are almost given pro bono by telecoms networks today, whereas, 14 years ago, Nigerians were paying between N25, 000 and N20, 000 to acquire a SIM card with only net-worth individuals being able to own telephone lines.
The NCC introduced the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) whereby subscribers are at liberty to navigate across networks without losing their SIM number. And because operators are afraid of losing their customers, they have had to be on their toes on areas of service provision in order not to lose subscribers.
The sector can fare better
In a similar submission, Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga Adebayo, said the telecoms sector has performed well as an enabler of most of the ICT-driven activities that have brought about efficiency in the country.
He said: “Today, we bank with ease, we do online cash transfers, we use Automated Teller Machines (ATM), mobile money operators, e-wallet in agriculture, telemedicine, among others, but we forget that all of these activities, in addition to their traditional duty of providing voice and internet service, run on the networks of telecoms companies. Yet, cashless transactions are on the rise every day.
“So, rather than criticize the sector for its little shortcomings, we should commend the players for helping the country to manage all these loads. I can imagine what will happen if telecoms companies decide not to carry any traffic (voice and data) in a day the way we witness it in the oil sector, where companies suddenly stop petrol distribution, thereby creating scarcity,” Adebayo argued.
Although the sector may have not fared so badly in 14 years, there are however room for improvement.
It seems like yesterday; but 14 years have goneby since the Global system for Mobile communication, GSM debuted in Nigeria.
Telecom-mast
In fact, last Monday, January 19, 2015, marked exactly 14 years Nigeria concluded the historic Digital Mobile Licensing round which came at the heels of telecoms deregulation in Nigeria.
The auction actually commenced on January 17 and ended on January 19, 2001. Radio Spectrum International, RSI, Charles Rivers Associates, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) and Mr.Paul Usoro (SAN) were consultants to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the auction.
Although, this licensing regime ushered in the ubiquitous GSM which consequently changed the face of the telecoms landscape in Africa and made Nigeria the haven for telecommunications investors, the story is not all- through rosy.
However, industry practitioners who took a critical look at the road this sector has taken from the country’s paltry 450, 000 connected lines in 2001 to over 135 million active subscribers as at the end of 2014, are seeing tremendous growth with multiplier effects in all other sectors of the economy, including the banking, education, e-commerce/retailing, agriculture, medicine, media, oil and gas, among other sectors.
Even at that, the problem of perennial low quality of service in the sector, apparently puts a clog in the wheel of progress and perhaps slowed down the pace of growth that would have made the country greater.
Besides poor quality of service with its attendant problem of dropped calls and poor voice clarity, there are other issues that bother on poor services from the operators, like unsolicited text messages, unwanted and nauseating telemarketing and locked-messages which infringe on subscribers’ right of privacy.
Increased investments
Despite these deluge of problems, Foreign direct Investment inflow in the sector is on the rise.
According to the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr, Eugene Juwah, “Over $32 billion investment has been recorded in the sector as at June 2014 from $50 million in year 2001. The investment stood at $18 billion in 2010 and $25 billion in 2012.”
With the investment, telecoms companies have been able to successfully deploy 68,124 kilometre of fibre optic cabling as at the end of December, 2013 while in 2014 alone, additional 38, 000 kilometre of fibre optic cables were laid, representing an increase of about 44.2 per cent investment in fibre optic cabling by the telecoms companies last year alone.
Increased base stations
Meanwhile, in the last 14 years, telecoms companies in Nigeria have also increased their base transceiver stations (BTS) expansion efforts from few thousands to over 27, 000, making it possible for more people to have access to telephone services thus covering many hitherto unserved and underserved communities across the country.
Beyond carrying voice signals, the industry operators are also making their BTS either 2G-enabled or 3G-enabled to be able to carry adequate data services, with the country relying on the 11 terabyte of internet capacity brought into the country by the likes of Main One, Glo1, West African Cable Systems (WACS), among others.
According to data from the Ministry of Communication Technology, between 2013 and December, 2014, 2G-enabled sites have increased from 22, 578 to 28,289 while 3G-enabled sites have increased from less than 10,000 to 15,048 during the same period.
USPF’s subsidy-based backbone transmission
In a similar vein, the commission said through the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), it has bridged the gap between the served and underserved areas of the country, with a subsidy-based project designed to facilitate the connection of rural and semi-urban areas to the national transmission backbone infrastructure with the intention to facilitate the build-out of backbone transmission infrastructure.
The project is expected to be implemented in all the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, using targeted subsidies.
Just recently, the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said that about 1, 200 kilometres of fibre optic cabling has also been run so far, through the project.
The minister listed that over 170 base stations, in total, had been deployed only through the USPF to un-served and underserved areas by the end of 2014, with each of the base stations serving a cluster of communities.
Consequently, telecoms sector has grown from obscurity to limelight, emerging as a major contributor to the country’s economy with its current contribution of 10 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
These metrics contributed immensely in the International Telecommunication Union, ITU’s rating of the country as the fastest growing telecommunications market for five consecutive years. Perhaps, other areas of positive impact of the sector in 14 years includes the areas of service tariff, cost of owning communication devices and cost of acquiring telephone line.
From N50 per minute of phone call in 2001, the cost has crashed by 78 per cent today as telecoms subscribers now make call for as low as N10 or N9 per minute across networks.
The NCC adopted in 2013 Progressive reduction interconnect termination rates whereby New Entrants and small operators had termination rates for voice services pegged at N4.90 in April 2013, N4.40 in April 2014 and by April this year it will drop to N3.90 for all networks.
Also, SIM cards are almost given pro bono by telecoms networks today, whereas, 14 years ago, Nigerians were paying between N25, 000 and N20, 000 to acquire a SIM card with only net-worth individuals being able to own telephone lines.
The NCC introduced the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) whereby subscribers are at liberty to navigate across networks without losing their SIM number. And because operators are afraid of losing their customers, they have had to be on their toes on areas of service provision in order not to lose subscribers.
The sector can fare better
In a similar submission, Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga Adebayo, said the telecoms sector has performed well as an enabler of most of the ICT-driven activities that have brought about efficiency in the country.
He said: “Today, we bank with ease, we do online cash transfers, we use Automated Teller Machines (ATM), mobile money operators, e-wallet in agriculture, telemedicine, among others, but we forget that all of these activities, in addition to their traditional duty of providing voice and internet service, run on the networks of telecoms companies. Yet, cashless transactions are on the rise every day.
“So, rather than criticize the sector for its little shortcomings, we should commend the players for helping the country to manage all these loads. I can imagine what will happen if telecoms companies decide not to carry any traffic (voice and data) in a day the way we witness it in the oil sector, where companies suddenly stop petrol distribution, thereby creating scarcity,” Adebayo argued.
Although the sector may have not fared so badly in 14 years, there are however room for improvement.
Sack Keshi, others now – Ex-sports minister
Sack Keshi, others now – Ex-sports minister
FORMER Minister of Sports, Dr. Sa’idu Sumaila Sambawa has advised the Nigeria Football Federation not to renew the contract of Coach Stephen Keshi or any of the other coaches currently in the technical crew of the national team.
Sambawa who was speaking in a television interview in Abuja aired Tuesday, said his advice was informed by the need to get a technically sound coach who would chart a new course for the national team.
In his view, the NFF should advertise the vacant position of the national team coach in national and international newspapers so as to open the process of getting a replacement for out-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.
“Anybody form anywhere, who is qualified and meet the requirements can apply,” the former Minister said, adding, “it does not matter if the new coach comes from Ghana or Nigeria, whether he is black or white, let a competent hand be employed.”
Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi gives a press conference at the Baixada Arena in Curitiba on June 15, 2014, on the eve of their Group F 2014 FIFA World Cup football match against Iran. AFP PHOTO
Continuing, Sambawa said, “what we need now is a technically sound and well remunerated coach. We don’t want a coach who will be taking money from players before he invites them to camp, share their allowances before fielding them. We need a sound comfortable coach who can instill discipline in the team and can call off players’ bluff when they feel bigger than the team.”
A weak coach would only make matters worse, the former minister reasoned, saying, “we don’t want a coach who will field a player from Bayelsa because the President is from Bayelsa.”
FORMER Minister of Sports, Dr. Sa’idu Sumaila Sambawa has advised the Nigeria Football Federation not to renew the contract of Coach Stephen Keshi or any of the other coaches currently in the technical crew of the national team.
Sambawa who was speaking in a television interview in Abuja aired Tuesday, said his advice was informed by the need to get a technically sound coach who would chart a new course for the national team.
In his view, the NFF should advertise the vacant position of the national team coach in national and international newspapers so as to open the process of getting a replacement for out-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.
“Anybody form anywhere, who is qualified and meet the requirements can apply,” the former Minister said, adding, “it does not matter if the new coach comes from Ghana or Nigeria, whether he is black or white, let a competent hand be employed.”
Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi gives a press conference at the Baixada Arena in Curitiba on June 15, 2014, on the eve of their Group F 2014 FIFA World Cup football match against Iran. AFP PHOTO
Continuing, Sambawa said, “what we need now is a technically sound and well remunerated coach. We don’t want a coach who will be taking money from players before he invites them to camp, share their allowances before fielding them. We need a sound comfortable coach who can instill discipline in the team and can call off players’ bluff when they feel bigger than the team.”
A weak coach would only make matters worse, the former minister reasoned, saying, “we don’t want a coach who will field a player from Bayelsa because the President is from Bayelsa.”
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