Monday, September 10, 2018
Amateur rugby players in Nigeria train hoping to qualify for World Cup
A former Nigerian rugby player has returned home from overseas to help develop the sport in the country with an eye on international competitions. Unlike football, Rugby is yet to make its mark in Nigeria.
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Video - Nigerian FA bans coach Salisu Yussuf over bribery scandal
We begin with a developing story from Nigeria. The country's Football Association has banned Salisu Yussuf, the Chief Coach of the country's senior national team the Super Eagles, after he was caught on camera accepting a thousand-dollar bribe.
Video - MTN woes over massive fine imposed by Nigeria
In 2015 MTN was slapped with a $5.2b fine for failing to register SIM cards on time in Nigeria. MTN eventually paid a reduced $1.7b to Nigerian authorities in late 2017. But the Nigeria Central Bank is now demanding a further $8b; this time for dividends it claims shouldn't have been taken out of the country.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Nigeria slams MTN with $2bn tax bill
Nigeria has asked mobile phone operator MTN to pay a $2bn (£1.6bn) tax bill, the company says.
MTN challenged the figure, saying it related to activities over the past decade. It said it had settled the bill with a $700m payment.
The tax demand is the latest in a series of disputes between MTN and Nigeria, the company's largest market.
In 2016 it agreed to pay Nigeria $1.7bn over failing to disconnect unregistered Sim cards.
Last week, Nigeria's Central Bank ordered the company to repatriate $8bn it said had been taken out of the country illegally.
MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone company, said the tax bill had emerged from an investigation by Nigeria's attorney general and related to "the importation of foreign equipment and payments to foreign suppliers over the last 10 years".
But, it added, "MTN Nigeria believes it has fully settled all amounts owing under the taxes in question".
Shares in the company on the Johannesburg stock exchange fell sharply on Tuesday's news, reaching a low of almost 10 years.
MTN challenged the figure, saying it related to activities over the past decade. It said it had settled the bill with a $700m payment.
The tax demand is the latest in a series of disputes between MTN and Nigeria, the company's largest market.
In 2016 it agreed to pay Nigeria $1.7bn over failing to disconnect unregistered Sim cards.
Last week, Nigeria's Central Bank ordered the company to repatriate $8bn it said had been taken out of the country illegally.
MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone company, said the tax bill had emerged from an investigation by Nigeria's attorney general and related to "the importation of foreign equipment and payments to foreign suppliers over the last 10 years".
But, it added, "MTN Nigeria believes it has fully settled all amounts owing under the taxes in question".
Shares in the company on the Johannesburg stock exchange fell sharply on Tuesday's news, reaching a low of almost 10 years.
NFF bans assistant coach for accepting bribe
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has banned coach Salisu Yusuf for a year and fined him US$5000.
The sanctions were imposed on Yusuf, 56, following an NFF investigation into bribery allegations.
He was caught on camera taking cash from men posing as football agents, who requested that two players be selected for a continental championship.
The names of the players were not disclosed and Yusuf has denied any wrongdoing.
He appeared before an NFF ethics committee in the capital Abuja on Thursday.
The probe was prompted by footage captured by Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas and handed to the BBC's Africa Eye investigation programme.
The committee said the ban was from "all football-related activities at both national and international level" adding that "an appeal against the decision can be made to the NFF Appeals Committee".
An NFF said in a statement "found as a fact from the documentary and video evidence before it, that he accepted the cash gift of $1,000.
"[He] Offered by Tigers Player's Agency, an undercover reporter, purportedly interested in acting on behalf of Players Osas Okoro and Rabiu Ali, for their inclusion in the list of players for 2018 CHAN Competition in Morocco."
He insisted at the time that the money was a gift and that the players were selected on merit and he is yet to say whether he will appeal the sanctions.
"There is nothing in the allegation pointing to a demand for the money from the agents of the two principals. Rather, the agent only handed the money to me after expressing 'hope' that the principals would play in the Championship," he said in a right of reply.
"Be that as it may, I did accept cash handed to me by one of the said football agents, which I later discovered, upon checking, to be $750 and not $1000."
Yusuf was assistant to Gernot Rohr at the recent World Cup in Russia and led the Nigeria to the final of this year's Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in Morocco.
The sanctions were imposed on Yusuf, 56, following an NFF investigation into bribery allegations.
He was caught on camera taking cash from men posing as football agents, who requested that two players be selected for a continental championship.
The names of the players were not disclosed and Yusuf has denied any wrongdoing.
He appeared before an NFF ethics committee in the capital Abuja on Thursday.
The probe was prompted by footage captured by Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremayaw Anas and handed to the BBC's Africa Eye investigation programme.
The committee said the ban was from "all football-related activities at both national and international level" adding that "an appeal against the decision can be made to the NFF Appeals Committee".
An NFF said in a statement "found as a fact from the documentary and video evidence before it, that he accepted the cash gift of $1,000.
"[He] Offered by Tigers Player's Agency, an undercover reporter, purportedly interested in acting on behalf of Players Osas Okoro and Rabiu Ali, for their inclusion in the list of players for 2018 CHAN Competition in Morocco."
He insisted at the time that the money was a gift and that the players were selected on merit and he is yet to say whether he will appeal the sanctions.
"There is nothing in the allegation pointing to a demand for the money from the agents of the two principals. Rather, the agent only handed the money to me after expressing 'hope' that the principals would play in the Championship," he said in a right of reply.
"Be that as it may, I did accept cash handed to me by one of the said football agents, which I later discovered, upon checking, to be $750 and not $1000."
Yusuf was assistant to Gernot Rohr at the recent World Cup in Russia and led the Nigeria to the final of this year's Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in Morocco.
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