Arsenal coach Arsene Wengers says Nigeria not producing good players anymore

It was amazing to hear Arsene Wenger switch from English Language to French and then German during the announcement of Arsenal's pre-season tour of Nigeria at the club's training ground in London last week before the match with Norwich.

It was the eve of his 900th match as the manager of Arsenal. Wenger is today the only manager that has presided over more matches at the club and has equally enjoyed the same amount of successes. Known for his ability to spot and develop players from around the world, Wenger, in this chat with Sunday Vanguard's Jimoh Babatunde, took time out to speak on Nigeria's football and her players. Excerpts:

 

Since the exit of Nwankwo Kanu from Arsenal, we have not had another Nigerian in the club. What's your impression of Nigerian players in the EPL?

For me, Kanu was an exceptional player. I saw Kanu in the Olympic games, he arrived there late. It was the preparations and he was the best player there when Nigeria won. I like Kanu because he was not only a great player, but he was very brave, and you could travel with him anywhere.

I think he was very great in representing Nigeria. He was a player that everybody loved here, as well as a man everybody loved here in England.

He never complained, you could kick him from everywhere, and he would never say a word, and he was very brave.

Then he created his heart foundation, and he does a good job with that. He is brave; when you have his knees, and you still play today, you must be brave.

Why are you not taking more Nigerians to the club?

(It is) for one single reason. It is that Nigeria is a massive country, but I believe that at the moment, they do not produce enough players anymore. It is 140 million people who love football. I met the Minister of Sports during the World Cup, and he talked about that situation. I think Nigeria has a job to do with the youths, to rebuild the system.

From the explanation I got, every province is different in terms of their system, but there is no global system to educate young players. It is vital to me that they educate the young people...They do not produce any good players, not enough anymore.

Is there a window of opportunity from this tour to create the platform for a relationship between Arsenal and Nigeria?

To create a relationship, I think is a good start, but our stay is too short to create something deeper and to create the communication such that Nigeria can be very important. We are not staying for such a long time that would allow for that.

How do you rate Mikel Obi as a midfielder in the EPL?

He plays for Chelsea, and if you play for Chelsea, you are a great player. But he had strange movement out of Nigeria because he was in Norway, and then he came back for Man United before Chelsea, so he did it in a complicated way.

But since he has shown great quality. He is as well a bit of the Kanu type, he is strong in character, he is a fighter, and he is doing extremely well, but maybe you have more of these players in Nigeria who do not get the chance to go out.

On the pre-season tour

We compromised, honestly on the sporting side because we had a rational methodical approach of our pre-season and we sacrificed some of that to go on tour...I realized when I was at the World Cup in South Africa, how popular a club like Arsenal is in Africa, especially in Nigeria. It was unbelievable. I was even frightened at some stage by how popular Arsenal is in Kenya as well. It is absolutely unbelievable, so every morning at breakfast, I had some meetings with people from all over Africa, and I realized how popular our club was over there.

I don't really know how you can transform that popularity into market...

On football development

I believe that there again, when you think about potentially developing players, it is first to have the coaches.

So chronologically, you have to educate people to coach, and then create schools where you can develop the players.

To make it as simple as possible, football is first a technical sport. It is not natural to use your feet to do something. Your feet are made to walk through the street, not necessarily to play football.

So you have first to transform someone into a football player, and that is between ages 5 and 12 years old. When you come at 14, it is too late. That is why you have to educate people to teach the basics of our sport between five and 12.

The kind of quality the coaches need is to know what you can do to develop people, that is the exercises that you can give, and as well to teach him not to make basic mistakes.

There are two things in our job that can be very dangerous. One, not to develop the potential of a person, the other is to disturb the potential of a person by making him do the wrong things. Sometimes, we can as well do that.

Your fans in Nigeria are disappointed that you have not won a silverware for five years or so now. As a manager, how do you feel about that?

You want to give me sleepless nights (laughter). But we have maintained our level at the top, but we couldn't finish...It s true that we missed winning, but we were at many times very close.

Let's not forget that in 2006, we were in the Champions League final and we have never gone out in the championship against small clubs. We went out most of the time against clubs who won it, like Barcelona, twice. That is what people forget.

Vanguard

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Stephen Keshi leaves door open for Newcastle's Shola Amoebi

Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has said his door remains open for Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi to feature for Nigeria.

World football governing body FIFA on November 1, 2011, cleared Ameobi alongside Victor Moses to play for Nigeria after both players chose their country of birth over England that they have represented at various age-group levels.

Moses has since made his debut for the Eagles in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda where he shone like a million stars but team officials said Ameobi has yet to decide on his debut for the Eagles.

"Shola is always welcome to the national team when he is ready to play. It's Nigeria's national team and he is a Nigerian so our doors are open to him whenever he is ready," Keshi said.

The Eagles coach noted that he would not send invitation to the experienced Newcastle striker until the player has confirmed his readiness to play.

"Like I have said before, as soon as he confirms his readiness to play, we would extend him an invitation, but until then I will not send him invitation," he said.

Ameobi's younger brother, Sammy, who also features for Newcastle, trained with Nigeria's U20 team, the Flying Eagles, last year, but he has since debuted for the England U20s.

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NGO - Nigeria 2nd in global maternal deaths

 A Non Governmental Organisation, NGO, Save the Children, has revealed that Nigeria records the second highest number of maternal deaths in the world with number of pre-term births recorded at 773,600

The Country Director of the group, Susan Grant, who disclosed this weekend in Abuja, during the unveiling of Mother's Day and Born Too Soon report, stated that Nigeria recorded an alarming death rate of 144 women in a day, 10 deaths per minute, due to conditions related to childbirth and had the greatest numbers of pre-term births in the world due to population.

She attributed this situation to early childbirth, inaccessibility to healthcare, weak breastfeeding by mothers and early births of children (pre-term)

She said: "Nigeria's maternal mortality rates means that 144 women die each day and one woman every 10 minute from conditions associated with childbirth. This is too much."

Vanguard

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Video - Nigerian government wants to resume talks with Boko Haram

IF the stance and disposition of the Federal Government and governors of the 36 states of the country were anything to go by, peaceful resolution of the prevailing wind of insecurity unleashed by a militant Islamic sect is in the offing.

The Federal Government, yesterday, sent an open invitation to the sect for dialogue with Vice President Namadi Sambo reiterating government's commitment to dialogue with all aggrieved parties in the country. A recent government jaw-jaw with the sect broke down following allegations by the sect that the government leaked proceedings of the meeting to the media.

As a measure of the Federal Government's readiness, the Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed said the government was willing, in collaboration with some traditional rulers, to bring the sect to the negotiation table to halt the wave of violence unleashed on the polity by the group.

Aside the Federal Government, the governors were all for a quick resolution of the rising security crises, saying that the pervading insecurity in Nigeria was a national embarrassment.

Indeed, Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, in clear terms, pleaded with the sect to return to the dialogue table, stressing "we are ready for dialogue" just as his Borno State counterpart, Kashim Shettima, warned that if nothing serious was urgently done to address the security challenges, the entire North might become inhabitable in the next five years.

Towards addressing the issue, the governors, who, yesterday, could not discuss deductions from the Federation Account and the Immunity Clause because of poor turnout, will hold a security summit next month.

Meanwhile, the police authority in Kano has revealed that about 20 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have been recovered at the Bayero University Kano (BUK) in the last couple of weeks.

The Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris told reporters in Kano that the anti-bomb squad of the command drafted to the institution were compelled by certain exigencies to revert to 'control detonation' in order to avoid fatalities.

"After the bomb attack of BUK on April 29, the Command's Bomb Disposal Unit recovered IED's, and 14 canned IEDs at the University premises. Likewise, another bomb was evacuated from the Faculty of Sociology May 1, while some other three bombs were recovered at various locations in the University May 8 and were detonated.

FG invites sect for fresh talks

Inviting the sect for fresh parley, Vice President Sambo, who made the call at the National Symposium: 'Islam and Peaceful Coexistence in a Contemporary Multi Religious State,' organised by Nasirul-Lahi-Faith Society of Nigeria (NASFAT) in Abuja, said "history has proven that even wars that are fought for decades, at the end, are only concluded by dialogue."

His call came as the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Nigerian Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, Alhaji Sa'adi Abubakar III, called on the Federal Government to hold those, who issued public threat to cause chaos responsible and make them face the consequence of their action.

Sambo admitted that the nation was facing an internal security challenge and said the government was capable of addressing the situation.

"It is clear today that the terrorist attacks are clearly against all segments of our society and this is uncalled for. I must seize this opportunity to call on the various militant groups to cease-fire and come forward for dialogue. Government is ready to discuss. History has proven that even wars that were fought for decades were concluded through dialogue," he said

He added that fresh measures had been introduced in the areas of power, agriculture and infrastructure in order to improve the nation's economy and enjoined foreign missions in the country to join the struggle against terrorism.

Urging Muslims and Christians to live in peace and tolerate one another, Sambo noted that Islam was not a violent religion as it had been branded by some people.

"Therefore, I find it very thoughtful of NASFAT to organize a symposium at this time in our national history - a time when negative forces are seeking to hijack our efforts to build a united and prosperous nation. They want to achieve evil ends and portray Islam in a negative and evil light. Islam is a religion of peace; it is a way of life. It cannot promote senseless killings and wanton destruction of property.

"We are moving ahead with the transformation agenda which is aimed at eliminating poverty, reducing unemployment and creating wealth. In order to achieve this, we are investing heavily in the power sector, infrastructure and agricultural development in order to provide favourable environment for investment and its resultant value chain."

Also speaking at the event, the Sultan of Sokoto said those who openly issued threats to cause problem in the country must be made to face the music. He advised religious and community leaders to be mindful of their utterances and desist from actions that are capable of breaching the peace of the society.

His words: "Those who take to the public to issue threat or ultimatum should be held entirely responsible for the consequences of their actions. For the purpose of building the society, leaders on all sides of the religious divide must act responsibly, and shall ultimately be moderate in both their actions and utterances. They must endeavour to resist the urge for exhibitionism; we must as a nation, develop a collective consciousness, where the pain of any member of our society regardless of creed and ethnicity shall be the collective pain of all of us. Peace cannot be fully established without unflinching commitment to equity and justice; we must try to promote these important values. Injustice and inequity invariably lead to corruption which in turn breeds poverty. No society can thrive or prosper when afflicted with this virus."

Also, National President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, who was represented at the occasion by Rev. Ladi Thomson, said that there was a global resurgence of extremism in Islam around the world and Nigeria was no exception.

However, he said as one of the leading black nations in the world, Nigeria should not allow herself to be torn apart by a terrorist group under the guise of religion.

He said CAN would ensure that families of victims of the recent bombings are pacified, but government must live up to its responsibility and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Welcoming the participants to the summit, National President of NASFAT, Alh. Sheriff Yusuf said more efforts and ideas were still needed to stop the ongoing killings in the country. He added "the people of Nigeria need to be reassured of the visibility of the security agencies and their technical capacity to identify and contain the perpetrators of violence."

FG ready for dialogue - Defence Minister

Relatedly, the Defence Minister, while receiving the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Roberto Colamine in his office, yesterday, noted that government was committed to the speedy resolution of the crises. Describing the security challenges as temporary, the minister insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan was determined to make a difference in the governance of the country with the transformation agenda.

The minister said that a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, between the Nigerian and Italian governments, which would enhance Nigerian peace-keeping efforts, was awaiting the ratification of the Federal Executive Council. Earlier, while expressing his courtesy, Colamine called for co-operation and dialogue to resolve the security challenges.

North may not be habitable in the next five years - Borno Gov

Also moving for a speedy dialogue, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, said he was ready to dialogue with the sect for peace to reign in the country.

According to him, it has become imperative and very important to brainstorm with members of the group if the state, the zone and the country must witness development.

He spoke when the national leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led by National Organizing Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Mustapha, paid him a sympathy visit over the incessant attacks by the sect on North-Eastern states.

Dankwambo said: "A lot of lives were lost which are irreplaceable, property were destroyed and many more challenges. I want to thank you on behalf of the good people of Gombe State for the concern and to assure our party, the PDP, that we will do everything possible to shun violence; we would do everything possible to tolerate dialogue and call on whoever is ready to dialogue with us in line with the principle of PDP, to bridge the gap of misunderstanding, so that there would be peace, there will be progress and there will be development."

Indeed, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno warned that if nothing serious was urgently done to address the high rate of insecurity , the entire North would become uninhabitable in the next five years.

"For now, we have to do it in our enlightened self interest because nobody would stay in northern Nigeria, believe me, in the next five years! Believe me, nobody!! None of us here is prepared to.

Insecurity is national embarrassment - Govs

Gathering on the banner of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, at the Rivers State Governor's Lodge, Asokoro, yesterday, the governors described the insecurity situation in the country as a national embarrassment and condemnable.

The governors noted that as part of moves to address the lingering security challenges, an enabling environment would be created for economic development as well as channel more resources towards the empowerment of the citizenry, especially the youths, women and the vulnerable.

Reading the Communiqué at the end of the meeting, Governor of Rivers State and Chairman of the Forum, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, while pleading for understanding among Nigerians for government's efforts at addressing the insecurity situation, disclosed that the governors would in June organize a security summit to brainstorm session on the issue with a bid to nipping it in the bud.

Meanwhile, the governors who were billed to discuss the proposed removal of the immunity clause from the constitution could not do so because less than 30 governors attended the meeting.

Present at the meeting were governors of Rivers, Sokoto, Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, Kaduna, Bayelsa, Cross River; Anambra, Borno; Kogi, Kebbi and the Deputy Governor of Lagos State.

Vanguard

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Video - Britain to banish children of James Ibori and other corrupt leaders

 

Following last month’s conviction of  a former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, by a Southwark Crown Court for stealing millions of pounds from the treasury of his state, the British Government has decided to banish children of corrupt Nigerian politicians from its private schools.

In an interview with Cable News Network, the Unit head of the Proceeds of Corruption Unit of London’s Metropolitan Police, Detective Chief Inspector Jonathan Benton, disclosed that some measures would be applied against corrupt Nigerian politicians in the wake of the Ibori conviction.

According to him,  “We hope that, by tackling the likes of James Ibori, we’re saying to those stealing from the state purse, you can’t have your children at private school in London. You can’t have a multimillion pound house in one of the most affluent areas of London. You can’t drive around in top of the range vehicles. We won’t let you move money around to buy multimillion pound jets.”

Mr Benton disclosed that his unit which comprises twelve detectives, traces the flow of foreign politicians’ money through London.

While examining the role played by British banks in aiding Ibori to loot his state’s treasury, it was found that Nigerian politicians find London an attractive location for laundered funds.

According to Robert Palmer of anti-corruption NGO, Global Witness, “London holds a double attraction for corrupt politicians. We are a major financial and legal centre so there’s a lot of expertise, and there’s also a lot of assets that go through the British financial institution, so it’s easier to disguise your assets….but there’s a prestige about being able to bring your assets and your wealth into the UK.”

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