Mikel Obi and Victor Moses nominated for Nigeria Pitch Awards

Super Eagles Captain, John Mikel Obi and Victor Moses, Chelsea’s winger were on Wednesday nominated for the Nigeria Pitch Awards for 2017/2018.

Obi currently plies his trade as a midfielder for Chinese club Tianjin TEDA.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the awards in its 5th edition will hold later in the month in Lagos.

Other nominees for the awards are Ikechukwu Ezenwa of FC Ifeanyi Ubah of Nnewi, Anambra, Leon Balogun, FSV Mainz 05, Germany, Wilfred Ndidi – Leicester City FC of England, and Carl Ikeme of England’s Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Dele Ajiboye of Plateau United FC of Jos, William Troost-Ekong of Bursaspor, Turkey, Shehu Abdullahi of Anothosis Famagusta FC, Anthony Okpotu – Lobi Stars FC of Makurdi and Odion Ighalo – Changchun Yatai.

The rest are Stephen Odey – MFM FC/FC Zurich, Charity Rueben- Ibom Angels, Rasheedat Ajibade – FC Robo and Amarachi Okonkwo – Nasarawa Amazons.

Fidelis Elechukwu of MFM FC, Gernot Rohr of Super Eagles and Kennedy Boboye of Plateau United were nominated for the Coach of the Year Award.

Lagos, Rivers and Delta were nominated for State with the Best Grassroots Development programme.

Similarly, Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo, Gov. Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom and Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State were nominated for Football Friendly Governors of the Year.

Also for the Sam Okwaraji Award for Commitment to Nigerian Football, Amaju Pinnick, President, NFF, Shehu Dikko – 2nd Vice-President, NFF and Chief Ifeanyi Ubah, Chairman, FC Ifeanyi Ubah were equally nominated.

The President, Nigeria Pitch Award, Mr Shina Philips, said the awards had continued to grow to become a significant part of the football calendar in spite of challenges.

He noted that challenges such as securing sponsorship and partnership did not deterred the organisation’s resolve to make the awards an essential part of the nation’s football culture.

“The Nigeria Pitch Awards is a platform for recognising, rewarding and celebrating talented and industrious footballers and other stakeholders in Nigerian football.

“Since the introduction of the awards five years ago, it has continued to grow to become a significant and essential part of our football society,’’ he said.

Philips said that organising a credible and transparent reward system for Nigerian footballers and stakeholders would help youths to imbibe the culture of hard work, patriotism and honesty.

The president of the award added that he was grateful for all partners and all corporate bodies that had identified with the award since the project began.

“We thank the Federal Ministry of Sports and Nigeria Football Federation for their immense support.

“We thank SIAO Partners, Nigeria’s foremost accounting firm for being our independent vote collation body for displaying professionalism in the collation of results and the entire voting process.

“We are also buoyed by the responses we have received from sports journalists, Nigerian footballers and administrators,’’ he said.

Aisha Falode, Chairperson, Nigeria Women Football League congratulated the organisers of the award, saying that it would build the confidence of young people in the nation’s football.

“The Nigerian youths can be engaged through entertainment and sports with football being the most enticing when it comes to sports,’’ she said.

Falode urged sports journalists and stakeholders to support the award because of its credibility and assured that the awards get the necessary support to expand in scope.

Mr Buri Olugbami, an official of SIAO Partners, said that SIAO recognised the potential of football and its impact in providing youth development.

Olugbemi said that they would remain committed to all social and sport activities which would be strategic to youth development.

Daily Post

President Muhammadu Buhari under pressure to reveal illness

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is under pressure to disclose the state of his health after he embarked on a fourth medical trip to London.

Nigeria's opposition party, People's Democractic Party (PDP), said it was time for the president to reveal his medical condition.

PDP spokesman Kola Ologbodiyan said: "We need full disclosure about the president's health. He needs to be honest with Nigerians to say he his unwell. He can't travel for an official meeting to the US and sneak into London to see his doctor, then tell Nigerians it was a technical stopover due to flight issues."

Buhari,75, announced Monday he will travel to the United Kingdom to see his doctor, reigniting speculation about the state of his health and ability to rule Africa's biggest economy.

The president also saw his doctor last week in London on his way back from Washington where he had met with the US President Donald Trump at the White House, his aide said. 

Nigerians on social media have also joined in the call for Buhari to make his health records public. These calls have grown louder since he announced plans to seek re-election next year.

But the president's spokesman Garba Shehu told CNN Buhari was under no obligation to disclose his medical records.

According to the spokesman, Buhari is the first Nigerian president to make public his need to see a doctor.

"The constitution does not say the president must disclose his health status, it only says he should make his medical vacation public to the House of Assembly."

"Let's check the records, no other president in this country has made public their medical trips abroad," Shehu said.

He added that Buhari's latest trip to the UK did not mean that he was ill and it was merely a review after his treatment nine months ago.

Since he took power in 2015, President Buhari has left the country at least four times on trips that included medical treatment in the UK. So far, he has failed to state the exact nature of his illness.

The president of Africa's most populous country has also faced criticism for seeking treatment abroad when critics say he should be fixing the nation's health system, which is in dire straits.

"President Buhari just loves flying around. If he truly wants Nigeria to grow, His doctor should fly down here instead, whatever equipments and knowledge he has should be brought down to a hospital here to improve our health care system," commentator Yul Edochie said in a tweet.

CNN

Nigeria will take measures to prevent spread of Ebola from DR Congo

The Nigerian government on Wednesday said it was acting to prevent the spread of Ebola from Democratic Republic of Congo where an outbreak of the disease has killed 17 people.

The federal government had put in place an emergency programme to monitor all border activity to keep Nigerians safe, Health Minister Isaac Adewole said after a cabinet meeting.

"We will be screening incoming passengers, particularly passengers from DRC and neighbouring countries. (The) Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will also consider sending some team to DRC as part of building capacity for managing the outbreak," he added.

Nigeria, which does not share a border with DR Congo, is the only country in West Africa with a mobile laboratory for haemorrhagic fevers.

Funded by the European Union it can carry out rapid testing even in the most remote areas.

Ebola is one of the world's most notorious diseases, being both highly infectious and extremely lethal.

There is no current vaccine to prevent Ebola or licensed treatment for it.

Times Live

Video - Nigeria's midwives seek to improve maternity care

Having a baby in Nigeria is a major risk for women. The United Nations says more than a hundred die each day while giving birth. The lack of access to healthcare means many expectant mothers have babies in their villages. Al Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from Makurdi in Benue State, central Nigeria, where a veteran midwife is trying to improve standards.

Video - School in Nigeria teaches martial arts to help keep students safe

In Nigeria, the United Nations' Children's Fund, UNICEF, says sexual violence against children is on the rise across the 36 states. A survey carried out in the country shows that 1 in every 4 girls and 1 in every 7 boys is molested, before the age of 18. And it mainly happens in schools. In response, one school in the capital, Abuja, has started an active initiative to prevent sexual molestation and violence against children.