Nigeria Super Eagles move up to 45th in FIFA rankings

 The Super Eagles have moved two places up in the monthly Fifa ranking released on Thursday morning

Nigeria have moved up to the 45th position in the latest Fifa global rankings released on Thursday.

The Super Eagles were ranked 47th in the last Fifa rankings following their goalless draw with Mexico in last month's international friendly.

Europe occupies the top three places on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking after Portugal climbed third behind leaders Spain and Germany.

They are followed by four South American sides in Colombia, (4th, up 1), Uruguay (5th, up 1) and fierce rivals Argentina (down 3) and Brazil (up 3), who share sixth position. Just 12 points separate this quartet.

Greece return to the top ten for the first time since October 2012, while Scotland moved up 15 places to the 22nd position in the world.

Cote D'Ivoire continue to be the top-ranked African side moving up three places to 21 this month. Egypt also moved up two spots to finish in 24th position in the world and second in Africa. They are followed by Algeria in 25, Ghana 38, Cape Verde 42, Tunisia 49, Cameroon 50, Guinea51 and Mali 59 to round up the African top ten.

Nigeria's World Cup Group F opponents are ranked thus: Argentina 6, Bosnia-Herzegovina 25 and Iran 37.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 8 May.

GOAL

Woman arrested attempting to traffic 686 of cocain concealed in her vagina

A Nigerian woman who allegedly inserted 686 grammes of cocaine in vagina, to beat security operatives at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, has been arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

The suspect identified as Chinelo Okorom Lynnette, 36, was arrested  during  an inward screening of passengers on an Ethiopian Airline flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nigeria.
NDLEA Head of Public Affairs, Mitchell Ofoyeju, who made the disclosure, yesterday, said the suspect concealed the  drugs in a cellophane bag before inserting it into her vagina and ingested some.
He said: ”The suspect tested positive for drug ingestion and vaginal insertion. She, however, expelled a total of 686 grammes of substance that tested positive for cocaine while under observation at the airport.”

I was deceived
—Suspect
However, the suspect, reportedly told NDLEA officials at the Airport Command headed by Mr Hamza Umar that she was deceived into the illicit business out of frustration by her landlord, following  her in ability to pay her rent.
According to her, “My husband abandoned me with four children two years ago. Since then, I have been working hard to pay their  school fees and also ensure their proper upkeep. I sell food at Ajagbandi to take care of my children.
“When my rent expired, I had no money to renew it. My landlord ejected us and I had nowhere to go with the children or who to talk to. I was crying like a baby when a man came to console me.
“He told  me to wipe my tears and promised to introduce me to importation business. I felt he was God-sent when he sponsored my trip to Addis Ababa. Before leaving, he said I was to go into importation of female hand  bags.
“But when I got to Ethiopia, he told me to take cocaine to Nigeria. Initially, I disagreed but he threatened to recover his investment at all cost. I am just a victim of man’s cruelty to man.”
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade, said the arrest was made following the eagle-eye operatives at the airport, as a result of  different antics used by drug traffickers..
He noted: ”Going to Addis Ababa to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria is one of the tricks employed by drug trafficking syndicates. Cocaine is not known to come from Addis Ababa, but we were able to detect it because of our vigilance. We are prepared to counter  activities of drug kingpins and bring them to justice. We look forward to fruitful progress in our investigation.”
He, therefore, advised members of the public to be cautious of the tricks by drug syndicates, adding that the suspect’s action is shameful.

Vanguard

Video - Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote expanding cement business

Dangote Cement plans to double its production capacity across Africa to around 40 million tonnes this year. According to its Chief Executive Director, Deva Kumar Edwin the firm will add 9 million tonnes of production capacity to its Nigerian operations bringing the total installed capacity to 29 million tonnes a year.

Related stories: Nigerian Aliko Dangote is 23rd richest man in the world

Video - Nigerian breweries investing in Sorghum and Cassava

Nigeria's recent reforms in the agriculture sector are impacting positively on the country's food and beverages industry as producers source more raw materials locally and invest further in the sector.

Video - Nigeria is now Africa's biggest economy

Nigeria has "rebased" its gross domestic product (GDP) data, which has pushed it above South Africa as the continent's biggest economy.

Nigerian GDP now includes previously uncounted industries like telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production.

GDP for 2013 totalled 80.3 trillion naira (£307.6bn: $509.9bn), the Nigerian statistics office said.

That compares with South Africa's GDP of $370.3bn at the end of 2013.

'Changes nothing'
However, some economists point out that Nigeria's economic output is underperforming because at 170 million people, its population is three times larger than South Africa's.

On a per-capita basis, South Africa's GDP numbers are three times larger than Nigeria's.

And Nigerian financial analyst Bismarck Rewane called the revisions "a vanity".

He added: "The Nigerian population is not better off tomorrow because of that announcement. It doesn't put more money in the bank, more food in their stomach. It changes nothing."

Rebasing is carried out so that a nation's GDP statistics give the most up-to-date picture of an economy as possible.

Most countries do it at least every three years or so, but Nigeria had not updated the components in its GDP base year since 1990.

Then, the country had one telecoms operator with around 300,000 phone lines. Now it has a whole mobile phone industry with tens of millions of subscribers.

Likewise, 24 years ago there was only one airline, and now there are many.

International aid donors are keen for more African countries to undertake this process regularly because it enables them to make better decisions when it comes to aid.

BBC

Related story: This coming Sunday Nigeria set to become Africa's biggest economy