Nigeria appoint Finidi George to succeed Peseiro

Former international Finidi George has been announced as the new head coach of Nigeria, succeeding Jose Peseiro.

The 53-year-old was placed in interim charge of the Super Eagles after the departure of the Portuguese following Nigeria's defeat by Ivory Coast in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final in February.

George, also coach of club side Enyimba, oversaw two friendly matches last month, beating Ghana 2-1 before a 2-0 loss against Mali.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed his appointment on Monday after approving a recommendation from its technical and development committee.

Former Ajax and Real Betis winger George spent 20 months as an assistant to Peseiro and is expected to remain in charge of Enyimba, whom he led to the Nigerian title last year, until the end of the season.

George scored six goals in 62 international appearances for Nigeria and was part of the 'Golden Generation' which won the Nations Cup in 1994, the same year in which the Super Eagles appeared at the Fifa World Cup for the first time in the USA.

He will be expected to produce immediate results as Nigeria's next fixtures in June are two potentially crucial qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which will also be held in North America.

The Super Eagles' campaign needs reviving after the three-time continental champions drew their first two games in Group C.

The NFF has labelled the home match against South Africa and the game against Benin on neutral ground as "must-win encounters".

George is thought to have beaten off competition from a host of contenders for one of the most high-profile roles in African football, including former Super Eagles team-mate Emmanuel Amuneke and Spaniard Domenec Torrent, a former analyst and coach for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola

The NFF has not announced the length of his contract.

 

Success on the pitch and in the dugout


One of Nigeria's best wingers of all time, George had a glittering career at club and international level.

He won three league titles with Ajax, who he joined in 1993, and also lifted the Uefa Champions League, Uefa Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup with the Dutch giants in 1995.

Spells at Betis, where he was a runner-up in the Copa del Rey in 1997, Mallorca and in England with Ipswich Town followed.

But he also registered several achievements with the Super Eagles after scoring on his international debut against Burkina Faso in 1991.

George netted the goal which secured Nigeria's qualification for the 1994 World Cup, going on to set up his country's first ever goal at the finals against Bulgaria.

He was also part of the squad which featured at the 1998 tournament in France.

George helped Nigeria beat Zambia 2-1 to lift the Nations Cup trophy in 1994 and was part of the squads which finished as runners-up in 2000 and as bronze medallists in 1992 and 2002.

He took over at Nigeria's most successful club Enyimba in 2021, leading them to their first title in four years by winning the league two years later.

The NFF's decision to choose Finidi George is not much of a surprise, although Emmanuel Amuneke was a fan favourite and a leading candidate to replace Jose Peseiro.

The recent friendlies against West African rivals Ghana and Mali were an audition which the new coach passed despite mixed results and George must now meet some high demands.

First up are 2026 World Cup qualifiers which take on even more importance after the Super Eagles missed out on the last edition of the finals in Qatar.

George will be tasked with putting together a team capable of delivering a fourth Nations Cup title, improving on the second place finish in Ivory Coast this year.

As an exciting winger in his playing days, he is expected to bring a new style of play - utilising and effectively managing the talented squad at his disposal as well as nurturing players in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

George will continue to combine his roles as coach of the national team and defending NPFL champions Enyimba, who sit second in the table with six games remaining.

Meanwhile, the fact the NFF has overlooked Amuneke again will spark debate among fans of the Super Eagles

The 1994 African player of the year masterminded Nigeria's Under-17 World Cup triumph in 2015 with players like Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze, who are now an integral part of the senior squad.

The former Barcelona forward also led Tanzania to qualification for the 2019 Nations Cup.

BBC

Related story: Portuguese Peseiro quits as Nigeria coach

Prince Harry and Meghan to visit Nigeria

Prince Harry will return to Britain to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games in May, before joining his wife Meghan on a visit to Nigeria, his spokesperson said on Sunday.


Harry, the youngest son of King Charles, lives in the United States with Meghan and their two children after he gave up working as a member of the royal family in 2020.


He has only returned to Britain on a few occasions since his departure from royal life, arriving for major events such as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in 2022 and his father's coronation in May 2023.


His spokesperson said Harry would attend a service at St Paul's Cathedral in London on May 8 to celebrate the Invictus Games, the international sporting event that he founded for military personnel wounded in action.

Harry served as a military helicopter pilot in Afghanistan and Invictus organisers said the service was designed to mark "a decade of changing lives and saving lives through sport".

It will include readings by Harry and the British actor Damian Lewis. Wounded veterans and members of the Invictus community will also attend.

Harry will then be joined in Nigeria by Meghan, a former American actress who is known as the Duchess of Sussex. Harry's spokesperson said the couple had been invited by the country's chief of defence staff, its highest ranking military official.No further details were given about the trip.

Harry was last seen in Britain in February this year for a brief meeting with his father after the monarch announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

The palace said on Friday that Charles would return to public duties after he made good progress following treatment and a period of recuperation.

By Michael Holden, Reuters

At least 23 civilian force members killed in northern Nigeria

At least 23 members of Nigeria’s civilian joint task force were killed on Saturday in separate attacks by militants and an armed kidnapping gang in the north, two officials from the force said on Sunday.

In northeast Borno state, the heartland of an Islamist insurgency, suspected Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters used an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a vehicle carrying the Civilian Joint Tast Force (CJTF) team, a local force chairman said.

The CJTF was first formed in 2013 to protect communities in the northeast and help the military fight Boko Haram and later its offshoot ISWAP. The force has since been extended to other northern states that are grappling with armed kidnapping gangs.

Tijjanima Umar, CJTF chairman for Gamboru Ngala area near the border with Cameroon, said his team was travelling to Borno state capital Maiduguri when they drove over the IED.

“As the mine blew up, nine of them died instantly … while two other people had severe injuries and were immediately taken to hospital for treatment,” Umar told Reuters by phone.

The Nigerian military was not immediately available to comment.

Although severely curtailed by Nigerian security forces, Boko Haram and ISWAP still carry out deadly attacks against civilians and the military.

In northwestern Soko state, 14 CJTF members were killed and several were missing following an ambush by gunmen on Saturday, task force sector commandant Ismail Haruna told Reuters.

Haruna said the CJTF members were killed in Sokoto’s Isa local government area, where they had raided and destroyed a bush camp belonging to a known armed kidnapping gang leader.

The gang quickly regrouped and ambushed the CJTF as they drove back to Sokoto state capital, he added.

By Ahmed Kingimi, Reuters

Fire breaks out at Airport in Lagos, Nigeria - Flights diverted

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has diverted all flight operations from the E wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) following a fire outbreak at the terminal.

According to a statement by FAAN’s Director of Public Affairs, Obiageli Orah, the smoke was noticed on Thursday morning at about 05:29.

“At 05:29 hrs, smoke was detected billowing from the T54 Bridge, leading electrical engineers to immediately cut off power to the entire E Wing.


“The Airport Rescue and Firefighting Services (ARFFS) team was quick to respond, arriving at the scene by 5:30 hrs,” the statement read.

Mrs Orah stated that initial suspicions pointed to sparks from an electrical unit as the cause, but that a thorough investigation was ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire.

She disclosed that the incident, which escalated into a fire, was later brought under control by 06:41 hrs.

Mrs Orah said efforts to ventilate the smoke from the building were in progress, adding that all flight operations in Terminal 1 of MMA had been diverted to the D Wing in the meantime.

By Oluwakemi Adelagun, Premium Times

Related story: Former aviation minister of Nigeria arrested for money laundering

 

Nigeria launches first multilingual LLM trained in local languages

The Nigerian government has launched the country’s first multilingual large language model (LLM) that will reflect its diversity and play a major role in its national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy.

Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Bosun Tijani announced the new LLM at the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Workshop.

The new LLM will be trained in five “low-resource local languages and accented English to ensure stronger language representation in existing datasets for the development of artificial intelligence solutions.”

The language model is the product of a partnership between the government and the private sector. Awarritech, a local AI firm, and Data.org, a global data democratization initiative by Mastercard (NASDAQ: MA) and the Rockefeller Foundation, represent the private sector. The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) represented Nigeria’s government in the development of LLM.

Additionally, the government relied on over 7,000 fellows from its 3MTT Nigeria program, which targets 3 million graduates who are fully proficient in technical courses, from AI and cybersecurity to cloud computing and machine learning.

One of the greatest challenges facing AI is bias. While policies can help reshape AI to be more inclusive, diversity in AI input will have a greater impact. One key solution is to develop localized LLMs that incorporate language and cultural nuances, resulting in AI that promotes connections globally.

In addition to the new LLM, Tijani announced the launch of the Nigeria AI Collective, a community of industry players pushing for AI development.

“We are inviting AI researchers, practitioners, academia, government, civil society organisations, startups, entrepreneurs, students and AI enthusiasts in general to join the collective to harness the power of artificial intelligence,” the minister said.

Tijani further relaunched the NCAIR, a subsidiary of NITDA focused on developing the two sectors.

By Steve Kaaru, CoinGeek