Niger
AFCONQ: Kaizer Chiefs confirm Daniel Akpeyi’s Super Eagles call-up
South African giants, Kaizer Chiefs, has confirmed that goalkeeper, Daniel Akpeyi, has received a call up for Super Eagles’ 2022 Africa Cup of Nations double-header against Sierra Leone in November. The Eagles are billed to face the Leone Stars in a Group L fixture at the newly refurbished Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in Benin on November 13 before playing the return leg four days later in Freetown. Akpeyi manned the posts in the Eagles opening two games of the qualifiers against Benin and Lesotho in November 2019, but missed out of the team’s international friendly games against African champions Algeria and Tunisia earlier this month in Austria. Amakhosi confirmed Akpeyi’s invitation on their website, “Chiefs will be well represented on the international front next month during the internati...
Andrey Arshavin: Moses is a strong character for Russian championship
Former Russian attacking midfielder Andrey Arshavin says Victor Moses’ arrival has strengthened Spartak Moscow and expects him to help the club this season. Moses scored his first goal in Russian football as Spartak Moscow thrashed their hosts Krasnodar 3 – 0 last weekend. The former Nigerian international was also involved in the Moscow derby against CSKA eight days ago. Speaking on the impact of Moses on Spartak Moscow since his arrival, Arshavin who also played for the club during his days, said Moses is a strong character for the Russian championship and has improved the team. “I think it was clear that this is a strong footballer for our championship. Moses has strengthened the necessary position for Spartak.” Andrey Arshavin said “I remember how he played for Wigan against us. He pla...
Niger insists no going back on roads closure to trucks
Niger State Government says it will not go back on the restriction order placed on heavy trucks plying the state-owned roads which took effect on the 15th September, 2020. This is coming after the State government had assured that its position will be reviewed as event concerning the closure unfolds. The state government maintained that its decision to close down all state government roads was done within the confines of law stressing that adequate consultations and sensitization with relevant stakeholders were made and two weeks notice was also served to general public as well as relevant road transport organizations before the roads were barricaded. As such, the state government will not relent on its oars to ensure that the State owned roads are not accessed by articulated vehicles, the...
CAN accuses Niger government of not honoring agreement to employ CRK teachers
File Photo The Niger State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has accused the State Government of reneging on its agreement to recruit Christian Religious Knowledge, CRK, teachers in schools. Reiterating the position of the association on the issue, the state CAN Chairman, Reverend Mathias Echioda, after the inaugural meeting of the Christian Teachers’ Forum in Minna, told newsmen that teaching of CRK has become a problem in the institutions of learning at both primary and secondary levels in Niger State. The cleric said, “The teaching of CRK is becoming a problem in our institutions of learning especially from the primary to the secondary level, as I check through the lists of schools in Niger State, I discovered that most primary and secondary schools do not have Chris...
Kebbi floods: Nigeria-Niger Highway to be shut as government relocates citizens
Troubled by rampaging floods which have washed off many portions of the Nigeria-Niger Highway, the Kebbi State Government is considering closing parts of the road. Already, the state has revamped the Internally Displaced Peoples camp at Kalgo with a view to moving natives of 11 worst-affected communities to the camp to prevent imminent threats to their lives. The Birnin Kebbi-Makera-Kangiwa Highway, which runs from the state capital Birnin Kebbi, is at risk of caving in at Duku, 40 kilometres to the border with Nigeria’s northern neighbour. Some of the minor bridges and culverts along the highway are being eroded. Already, five bridges in different parts of the state have been washed away by the flood, according to the Kebbi State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) chairman, Alhaji Sani Do...
83 stranded migrants rescued in Sahara desert
Reuters Eighty-three migrants were saved last week after their smugglers abandoned them in the Sahara desert in northern Niger, the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday. A team from the IOM and Niger’s Civil Protection service found the group 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the crossroads town of Dirkou on September 3, the agency said on Facebook. The 83 comprised 75 Nigerians, 41 of them women, including twin four-year-old girls, as well as four Togolese, three Ghanaians, and a Malian. They had left the Nigerien town of Agadez, the main stepping-off point for African migrants trying to cross into Europe via Libya, a week earlier. On September 1, the migrants were abandoned by their four drivers, after first taking all their belongings, when they spotted military vehicl...
Plateau United coach seeks financial support to achieve Champions League Semi final target
Plateau United coach Abdu Maikaba has stated that they need the required support to meet the target of semi-finals of the 2020/2021 CAF Champions League. The former Akwa United coach admitted the 2017 NPFL champions will require even more backing and hard work to realize their last-four ambition in the competition – a feat which was last achieved by a Nigerian club – Sunshine Stars in 2012. “They (Plateau State Government) gave us enough support, but actually, we have to work very hard to achieve that target,” he said. “Getting to the semi-finals (of the CAF Champions League) is not an easy task, and we have to work very, very hard. We have to be given all the necessary support to get there. “In terms of personnel, like the replacement of players, I have to get the support to make the repl...
Presidential elections in Ghana, others top agenda at ECOWAS meeting
The 44th Ordinary Meeting of the Mediation and Security Council of the Economic Community of West African States has called attention to the ongoing insurgency in Nigeria, Gambia and Guinea Bissau as well as the political crisis in Mali. The Council at its meeting in Niamey, Niger, on Friday, also focused on forthcoming presidential elections in Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Niger. The meeting was presided over by the Nigerien Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Mediation and Security Council, Kalla Ankourao. Ankourao recalled the challenges COVID-19 has brought upon the region coupled with the breakdown in democratic governance in Mali. He urged the ECOWAS body to take the necessary steps for the preparation and smooth conduct of the upcoming presidential electi...
French anti-jihadist force kills civilian in Mali
French anti-jihadist troops in Mali killed a civilian Tuesday and injured two others after a bus refused to slow down in a volatile area despite their orders, the French army command said. The incident occurred about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the city of Gao in Mali’s troubled north. The French soldiers fired warning shots in the ground but two bullets bounced off and hit the windscreen, wounding three people, including one fatally, the French army command said. “The seriously wounded person was evacuated by helicopter to the hospital of the (French) Barkhane force in Gao, but died of his injuries,” it said. “All steps have been taken to ascertain the exact sequence of events,” it said, expressing its “sincere condolences to the family of the deceased.” Mali is now under the control of...
Governor Zulum: I criticise troops to help them improve
Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno state, says he is critical of the Nigerian army so that they can improve in their fight against insurgency. Zulum said this on Thursday when he commissioned the Tukur Buratai Institute for War and Peace, located in Biu local government area of the state. The institute is named after Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff. The governor has come down hard on the army in recent times. In January, he accused troops of extorting road users. He also threatened to replace soldiers with local hunters if they are unable to secure Baga following the attack on his convoy in June. While the attack was believed to have been carried out by Boko Haram insurgents, Zulum accused the military officials of sabotage, alleging that they were the ones who attacked him. The military...
Nigeria records lowest daily virus cases in three months
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 221 new cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak in the country. The NCDC made this known on its official twitter handle on Wednesday. Newsmen report that the 221 new cases was the lowest number of cases recorded in the country in about three months. It recalls that on Aug. 4, Nigeria reported 288 COVID-19 new cases and 290 one week later, while another low figure of 252 was recorded on Aug. 25. NCDC said that there were more persons who died of COVID-19 related complications in the country in the last 24 hours with the national death toll rising to 1,010. The NCDC said that the number of recovery crossed the 40,000 mark after 317 more people were treated and discharged from isolation centres across the country. The agenc...
West African delegation ‘very hopeful’ after meeting Mali junta
A West African delegation visiting Mali to push for a speedy return to civilian rule following a coup said it was “very hopeful” on Saturday after meeting with the country’s military junta and the president it ousted. The head of the delegation from the regional Ecowas bloc, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, said that detained Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was doing relatively well. “We saw him, he’s very fine,” said Jonathan, who had earlier met for half an hour with the soldiers who seized power on Tuesday, including new strongman Colonel Assimi Goita. Jonathan told AFP that negotiations were going well and he was “very hopeful”. Rebel soldiers seized Keita and other leaders after a mutiny on Tuesday, dealing another deep blow to a country already struggling with a b...
