Gold
Tokyo Olympics: Minister confident Nigeria will return to track and field podium
Youth and Sports Development Minister Sunday Dare is confident Nigeria’s 13 year wait for a track and field medal at the Olympics will end this year at the Tokyo Games. Nigeria last won a track and field medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when the women’s 4x100m relay team and Blessing Okagbare (long jump) won silver medals and the Sports Minister is confident track and field will start delivering the medals like it did in 1996 in Atlanta. Track and Field has accounted for 13 of the 25 medals Team Nigeria have won at the Games. The sport has also delivered two of the three gold medals won with a first ever individual gold by Chioma Ajunwa in the women’s long jump. ”The performances of our athletes so far this year have given us renewed hopes that Nigerian track and field athletes can be...
NSF: We’ve surpassed our expectations in swimming – Bayelsa coach
The coach of Bayelsa’s swimming team, Gentle Offoin, says the team has surpassed its expectations at the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival (NSF), Edo 2020. Offoin told newsmen in Edo on Friday, that nobody could stop Bayelsa in any swimming event after this NSF. The coach said the team’s success so far at the ongoing Edo 2020 was not magic, but due to hard work and the support of the state government. “Our success here is not magic, it is the training. We spent a lot of time training and training, even when the festival was postponed. “We kept training and at the end we got the result. “Our expectation for the festival was to win 10 gold medals, so far, we have nine and this is just the fifth day of the NSF and we hope to surpass our expectation,” he said. He added that the team hoped ...
Yinka Odumakin: Premature departure of a bright star – Senator Tinubu
Like millions of Nigerians, I received with profound shock the news of the death early this morning of Mr. Yinka Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifere, committed fighter for democracy, dedicated civil society activist, courageous and outspoken defender of whatever ideals and principles he believed in and a patriotic citizen in every sense of the word. Ever since his student days, Odumakin had been fearless and unrelenting in speaking up in promoting the cause of justice and what he perceived as the best interest of the citizens of Nigeria. He participated actively at the forefront in the various students and youth struggles against successive military dictatorships in the 1980s and 1990s. In the process, he was arrested, harassed and even detained several times. Yet, he never allowed himself to...
Japan releases softball squad for Tokyo Olympic Games
Japanese softball team head coach Reika Utsugi has urged her players to capture Olympic gold on home soil after naming a 15-strong squad for Tokyo 2020. The team features Yukiko Ueno, captain Yamada Eri and Yukiyo Mine who helped Japan clinch softball gold at Beijing 2008 – the last time the sport featured at the Games. Pitchers Yamato Fujita and Miu Goto, who was named Most Valuable Player in last season’s Japan Women’s Softball League, as well as star outfielder Saki Yamazaki are other notable names. Haruka Agatsuma, Nayu Kiyohara, Mana Atsumi, Yuka Ichiguchi, Hitomi Kawabata, Minori Naito, Yu Yamamoto, Nodoka Harada and Sayaka Mori have also been chosen. “Of course, skills and physical competence are the necessary elements,” said Utsugi. “But in selecting the 15 members, we also took th...
UN official highlights values of water in fighting coronavirus pandemic
Water has many values that are just not priced, Sasha Koo-Oshima, the Deputy Director, Land and Water Division, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), told Xinhua ahead of the World Water Day on March 29. The official highlighted that with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, a large part of the world population still lacks access to handwashing facilities at home. “This is the first line of defence against this virus and the value of water is very evident in this progression. “The first thing we realised is handwashing. Many countries just don’t have clean water to even just wash hands,” she said. The UN on Monday warned that more than two billion people do not have direct access to water, the “blue gold” which is essential in defeating the pandemic. In its World Water Development Re...
DR Congo: A Sad Tale Of Suffering In The Midst Of Plenty
DR Congo: A Sad Tale of Suffering in The Midst of Plenty… I saw a video today, of some Congolese who discovered a mountain full of gold in their region, and the villagers quickly swarmed in on the mountain, digging away with their hands and any other instrument they could find. Whether or not the video is authentic I cannot tell, but what I am sure of is the living hell that life in DR of Congo has become today. And this suffering is not due to a fault of theirs, but purely what God has blessed them with. [embedded content] The story of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the largest and richest countries in Africa is one of suffering in midst of plenty. For years, powerful western nations plundered that nation, and now, since 1996, over 6 million Congolese have died in the most inhum...
Ondo Amotekun arrests illegal gold miners
The Ondo State Security Network also known as Operation Amotekun has announced the arrest of persons involved in illegal gold mining activities in the state. The suspects, according to the commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye, were arrested at different locations in Owo forest reserves on Sunday. He gave the names of those arrested as Shuaibu Yahaya, Habbi Usman, Kabiru Waheed, Mohammed Nurudeen, Mohammed Sulaman, Ali Mustapha, Ismaila Wahab, Musa Zeehed, Gabbar Musa, Sule Adamu, Abba Suleman, Usman Kabiru, Yahaya Danladi and Usman Ali Zekeri. The Amotekun official told journalists in Akure, Ondo State, on Monday that the suspects were arrested while operatives were enforcing the order given by Governor Rotimi Makinde that all illegal occupiers of forests reserved should vacate. “The ar...
Northern elders restate total support for President Buhari, APC
Northern elders have restated their unflinching support to President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress, APC-led federal administration in the country. They have also appealed to Nigerians to be patient and believe in the Buhari government, saying the president was taking steps to addressing the current challenges especially insecurity confronting Nigeria. This came as they berated stakeholders in the region over what they described as their long silence in the face of unbearable criminal acts by herdsmen across the country thereby denting the image of the region. The elders under the umbrella of Coalition of Northern Elders for Peace and Development, in a statement on Saturday, however, commended renowned Islamic Scholar and preacher, Sheik Abubakar Gumi for taking bold st...
US Democrat Senate wins push stocks higher despite Capitol chaos
Clean sweep by Democrats allows them to enact big-spending policies likely to benefit the economy, investors say. Global stock markets rose and bonds nursed losses on Thursday in anticipation of a big-borrowing and big-spending Democratic administration driving growth, following runoff elections that gave the party control of both houses of the United States Congress. On Wednesday, US Treasury bonds had suffered their steepest selloff in months after Democratic Party victories in two races in the state of Georgia handed them narrow control of the Senate and the power to pass their agenda. US S&P 500 futures rose 0.6 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.9 percent as markets seemed to shake off a late fade that pulled Wall Street indexes back from fresh record peaks when chaotic protest...
2023: Group nominates Senator Nnamani for presidency
Herald The Ken Nnamani groups in the diaspora have nominated former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, as the most desirable candidate from South East to run for 2023 Nigerian President. The coalition said that Nnamani was most qualified because of his antecedent and experience of leadership in national administration. The groups cited Nnamani’s role in the country’s critical era of alleged third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and how he scuttled it, as a test case of his strong and unwavering character to preside over the country’s affairs. The groups’ Chairman, Lawrence Odoemelam, in a statement said that with the Igbos clamouring for a Nigerian President from the southeast, Nnamani fits into the cap for different reasons. He said that Nnamani ensured the stabilization of ...
Gold rises on renewed US stimulus hope, dollar falls
Spot gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,910.56 an ounce at 3:37pm, New York time, after falling as much as 0.5 percent. Gold rose on renewed optimism for a preelection aid package in the U.S., while the dollar fell to a one-week low. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a bill for a compromise stimulus package is being written as she awaits a key phone call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said his chamber would take up a comprehensive coronavirus package if an accord is struck. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index headed for the third straight decline. Pelosi said in a Bloomberg Television interview that while there are areas where more work is required to get a compromise, she was pleased with the Trump administration’s latest position on coronavirus testing ...
UK education academy confers prestigious senior fellowship on Nigerian born academic
A UK-based Nigerian academic from Osun State and Chairman of TEXEM UK, Dr Alim Abubakre has been awarded UK’s prestigious Senior Fellowship of the Advanced Higher Education Academy (HEA). According to a statement on Tuesday from TEXEM’s website signed by Caroline Lucas, this followed a rigorous review of Abubakre’s impressive record of accomplishment of contributing to advancing Executive Development in the UK, Africa and North America. He was subsequently adjudged worthy and conferred with the UK’s prestigious Senior Fellowship of the HEA which is the UK’s Gold standard in pedagogy. The senior HEA fellowship is also a UK national recognition for leadership, excellence, expertise and commitment to professionalism in teaching and learning. Abubakre has been able to present a thorough unders...
