NAIJAFEED

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Jay Jay Okocha Laments Fallen National Team

Nigeria are no longer a giant in African football, the players are over-rated and officials have failed in their responsibilities, according to the country's former skipper Austin 'Jay Jay'.

"Everything is wrong, right from the players, coaches and the management. And the fans expect too much," moaned Okocha as a guest on a programme of pay television channel SuperSport.

"The best way forward is for Nigerians to accept that we are no longer one of the giants in African football as we have lost the dominance.

"We must also accept the fact that Nigeria does not possess the kind of talents we used to have and we must go back and get our football administration right."

Nigeria are presently ranked fourth in Africa by FIFA, but the last time the team won a major championship was 17 years ago when they clinched only their second Africa Nations Cup in Tunisia.

Okocha, who led Nigeria to the 2002 World Cup, was most critical of the current crop of the country's stars, saying they have struggled to establish themselves at their various European clubs.

"Our players are overrated. When you look at the way they play for their various clubs, I don't think we have up to five players who are regulars at their clubs," said the 37-year-old Okocha now a Lagos businessman since he quit the game in 2008.

"Take Yakubu Aiyegbeni example. He's one of Nigeria's finest but he has not been consistent maybe because of his injury which has of course slowed him down.

"And you can't tell me that his recent loan move from Everton to Championship team Leicester City is a good one, rather your desire as a player is to play in the top class league."

Okocha has now been appointed to head a scouting unit of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to discover fresh talent for the country.

Daily Trust

Jay Jay Okocha admits it will take a miracle for Super Eagles to qualify for the World

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Video - Nigerian interest rate rise with CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido

Nigeria raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.5 percent.
The Central Bank says this is part of the normalisation of monetary policy after the financial crisis.

The CBN took aggressive measures to tighten liquidity as its seeks to get inflation down to single digits. It raised the cash reserve requirement for banks to 2 percent from 1.

ABN's Wole Faumera spoke to CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi about whether this monetary tightening is necessary considering the fact that inflation has been on a downward trend and private sector credit has contracted.

Former Super Eagle Uche Okafor Was Murdered - FBI

There has been a twist in the death of former Eagles' defender, Uche Okafor as the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) claimed in a report yesterday that the player was murdered.

Uche was found hanging at his Dallas, Texas home earlier this month and a preliminary report by the Dallas police ruled that the easy-going defender hanged himself. But his family, friends and the Nigerian community in America rejected the suicide claims as they suspected foul play.

The FBI stepped into the controversy last week after protests from the family members who even alleged racism for the shoddy investigation over the death of the player. And the latest findings have confirmed the suspicion of murder held by many of the former Eagles' admirers. The FBI report however, did not state who killed Uche Okafor or why his life was terminated.

This piece of information from the USA, will interest the Nigerian government. The foreign affairs Minister, Odein Ajumogobia declared only on Monday that Nigeria was awaiting the result of the FBI report, before the country could take necessary action.

A source close to the family disclosed that the latest twist in the death of the player was quite a relief to his tribesmen who are holding on to an ancient myth that it was a taboo for an Ibo man to take his own life.

Uche Okafor's Eagles colleagues and indeed Nigerians also struggled to come to terms with the death of the player who was comfortably living with his wife and daughter. He was into business and also into football commentary with ESPN sports.

It was gathered that the corpse of the departed player will be flown in for burial next month.

Vanguard

Footballer Endurance Idahor dies of heart attack during match

Bayelsa United captain shot dead

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Video - How to make a Free Calls to Africa

You can now make a free call to anywhere in the world for Africa thanks to Olayemia

Animated short 'Planes Immigration Nigerians'

Hitler defends Nigeria

Monday, January 24, 2011

Yar'Adua Had Kidney Transplant - Wikileaks

The late President Umaru Yar'Adua had a kidney transplant in 2002 while still a state governor, but avoided having another one while he was president over fears it would cause unrest, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

According to the online medium, the cables suggest that power brokers in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) knew about Yar'Adua's condition, but still propped him up to become the winning presidential candidate in 2007.

Aides to the president, the cables stated further, stuffed Yar'Adua's clothes to hide his weight loss and used makeup to hide his pallor, but his illness ultimately led to a long absence from the oil-rich nation that fueled public discontent.

Yar'Adua died in May 2010, propelling the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan into the presidency.

Jonathan recently became PDP's presidential candidate for the coming April election, upsetting a balance of power between the South and North.

"What is clear is that the president's health is a matter of growing concern, particularly on the minds of the northern Nigerian elite," a diplomatic cable from February 2009 reads. "We have noted a considerable uptick in what appears to be behind-the-scenes machinations and back-room dealing."

WikiLeaks publicly released the cables late Saturday night. A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja has said officials would have no comment on anything released by the website.

A diplomatic cable from June 2008 claims Yar'Adua first began experiencing renal failure in 1999, just as he became governor of Katsina State. The cable said German company Julius Berger, one of the dominant road construction firms in Nigeria, set up a dialysis clinic in Yar'Adua's home. The firm later would fly German experts in and out of Nigeria to privately treat Yar'Adua, the cables claim.

The cables claim Yar'Adua received the transplant in 2002 from donor Sayyadi Abba Ruma, who would serve as minister of agriculture and water resources when Yar'Adua came into power. Ruma could not be immediately reached for comment yesterday.

LEADERSHIP investigation, however, indicated otherwise as the late leader had his kidney transplanted in Hungary with a foreign donor coming to the rescue.

Information available to LEADERSHIP show that Yar'Adua was first diagnosed with the ailment in Saudi Arabia in 2001.

The discolorations long noticed on Yar'Adua's face, fueling rumours about his ill health, came from the steroids doctors gave him to help his body accept the transplant, according to the cables.

At a December 2008 event, Yar'Adua "appeared to weigh no more than 140 pounds, his skin was very taunt, his handshake was weak, voice was fainter than on previous meetings, his eyes were deep set with dark circles underneath, and his teeth were also very badly tarred," the February 2009 cable reads.

Doctors apparently told Yar'Adua he needed a second transplant and the minister's brother was sent to Germany to be checked as a possible donor, according to the cable. However, a planned trip got put on hold over political calculations.

"Yar'Adua did not take this planned trip given public reaction to rumours about travel and concerns about his ability to govern," the February cable reads. "We have no information on whether this trip may be rescheduled."

The president's health continued to worsen. Yar'Adua left Nigeria on Nov. 23, 2009, to seek medical treatment in Saudi Arabia. His physician later told journalists Yar'Adua suffered from acute pericarditis, an inflammation of the sac surrounding the heart.

However, Yar'Adua's stay in Saudi Arabia drifted from days to weeks to months, stalling government activity in a nation vital to U.S. oil supplies.

Yar'Adua returned to Nigeria in late February 2010, but never appeared publicly. He died May 5.

Leadership

Sick Nigeria President Yar'Adua 'to hand over power'

President Umaru Yar'Adua is dead