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Tag: Czech Republic

  • We’re open to credible investors for economic growth, Aiyedatiwa tells Czech Republic

    We’re open to credible investors for economic growth, Aiyedatiwa tells Czech Republic

    Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has reiterated the commitment of his administration to partnering with credible investors within and outside Nigeria to unlock the avalanche of economic resources of the state.

    Aiyedatiwa said that the state stands to gain from the would-be investors in enhancing its vast economic potential, noting that his administration is ready to embrace growth and development.

    Speaking on Tuesday while receiving the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Nigeria, Zdenek Krejci, in his office in Akure, the governor vowed that his administration will continue to provide an enabling environment for investors to come around to do their businesses with ease.

    “Our arms are open to embrace new investors from within and outside Nigeria. We’ll continue to do what we can for our economy to grow for the benefit of our people.

    “We have to govern to provide a stable political environment and a conducive economic environment for the people to operate. We are providing a legal system that supports businesses and investments,” he said.

    The governor saluted Mr Zdenek for visiting the state, promising that the current administration was prepared to partner with the Czech Republic for economic growth.

    Read Also: Aiyedatiwa okays N33b OSOPADEC Budget

    Ambassador Zdenek noted that the Czech Republic explained that the country is strong in machinery, including agricultural equipment, expressing optimism about the prospects of cooperation with Ondo State.

    He, however, stressed that the Czech Republic is also eager to contribute to Nigeria’s development by offering expertise in modern agricultural machinery, construction technologies, and renewable energy solutions

    “We believe a strategic alliance with Ondo State will yield mutual benefits and contribute meaningfully to your developmental agenda,” Mr Czech said.

    While emphasising the partnership between the European country and the state, a member of the Czech delegation, Mr Adewale Adekunbi, said collaboration would boost economic activity, address poverty, and unemployment through the application of advanced technology and skills transfer.

  • Czech Republic to partner UI on development models for Nigeria

    Czech Republic to partner UI on development models for Nigeria

    The Czech Republic has expressed readiness to partner with University of Ibadan (UI) to evolve models that will engender development in various sectors, especially, in education across West African country.

    The Deputy Head of Mission, the Embassy of Czech Republic in Nigeria, Mr. Martin Čech, and Prof. Jan Záhořík  from the University of West Bohemia of the country disclosed this during  a colloquium organised by the Embassy in collaboration with the premier university.

    The colloquium, which featured seasoned and internationally-acclaimed scholars from UI involved discussions on Czech Republic and Nigeria in the context of European Union (EU)- Africa Relations as well as collaboration with Czech Republic and the EU universities for a better future.

    In his remarks, the Deputy Head of Mission at the Czech Embassy, Mr Čech said the motivation for the programme was to birth mutually beneficially collaborations that would engender development. 

    He stated that the colloquium was apt as more discussions that would preserve diversity and strengthen development would be initiated.

    On his part, Záhořík, who is a Professor of African Studies at the University of West Bohemia, said the education system and development models of Czech Republic could be transplanted into Nigeria.

    He said: ‘’I am very happy to be here at this foremost university in Nigeria, if not even in West Africa. There are two things we intend to achieve with this. One of them is to continue with meaningful dialogues between the Czech Republic and Nigeria in terms of the roles we play in the changing global environment, which has shifted from a unipolar world to a multi-polar world and to see how we redesign and redefine our relationship.

    “The second one, which is more academic, is to find out the main areas of collaboration in areas  like engineering or social sciences and other fields. It is something we are going to explore in the nearest future, and apply for joint programmes for the capacity-building framework and to set up some academic collaborations which can be scientific, publication, research and academic exchange and mobility’’.

    Prof. Isaac Olawale Albert as well as Prof. Francis Egbokhare of UI, who were resource persons at the colloquium, said Nigeria could learn a lot from the Czech Republic.

    Read Also: Czech club capture Ex-Golden Eaglets star Lawali

    Albert, a globally-renowned scholar, said the colloquium was to forge  partnerships between Nigeria and the Czech Republic and learn from its  development models   for sustainable development.

    Albert said: ‘’The Czech Republic has 99 per cent literacy rate. It has $326 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP). I am fascinated with this country. We want to understand the philosophy behind what they are doing. This is a country to learn from. We need new development strategies. 

    “Our thinking of development must change. We are looking for new ideas. We need a development model that is different from what we have now. The model must be the one that will produce results for the development of Nigeria.  We need to produce scholars that would contribute to national development.”

    ‘’The world is tired of the old relationships and looking for new relationships. We have problems to solve. To what extent are we adjusting our education to the problems? If you want to strengthen a system, you must invest more resources in the education of the system’’.

    On his part, Prof. Egbokhare, a towering literary icon, said there is a lot to learn from the Czech Republic. The professor, who said the informal sector is the biggest in the country, called on the European country to look into the sector for a sustainable relationship.

    Also speaking, Prof. Olatunji Oyeshile of the Department of Philosophy, who facilitated the event, urged Nigeria to learn the Czech Republic’s example by looking inward rather than looking elsewhere.

     He said, “The country looks inward, the law works there. They don’t have energy crises. Education must be in line with our needs. Let us have something developed within our culture and take it to the whole world. Let us think in that direction. This is one of the things we have to learn from the Czech Republic.”

    Earlier, while declaring the colloquium opened, the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration) of the university, Prof.  Olapegba said no entity could be an island unto itself. 

    DVC said: “You will have to look for people or entities to collaborate with. If  you want to go very fast, go alone, but then if you want to go very far, then go with others. This is the reason for creating this platform with the  Czech Republic so that there can be discussions on issues of mutual benefit and how people can overcome challenges.”

  • Tammy Abraham settled as Tomori eyes Bulgaria debut

     

    Nigeria born former England junior international Tammy Abraham finally sealed his debut for the senior national team of England Friday with a three minutes appearance for the Three Lions.

    His debut however ended in defeat after Czech Republic came from behind to carry the day in the Euro qualifiers. Tottenham forward Harry Kane had shot the Three Lions into the lead after converting a 5th minute penalty raising hope that

    Gareth Southgate and his men were set to savour victory on a platter.  That was however not to be as the Czechs responded in the 9th and 85th minutes respectively.

    Tammy and Fikayo in the England dressing room

    Tammy’s debut Friday finally put paid to permutations over which country he will eventually play for. Tammy who has been on fire for Chelsea since the beginning of this season was thrown in the game in the 88th minute replacing Declan Rice.On his part Fikayo Tomori who was also called up with Abraham watched from the bench as the Three lions failed to fly over Czech Republic.  He will be hoping to have an opportunity when England take on Bulgaria on Monday.

    The two Chelsea teammates have prior to the Euro qualifiers dominated that headlines over whether or not they will chose to play for England on Nigeria. Meanwhile Philip Billing whose father is Nigerian and mother from Denmark is on the list against Switzerland Saturday.  Should he make a debut for the side he too would have put paid to the debate over his allegiance.

    Denmark’s next match after Saturday will be against Gilbratar and then Ireland

     

     

     

     

  • Weak auditing culture erodes audit institutions value

    The Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr. Anthony M. Ayine, has identified years of weak auditing, especially in developing countries, as the root cause of poor appreciation by citizens of the value and importance of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) for their central role in the accountability cycle across the world.

    Ayine spoke when he presented a paper as one of the lead speakers at the just concluded 9th International Public Sector Conference organised by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), in Prague, Czech Republic.

    “Years of weak auditing cause the average citizen to be unaware of the value and importance of the SAI as an institution that is central to the accountability cycle. There is a need for the citizens to participate more and become better aware of the role of the SAI,” he said.

    Speaking on the principal challenges facing SAIs globally, he said it was regrettable that “the INTOSAI Lima Declaration of 1977 on the prerequisites for the independent and effective functioning of SAI is yet to be well applied across many developing countries.”

    The Declaration of Lima, adopted by the IX International Congress of INTOSAI in Lima, Peru, in 1977, is considered to be the Magna Carta of government audit defines the prerequisites for its independent and effective functioning.

    The International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions is the global affiliation of governmental entities whose members comprise of Chief Financial Controller, Comptroller-General, Auditor-General Offices of nations and it was founded in 1953 in Havana, Cuba, but with headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

    While recognising social media as “a key channel” for information dissemination, Mr. Ayine however advised SAIs to be careful so as “not to get the institution involved in public debates,” saying the key question remains ‘how vocal should SAI be on social media?’

    Mr. Ayine also gave some pieces of advice on how SAIs can support the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

    He said: “SAIs can baseline, benchmark and track progress across the various institutions responsible for delivery of the government’s commitment under each SDG. SAIs can also invest in their capacity to give expert recommendations to these key institutions,” while SAI reports “should be timely and the possible efficiency savings or gains should be clear.”

    Speaking further on the role SAIs can play in supporting SDGs implementation, Mr. Ayine, who was recently appointed onto the African Union (AU) Board of External Auditors, said: “Year-on-year audits by the SAIs will help maintain the focus on achieving the SGDs, and will help ensure that improvements that are achieved are sustained.”

    Speaking from his vantage position, Mr. Ayine advised SAIs on how they can take advantage of professional accountancy organisations to support sustainable public sector.

    He said: “There are significant competency gaps within the public sector finance professional cadre, especially in developing countries. International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) implementation is a case in point. Professional accountancy organisations should continue to reach out to public institutions with these competency gaps and offer their support, especially with training and certification.

    “Professional accountancy organisations can also look more closely at various disciplines that intersect with accountancy, and perhaps provide more support for cross-disciplinary expertise.

    “This will be of great value for accountants and other financial professionals working in the SDG space.”

    The flagship global event for finance professionals in the public sector featured leading public sector speakers at the top of the profession and brought together hundreds of public sector finance professionals from across the globe.

    Aside Mr. Ayine, other speakers included Mr. Tomáš Vyhnánek, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, Pamela Monroe-Ellis, Auditor-General, Jamaica, Stephen Walker, President, Chartered Accountants Australia New Zealand, Mike Driver, Head of the Government Finance Function, UK Civil Service and Thomas Müller-Marqués Berger, Chair, Accountancy Europe Public Sector Panel.

    Helen Brand, chief executive at ACCA said of the “fantastic line-up of speakers” from across the world:

    “The public sector faces increasing financial constraints at a time when expectations about the quality of public services are growing,”  and pointed out that the  conference aimed to show “how professional accountants can be at the heart of driving change and improving accountability, in order to ensure the public sector can meet the demands of the future.”

    Iain Mansfield, Head of Public Sector at ACCA said: “ACCA creates professional accountants who build successful careers within the public sector – that’s why we have over 64,000 public sector members and students across the globe.

    “I’m delighted that at this conference ACCA is continuing to set the agenda in public financial management, to help build the public sector accountancy profession the world needs.”

    ACCA’s International Public Sector Conference 2019 brought together senior decision makers from ministries of finance, national audit offices and national accounting bodies, leaders in local government sector, representatives from the global development community and international bodies and senior private sector accountants who work with the public sector in audit, financing and consultancy.

  • Lion kills owner in Czech Republic

    A 34-year-old man has been killed by his privately owned lion in the Czech Republic, news agency CTK reported on Tuesday.

    The roughly 8-year-old lion and a lioness, who was pregnant and being held in the same cage, were shot by police during the incident in the small eastern village of Zdechov.

    “That was absolutely necessary so that rescue services could get to the man,’’ a police spokeswoman said.

    The Czech Republic has a whole series of so-called “zoo parks’’ or “nature parks,’’ where big cats often live in poor conditions.

    According to the Environment Ministry in Prague, there are 44 lions, 49 pumas, 20 tigers, 15 ocelots and eight leopards being held in these private zoos.

    The lion owner had made headlines last summer when he was walking his lioness on a leash down a forest path.

    Meanwhile, another man on a mountain bike was injured in an incident with the lioness.

    Police classified the event as a traffic accident.

    NAN

  • Three takeaways from Nigeria, Czech Republic friendly

    Nigeria’s Super Eagles lost their warm up match to Czech Republic with eight days to the FIFA World Cup in Russia.  Here are three takeaways from the match ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
    1)   Clumsy Mid-field
    Although head coach Gernot Rohr approached the match with a 3-5-2 formation, the midfield failed to click. They kept losing the ball easily and failed to respond to the set pieces which actually cost them the game.
    The midfield led by Mikel Obi failed to link up with the defense which could work against the Eagles in their World Cup opener against Croatia who are blessed with one of the world’s creative midfielder in
    Luca Modric. Recuperating Wilfred Ndidi appeared not 100% fit.
    2) Poor Attacking Strength
    Eagles attackers have still not shown that grit in front of goal. And going to the World Cup, it must be a  concern for Rohr. From statistics of today’s match, Eagles point man only had two shots at goal after 69 minutes of action.
    Victor Moses also did not help matter. He held on to the ball and tried to be stylish. Moses must also work on his set pieces if the team must make a headway in Russia.
    Kelechi Iheancacho, Ahmed Musa and Simy who were brought in showed they can’t be counted on when the chips are down. Wednesday’s substitution made no impact unlike the England friendly at Wembley.
    This is not too good for a team that is in the same group with Argentina and Croatia who boast ferocious attackers.
    3) Tactical Lapses from Uzoho
    Uzoho complains at the wrong time. As the keeper, his responsibility is to save the ball or have the ball out of play. Uzoho was seen complaining while the ball was still in play sometimes in the second half. If Uzoho had pushed the ball harder from the penalty box, perhaps Czech’s Tomas Kalas may not have had the advantage of a re-bound that led to the only goal of the match in the 25th minute.

    Nigeria’s Build-up Matches for Russia 2018

     

    Nigeria Scored 4 against Argentina conceded 2

    Nigeria Scored 1 Nigeria against Poland conceded 0

    Nigeria Scored 0 against Serbia conceded 2

    Nigeria Scored 1 against DR Congo conceded 1

    Nigeria Scored 1 against England conceded 2

    Nigeria Scored 0 against Czech Republic conceded 1

  • Eagles lose 0-1 to Czech Republic in Austria

     

    Super Eagles on Wednesday in Austria lost by a lone goal to Czech Republic in their last friendly match ahead of the World cup in Russia.  Eagles who had earlier lost 2-1 to England at the Wembley had hoped to post a spirit lifting performance against the Czechs but that failed to come to pass.

    Both teams had played a very cautions game in the first half devoid of any impressive run.  It was however the Czechs who intermittently showed signs of hunger to earn a victory.

    The team mounted pressure harvesting as many as eight corners kicks in the first half one of which was converted in the 25th minute thanks to Tomas Kalas. In comparison to the match against England where the Eagles failed to come to the party in the first half, the first half against Czech though not too impressive was better.

    On resumption of second half the Eagles made some interesting moves equally earning over a dozen corner kicks none of which was converted.

    Moses and Odion Ighalo had a couple of shots on goal that however failed to beat the Czech Republic goalkeeper Vaclik.

    The match itself had to be suspended for at least 10 minutes after the 59th minute following heavy down pour.

    Despite the dull nature of the match it provided opportunity for Wilfred Ndidi to return to action.  Nigeria played a total of six friendly matches as part of the preparation for the World cup which kicks off June 14.

    The matches were against Argentina, Serbia, Poland, Dr Congo, England and Czech Republic.  The team won two of the matches against Argentina and Poland, drew against DR Congo and lost to Serbia, England and Czech Republic.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • International Friendly: Czech Rep study Eagles’ videos

    .Set to redeem image against Nigeria

    Czech Republic is not taking the encounter against Super Eagles for granted following their 4-0 bashing by Australia last Friday.

    To underscore the importance of the Eagles’ tie, the Czech Republic Head Coach, Karel Jarolim on Sunday studied the video of the Nigeria, England duel as they prepare to face the three-time African champion in Austria on June 6.

    A monitored report on www.radio.cz revealed that the Czechs are eager to go all out against the Eagles to redeem their image after their loss to Australia in the international friendly last Friday.

    “The Nigeria match presents fresh opportunity to express the potential of the national team. We are getting prepared, studied their game against England and videos,” Jarolim has said.

    Jarolim, former Czechoslovakia international footballer, has been seeking to reconstruct the team after failing to qualify for the World Cup and the retirement of many of country’s stars, including Tomas Rosicky and Petr Chech.

    Meanwhile, Coach Gernot Rohr is expected to play the Czechs with best 11 from the 23- man list already submitted to FIFA for the Russia World Cup.

    The German tactician is yet to secure victory from the last three World Cup build-up matches as England defeated Nigeria 2-1 at Wembley.

  • Super Eagles will be ready for pre-World Cup friendlies – Onazi

    Midfielder Ogenyi Onazi has assured that the Super Eagles of Nigeria would be ready to put in their best in pre-World Cup friendlies against the DR Congo, England and the Czech Republic.

    Onazi noted that the team is focused on playing all teams, and not picking special interest in one.

    “We are not focusing on any particular game, and we are getting ready to face all the teams we have to play before the World Cup. It is the right mentality to approach the games.

    “I have been asked several questions about the match against England, but I have been telling people that the England match is very important, just like the other matches that we have to play.

    “What is key for us is to get into the right psychological state to confront every opposition that lie ahead, including those that will be waiting at the FIFA World Cup,” Onazi who plays for Trabzonspor of Turkey Sid to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.

    Read Also: Super Eagles ready for England friendly – Mikel

    The former FIFA Under-17 World Cup silver medal-winning midfielder dismissed feelings that the team would be over-confident going into Russia 2018 following victories in friendlies against Argentina and Poland.

    “There is nothing like over-confidence. What I can say is that we are a very ambitious team and we will always be ready to play any team.

    “Yes, we defeated Argentina and Poland, but that has not in any way generated feelings of over-confidence in the camp. We are focused and have our heads on our shoulders.

    “For us, humility and hard work will be the winning words going ahead. Our preparation is going on well and we are happy with that.

    “At the World Cup, we will come up against different teams with different styles and approaches of play. It is important that we are adequately prepared and we appreciate the games that the NFF has lined up for us,” Onazi, who played for Nigeria at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil, said.

    Nigeria host the Leopards of the DR Congo in Port Harcourt on May 28, before a prestige clash with England’s Three Lions at Wembley Stadium in London on June 2.

    They will thereafter go on to have an encounter with the Czech Republic on June 6 at the Rudolf Tonn Stadium, just outside Vienna.

  • Nigeria, Czech Republic sign pact on teachers’ exchange

    Nigeria and Czech Republic have signed a pact on an exchange programme for teachers. The pact is meant to promote functional technical and vocational education.

    In a statement by Simeon Nwakaudu, Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Education (Media) yesterday, the collaboration was brokered at a bilateral meeting between the Minister of State for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, and Czech Republic’s Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Prof. Petr Fiala, at the Ministry of Education,Youth and Sports headquarters, Prague on Thursday.

    Wike said the exchange programme was necessary to help technical and vocational education teachers to acquire functional skills to train quality middle level manpower for national technological development.

    He said the Federal Government chose the Czech Republic as one of the countries to partner with in the quest to revive technical and vocational education because the programmes being implemented by the country can easily be replicated in Nigeria.

    According to him: “We are interested in collaborating with your country on the development of technical and vocational education because of the cost effective and practical programmes you run.

    “We believe that the teacher exchange programme will also have a profound impact on our technical and vocational education sub-sector. With better trained and exposed teachers, the youths will have access to functional skills and be self-reliant,” he said.

    Wike urged the Czech government to offer more scholarship to Nigerian students to study technological courses in the east European country. He called for cooperation between Nigerian universities and those of the Czech Republic.

    Prof. Fiala described the teacher exchange programme as a critical avenue of widening knowledge base and international cooperation in the technical and vocational education sub-sector.

    He noted that the Czech government was happy to collaborate with Nigeria through the teacher exchange programme as it would afford teachers from both countries the opportunity to share best practices.

    The Czech Education Minister stated that the details of the teacher exchange programme would be worked out by officials from both countries to ensure maximum output and success.

    Nigerian Ambassador to Czech Republic, Mrs Kate Okon, said the mission was satisfied with the progress made during the bilateral talks between the two ministers.

    Wike was accompanied to the meeting by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala and the Acting Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Prof. Charles Onocha.