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Thursday 3 October 2013

Amadu: NFF is taking Ethiopia match very serious on october 03, 2013 at 12:42 am in sports


General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Barrister Musa Amadu stated emphatically on Wednesday that the Federation is not in agreement with those thinking Ethiopia’s Walya Antelopes belong to the featherweight category and would be easily over-run by the Super Eagles in next weekend’s World Cup qualifying cracker in Addis Ababa.

“Yes, we believe that the Super Eagles, champions of Africa, will come out of Addis Ababa with a good result, but we are not taking the match lightly. We do not subscribe to the suggestion that all we need do is turn up in Ethiopia and we would decimate the opposition without lifting a finger.

“There is this cliche that there are no longer minnows in international football. That is why the NFF is making all the arrangements to prepare the Super Eagles adequately for the match, and ensure the team travels in comfort to and from Ethiopia.

“We have already written to the NSC for use of the refurbished mainbowl of the National Stadium, Abuja for the team to train between Monday and Friday, before the departure to Ethiopia on Friday night.”Amadu spoke in Abuja while receiving a delegation of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, led by the President-General, Dr. Rafiu Olalere Oladipo.

“That we are the African champions is a fact, and that Ethiopia is lowest-ranked African side remaining in the race is also a fact. But we are not going to look at those statistics and discountenance the Antelopes. The Addis Ababa Stadium is one of the most difficult venues for visiting teams in African football.

“We know that the Coaches are working to pick our best and strongest players to play that match. It is very important for us to get the 2014 FIFA World Cup ticket because next year marks 100 years of the amalgamation of our country and every Nigerian is looking forward seeing the Super Eagles at the World Cup in Brazil.”

Speaking earlier, Dr. Oladipo stressed the fact that the upcoming fixture with the Ethiopians is a Nigeria Project, insisting: “Nigeria’s flag must fly at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

“Not only are we the champions of Africa, we are also the biggest black nation on earth. We have the players to do the job but we must all be united, from the players to the NFF to the entire football family, we must be united in pursuit of this noble cause.

“We are aware of the constraints of the NFF, and that is why the Supporters Club has decided to appeal to Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR to see the match in Ethiopia as a special project and take special interest in seeing that as many Nigerian fans as possible travel for the match.”

Dr. Oladipo’s entourage included the Deputy President-General, Alhaji Waheed Adenrele Yusuf, Secretary General, Reverend Samuel Ikpea, Acting National Chairman, Mr. Vincent Okumagba and Treasurer, Mr. Sunday Eboh. Also at the occasion were NFF Director of Competitions, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, Assistant Director (Media), Mr. Ademola Olajire and special assistant to General Secretary, Dr. Christian Emeruwa.

Jackson’s jailed doctor welcomes jury decision absolving AEG Live on october 03, 2013 at 9:57 pm in sports

The doctor convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of Michael Jackson welcomed on Thursday a jury’s decision absolving concert promoter AEG Live of the pop star’s death.

Speaking from jail to NBC’s Today Show, Dr Conrad Murray said that the lawsuit brought by Jackson’s family against the company was “frivolous’’ and that he cried when he heard it had been dismissed.

“I cried because for once the world was allowed to hear some of the facts … much of which I was denied and my attorneys could not present during my criminal trial’’, said Murray.

Dr. Murray (middle) in court

Murray is due to be released later this month after serving a two-year sentence for his role in Jackson’s death.

He was convicted in 2011 of violating medical procedures by giving the insomniac Jackson the hospital anesthetic Propofol as a sleeping aid. The drug was found to have caused the heart attack that killed Jackson in June 2009 as he was about to embark on a sold-out comeback tour.

Jackson’s family sued AEG Live for the death, claiming that it bore ultimate responsibility. The lawsuit claimed that the company was negligent in hiring Jackson’s doctor who was incompetent to provide him with medical care.

It said this was because of the physician’s precarious financial position which meant he would bend medical rules to ensure the tour would go ahead.

But after a five-month trial and four days of jury deliberations, the panel of six men and women found that although AEG had hired Murray, it had not been negligent in employing the doctor, who had been treating Jackson and his children beforehand.

The jury’s unanimous decision brought to an end a trial that depicted the fragility of the former King of Pop and his reliance on a dangerous, and ultimately fatal, drug cocktail to function in his everyday life.

AEG Live denied any wrongdoing, insisting that Jackson was responsible for his own medical choices.

“The jury’s decision completely vindicates AEG Live, confirming what we have known from the start – that although Michael Jackson’s death was a terrible tragedy, it was not a tragedy of AEG Live’s making,” attorney Marvin Putnam said in a written statement to CNN.

Had the company been found liable, it could have been on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation for Jackson’s lost income. (dpa/NNA)

After ASUU … on october 03, 2013 at 4:00 am in editorial

THERE is a paradox governments have built around education — they are spending billions of Naira on education, yet the financial issues around education are not being resolved. The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, strike is only one of many matters that are dogging education.

Government’s supposed interests in negotiating with ASUU, the speed being applied, and the uttermost neglect of other aspects of education confirm the diminishing importance that governments attach to education.

ASUU’s case is exceptional, in that governments appeared concerned. When the Academic Staff Union Polytechnics, ASUP, went on strike, it took almost three months before governments started talking to the union. The issue remains partially resolved.

With the ASUU strike, the failure of governments and their programmes are obvious. Governments sign agreements they do not intend to keep. ASUU is on strike over a 2009 agreement. Governments want to re-negotiating implementation of a four-year-old agreement.

They also know that the negotiations for a new agreement are due. We have governments that plan for immediate needs, if they ever do. They are exhausting themselves over ASUU strike as if meeting ASUU’s demands would resolve the challenges that our education faces, among them irrelevant curricula.

How do governments spend billions of Naira they budget annually for education? Bureaucracy consumes the bulk of the money. Duplication of agencies that manage education is the biggest cost centre in our national education management. Governments are running up new costs.

New higher institutions are being built with emphases on physical structures. Laboratories, libraries and research centres that they require to be centres for meaningful academic engagements are available in inadequate numbers.

It is absurd that governments — the owners of the universities — would need an ASUU strike to determine the status of the facilities in universities.

What plans do governments have for education? How would they tackle sustainable funding so that we are not soon back to another wave of strikes in a matter of months? Would governments ever consider education important enough that it should run without disruptions from strike?

There would be no easy solutions. Many of the federal agencies on education just drain resources that should have been invested in improving learning facilities. States imitate the federal waste, making education one of governments’ biggest cost centres, without commensurate value for the expenditures.

Governments can save costs by eliminating duplication in the functions of education agencies. There should be clearer lines about the roles of governments at different levels of education. The Federal Government should not be dabbling into primary school education.

Finally, the future of education is too important to be left to haphazard funding. Governments should provide resources for education beyond ASUU’s demands.

Senate in full support of National Confab – Abaribe on october 03, 2013 at 9:21 am in news

By JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & JOSEPH ERUNKE

ABUJA—THE Senate, yesterday, said it was in full support of the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan to convoke a national conference, saying the development was in line with earlier call of its president, David Mark, to that effect.

The upper legislative chamber said it was aware that the national conference, as being designed by President Jonathan, would be limited to the scope where the sovereignty of Nigeria was not called to question.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who stated the position of the Senate in a press statement, insisted: “It is, therefore, given that the proposed conference is in tandem with the time tested stand of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and as enunciated by the President of the Senate, Senator David A. B Mark in his address at the last Nigerian Bar Association Conference in Calabar and to senators penultimate week.

“The Senate has always canvassed the position that it will always welcome a conference where all ethnic nationalities would converge to discuss all critical issues and proffer the very best way that will enhance national unity. The Senate red-line and for which was aptly factored in the President’s broadcast is the conferment of a sovereign status to the conference.

“The Senate is happy that it is a conference that will hold with due respect to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. It has always been Senate’s considered stand that there cannot be two sovereigns at a time.”

It said it was “gratified with the development and see it as an opportunity to address all of Nigeria’s structural problems that keeps agitating the mind of her ethnic nationalities,” adding, “the Senate is confident that the conference’s final outcome would go a long way to cement Nigeria’s unity.”

Monday 30 September 2013

HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSION.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his strips we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 Everything that Jesus Christ, the son of the living and true God suffered on the cross of Calvary was for you and all who will dare to believe. What was the purpose of his death? Actually, so many but this verse gives the summary as: 1. Sinners substitute. He was wounded for our transgressions; by the law of God, the soul that sinneth shall die. The doom of the sinner is obvious and fixed. Adam and Eve played with that law and they paid dearly for it. They died at degrees. Unfortunately, that decree continued and so all men became condemned prisoners waiting hopelessly for their execution. Then Jesus came. The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He died the death every man that ever will live on earth should have died. He became your substitute. John 3:16 says for God so loved the world (you) that he gave his only begotten son- Jesus, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You will not perish; all you need to do is believe on Jesus, repent of your sins and put your faith in his perfect sacrifice. 2. Healing and health. .....and with his strips we are healed. At Pilate's judgment hall, Jesus was tied to the pole and forty strokes of the Roman Soldiers whip were laid on. Medical Science reports that all the diseases that afflicts human race is categorized into forty. That's one strip of Jesus for a category. Glory be to God! That's why the Scripture said by his strips we are healed. Notice that the word heal is in the past tense. That means you carry a healed body, not a sick and sickly body. Believe this and you will be healthy. Also, Since by God's decree your body is a healed body, every sickness that comes in there is guilty and must receive divine instant judgment when you command and you or anyone you pray for will be healed. One of my one year old twin daughters was sick sometimes ago. Her body was very hot. Then I Carried her on my chest because I was lying down and told the sickness that it was contradicting God's law and the judgment is that I cast it into hell right now in the name of Jesus. I dropped my daughter and went into the bathroom to bath. Before I came out, the sickness vanished. Hallelujah, by his strips you are healed. He died for you to save, heal and bless your life. Believe it and you will experience it. Your life will never be the same again in Jesus name. Type a big Amen If you believe. If you have read this post, you must 've seen a little of the great power the Gospel of Christ carries. You can delve into this ocean of power with this book; the power that makes the Gospel revolutionary You will surely experience God in a new and exciting way. God bless you.