Kaita shows no remorse

Sani Kaita, after practically kicking dust into the eyes of Nigeria with his unguarded conduct of kicking a Greek player on the thigh in an off the ball incident that earned him a red card, showed no remorse after the 2-1 loss.

Kaita had been praised to high heavens by Lagerback a day before the game and he ended up disappointing him like Judas did to Jesus Christ.

More annoyingly yesterday was the manner that Kaita strolled into the mixed zone blocking his ear drum with his music and aided by Obinna Nsofor to ignore questions from the press.

A motley of journalists had gathered round to find out from the player why he betrayed the Eagles with his conduct. He looked them in the eye and strolled away.

Nigerian journalists begged for comments but he felt bigger than the country and moved on. Technical Committee Chairman of the NFA, Taiwo Ogunjobi, had to literally force him back knowing that it was against FIFA rules to shun the press at the mixed zone of the World Cup, it was too late as more important players came out and occupied the attention of the press.

Back to the match, Greece earned its first World Cup win, coming from behind to beat 10-man Nigeria 2-1 in Group B on Thursday.

Vassilis Torosidis poked home a loose ball in the 71st minute after a mistake from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama to make history for Greece, which had lost all four previous World Cup matches and never had scored a goal.

Nigeria opened the scoring in the 16th minute at Free State Stadium when Kalu Uche's curling free kick from 35 yards deceived everyone, particularly goalkeeper Alexandros Tzorvas, who moved the wrong way.

But the game changed in the 33rd minute when Nigeria midfielder Sani Kaita was shown a straight red card for kicking Torosidis.

Striker Dimitris Salpingidis equalized in the 44th minute with a deflected shot before Torosidis' winner.

Nigeria broke through first when Uche's free kick sailed over the heads of Costas Katsouranis and Nigeria's Peter Odemwingie and into the far corner of the net -- with Tzorvas completely fooled.

Odemwingie, who had won the free kick, appeared to pull his head out of the way to allow Uche's curling effort to carry on to the Greece net.

But with Nigeria in control, Kaita's undisciplined move handed Greece its best chance of breaking its World Cup losing streak.

Kaita was sent off by Colombian referee Oscar Ruiz after he kicked out at Torosidis and caught the Greece striker on the upper thigh after the ball went out of bounds.

Greece pressed and made its advantage pay off a minute before halftime when

Salpingidis' shot deflected off the unlucky Lukman Haruna and into his own net.

Enyeama, who won his second successive man of the match award despite the mistake on the winning goal, then made a string of saves in the second half.

But when he fumbled a low shot from Alexandros Tziolis and Torosidis pounced on the loose ball for the crucial goal, Nigeria's chances for advancement just about disappeared.

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Lagerback finds Greece defeat bitter

Super Eagles coach, Lars Lagerback has expressed disappointment with the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Greece yesterday, bemoaning the lack of communication between coaches and referees following Sani Kaita's red card.

"It is difficult. Maybe, I have been in this business too long," the 61-year-old Swede said.

"I am extremely disappointed with the lack of communication between us and the referee. We were not allowed to speak to them and ask why Kaita was sent off."

The Super Eagles took a first half lead when Kalu Uche's free kick crept in at the far post but goals from Dimitrios Salpingidis and Vasilis Torosidis left Nigeria with a mountain to climb in order to achieve qualification from Group B.

"All I can do is congratulate Greece, they scored two and we scored only one," Lagerback continued.

"We have to take this and restart tomorrow. The sending off was hugely important. Under the circumstances, I am proud of the way we played with one man down.

"The ball seems to be moving a bit strangely, but it is the same for both teams so it doesn't matter," he added, alluding to the mistake from his goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama that gifted Greece the winning goal.

The Swede also admitted that the Eagles performed below expectation against a weak Greece side.

"I'm disappointed with the performance of the team. I think the Eagles could not click," he said, even as he remained positive that the Eagles could still make it to the next round only if the Argentina beat Greece while the Eagles win convincingly against South Korea.

"Everything is not lost yet. Let us hope Argentina wins against Greece and we are able to perform better than South Korea."

Super Eagles next match come up on June 22 against South Korea.

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Child trafficking - Nation to strengthen collaboration with ILO

Nigeria is to strengthen collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) towards combating child trafficking and other forms of forced labour.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu gave the country's resolve in an address to the plenary session of the ongoing International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland.

Noting recent approvals by President Goodluck Jonathan in safeguarding jobs threatened by the worldwide economic recession, Wogu equally pledged the government's determination to bring all citizens under a safety net in a comprehensive social security scheme soon to be announced.

"On Child Labour, Chairperson, Nigeria notes with great concern the rising incidence of this scourge, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. We therefore associate ourselves with the efforts of the ILO in combating this menace. In this respect, Nigeria has not only ratified the relevant ILO conventions but has put in place the necessary institutional mechanisms to ameliorate the situation," Wogu said.

He equally disclosed the government's plans of further securing the well being of workers through the introduction of a comprehensive national policy on social security.

In a related development, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Iyom Josephine Anenih has decried the increasing rate of child abuse in the country saying it is a serious issue that requires immediate attention from all stakeholders.

The minister stated yesterday in Abuja at the celebration of the 2010 Day of the African Child (DAC) that poverty along with other cultural traits has resulted to middle men exploiting the desperation and ignorance of parents to procure children for trafficking.

Anenih, who was represented by the Director of the National Women Development Centre (NWDC), Hajiya Fatima Hassan reiterated that the trafficking rackets have assumed alarming proportions channeling huge numbers of children into employment markets of major towns, even outside the shores of Nigeria.

She added that the involvement of the children in drug abuse, domestic and forced labour, child prostitution, pornography, as well as forced marriage, rape and abduction negates the rights of the child to survival and good life.

Wogu also used the opportunity to commend the ILO for its efforts in sustaining economic recovery noting that the contributions of the ILO especially the endorsement of the Global Jobs Pact by government and social partners is already manifesting in various national development efforts.

"Nigeria notes with appreciation the role of the ILO in situating employment issues at the heart of the recovery process. The endorsement of the Global Jobs Pact by regional and multilateral agencies as a tool for combating the devastating effects of the global economic and financial crisis is already manifesting in various national development efforts," Wogu said.

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West Ham want Vincent Enyeama

New boss Avram Grant is keen on the Hapoel Tel-Aviv stopper, who was superb for the Super Eagles against Argentina last week.

Israeli Grant now plans a £4m swoop.

A Hammers insider said: "Enyeama was absolutely superb against Argentina and he'd be a brilliant buy.

"So Avram Grant is using his Israeli connections to clinch a deal as soon as the World Cup ends."

The news is another blow for England No 1 Green after his horrific blunder gifted the USA a draw in last Saturday's tussle.

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Rebranding country is not for money-making - Akunyili

Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili has said in Abuja, that "Re-branding Nigeria Image" project was not a money-making venture.

Akunyili made the clarification at a forum to initiate the project to replace the former image project, Heart of Africa.

She said: " I want to assure Nigerians that this is not a money-making venture. If money was my goal and I say it with all sincerity, I would have stuck with the Heart of Africa project, since it was mainly overseas oriented.

"I would have planned trips to countries, pick my allowances and have few hours meeting with Nigerians and foreigners, pay courtesy calls to information ministers, have photo sessions, take some rest and maybe do a little shopping. "But I have chosen the tedious option of evolving a home-grown branding which will involve all Nigerians."

Akunyili maintained that the Heart of Africa, just as past projects as Green Revolution and Vision 2000, failed to achieve their desired objectives due to a lack of public support.

Akunyili said: "Heart of Africa could not fly for many reasons. The name was contentious as Malawi was the first to use that slogan.

"Many other African countries have laid claim to being the Heart of Africa. Secondly, it was launched overseas and that automatically disconnected the ordinary Nigerians.

"However, we are not going to throw away the baby with the bath water. We will incorporate all the positive aspects of the Heart of Africa and other government initiatives."

According to her, the new branding project will be cost effective, as the ministry will only make use of local consultants. "We also intend to get free publicity for our international audience through Nigeria private institutions," she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the focus of the Heart of Africa, started in 2004, was image management through campaign against negative stereotypes.

In 2008, the project, which is domiciled in the Ministry of Information, received N300 million budget. The House Committee Chairman on Information and National Orientation, Mr. Dino Melaye, lamented the waste of billions of naira in the Heart of Africa project by past administrations.

"I had told the minister during the defense of the Ministry's budget last month that we are not going to approve one naira for the Heart of Africa project. "This is because billions of naira appropriated for the project in the past was used for travelling and tourism globally. "Domestic issues should have been tackled domestically. You have to tackle the problems in this country before you start gallivanting abroad," Melaye told NAN.

He gave an assurance that the committee would ensure that appropriate funds were provided for the new image project in the 2010 budget, after an appraisal of its performance this year.

Responding to the minister's address, the Director-General of NTA, Malam Usman Magawata, appealed for more government support, noting that the station was ready for the re-branding project.

"In NTA, we try to differentiate between national exposure and international appeal.Whatever that is not in the interest of Nigeria should not be for external consumption," he said.

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