Ikechukwu Uche welcomes Super Eagles criticism

Super Eagle striker Ikechukwu Uche, who's still recovering from a knee injury has revealed his conviction that public and media criticism of the Super Eagles will help the team become better.

After the dramatic cliff hanger that the Super Eagles subjected Nigerians to in the 2010 World Cup qualification rounds, the Super Eagles have received mass criticism and even leading to calls for Amodu to be replaced. Here's what Uche had to say:

"All of Nigeria wants to see us win in the first half. They want to see us play good football, but other teams try to frustrate us and it is not easy. But the criticism is allowed. It is not something we should fight about. I don't think it is a problem for Nigerians to say the team is not playing well. For me I think that it is healthy. What it means is that we have to go back, watch our games and learn from our mistakes."

"Qualifying for the World Cup will give us confidence. It will motivate us to do better. I think it is the only motivation we need as players.

It will make everybody come out and give out the best of what he has and that will see us playing good football for the fans."

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American financial analyst testifies against Nigerian fraudsters

Dr. Carl D. Vance, a financial analyst from the United States testified in a Lagos High Court, about how Nigerian fraudsters were able to defraud him of about $1.8 million between 1995 and 1996. Dr. Vance said the fraudsters promised to facilitate a contract with the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

A Chief Collins Onyejiaka is currently being tried after Dr. Vance submitted a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that led to an investigation that linked Chief Onyejiaka to the scam.

Here are excerpts of Dr. Vance testimony to the court:

"In late February 1995, I attended a reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. where I was invited because of my kind of work.

"I met some guys at the dinner and we talked about investment in Nigeria and typical of me I gave out my business card, like as I use to.

"Afterwards in late March, 1995, I received a call from a person who introduced himself as a Managing Director in NNPC, who claimed to be in a position to do business with me.

He told the court that in October 1995, "we agreed to do business together," which he said started in March 1996.

"We started the processes of paying monies, with a start sum of $56,000, which was to be paid to the Federal Inland Revenue Service in Nigeria and I was told the file would be forwarded to the CBN.

"Few days later I received a call from someone who said that he was Katchy. He said to me that if I could release $5,000 he would be able to facilitate my file and I sent him the money.

"I was later called that my file has been approved and I was told to wire $57,000 which I did on August 27, 1996, which I sent to CB-Trust account through Ecobank".

Dr. Vance said that subsequent payments made to the fraudsters at different instances amounted to $1,813,728.00. He explained that the money was transferred in 16 different transactions to accounts in at least seven countries: Nigeria, Switzerland, Benin Republic, Dubai, Belgium, Hong Kong and Japan.

Daily Trust

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Roberto Mancini might be the new Super Eagles coach

According to Sky Sport Italia, former Inter Milan coach, Roberto Mancini has been contacted by Nigerian football authorities to lead the Super Eagles to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. However Mancini has not made any comment on the report.

Former Secretary-General of the defunct Nigeria Football Association (NFA), Fanny Amun, made this statement about the idea of replacing Amodu:

"He should be left to lead the team to the Nations Cup in Angola and the World Cup in South Africa in 2010,"

"Amodu has done so well, and for me he deserves to lead the team to the competitions even if it means our having the worst result with him.

"The issue of foreign coach has always come up as a fire brigade approach in our country,"

"If the NFF wants a foreign coach, let him start from scratch. Why should we go and invest so much money in nothing that at the end of it, the foreign coach will not even perform better than Amodu," he said.

When asked about reports on the possibility of Amodu quitting due to the controversy, Amun said "Nigerians do not resign."

Daily Trust

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Federal Government fails to deliver 6000MW of electricity

The Federal Government of Nigeria failed in its attempt to bring the country's electricity generation to 6000 Megawatts of electricity by December 2009. Kano based industrialist, Alhaji Mohammed Umar made this statement about the government's attempt:

"It is only an irresponsible leadership that would set an unrealizable target for itself. Why did government set a target when it knew it was not in control of a critical component such as gas supply? In more advanced countries, this is more than enough to cost a government its tenure. But not here, I bet you nothing will happen," he said.

The Minister of Power, Dr. Babalola made this statement:

"Towards the 6000 MW target, PHCN is repairing some of the generating plants units in Afam, Sapele, and Ughelli. In terms of machines available to highlight some of the issues in gas supply, we have about 5300 MW of capacity available. With those units being repaired and one of the IPPs being finished, we should be able to have the 6000 MW.

"Two things at any point in time will determine what you generate, number one is the demand that I just explained and the other one is gas supply. Gas supply has actually improved as we have seen over the past several months that it is a pure constraint in power production in Nigeria.

We expect that production will vary from base load which is when demand is low especially at night. Anything from about 4000 MW during the day, that is why we want to ensure that we have at least 6000 MW to be able to cope with the demand when it is needed,"

"What determines actual generation is gas. It's just like your car, what determines the distance it covers is the amount of fuel in it. If you have a full tank you can cover more mileage. What we have seen so far is that if gas supply improves, and we expect more to be available before the end of the year.

With the Niger Delta issue then, most of the gas supply pipelines were badly affected and one of the major plants, that is the one operated by Chevron was out for a long time but they are fixing that now and that alone accounts for about 2000 mmscf per day or 800 MW of electricity generation per day," he said.

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