Blessing Okagbare Sets New 100m African Record

Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare Saturday wiped out her London 2012 Olympic tears when she returned to the same venue at Olympics Stadium in Strafford and sensationally beat the world to win the 100m, setting a new African record in the process.

It was at the venue where she raised hopes of Nigerians but crashed them at the Olympics, getting to the final but placing last.

Before more than 80,000 spectators, the new Africa's Queen of the tracks first broke Gloria Alozie's 14 -year old record of 10.90 record when she returned in 10.86 seconds in the heats. She further lowered that in the final to produce what is now the talk in town, a sensational feat of 10.79 seconds.

"I see a world champion in her and I pray she makes it in Moscow during the World Championships. Setting a record is always a great thing. I congratulate her,"quickly reacted Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan who has been supporting Nigeria's elite athletes especially Okagbare.

It was a strange afternoon in what was the deepest sprint field of the second day of the London Anniversary Games.

Reigning world champion Carmelita Jeter withdrew from the final with a quad injury, according to Flotrack, after running a season's best 10.93 in her heat.

Jeter missed the U.S. championships in June due to a quad injury. With worlds just two weeks away, this is a situation to monitor.

Two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce put up a very smooth world-leading 10.77 in her heat. But Fraser-Pryce was never a factor in the final, running a 10.94 for fourth place. The winner was Blessing Okagbare in 10.79 seconds.

Okagbare is also ranked fourth in the world this year in both the 200 and the long jump.

The fastest American on Saturday was a woman who didn't make the world championships team - Barbara Pierre. Pierre matched her personal-best 10.85 in the final, the same time English Gardner clocked to win nationals in June.

"Blessing is Nigeria's greatest sensation now and needs the support of the whole country,"celebrated Solomon Ogba, the President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria who was at the stadium yesterday.

"I congratulate Blessing and I thank Governor Uduaghan for all his tremendous support,"Amaju Pinnick, Delta's Sports boss said last night.

"Blessing is the pride of Africa at the moment and Nigeria is lucky to have such an athlete," Godwin Abigor, chairman of Warri Wolves and an ardent sports enthusiast said.

"She is absolutely sensational. She is unbelievable. Breaking African record two times in one event is sensational," Dare Esan, Editor of Complete Sports said.

Usain Bolt wrapped up the London Anniversary Games with a no-doubt-about-it anchor leg on the 4×100-meter relay at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

Bolt and his Racers Track Club won the event in 37.75 seconds, easily beating France (38.45). The 4×100 world record set by Bolt and Jamaica at the 2012 Olympics is 36.84. This was Bolt's first appearance at the Olympic Stadium since his triple gold performance at the 2012 Games.

Vanguard

Nigeria to withdraw troops from Mali

Plans are underway by the Nigerian Army to withdraw some of its 1,200 soldiers from the UN peacekeeping force currently operating in the troubled west African country, Mali. This was revealed by the Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara.

Mr Ouattara who is the Head of Regional Group Ecowas, disclosed that the troops would be leaving for Nigeria to tackle the ongoing Boko Haram campaign in the country.

Mr Quattara however, did not confirm the number of troops that Nigeria will leave behind in Mali. Mali would be holding its general elections on 28 July.


The Nigerian troops form part of a force of 12,600 African troops that took charge from a French-led mission early July.

A combined troops of French and West African succeeded in driving militants out of northern Mali in February.

The UN force, with its French acronym Minusma has aligned with the Malian army to secure the forthcoming election. The troop is expected to grow up to 11,200, plus 1,400 police towards the end of the year.

Speaking at a summit of West African nations in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, President Ouattara said, the withdrawal was “because of the domestic situation in Nigeria”.

“They are not withdrawing everyone. A good part of the troops are going to be there,” he said.

Daily Post

Video - Nigeria's booming fashion industry

In Nigeria, the economy is booming thanks to the country s rich oil supplies, and now the country s fashion designers are wanting to ride the wave of economic prosperity with the hope of making Lagos an international fashion hotspot.

Bloomberg ranks Nigeria as most stressful country in the world

Overview

Bloomberg ranked countries based on the stressfulness of their living environments.

Methodology

Seven equally weighted variables were considered: homicide rates, GDP per capita on a purchasing-power-parity basis, income inequality, corruption perception, unemployment, urban air pollution and life expectancy. Income inequality was measured by the Gini Index, where a score of 0 represents perfect equality and 100 perfect inequality. Corruption perception refers to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, which scores countries on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being the most corrupt. Urban outdoor air pollution is the annual mean concentration of fine particles smaller than 10 microns, measured in micrograms per cubic meter. Countries were allotted points for each variable based on their relative position in that category's ranking. The country with the least-stressful measure for each variable received 0 points, while the country with the highest stress level received 100 points. All other countries were scored on a percentile basis depending on their position between the two extremes. Points for the seven variables were averaged for a final score from 0 to 100, a higher score indicating a more stressful living environment. All data were the latest available. Only countries with data available for all seven variables were included.



Source(s)

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, International Monetary Fund, Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, Transparency International, World Health Organization
Last Updated

May 10, 2013
Bloomberg

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Africa's richest man speaks about the future of Nigeria

India has now become Nigeria's biggest crude oil buyer

India has overtaken the U.S. as the top buyer of Nigerian crude oil, a top Indian diplomat in Abuja has said.

Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria Mahesh Sachdev said recent statistics showed that India had been buying more of Nigeria’s crude than the U.S. over the last three months.

“India will continue to cooperate with Nigeria to improve its economy and it will also assist the country in capacity building of workers in both the public and private sectors,” Mr. Sachdev said, during a courtesy visit to the Governor of Niger state in northern Nigeria last Wednesday.

On the bilateral trade, he said the present figure stands at $10 billion, even as the total investment of India in Nigerian economy could be valued at $16.6 billion.

Mr. Sachdev disclosed that India would partner with the government of Kano state to establish a film city and also collaborate with the Niger state government to establish health care facilities as well as improve agriculture.

He also promised assistance in the state on the training of young people who wish to embark on vocational education.

Governor of the state Babangida Aliyu commended India for being one of the few countries that had kept faith with strengthening the work force.

According to him, this has helped Nigeria to develop in every ramification.

India has recently reduced its dependence on Iranian oil in the wake of the U.S. and European sanctions on the import of oil from the Islamic Republic.

The Hindu