Fifa has given the Nigerian govenment until Tuesday to reinstate the sacked Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board, or it says it will impose sanctions on the country.
The NFF, led by Aminu Maigari, was sacked by a Nigerian court on Saturday after it was found guilty of misappropriating funds, manipulating its own regulations and handling the Super Eagles' bonus row in Brazil in an unacceptable way. Maigari has since been detained by the Nigerian authorities.
After the hearing, a statement - signed by NFF vice president Obinna Ogba - was released which confirmed the drastic actions and alleged that the previous administration had brought embarrassment to the nation.
"The extraordinary congress unanimously endorsed the dissolution of the Aminu Maigari-led NFF executive committee, and immediate termination of the employment of all management staff," the statement read.
"The congress also endorsed the dissolution of the boards of the Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women League ans the Nigeria Nationwide League.
"Congress bemoaned the unfortunate incident of the international embarrassment suffered by the Nigeria nation at the 2014 Fifa World Cup, by failure of the Aminu Maigari-led NFF to fully and firmly resolve issues of finance with the Super Eagles ahead of the championship.
"Congress accused the Maigari administration of abuse of NFF statues in its constitution of the NFF electoral committee, by altering the list of persons approved by the congress at the 2013 general assembly."
Fifa, however, has criticised the move, claiming it goes against the organisation's principle of country's football associations being independent bodies and expressing concern over the outside interference.
"Fifa has sent a letter to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) expressing its great concern over different actions taken by Nigerian public authorities that affect the NFF," its statement read.
"Fifa has learnt from various sources that the NFF has been served with court processes and that consequently an order restraining the President of the NFF, his executive committee members and the NFF congress from running the affairs of Nigerian football has been granted by a High Court of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
"Fifa has also taken note of the detention of NFF President Aminu Maigari, carried out by representatives of the department of the State Security Service. Furthermore, Fifa is also aware that the Minister of Sport has appointed an assistant director to take charge of the NFF.
"Fifa has reminded the NFF that all Fifa member associations have to manage their affairs independently and without influence of any third parties.
"The NFF has been asked to relay Fifa’s position to the relevant authorities and inform them that if the aforementioned NFF officials are not fully reinstated by Tuesday 8 July 2014 the case will be referred to the appropriate Fifa bodies for sanctions, including the potential suspension of the NFF.
"Fifa will not recognize any person or organ not elected in compliance with the NFF statutes... and therefore it will not consider the appointment made by the minister of sports. An elective congress has been duly convened by the NFF for 26 August 2014 and only decisions and persons elected then will be considered legitimate," Fifa concluded.
However, Nigeria's sports minister Tammy Danagogo has defended the government's actions.
"We will do our best to make Fifa know that there has been no government interference. We have no such intention," he said.
"And I can assure you that we will not interfere beyond doing what is legally required by Fifa rules, and that we will ensure that there is a peaceful atmosphere.
GOAL
Monday, July 7, 2014
About 60 of the 200 schoolgirls kidnapped escape from Boko Haram
More than 60 women and girls are reported to have escaped from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram, security sources say.
They were among 68 abducted last month near the town of Damboa in north-eastern Borno state.
Reports say the women escaped when the militants went to attack a military base near Damboa on Friday.
The Nigerian military said it killed more than 50 rebels in a clash that night.
Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April.
Local vigilante Abbas Gava told journalists he had "received an alert from my colleagues... that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home".
"They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation," he said.
A high-level security source in the state capital Maiduguri confirmed the escape, AFP news agency reported.
Exchange rejected
The BBC's Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the insecurity is so rife in Borno state and the access so poor that it is not yet clear exactly how many of the young women managed to escape from Boko Haram.
Relatives of three of the women told the BBC they were safe.
Boko Haram triggered an international outcry when it captured 200 girls in Borno's Chibok town on 14 April.
It is demanding the release of its fighters and their relatives in exchange for the girls but the government has rejected this.
Last week three women were arrested for recruiting female members for the militant group, the country's military said.
They were said to have targeted widows and young girls, promising them marriage to Boko Haram members.
A state of emergency is in force in northern Nigeria because of the group's increasingly violent campaign to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Maiduguri was the headquarters of Boko Haram until it was forced out by the military and vigilante groups.
BBC
Related stories: Nigerian Laureate Wole Soyinka says Boko Haram worse than Nigerian's Civil War
Nigerian military arrest bussiness man connected to Boko Hram adbuction of over 200 schoolgirls
They were among 68 abducted last month near the town of Damboa in north-eastern Borno state.
Reports say the women escaped when the militants went to attack a military base near Damboa on Friday.
The Nigerian military said it killed more than 50 rebels in a clash that night.
Boko Haram is still holding more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April.
Local vigilante Abbas Gava told journalists he had "received an alert from my colleagues... that about 63 of the abducted women and girls had made it back home".
"They took the bold step when their abductors moved out to carry out an operation," he said.
A high-level security source in the state capital Maiduguri confirmed the escape, AFP news agency reported.
Exchange rejected
The BBC's Nigeria correspondent Will Ross says the insecurity is so rife in Borno state and the access so poor that it is not yet clear exactly how many of the young women managed to escape from Boko Haram.
Relatives of three of the women told the BBC they were safe.
Boko Haram triggered an international outcry when it captured 200 girls in Borno's Chibok town on 14 April.
It is demanding the release of its fighters and their relatives in exchange for the girls but the government has rejected this.
Last week three women were arrested for recruiting female members for the militant group, the country's military said.
They were said to have targeted widows and young girls, promising them marriage to Boko Haram members.
A state of emergency is in force in northern Nigeria because of the group's increasingly violent campaign to overthrow the government and create an Islamic state.
Maiduguri was the headquarters of Boko Haram until it was forced out by the military and vigilante groups.
BBC
Related stories: Nigerian Laureate Wole Soyinka says Boko Haram worse than Nigerian's Civil War
Nigerian military arrest bussiness man connected to Boko Hram adbuction of over 200 schoolgirls
Friday, July 4, 2014
Patients dying as Nigeria's doctors strike continues
Three days into the ongoing strike by public sector doctors, patients abandoned in hospitals nationwide, yesterday, cried out that they were dying slowly, and prayed for God's intervention to settle the rift between the government and the striking doctors.
While Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State appealed to the doctors to stop using strike as a means of fighting for their demands in the interest of innocent Nigerians, the doctors on their part accussed government of playing hide-and-seek with them.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Health to urgently engage the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and Ministry of Health with a view to bringing the ongoing industrial action to an end.
Vanguard visited public hospitals in Lagos. From Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH; General Hospital, Gbagada; Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta, to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, were lamentations as patients, who refused to relocate, have been abandoned to their fate.
New patients were denied admission, while elderly ones who refused to leave were offered skeletal services by nurses and other health workers not affected by the strike.
Seeking divine intervention
Some of the patients were seen praying for God's intervention.
At the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, patients stood in front of Accident and Emergency Unit, praying to God to touch the heart of both government and the striking doctors.
One said: "Our God in heaven, listen to our cry and come to our aid. Arrest the heart of doctors and government to end the strike. We are dying slowly on daily basis."
At other wards, some patients that spoke to Vanguard insisted that whether the strike continued or not, they had nowhere else to seek medical attention.
They claimed their medical needs were peculiar and could not easily be handled at private hospitals.
One of them, who identified himself as Clement Odia, and had been on admission since January, said he was not in a hurry to relocate to any private hospital for financial reason.
'Am going nowhere'
He said: "I came here since January because of my broken hand. You do not expect me to leave now because I am almost healed. If I have to go to private clinic, where is the money? Also, they may not be able to take care of my situation, so I am staying here."
Another patient, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused doctors of aggravating his pain.
He said: "I know if government answers them, in another six months same doctors will ask for more allowances. No doctor has attended to me since yesterday."
Lagos NMA speaks
State chairman of NMA Lagos, Dr. Francis Faduyile, blamed government for the ongoing strike, accusing government of destabilising already established health system.
He queried why government should agree to make other professionals, who are not doctors, as consultants?
"Everyone knows what consultant stands for in medicine. What will a nurse or pharmacist be consulting? Do they own patients in the hospitals?"
Also speaking, Public Relation Officer, NMA Lagos, Dr. Peters Ogunjobi, accused government of playing hide-and-seek with doctors, saying the strike would continue since the government had decided not to listen to the doctors.
Fashola begs
Meanwhile, Governor Fashola has appealed to the doctors in the country to stop using strike to fight for their demands in the interest of innocent Nigerians.
Fashola spoke at the second convocation ceremony of the Lagos State College of Health Technology, Yaba, saying fatalities from such industrial actions negated their professional calling.
Fashola argued that those that invented strike in the Nigeria health sector did it for the sake of their patients not themselves.
He said: "Medical workers from the lowest level to the highest in the chain of command and team are like gods on earth. Only sick people know your importance."
Fashola noted that workers in other sub-sectors of the nation's economy were not satisfied with their remuneration, but did not hold government to ransom.
Reps intervene
Also, the House of Representatives yesterday waded into the strike as it mandated its committee on health to urgently engage NMA and the Ministry of Health with a view to bringing the industrial action to an end.
The House, in plenary, gave the committee two weeks to report back.
The House, while appealing to NMA and its members to call off the strike, also urged the Federal Government to do everything possible, as a matter of utmost urgency, to have the crisis resolved in the interest of Nigerians.
Vanguard
Related story: Video - Nigeria's medical sector goes on strike
While Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State appealed to the doctors to stop using strike as a means of fighting for their demands in the interest of innocent Nigerians, the doctors on their part accussed government of playing hide-and-seek with them.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has mandated its Committee on Health to urgently engage the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and Ministry of Health with a view to bringing the ongoing industrial action to an end.
Vanguard visited public hospitals in Lagos. From Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH; General Hospital, Gbagada; Federal Medical Centre, Ebute Metta, to Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, were lamentations as patients, who refused to relocate, have been abandoned to their fate.
New patients were denied admission, while elderly ones who refused to leave were offered skeletal services by nurses and other health workers not affected by the strike.
Seeking divine intervention
Some of the patients were seen praying for God's intervention.
At the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, patients stood in front of Accident and Emergency Unit, praying to God to touch the heart of both government and the striking doctors.
One said: "Our God in heaven, listen to our cry and come to our aid. Arrest the heart of doctors and government to end the strike. We are dying slowly on daily basis."
At other wards, some patients that spoke to Vanguard insisted that whether the strike continued or not, they had nowhere else to seek medical attention.
They claimed their medical needs were peculiar and could not easily be handled at private hospitals.
One of them, who identified himself as Clement Odia, and had been on admission since January, said he was not in a hurry to relocate to any private hospital for financial reason.
'Am going nowhere'
He said: "I came here since January because of my broken hand. You do not expect me to leave now because I am almost healed. If I have to go to private clinic, where is the money? Also, they may not be able to take care of my situation, so I am staying here."
Another patient, who spoke on condition of anonymity, accused doctors of aggravating his pain.
He said: "I know if government answers them, in another six months same doctors will ask for more allowances. No doctor has attended to me since yesterday."
Lagos NMA speaks
State chairman of NMA Lagos, Dr. Francis Faduyile, blamed government for the ongoing strike, accusing government of destabilising already established health system.
He queried why government should agree to make other professionals, who are not doctors, as consultants?
"Everyone knows what consultant stands for in medicine. What will a nurse or pharmacist be consulting? Do they own patients in the hospitals?"
Also speaking, Public Relation Officer, NMA Lagos, Dr. Peters Ogunjobi, accused government of playing hide-and-seek with doctors, saying the strike would continue since the government had decided not to listen to the doctors.
Fashola begs
Meanwhile, Governor Fashola has appealed to the doctors in the country to stop using strike to fight for their demands in the interest of innocent Nigerians.
Fashola spoke at the second convocation ceremony of the Lagos State College of Health Technology, Yaba, saying fatalities from such industrial actions negated their professional calling.
Fashola argued that those that invented strike in the Nigeria health sector did it for the sake of their patients not themselves.
He said: "Medical workers from the lowest level to the highest in the chain of command and team are like gods on earth. Only sick people know your importance."
Fashola noted that workers in other sub-sectors of the nation's economy were not satisfied with their remuneration, but did not hold government to ransom.
Reps intervene
Also, the House of Representatives yesterday waded into the strike as it mandated its committee on health to urgently engage NMA and the Ministry of Health with a view to bringing the industrial action to an end.
The House, in plenary, gave the committee two weeks to report back.
The House, while appealing to NMA and its members to call off the strike, also urged the Federal Government to do everything possible, as a matter of utmost urgency, to have the crisis resolved in the interest of Nigerians.
Vanguard
Related story: Video - Nigeria's medical sector goes on strike
Nigerian sent to psych ward for being atheist released and now receiving death threats
A Nigerian atheist released from a psychiatric unit to which his Muslim family committed him by force has said he is getting death threats for blaspheming against Islam.
Mubarak Bala, a 29-year-old chemical process engineer, said he is in hiding in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria where sharia law holds and some interpretations deem blasphemy punishable by death.
"People are threatening me, I mean life-threatening threats," he said on Thursday. He said he was too frightened of drawing attention and wouldn't allow an Associated Press video journalist or photographer to come to his hiding place.
Bala said that since he renounced Islam and declared himself an atheist, he has not only lost the trust of his father and elder brother, but many friends.
"Most of my friends condemn me and tell me I am bound for hell and that in an Islamic state, I would be killed. Blasphemy is a serious thing here," said Bala, who describes himself on his Twitter page as an ex-Muslim.
North-east Nigeria is in the throes of an insurgency by extremists bent on turning all Nigeria into an Islamic state under sharia law, though half of Nigeria's 170 million people are Christian.
The uprising has killed thousands and increased tensions between Muslims and Christians in a country where adherents of both faiths are passionately religious.
Bala said he wants to leave northern Nigeria but first is trying to reconcile with his family, especially the father, two uncles and older brother who beat him up, drugged him and committed him to the psychiatric ward of Kano city's Aminu Kano teaching hospital.
News of his plight came through tweets that he sent on a smuggled telephone from the hospital toilet.
Businessman Bamidele Adeneye, who had been corresponding with Bala about humanism through social media before he was committed, saw one of his desperate SOS messages and mobilised help through the #FreeMubarak Twitter campaign and the London-based International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Adeneye said he has also been getting death threats. "I'm getting calls from people who say 'Where do you live, we are coming to get you.'"
But he said he would continue to help Bala because: "That man is intelligent, his only sin is being honest about what he believes."
He helped organise assistance from Kano lawyer Muhammad Bello Shehu, who said he had been preparing to take Bala's case to court when the doctors discharged all patients because of a strike.
"Currently Mubarak has said he wants to reconcile with the family before he leaves and we have had some family meetings, that is ongoing right now, and they appear apologetic, to a certain extent," Shehu said.
Shehu is seeking an independent psychiatric evaluation of Mubarak's health to counter the claims of hospital doctors that he has psychological problems, and family claims that he suffered a "personality change" that led to his renunciation of Islam, he said.
Bala's father, Muhammad Bala, did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages.
In a blog, the father describes himself as a journalist and director general of Kano state's Directorate of Societal Reorientation, one of the bodies that enforces Islamic sharia law.
Guardian
Related story: In Northern Nigeria - man sent to mental institute for being atheist
Mubarak Bala, a 29-year-old chemical process engineer, said he is in hiding in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria where sharia law holds and some interpretations deem blasphemy punishable by death.
"People are threatening me, I mean life-threatening threats," he said on Thursday. He said he was too frightened of drawing attention and wouldn't allow an Associated Press video journalist or photographer to come to his hiding place.
Bala said that since he renounced Islam and declared himself an atheist, he has not only lost the trust of his father and elder brother, but many friends.
"Most of my friends condemn me and tell me I am bound for hell and that in an Islamic state, I would be killed. Blasphemy is a serious thing here," said Bala, who describes himself on his Twitter page as an ex-Muslim.
North-east Nigeria is in the throes of an insurgency by extremists bent on turning all Nigeria into an Islamic state under sharia law, though half of Nigeria's 170 million people are Christian.
The uprising has killed thousands and increased tensions between Muslims and Christians in a country where adherents of both faiths are passionately religious.
Bala said he wants to leave northern Nigeria but first is trying to reconcile with his family, especially the father, two uncles and older brother who beat him up, drugged him and committed him to the psychiatric ward of Kano city's Aminu Kano teaching hospital.
News of his plight came through tweets that he sent on a smuggled telephone from the hospital toilet.
Businessman Bamidele Adeneye, who had been corresponding with Bala about humanism through social media before he was committed, saw one of his desperate SOS messages and mobilised help through the #FreeMubarak Twitter campaign and the London-based International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Adeneye said he has also been getting death threats. "I'm getting calls from people who say 'Where do you live, we are coming to get you.'"
But he said he would continue to help Bala because: "That man is intelligent, his only sin is being honest about what he believes."
He helped organise assistance from Kano lawyer Muhammad Bello Shehu, who said he had been preparing to take Bala's case to court when the doctors discharged all patients because of a strike.
"Currently Mubarak has said he wants to reconcile with the family before he leaves and we have had some family meetings, that is ongoing right now, and they appear apologetic, to a certain extent," Shehu said.
Shehu is seeking an independent psychiatric evaluation of Mubarak's health to counter the claims of hospital doctors that he has psychological problems, and family claims that he suffered a "personality change" that led to his renunciation of Islam, he said.
Bala's father, Muhammad Bala, did not immediately respond to phone calls and text messages.
In a blog, the father describes himself as a journalist and director general of Kano state's Directorate of Societal Reorientation, one of the bodies that enforces Islamic sharia law.
Guardian
Related story: In Northern Nigeria - man sent to mental institute for being atheist
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Africa's richest man Nigerian Aliko Dangote to build Health Centres in Nigeria
According to the Daily Post Nigeria, Dangote, who is the chairman of the Dangote Foundation, made the pledge during a video conference with Bill Gates, co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Governor of Kano. The purpose of the video conference, which was coordinated from the Kano government House, was to hold a 2014 mid-year review of their tripartite partnership on routine immunization
In 2012, the Kano state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Dangote Foundation to support a free routine immunization exercise in the state. The MOU is a 3-year collaboration which aims at eradicating polio and on improving primary health care delivery in Kano. Among other things, the MOU makes for the provision of sufficient supply of routine immunization vaccines and other consumables, supports a free routine immunization exercise in the state and makes provision for the training of health personnel. According to the World Health Organization, Nigeria is one of 3 countries (the other two being Afghanistan and Pakistan) that remain polio-endemic. Kano, which has a significant population of under-immunized children, has historically been one of the most vulnerable places. In June, the Kano government recorded a fresh case of Wild Polio Virus in Sumaila, a small village in the state, making it the third case to be uncovered in the state this year.
Dangote, who is Africa’s wealthiest man with a fortune estimated at $25.9 billion, was born in Kano. He said he was encouraged to build the new centers because of the commitment of the state government towards providing better healthcare services for the people, and he assured Governor Kwankwaso that his foundation will work with the Kano state government to strengthen its immunization programme.
Bill Gates, on the other hand, expressed satisfaction at the level of progress the government had made on Polio eradication, and expressed his hopes that the government would sustain its enthusiasm in that direction even in the face of threats of violence.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been actively involved in funding polio eradication initiatives in Nigeria. Among other things, the Foundation has a $25 million agreement in place with the World Bank to support the purchase of about 100 million doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) in Nigeria.
Forbes
Related stories: Video - Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote expanding cement business
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