2018 World Cup: No need to participate since we can’t win – Dalung

Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung has described Nigeria’s participation in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers as a ‘waste of money’.

He said Nigeria does not need to participate in the World Cup if the nation cannot win the tournament.

The Sports Minister said this on Friday in an interview with Voice of America.

According to him, Nigeria should only participate in competitions like the African Nations Cup and the Commonwealth games they are guaranteed of winning.

Dalung said, “The cup that we can win is the African Cup of Nations.

“There is nothing again that will take us to another man’s balcony in the name of the World Cup. We already have the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. For these, we can attend such meets.

“But I am opposed to the World Cup. We don’t agree to it. Conspiracy in the World Cup is too much.

“We are here suffering from hunger and we don’t have money for such things.

“There is the issue of bribery and favouritism, there is also the issue of corruption before you are even given the hosting rights.

“That is why, even if we try many times, once it gets into the politics of the game, we can never win.

“That was why this year, we had to tackle him (FIFA President, Ginani Infantino) and we said, ‘you , Infantino, if you win this election, you have to give us a position.

“If not, we shall not agree.’ And you see, by the grace of God, he even picked an African as his Secretary-General, that means one day, we shall get to really lick the honey, that also means he has started taking honey and rubbing on our lips,” he added.

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NDLEA nabs 11 farmers with cannabis (Marijuana) worth N309m in Osun

Officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) on Friday said they arrested 11 suspects and destroyed 2, 317 bags of cannabis weighing 30,992kgs.

The agency’s spokesperson, Mr Mitchell Ofoyeju, stated this in a statement on Friday in Lagos.

He also said that some 67 bags were also transferred to Osun State Command of the agency as exhibits for further investigation.

“The cannabis will also serve as evidence against 11 suspected farmers arrested during an operation inside the cannabis plantation.

“The suspects arrested in connection with the cannabis cultivation are Kofi Mensah, Godwin Monday, Albert Aniama, Liberty Onyeka and Peter Nelson.

“Others are Harrison Ewoka, Ossai Nelson, Sulaiman Niyi, Dominic Tobechukwu, Mutiu Kolawole and Chucks Oghenekwu.

“The raid operation codenamed ‘Operation Herb Spring’ was in response to an intelligence received by the Agency on the activities of cannabis cultivators in the forest.

“The exhibits was estimated to worth three hundred and nine million naira (N309million).

“These exhibits were found in 27 camps used as storage facilities located within a farmland at Orita-Ijebu forest reserve, Ikoyi area of Ikire in Ayedade LGA of Osun State.

“Drug cartels have invaded government forest reserves for the cultivation of cannabis,“ the spokesman said.

He also quoted the Chairman of the agency, Mr Muhammad Abdallah , who said concerted efforts were needed to stop cannabis cultivation.

He said that farmers should be encouraged to cultivate food and economic crops.

“Unless the current trend of cannabis cultivation is addressed, the country is on the verge of a devastating food insecurity.

“It is worrisome that the cartels are using government forest reserves in the cultivation of cannabis.

“Stakeholders must strategise on how to increase food production and prevent criminal organisations from diverting arable farmland for cannabis cultivation.

“A situation where food and cash crops is paving way for cannabis plant portend danger and deserve urgent attention.

“The operation was a sweet victory for the agency because the farmers had done all the work by harvesting and processing the cannabis awaiting evacuation from the farms.

“It was a perfect timing for the Agency and a painful loss to the drug barons.

“They had prepared the cannabis in bags waiting for shipment when we raided.

“The Agency will continue to launch similar devastating attacks on drug trafficking cartels until they are completely defeated.

“All suspects will be arraigned soon,” Abdallah said. (NAN)

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Two ways I have saved Nigeria’s economy – Emefiele

Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, has pointed out two policies he has implemented, that have saved the country’s economy from total collapse.

Emefiele claims that if not for his intervention with those policies, the current recession would have been more critical.

He said this while speaking at the All Civil Society National Economic Summit in Abuja, in a message conveyed by his aide, Emmanuel Ukeje.

According to him, the first way he achieved that, was to ensure bank recapitalization.

“For instance, prior to recapaitalition, the total number of commercial banks could not match asset base of a single South African bank. But this is not the case anymore as our banks are now robust.” he said.

Secondly, the adoption of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) was targeted at blocking loopholes in the banking sector.

“The same goes for TSA which removed sharp practices in some banks as instances arose where you had banks using government money lodged with them to buy government bonds.

“In other words, government was buying bonds back with their own cash through these banks which basically reaped the system,” Emefiele added.

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FG to notify 200,000 youths to be employed under N-Power project soon

The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, has disclosed that the 200,000 youths to be employed under the Federal Government’s employment
scheme, N-Power will be notified soon.

The VP aide who took to his twitter handle, @Akandeoj said successful applicants will be notified “any moment from now.”

According to the tweet: “The 200K unemployed graduates selected in first batch of N-power jobs will be notified any moment from now.

“ 150K will teach, 50K for health & agric.”

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