WAY
AIBA approves new constitution in bid to regain IOC recognition
International Boxing Association (AIBA) has taken a step towards repairing a much-maligned governance structure that has been frequently criticised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after it approved an updated constitution at its virtual Congress. Under the new constitution, AIBA has installed term limits, rebranded the Executive Committee to the Board of Directors and reduced the number of members on the ruling body from 32 to 22. AIBA is hopeful the renewed document will appease the IOC, which last year suspended it as the Olympic governing body for the sport and stripped it of any involvement in the boxing tournament at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games because of concerns over its governance, finances and refereeing and judging. The Inquiry Committee, led by IOC Executive Board ...
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must avoid Jose Mourinho’s mistakes to succeed
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has arguably fallen into the Jose Mourinho trap and needs to sort things out before they get out of hand. Sir Alex Ferguson often spoke about how, when setting his teams up, he would mostly focus on his own side and only a little attention was spent on the opponent. The legendary Scotsman made it a point to reiterate the balance was delicate and couldn’t sway too much in the other direction or it’d become dangerous. Mourinho often set United up on a match by match basis and it was why he was accused of not having any real tactics, philosophy or style at the club. When Solskjaer came in it was clear what he wanted the team to do and it was just a case of making the players do it better to show progression. It was partly why he won the job- for hav...
US country music star Charley Pride dies of coronavirus
US country music star Charley Pride has died of complications from Covid-19 at the age of 86, his family said Saturday in a message posted to the singer’s website. Pride’s “rich baritone voice and impeccable song-sense altered American culture,” the statement read further. Born a sharecropper’s son in Sledge, Mississippi, on March 18, 1934, Pride became US country music’s first Black superstar and the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Between 1967 and 1987, Pride delivered 52 Top 10 country hits, won Grammy awards, and became RCA Records’ top-selling country artist. His best-known songs include “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’” and “Please Help Me I’m Falling.” He won the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1971, its top male vocalist prize in 1971 a...
WAFU B Cup: Ghana fall to Cote d’Ivoire but book Niger date
Ghana have ended their group stage campaign at the ongoing Wafu B Cup of Nations in Benin with a 1-0 loss to Ivory Coast but will still progress to the next round of the competition courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Nigeria on the last matchday. Kossi Nguessan’s second-half free-kick proved the separating factor at Stade de Gaules in Porto Novo on Saturday. The Black Satellites ultimately finished second in a three-team group, setting up a semi-final date with Niger. The 2009 world champions had already booked the qualification to the next round of the championship before Saturday’s last group game, having amassed vital three points in their first game against archrivals Nigeria. Ghana coach Abdul Karim Zito made five changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s game, bringing on Alhassan U...
President Akufo-Addo: Sustenance of Ghana’s peace is a shared responsibility
President Akufo-Addo says the sustenance of the country’s peace is a shared responsibility for all Ghanaians and has therefore entreated citizens to play their part in keeping the country united even after a fiercely contested election. The President’s comment comes after pockets of violent clashes and vandalism by some elements who feel aggrieved following the declaration of the election results by the chairperson of the Electoral Commission led to a few deaths across the country. Addressing the Muslim community at a thanksgiving service at the Central Mosque in Accra Friday, President Akufo-Addo expressed hope that the Ghanaian people will find a way to come together as one people. “I’m confident that the good sense of the Ghanaian people will make sure that the peace and stability of ou...
Mikel Arteta wants Arsenal transfer European form into Premier League
Mikel Arteta has demanded Arsenal transfer their Europa League form into the Premier League, where he says his side need to start winning matches “immediately”. Goals from Eddie Nketiah, Mohamed Elneny, Joe Willock and Folarin Balogun helped the Gunners ease past Irish side Dundalk 4-2 in Dublin on Thursday to finish top of Group B with a 100 per cent record – the first time they have won six successive European matches since 2005. That fine European form is in sharp contrast to their domestic struggles, where the club have lost six out of their last nine matches to slump to 15th in the table. With the Europa League now finished with until February, Arsenal can focus all their attention on domestic competition, with Arteta stressing the urgent need to pick up positive results, starting wit...
NHRC: Ending gender-based violence is responsibility of all
In commemoration of the International Human Rights Day, the National Human Rights Commission, Ebonyi State Chapter, Thursday, called on all citizens to join hands to put an end to all forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, SGBV. The Commission in collaboration with other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO)/Community and Social Organizations (CSOs) made this call at a seminar organized at Pinnacle Hotels, Abakaliki, to mark the world’s Human Rights Day and the end of the 16 days of activism of campaign against violation of human rights. Speaking on the year’s theme “Recover better – Stand Up for Human Rights,” the National Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu (Esq) said the selection was made considering the need to recover fully from COVID-19 pandemic and restore the sit...
Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine
Canadian health officials have authorised the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, hailing the development as a “critical milestone” and paving the way for the inoculant to be administered across the country. The authorisation on Wednesday comes a day after the United Kingdom became the first country to begin giving the vaccine to the public. Emergency use authorisation (EUA) is also pending in the United States, with officials saying the first doses could be administered as early as next week. The US Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to consider its EUA on Thursday. Bahrain has also authorised the vaccine for public use. “Canadians can feel confident that the review process was rigorous and that we have strong monitoring systems in place,” Health Canada, the department responsible fo...
UNICEF embarks on coronavirus sensitisation tour of Abia
The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has appealed to the Abia state government, parents and school authorities in the state to ensure that their children and wards adhere strictly to all COVID-19 protocols in order to avoid the ugly experience of getting another round of Covid-19. According to the world body, the effect of COVID-19 second phase in Europe and Asia has been devastating, pointing out that though Africa has been lucky to have recorded fewer casualties, government, parents and teachers cannot continue to depend on luck to survive the pandemic. The Desk Officer of UNCEF, Mr Okezie Nkpa who made the appeal when UNICEF, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and some media personnel staged a sensitization tour of some schools in Abia South, Abia Central and Abia Nort...
Nigerian government wants children’s parliament established in schools
Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen has called for the establishment of children’s parliament in schools to aide planning and implementation of programmes affecting children. Tallen made the call on Tuesday in Abuja during an interaction with children in commemoration of the 16 days activism to end Gender Based Violence (GBV). She said establishing children’s parliament in schools would provide a platform for students to express their views, help in implementing programmes affecting them and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. “It is my hope that after this event, the school authorities will set up guidelines to establish Children’s Parliament within the schools. “This will provide a platform for harvesting the voices of children in planning and implementing ...
Akwa Ibom Assembly passes N456.25 billion Appropriation Bill
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Tuesday passed into Law the state appropriation bill of N456.25billion for the 2021 fiscal year. The 2021 appropriation bill is broken down to of N164.52billion Recurrent expenditure, N241.45billion Capital Expenditure and N50.3billion for Consolidated Revenue Fund Charges. This is against the N435.65billion proposed by the governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel to the House of Assembly in the month of October. The bill was passed after the adoption of the report of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriation Committee, presented by the Chairman, Mr Uduak Odudoh, during Tuesday plenary. Odudoh explained that Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Non-Governmental Organisations and other relevant publics participated in the budget process before its passa...
NCC to ensure enforcement of copyright laws from 2021 – chief
File Photo The Director General, Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC), Mr John Asien, says the commission would focus more on the enforcement of copyright laws as from 2021. Asien told newsmen on the sidelines of the just concluded 39th International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) in Ilorin, that it would no longer be business as usual for pirates, as different strategies would be used, both online and in physical space, to ensure that pirates stopped selling pirated books. ”For us at the commission, we are more than committed, by next year we will be focusing more on enforcement and we are going to do that in all nooks and cranny of Nigeria. ”We are going to use different strategies and working on different platforms, both online and the physical space. This is beca...
