Nigerian duo, Victor Moses and William Troost-Ekong have been shortlisted for the 2018 edition of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) player of the year award. Both Nigeria Internationals ply their trades in England and Turkey respectively.
A statement from CAF released on Wednesday reads thus. “The winner will be decided by votes from the head coaches/technical directors of the national associations affiliated to CAF, members of the CAF technical and development committee and a panel of media experts,” said CAF.
“The awards gala will be held on Thursday, 4 January 2018 in Accra, Ghana.
“Nigerian energy giants, Aiteo, are the headline sponsors of next year’s edition that will see players, officials and administrators who distinguished themselves exemplary during the year under review being honoured for their efforts towards the development of the game on the continent.”
FULL NOMINEES LIST
African Player of the Year
1. Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)
2. Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso & Lyon)
3. Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo & Villareal)
4. Christian Atsu (Ghana & Newcastle)
5. Christian Bassogog (Cameroon & Henan Jianye)
6. Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
7. Eric Bailly (Cote d’Ivoire & Manchester United)
8. Essam El Hadary (Egypt & Al Taawoun)
9. Fabrice Ondoa (Cameroon & Sevilla)
10. Fackson Kapumbu (Zambia & Zesco)
11. Jean Michel Seri (Cote d’Ivoire & Nice)
12. Junior Kabananga (DR Congo & Astana)
13. Karim El Ahmadi (Morocco & Feyenoord)
14. Keita Balde (Senegal & Monaco)
15. Khalid Boutaib (Morocco & Yeni Malatyaspor)
16. Mbwana Samata (Tanzania & Genk)
17. Michael Olunga (Kenya & Girona)
18. Mohamed Salah (Egypt & Liverpool)
19. Moussa Marega (Mali & Porto)
20. Naby Keita (Guinea & RB Leipzig)
21. Percy Tau (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)
22. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon & Borussia Dortmund)
23. Sadio Mane (Senegal & Liverpool)
24. Thomas Partey (Ghana & Atletico Madrid)
25. Victor Moses (Nigeria & Chelsea)
26. Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon & Porto)
27. William Troost-Ekong (Nigeria & Bursaspor)
28. Yacine Brahimi (Algeria & Porto)
29. Youssef Msakni (Tunisia & Al Duhail)
30. Yves Bissouma (Mali & Lille)
African Player of the Year – Based in Africa
1. Achraf Bencharki (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
2. Ahmed Fathi (Egypt & Al Ahly)
3. Alkhaly Bangoura (Guinea & Etoile du Sahel)
4. Ali Maaloul (Tunisia & Al Ahly)
5. Aristide Bance (Burkina Faso & Al Masry)
6. Ayman Majid (Morocco & FUS Rabat)
7. Aymen Mathlouthi (Tunisia & Etoile du Sahel)
8. Ben Malango (DR Congo & TP Mazembe)
9. Dean Furman (South Africa & Supersport United)
10. Denis Onyango (Uganda & Mamelodi Sundowns)
11. Elsamani Saadeldin (Sudan & Al Merreikh)
12. Fackson Kapumbu (Zambia & Zesco)
13. Fawzi Chaouchi (Algeria & MC Alger)
14. Geoffrey Serunkuma (Uganda & KCCA)
15. Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand & Supersport)
16. Junior Ajayi (Nigeria & Al Ahly)
17. Karim Aouadhi (Tunisia & CS Sfaxien)
18. Mohamed Meftah (Algeria & USM Alger)
19. Mohamed Ounnajem (Morocco & Wydad Athletic Club)
20. Muaid Ellafi (Libya & Ahly Tripoli)
21. Nasr Eldin Ahmed (Sudan & Hilal Obeid)
22. Oussama Darfalou (Algeria & USM Alger)
23. Percy Tau (South Africa & Mamelodi Sundowns)
24. Sabelo Ndzinisa (Swaziland & Mbabane Swallows)
25. Saber Khalifa (Tunisia & Club Africain)
26. Saladin Said (Ethiopia & Saint George)
27. Sylvain Gbohouo (Cote d’Ivoire & TP Mazembe)
28. Tady Etekiama (DR Congo & AS Vita)
29. Taha Yassine Khenissi (Tunisia & Esperance)
30. Tarek Hamed (Egypt & Zamalek)
England beat Spain 5-2 to win the U17 World Cup.
In what can be described as an astounding victory, England win their first U-17 World Cup after turning an 0-2 deficit into a resounding 5-2 victory over Spain. Manchester City’s Phil Foden‘s double strikes inspired the incredible comeback victory at the Salt Lake Stadium in India.
England now double world youth football champions in 2017, having won U20 WC earlier this year.
It has been a rollercoaster year for England’s youth teams.
U17 Euros – Final
U18-20 Toulon – Winners
U20 WC – Winners
U21 Euros – Semi
U17 WC – Winners
Liverpool FC/England player, Rhian Brewster won the Man of the match award.
Asamoah Gyan obtains license to operate private airline in Ghana.
Ghana national team captain, Asamoah Gyan, has obtained a license from the government of Ghana, to operate an airline in the country. The airline, which is called Baby Jet Airlines, is expected to commence operations soon. The announcement was made by President Akufo-Addo at the 2017 African Airshow at the Kotoka International Airport.
The ex Sunderland striker will focus initially on cargo trips and grow from there.
“I’ve been reliable informed that the Captain of our senior national football team, the Black Stars, Asamoah Gyan, Baby Jet has obtained an air carrier license and is working feverishly to establish an airline, obviously called Baby Jet airlines. I want to call on other Ghanaians both home and abroad to invest in the rapidly growing aviation sector.” President Akufo-Addo said.
The 7 Deadly Sins A Nigerian President Should Avoid | By: Tony Ogunlowo
The race to be President of Nigeria in 2019 has already started – well, behind the scenes. Will it be the incumbent (- if he decides to run again!) or somebody else?
The Bible lists Gluttony, Greed, Pride, Envy, Lust, Sloth and Wrath as the 7 Deadly Sins to avoid during our time in life and other religions have similar requirements.
For a President to effectively rule a diverse country, like Nigeria, he (- or she!) needs to avoid the following 7 Deadly Sins:
1, The North- South palaver – As long as there is still Nigeria there will always be the debacle of the North-South divide.
Like two jealous lovers you can’t do one thing for one region without doing something equal for the other.
Over the years it’s become very petty and silly: the Presidency is rotated so that if you have a Northern President you must have a Southern Vice-President and in the next government it must be rotated to feature a Southerner as President and Northerner as Vice-President – whatever happened to electing the right person with the right qualifications to do the job irregardless of what region they’re from?
Again the Northern and Southern elders will dictate, to the President, on who gets the most ministers, budget allocations and federal installations. There’s nothing wrong in wanting the best for your region but things should be allocated on merit : for instance why appoint someone to head a ministry they’re not qualified to head because you have to bow to the whims of either a North or South elder or the quota system? Or why situate a nuclear research facility, for instance, in a region where the people are only interested in goat-herding?
To summarize the country cannot be ruled effectively by bowing to the demands of the North- Southerner gangs all the time.
2, Religion – Just like the North-South palaver, religion plays a key part in the running of the nation and should be steered away from: politics and religion don’t mix but funny enough, in Nigeria, they do. If you have a Muslim President then the Vice-President has to be a Christian and if the President is a Christian then the Vice President, without a doubt, will be a Muslim- Nonsense! Another outdated pro rata system that should be consigned to history. Again this prevents the right candidate from getting the job – and getting the job done!
The Presidents hands will also become tied because of religion: a Muslim President making policies that will affect Christians will face a backlash and if a Christian President does anything that will upset the Muslims he’ll be in trouble.
No politician’s hands should be tied because of religion: policies should be fair and applicable to all irrespective of their religious affiliations: for instance some protestant churches are getting out of control in the country and the Muslim President and government is powerless to say or do anything for fear of upsetting the Muslim-Christian code.
3, Kleptocracy – The mere fact the President has the sole ATM card to the nations’ bank account is not an excuse to loot it dry – thou shall not steal!
A President is the custodian of these finances and must ensure that they are distributed fairly – and honestly – to the various apparatus of government that require the funds and not divert them to private bank accounts in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands!
Even though some believe ‘corruption is not a crime’ it is as pilfered funds causes untold suffering for the masses who are supposed to be the end recipients. Therefore to re-iterate again – thou shall not steal (- or let those beneath you steal, not even 10 %!).
4, C.Y.A aka ‘Cover Your Arse’ aka ‘Blame Your Predecessor’ – Every President does it from Nigeria to America or Croatia to Sudan: every incumbent will blame his/her predecessor for everything going wrong in an attempt to cover their own backsides! If a President is going to keep on passing the buck then he or she is in the wrong job! As a President you’re elected to fix things and not spend your entire tenure blaming your predecessor! The buck stops with the President! What’s the point in having a surgeon come in to operate on a patient but can’t (- or won’t!) because he’s too busy criticizing the last doctors work? Operate and fix the patient first, for that’s what you’re paid to do, and moan later!
5, Cronyism – For any President to be elected, anywhere in the world, he or she will need the support of political godfathers, cronies, hanger-ons etc who’ll lobby behind the scenes to get him into office. Once in office they’ll call in the favour and start making outrageous demands of the President: they want to be first in line for lucrative contracts or ministerial appointments. Any President should learn from Donald Trump – use them and dump them before they become a nuisance! Every President should learn to control his cronies: not favour one over the other or let them control him.
6, Tribalism – Tribalism is way up there with religion and the North-South palaver but on a different scale. A President from the South, for instance, might be a Christian or a Muslim but his ethnicity plays a major rule: is he Yoruba or Igbo? If he’s Yoruba what part of Yoruba land is he from? Just like with the North-South palaver his policies will be seen to be influenced from what tribe he’s from: a Yoruba President can’t pass certain laws that will affect the Igbos or Hausas because he’ll be accused of tribalism.( even his fellow Yoruba people from other sub-tribes will accuse him of tribalism!) As a result some tribes become a law unto themselves as the President will be scared of being accused of tribalism.
7, Indecision – A President can’t be indecisive hoping a problem or situation will go away or that people will forget. Take the Chibok girls’ kidnapping fiasco for instance, if the then President had been more decisive those girls could have been home within days, not weeks, not months and most certainly not years! When action needs to be taken a President can’t afford to be indecisive whether that involves removing a minster, clamping down on terrorists’ or ordering military action against subversives. No problem or situation will ever go away unless it’s dealt with swiftly. So any President who thinks such will go away is in for a shock.
So there’s my version of the 7 Deadly Sins a Nigerian President should avoid, of course there are things that didn’t make the list like complacency, nepotism, buffoonery and quite a few others…but we’ll leave that to later!
Tony Ogunlowo blogs at http://www.archangel641. blogspot.co.uk
Highlights from The FIFA best player awards 2017 held in London
Cristiano Ronaldo was named the world’s best player at the 2017 FIFA Football awards in London last night. The striker who stepped out in style with his son Cristiano Jnr and his pregnant girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, received the maximum votes in the best player category with 43%. Barcelona star Lionel Messi who was also present with his wife Antonella Roccuzzo came second in the category.
Also present at the high-profile gala were PSG stars, Neymar and Dani Alves, Argentine icon Diego Maradona, Brazilian legend, Ronaldo, Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, former Leicester manager, Claudio Ranieri, Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka and many more.
Photos from the Buckwyld ‘n’ Breathless concert
The Convention centre, Eko Hotel and Suites Victoria Island was the place to be yesterday with amazing performances by 2Baba, Tiwa Savage, and Flavour who brought the Lagos Dream illusion to Buckwyld ‘n’ Breathless: The Lagos Dream. The concert also had great performances by, Efya, Timaya, Paul Okoye, Mr 2kay, Dj Jimmy Jatt, and Kelly Hansome.
Hosted by Andre Blaze, the concert was packed with attendance ranging from some of the most revered socialites, A list celebrities and personalities such as Senator Ita Giwa, Mai Atafo, Annie Idibia , KCee, Baba Dee, Orezi, Mr Ibu, Waje, Ubi Franklin, Brand Executives and a host of others.
The red carpet showcased the hall of fame from Music Icons Fela Kuti,, Onyeka Onwenu,, Oliver de Coque, to Legendary Christie Essien Igbokwe, to Political Maverick Fela Anikulapo Kuti, to Griot musician Alh Mamman Shata.
One of the highlights of the events was the spiritual 2baba dominating the stage literally with his breathtaking vocals and mind-blowing performance that moved the crowed to tears. Flavour took his performance to a whole new level with an amazing intro with Tiwa savage and a masquerade to take it up a notch.
Tiwa Savage thrilled the audience with her unequivocal fashion and energetic performance of some of her A list songs including Malo, All over, Keys to the city, Wanted and many more with a major dance off with the Queen of dance Kaffy and her son.
This concert themed ‘The Lagos Dream’ was truly a reflection of The Lagos Dream.
Movie Review : Body Language | By: Jerry Cheimeke
Movie Title: Body Language
Genre: Drama
Year Of Release: 2017
Cast: Ramsey Nouah, Tana Adelana, Ken Erics, Lawretta Richards, Emem Ufot
Producer: Emem Isong
Director: Moses Inwang
Body Language” follows the story of a lady named Tola Sadiq (Adelana), who works as a marketing specialist in an interior decorating company, but at night goes by the name Amber at an exquisite strip club, where she works as a high-grade exotic dancer. She climbs to the top of the chain at her night job after the gruesome murder of Anita, her colleague. More ladies in various fields die in the following weeks, and it becomes common knowledge that there is a serial killer on the loose, simply known as “The Lagos Ripper”. Tola has to shuttle her two careers and a long-term relationship with Lancelot (Erics).
One night, Tola/Amber gets a request for a private dance session from golf-loving, bird-watching Nick Yahaya (Nouah), who pays her a thousand dollars. This goes on for a couple of nights, but things get complicated when Tola has to pitch a business idea at her day job, and it turns out that the prospective client company is run by Yahaya. Both Tola and Yahaya now have to balance the duality in their respective lives, trying hard to keep the lines from getting blurred and/or blowing any covers.
Also Read: Movie Review: Mentally
The movie is rated 18, and while we would have loved to see a bit more skin, the cast and crew deserve full credit for daring to experiment; for a conservative country and movie industry, there is significant flesh on display. Whether Adelana’s moves were enough to stir the crotch is left for frequent strip club goers, but you cannot say she didn’t practice for this movie. Her ability to establish excellent on-screen chemistry with Nouah’s character is worthy of commendation. Speaking of Nouah, he shines in this one, with top-notch role interpretation as an steely, calculative character, there is a real edge to his performance like we haven’t seen from Nollywood leading men in a while, even the fact that he puffs a bit too much of that Cuban cigar takes nothing away from his acting here. Ken Erics is a darling in the low-budget, Asaba-based side of things, and it is interesting to wait and see how he fares in this clip, but he pretty much aces his role as a doting, oblivious, clingy (and ultimately heartbroken) lover, and the penultimate scene in which he appears is particularly memorable for his comic value.
Also Read: Movie Review: My Wife And I
Cinematography is pretty good in this movie, the transition in scenes is excellent, and the guys in charge of the screenplay should be applauded for giving nothing away. Beyond exploring mind games, expression of sexuality and a bit of feminism, the plot itself is quite the catch, with an unexpected twist at the end. As for the dialogue, it is unforced and well above average
Also Read: Movie Review: The Women
There are just a few loopholes impossible to ignore. In the final scene, Yahaya states that he began to stalk Tola after the death of his daughter, who was murdered a day before his return from England. How does a man relocate, set up a company and figure out the identity of his target in a matter of weeks? It would have plausible if there had been a wide passage of time, but that side of things looks pretty shaky, unless the producers are trying to make us believe that a long time passed between the killings and Tola’s first meeting with Yahaya, which didn’t look like the case at all. Again, for a cold-blooded murderer who could possibly be under surveillance, the serial killer seemed to have let down their guard in the course of the film; in the movie’s defence though, no one could have suspected who it was. The idea of a Nigerian strip club accepting dollar payments also causes scratching heads too.
With its rough edges, “Body Language” is still a really decent effort, and in terms of movie plots, it is one of the better movies to have made it to cinemas this year. There were not many characters in this, so both lead actors deserve a few pats on the back, and while the jury is out as to how memorable this feature film would turn out to be, at least we can say that Nollywood is no longer far off when it comes to quality storytelling.
Rating: 7.2/10
Jerry Chiemeke is a lawyer and freelance writer who lives in Lagos. An amateur photographer and sports enthusiast as well, Jerry’s works have appeared on Blanck Digital, Elsieisy, Oshodi.tv, The Kalahari Review and Brittle Paper. He is the author of ‘The Colours In These Leaves’. Get the book here
You can follow him on Twitter @J_Chiemeke, and also check out his craft on his blog at pensofchi.com
Nwankwo Kanu Launches Jackpot Lotto To Support His Foundation
Legendary Nigerian footballer and philanthropist, Nwankwo Kanu, is launching the biggest lotto in Africa to raise funds for the Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) and help build a specialist cardiac hospital in Abuja.
The KHF lotto offers a jackpot starting at N1 billion and will be run in conjunction with AfroMillonsLotto. It offers twice-weekly draws with bigger jackpots than all the lotteries in Nigeria combined, as well as being the largest jackpot anywhere in Africa. Twenty percent of every ticket sold will go directly to KHF to help it continue its work ensuring underprivileged children across Africa with heart problems get the treatment they need.
Since its launch in 2000, KHF has helped not just people in Nigeria, but also paid for 538 children to be treated at facilities throughout the world. Commenting on the lotto initiative, Kanu said:
“We are excited to launch this major fund-raising initiative for the Kanu Heart Foundation and hope people support it by buying tickets, helping us to build a new heart hospital for Nigeria.”
“Not only could people change their own life with the potential to win the jackpot of over N1 billion, they can help to change the lives of other people by supporting our Foundation”.
The first KHF Lotto draw takes place on Wednesday 18th October and the website also offers nine, ‘Candy Crush’ style, Instant Win games, which can be played for fun or to win cash prizes of up to N12 million. If there isn’t a jackpot winner, the prize money rolls over, increasing by N100 million with each draw until it reaches a maximum of over N2 billion.
Craig Shakespeare sacked as manager of Leicester City.
Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina named 2017 World Food Prize Laureate
President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has emerged the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate. Speaking during his Norman Borlaug Lecture titled “Betting on Africa to Feed the World,” delivered on Monday, October 16 on World Food Day in the United States, Akinwunmi maintained that Africa holds the key for feeding the nine billion people that will inhabit this planet by 2050.
The Laureate also called for land tax for unused agricultural land or underutilized agricultural land to provide incentives for faster commercialization of agriculture and unlocking its potential in Africa.
In the lecture held before a large international audience at Iowa State University in Des Moines, Iowa, Adesina stressed why, more than ever before, the world must help Africa to rapidly modernize its agriculture and unlock its full potential.
“Africa sits on 65% of the uncultivated arable land left in the world, so what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world,” he emphasized. “African farmers need more than a helping hand. They need a policy lift,” Adesina said.
He also highlighted how the challenge of addressing global food security is greatest in Africa where close to 300 million are malnourished. It is also the only region of the world where the proportion of the population that is food insecure has increased, he said.
The AfDB President paid tribute to Dr. Norman Borlaug, whom the lecture series was named after, and recalled how Africa was the last frontier for the late Borlaug.
Borlaug, the Founder of the World Food Prize, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for a lifetime of work to feed a hungry world.
Adesina stressed that despite the progress globally in food production (including in Africa, Latin America and Asia), the world still has 700 million people languishing in extreme poverty. This, he added, includes 800 million with chronic hunger, 2 billion people with micronutrient deficiency, and 150 million children under 5 years of age who are suffering from stunting.
He described the challenge of feeding the world as immense, with need for rapid increases in global food, feed and biofuel production to feed a global population of 9 billion people by 2050.
“If Dr. Borlaug alone could feed one billion people, we definitely can feed 800 million people globally and we definitely can feed 300 million Africans. Dr. Borlaug would be disappointed if we couldn’t and with all technologies and innovations, from gene revolution to ICT revolution, at our disposal, we won’t be able to face him and say we didn’t.”
Adesina decried the current situation where Africa spends US $35 billion annually on food imports, describing it as unacceptable. By his estimates, if the current trend continues, Africa is estimated to spend US $110 billion by 2030 on food imports.
“There is therefore absolutely no reason for Africa to be a food-importing region. Africa has huge potential in agriculture, but, as Dr. Borlaug used to say, nobody eats potential!”
Unlocking that potential must start with the savannas of Africa which covers “a mind-boggling 600 million hectares of which 400 million hectares are cultivable,” Adesina said.
Africa’s savannas, he said, are better than the savannas of Brazil, because their soils are not acidic and therefore do not need liming, which had to be done at massive scales in Brazil.
“Yet, while the savannas of Brazil feed the world, those of Africa cannot even feed the farmers there,” he lamented. He further highlighted how technologies, innovations, research and development, mechanization, modernization of agriculture, policy support and massive investments in infrastructure made the difference to turn the savannas of Brazil and those of Northern Thailand into a food powerhouse.
To transform its agriculture, Africa needs to make a decision to develop new agrarian systems − one that combines smallholder farmers with a new dynamic generation of medium and large commercial farmers.
He also canvassed land tenure systems that make it easier to get access to land, and for smallholder farmers and their communities to have secured land rights. A top priority must be to mechanize agriculture in Africa, he added.
Over 1,200 people from more than 65 countries will address cutting-edge issues related to global food security and nutrition at the 2017 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, October 18-20, 2017.