The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Paris

  • NBBF to parley Ministry on D’Tigress’ roadmap for Paris 2024 

    NBBF to parley Ministry on D’Tigress’ roadmap for Paris 2024 

    The board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation has approved the roadmap for the preparations and effective participation of Nigeria’s Women’s Basketball team, D’ Tigress  at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

    The roadmap which would be submitted to the Federal Ministry of Sports Development for final approval and implementation,uú was among the decisions taken by the board of the basketball Federation during their board meeting in Abuja.

    Nigeria’s D’Tigress will play in Group B at the Olympics in the same group with Australia, France and Canada and in a communique sent to the media the Board of the NBBF raised its concerns over D’Tigress’ tough group opponents and explained modalities on what the country can do to make meaningful impact in France. 

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    “The board approved the roadmap for the preparations and effective participation of Nigeria’s national female basketball team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, as would be presented to the Federal Ministry of Sports Development for final approval and implementation,” the communique said.

    The board also ratified the presented list of athletes, coaches and officials that will be involved in the preparations and eventual participation of the National women’s team at the Paris Olympic Games. 

    Some other resolutions reached is the approval given by the board for the 2024 NBBF Calendar/Programme of activities as presented and reviewed for implementation.

    The board also gave nod for the updated financial position of the Federation for the year 2023, and as the time of the meeting including what was presented and captured in the books of accounts of the Federal Ministry of Sports Development, for national team activities carried out, as approved by the Ministry for periods 2023 and up to 2024 as updated. 

    The board also approved the reconstitution of the Federations standing committees as presented, and modified and also gave the go ahead for the various committees to be further populated with Nigeria Basketball Stakeholders who are willing to serve in the various committees that they are to serve in. 

    Other resolutions arrived at is the approval the board gave for the restructuring of the Nigeria’s men’s and women’s basketball leagues which commence from the 2024-25 Basketball League season. The board also gave its nod to presented list of the 16 teams that will play in the 2024-25 men’s league season as vetted and ratified by the technical committee of the NBBF.

  • Paris 2024: Energetic Bolaji edges world’s best to Paralympics ticket

    Paris 2024: Energetic Bolaji edges world’s best to Paralympics ticket

    Nigeria’s  Mariam Eniola Bolaji  secured her ticket to next year’s  Paris 2024 Paralympics  in style  after  a gold medal finish yesterday  at the 5th  Pazza Dubai Para Badminton International 2023.

    In continuation of  her dominance in para badminton, the energetic Eniola defeated the  women’s world number five, three and one respectively  in the Women’s Singles of the SL-3 category of the championship.

    Bolaji, who created a stir  by winning the Spanish Open Para Badminton International on her first international debut in 2021, has been unbeaten in 2023 winning the Uganda International 2023 before clinching three gold medals at the Africa Para Badminton Championships in Kampala, Uganda.

    She  continued her impressive run at the Fazza Dubai Para Badminton International 2023 beating World number one Syakuroh Qonitah from Indonesia 21-7, 13-21, 21-11 (2-1) to the gold medal in the Women’s singles SL3.

    En route to  the final, she beat Bulgarian  Emoma Ivanovna   2-0 ( 21-10,21-8) in the first round of the championship  to proceed to the second round where she edged   Indian Mandeep Kaur 2-0 ( 21-16,21-17) to book her place to the quarter finals .

    At the quarter finals, Bolaji beat another Indian,  Manasi Joshi  2-0 ( 21-13,21-11) to secure a berth in the semi –finals where she prevailed on Zuxian Xiao from China 2-1 (21-13,20-22; 21-15 ) to book her place in the final.

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    Following her victory in the  final, Bolaji has also qualified her for the Paralympics in Paris next year.

    “I am very thankful to Badminton Confederation of Africa and the Badminton Federation of Nigeria who have supported me and sent me to Spain(before  the championship in Dubai) ,” she said  after her victory.

    Meanwhile, the  President of the Badminton Federation of Nigeria, Francis Orbih, has  praised Bolaji over her latest achievement,  adding  given the determination and willpower of the athlete, it did not come as a surprise that she won.

    He further asserted the resolve of the Federation to support all athletes competing and carrying Nigeria’s flag at any level.

    Orbih expressed his delight at the development and congratulated the player on this momentous success.

  • Paris 2024: Nnadozie, Ohale, Oshoala, 19 others to face Ethiopia

    Paris 2024: Nnadozie, Ohale, Oshoala, 19 others to face Ethiopia

    Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie, defender Osinachi Ohale and forward Asisat Oshoala headline a list of 22 players invited to the Super Falcons’ camp for this month’s Paris 2024 Women Olympic Football Tournament qualification fixture against the Senior Women National Team of Ethiopia.

    Ethiopia will host the first leg of the second-round fixture in Addis Ababa on Wednesday, 25th  October with the second leg in Nigeria on Tuesday, 31st  October. Ethiopia eliminated Chad in the first round of the series as nine-time African champions Nigeria drew a bye.

    The Super Falcons, who finished 8th at the 32-team FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand in the summer, also drew a bye to the third round of the 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations qualification series, after Sao Tome and Principe’s senior girls scratched the tie. The Falcons will be up against their counterparts from Cape Verde in the third round of that series at the end of November.

    Paris, France will host next year’s Women Olympic Football Tournament. The Super Falcons played at the Olympics in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

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    ALL THE INVITED PLAYERS

    Goalkeepers: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC); Tochukwu Oluehi (Shualat Alsharqia FC, Saudi Arabia); Monle Oyono (Bayelsa Queens)

    Defenders: Osinachi Ohale (Pachuca FC, Mexico); Comfort Folorunsho (Edo Queens); Oluwatosin Demehin (Stade de Reims, France); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Nicole Payne (Paris Saint Germain, France); Jumoke Alani (Edo Queens); Rofiat Imuran (Stade de Reims, France) 

    Midfielders: Halimatu Ayinde (Rosengard FC, Sweden); Peace Efih (Sporting Club de Braga, Portugal); Christy Ucheibe (SL Benfica, Portugal); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid FC, Spain); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Regina Otu (AS Saint Etienne, France) 

    Forwards: Omorinsola Babajide (Coasta Adeje Tenerife Egatesa, Spain); Ifeoma Onumonu (NY/NJ Gotham FC, USA); Asisat Oshoala (FC Barcelona Feminine, Spain); Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville, USA); Gift Monday ((Coasta Adeje Tenerife Egatesa, Spain); Opeyemi Ajakaye (FC Robo Queens)

  • Paris 2024 Countdown : Team Nigeria weightlifters shine in Saudi

    Paris 2024 Countdown : Team Nigeria weightlifters shine in Saudi

    Nigerian weightlifters at the IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Saudi Arabia improve their chances of making the final  cut to the Paris 2024 Olympics, writes TUNDE LIADI

    Six Nigerian weightlifters have boosted their chances of qualifying for the Paris 2004 Olympics following their superb showing at the ongoing 2023 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

    The sextuplets are Rafiatu Lawal (59kg), Adijat Olarinoye (59kg), Ruth Ayodele (64kg), Joy Ogbonne Eze (71kg), Edidiong Umoafia (73kg), and Desmond Akano (89kg).

    Eze rounded off Team Nigeria performance on Wednesday in the 71kg where she finished 14th with a lift of 100kg in the snatch and 127kg in the clean and jerk for a total 227kg.

    While Ayodele won three medals in the women’s 64kg category in the championship also it was Team Nigeria’s best performance at the championship.

    Ayodele got a bronze and two silver and medals, lifting 100kg in the snatch event, 122kg in the clean and jerk as well as 222kg in the Total.

    The 23-year-old Ayodele made her debut at the World Championship but boosted her chances of qualifying for the Olympics with her impressive showing.

    Only the top 10 weightlifters in the world in the last championship before the will feature in Paris 2024.

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    Meanwhile, Mosquera Llamosa of Colombia won three gold by lifting 101kg in the snatch event, 122kg in the clean and jerk as well as 223kg in total, while Korea’s Minkyung Park got one silver and two bronze medals in the women’s 64kg.

    In the women’s 59kg, Lawal finished in six position, lifting 100kg in the snatch event, 125kg in the clean and jerk as well as 225kg in total.

    Lawal had brightened her Olympic Games chances following a spectacular outing at the Tunisia’s IWF Grand Prix in May this year.

    Olarinoye, placed 15th position with a lift of 95kg in the snatch event, 120kg in the clean and jerk as well as 215kg in total. But she has a lot of work to do to break in into the top 10.

    Umoafia with a lift of 140kg in the snatch event, 170kg in the clean and jerk as well as 310kg in total finished in the 18th position in the men’s 73kg category.

    Umoafia must brace up if he is to pick a ticket to the Olympics based on the calibre of opposition before him.

    In the 89kg men, Akano ended his run in the championship with 145kg in the snatch and 193kg in the clean and jerk for a combined total of 338kg lift to finish in the 22nd position.

    Akano will need to do more than double up his performance to qualify for the Olympics with the bronze medallist in the event, Keydomar Vallenilla of Venezuela lifting 381kg in total.

    Speaking on Ayodele’s performance in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria’s head coach, Ojadi Aduche, said: “She was in the team some years ago, but took a break from the sport due to some challenges. I recalled her to the team recently because she is very strong.

    “This outing in Saudi Arabia is the second impressive performance by Nigerian weightlifters within one week.

    “Our lifter, Rafiatu Lawal had a big jump in the rankings at 59kg. I am happy with their performances,” he stated.

    Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Dr Ibrahim Abdul has applauded the performance of Nigerian Weightlifters, urging them to double their efforts to ensure that their performance improves in future championships.

    Abdul praised the performance of Ruth Ayodele in the 64kg who despite making her debut in the World Championships got three medals as well as Rafiatu Lawal who finished in sixth position in her 59kg category.

    “Though most of the weightlifters we took to Saudi Arabia didn’t win medals, we are satisfied with their performance. They showed the true Nigerian spirit and were willing to make sacrifices and even risks to achieve their objectives,” Abdul told NationSport.

    “Ayodele just attended her first World Championship and she did very well while Lawal, Eze and others improved their world rankings too to finish in the top 10.”

    Yet Abdul has for the umpteenth time, called on philanthropist and corporate bodies to come to the aid of NWF so that more weightlifters can have the opportunity of competing at top championships.

  • Paris Olympics: Before we clap for our opponents

    Paris Olympics: Before we clap for our opponents

    I had wanted to talk about something else today before I saw the photograph of the new Sports Minister, John Enoh, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja at 12.08 am physically receiving the country’s ambassadors to the World Athletic Championships held in Budapest. I shouted Eureka! Knowing that the minister wasn’t approaching the tasks of fixing our sports with blindfolded eyes. Enoh should have an interpersonal relationship with our sports ambassadors, especially the medal-winning sportsmen and women. Enoh’s first assignment is the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

    Whereas those countries expected to participate at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games would at the snap of their fingertips tell the world how many gold, silver and bronze medals based on time-tested indices that they have adopted as part of their respective countries’ sports cultures. In Nigeria, it is a guesswork largely because we have sports administrators who are mostly disorganised, with due respect to a few who truly know their onions.

    If Enoh wants to succeed in this job, he needs to see things for himself as they happen and not rely on the claims and/or counterclaims of our sports administrators who have developed a penchant for getting into the different sports federations in the country only to contest elections at the international platforms of such federations. These Nigerian administrators know that membership of international bodies in their different sports guarantees them relevance and a place in the next election even if their sport in the country is literally lying in the morgue.

    They couldn’t be bothered about the routine activities of our athletes, especially the star performers such as Amusan, Ese Brume et al who are already world beaters, whose preparations for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games should be topmost priority till after the multi-sports competition. It didn’t come as a surprise when Amusan was initially suspended from the World Athletics Championships held in Budapest. Instead of Amusan concentrating on her strategies of retaining her 100-metre hurdles title, she busied herself stating why she would come out clean of loading her system with steroids.

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    This tedious expedition for athletes who didn’t take the mandatory three out of competitions; drug tests being cleared looked more like an attempt to climb a greasy pole. Much of the argument to prove her innocence came from Amusan with the federation’s chieftains keeping sealed lips to the consternation of followers of the sport.

    The lesson from this unfortunate incident is that both the athletes and the federation’s members should make it a point of duty to know the rules of their sport. The federations must allow their sub-committees to function. If the AFN has functional medical committee, the members ought to have known those who have undergone the Out of Competition Test (OCT) and those who haven’t. That way, the technical committee would be effectively guided when picking athletes to be invited for trials. The AFN in conjunction with the federation’s medical team ought to have done due diligence on the athletes selected to represent the country to know those eligible and those who aren’t.

    The current AFN board should ensure that these new kids on the block are monitored, retrained, and given the best treatment in terms of their welfare packages, training grants, and those things others do to motivate their fresh kids on the tracks. The next Olympics is in Paris in 2024, meaning that the federation has barely one year to institute programmes that would make the kids winners again at the Olympics in the proverbial city in France, which anyone sees and dies. Good to know that something can come out of Nigeria that is good for the world to celebrate. I cherish listening to Nigeria’s anthem being sung at victory ceremonies. It has always been my best moment outside this country covering sporting events.

    However, the honourable sports minister, winning laurels at big events is a project structured on workable models used by renowned sports polities. Most of these models are anchored on sports institutes that train coaches and sports managers. It also provides systems which are adopted by these countries’ teams during competitions. It is the reason we see certain countries play the same way with a few adjustments informed by how the opposition plays.

    Countries such as Australia, America, Britain and recently Jamaica have models that developing countries like ours can adopt if we genuinely want to make the industry the business that it is in other climes. Our administrators made so much noise about adopting the Australian model after the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. They were particularly fascinated by the feats achieved by the Australians. Several visits were made to Sydney to study the system. Some Australians came here. Our administrators raised hopes that the National Sports Institute (NIS) will be redesigned with the Australian model in mind. It never happened, largely because of the policy summersaults.

    Of course, with a government that pays lip service to corporate sponsorships for sports, the blue-chip firms are not inspired to take the initiative. Even the few sports federations that seek sponsorship from these firms are unconvincing to a prospective sponsor when asked what a sponsoring company stands to gain from such investments. This will even be worse now considering the tightened noose on the economy’s neck a development that has left many firms rethinking their spending portfolio. And for such firms, every kobo for sponsorship must be worth its while for the return-on-investment.

    A blueprint is sacrosanct for sports to thrive and it must be anchored on the desired need to resuscitate moribund grassroots competitions that engage the youths and take them away from the vices in the society.

    The emergence of a sports policy endorsed by the government will create jobs such that this industry could in the next 10 years become the highest employer of labour.

    The policy should challenge local government chairmen to build at least four mini-sports centres that would serve as playgrounds for their constituents in the absence of such structures in the schools in the 774 local government areas.

    The beauty of sporting events is that there are markers to determine the winners quite distinct from the losers. This index rings true with the performance charts of the sporting federations in the country. Those Olympic Games regulars in the past for Nigeria such as boxing should quietly walk away. Those federations where members have served more than two terms should bow out. they cannot offer anything different from what they had exhibited in the last four years.

    The diabolical way in which some people remain in the federations simply because they are members of their international federations is unacceptable. They were able to contest for such positions because Nigeria made them members of her federations where they sought and won elections. Sports cannot be lying prostrate while those who volunteered to revive the industry sit tight in the place on the altar of being international federations’ officials.

    If the athletes aren’t competing for laurels in sports, there can’t be officials. So, if the officials have outlived their usefulness by failing to discover, nurture and expose our athletes to represent Nigeria in big competitions, they should go.

    In other climes, government has incentives for firms that support sports such as tax holidays and/or rebates. Most of our federations are handicapped by the kind of members they have who are mainly self-seekers, craving to get into their federations’ international bodies. It doesn’t matter if the sports they superintend don’t organise one competition in their four-year tenures.

    Are sports truly “play play” as one former governor once described it? Who will challenge us to see sports as a  platform to bolster the country’s revenue? Doesn’t the government know that sports is the best vehicle for massive employment? You tell me.

  • That T.H.E.S.E may continue in Lagos…

    Why should any State in Nigeria want to beat Lagos State to tourism power? Has any in France beaten Paris to the game? Has any in Italy beaten Milan to it? Why should small fries take advantage of the advantages that Lagos has failed to harness to fake a leap to lead spots in tourism and entertainment?

    For decades, Paris, a trendy city in the heart of France has maintained its identity as the art and fashion hub of Europe and a leading tourist destinations in the world; so is Rio, the pride of Brazil which is described as the most visited city in the southern hemisphere, known for its natural settings and carnivals, while Dubai remains the business and cultural hub of the Middle East of modern appeal.

    A comedian while wooing his crowd in Calabar last December said to them: “I’m now getting popular in Lagos oo.” Such is the spirit – you are yet to start for real as an entertainer if you have not been ‘bathed in the Lagos waters’. The State remains the entertainment hub, not just for music artistes who have fought their way to stardom, coming from far away Jos, Abuja, Enugu, Bayelsa, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo, Warri, Kaduna and other parts of the country, but also for the Nigerian motion picture industry called Nollywood. Therefore, if Lagos is where the success of music and film start and end, what there is left for rivals to latch upon?

    The Gambian economy is predominantly dependent on tourism. But what does the country sell other than beach resorts that thrive on serene environment, clean waters, scorching sun and security for revelers. Lagos has more, with potential even for more when you consider its entertainment centers, historical sites, cultural events, natural landscape and topography traversed by sea and lagoon waters, enormous beaches and waterfronts, sea foods and other numerous delicacies that define a true metropolitan city.

    However, the missing gap has been the inability of leaders to harness these beauties for the all-important social and economic benefits, thereby letting these unique materials to continue to beg for a messiah – now we have one.

    For the first time, a strategic programme of action was pronounced as part of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s entertainment and tourism agenda for Lagos State. It was called T.H.E.S.E, an acronym quite pungent in harnessing the creative sector’s variables that are capable of stimulating the economy through alternative IGRs, even empowering the youths and making Lagos a fun city desirable by all.

    T.H.E.S.E – a Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment/Arts Sports for Excellence project took off with a new romance being extended to players in the entertainment industry. Shortly after takeoff, the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), for example, had a different experience in Lagos, hosting filmmakers and enthusiasts from Africa and the Diaspora, who explored as many entertainment centers as possible. Also, with the support given to EbonyLife’s Fifty movie by the Lagos State Government and its Ministry of Culture and Tourism, entrepreneurs who had sought succor for their projects in States other than Lagos appear to be returning to base.

    One major event for which Ambode’s government has walked the talk was the One Lagos Fiesta, a five-day concert staged across Lagos communities annually.

    The event which used to hold solely at the Bar Beach water front, probably partly for security reasons was first test run in five communities, including Ikorodu, Epe, Agege, Badagry and Lagos Island, without a single case of violence. Interestingly, Lagos is fast restoring the confidence of revelers in line with Ambode’s campaign promises. No doubt, the level of commercial activities at the One Lagos Fiesta environs is what the traders would wish a monthly affair, even as the success story remains an attraction and sense of belonging to visitors and tourists alike.

    It is not enough that Lagos was the former capital of Nigeria. The will to keep the aquatic state at the forefront of socio-political and economic relevance in the West African sub region has been a major factor of its success, and the prerogative of visionary leaderships that have continued to play the big brother to other states of the federation and the FCT.

    Situations at last year’s edition of the annual Festival de Cannes in France lent credence to this position, with Lagos playing Nigeria at the festival. The Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture had, at the festival, promoted Lagos as Nigeria’s most vibrant city and gateway to the world of cinema.

    Pavilion 210 at the Panteiro-Side of the International Village was home for Nigerian delegates, led by the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Steve Ayorinde who, as a film festival veteran led the new Lagos-Cannes narrative for the second time in a row.

    Recall that like a technocrat worthy of his onions, Ayorinde took the first shot barely one year into his former appointment as Commissioner for Information and Strategy, when he led a similar delegation to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 2016 where eight films representing Lagos were showcased as part of the city-to-city focus programme of the festival.

    But for a tourism and arts loving governor in Mr. Akinwumi Ambode, these brilliant propositions may not have seen the light of the day. Hence, in the absence of a Federal Government’s articulated and sustainable blue print for cultural showcase at such global platforms, it is important for filmmakers to seek ways of tapping into this big brother goodwill.

    It is in this regard that I want T.H.E.S.E thing to continue in Lagos…

     

  • French police fire tear gas in Paris to halt angry protests

    FRENCH riot police fired tear gas and water cannon in Paris yesterday, trying to stop thousands of yellow-vested protesters from converging on the presidential palace to express their anger at high taxes and French President Emmanuel Macron.

    Security officials imposed a lockdown on parts of central Paris, determined to prevent a repeat of the rioting a week ago that damaged a major monument, injured 130 people and tarnished the country’s global image.

    Blue armored vehicles rumbled across cobblestone streets from the Arc de Triomphe across toward eastern Paris as scattered demonstrations spread around the city. Police were mounted on horses and surrounded protesters with trained dogs. A ring of steel surrounded the Elysee Palace itself, as police stationed trucks and reinforced steel barriers in streets throughout the entire neighborhood.

    Many protesters were  hurt in yesterday’s s clashes with police.

    Paris police said 30 people were injured, including three police officers.

    Some stores along the Champs-Elysee had boarded up their windows with plywood, making the neighborhood appear like it was bracing for a hurricane. Angry protesters on Saturday tried to rip the boards off.

    Protesters threw flares and other projectiles and set fires but were repeatedly pushed back by tear gas and water cannon. By mid-afternoon, more than 700 people had been stopped and questioned, and more than 400 were being held in custody, according to a Paris police spokeswoman.

    Despite the repeated skirmishes, yesterday’s  anti-government protests appeared less chaotic and violent than a week ago, when crowds defaced the Arc de Triomphe, set vehicles ablaze and looted high-end stores in the city’s worst rioting since 1968.

    Prized Paris monuments and normally bustling shopping meccas were locked down Saturday at the height of the holiday shopping season. The Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum were among the many tourist attractions that closed for the day, fearing damages amid a new round of protests. Subway stations in the center of town were shut down.

    The yellow vest movement  named after the fluorescent outerwear French drivers must keep in their vehicles  started as a protest against higher taxes for diesel and gas, but quickly expanded to encompass wide frustration at stagnant incomes, the rising cost of living and other grievances.

    Macron on Wednesday agreed to abandon the fuel tax hike, which aimed to wean France off fossil fuels and uphold the Paris climate agreement, but that hasn’t defused the anger.

  • Paris Agreement: ’Nigeria moving in right direction’

    A group, Climate Scorecard, has given Nigeria a pass mark, saying that the West African nation “is moving in the right direction, although it still needs to do more” towards the realisation of the Paris Agreement.

    The commendation is contained in the group’s “Global Spotlight Project for March 2018.”

    The Paris Agreement is within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It deals with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C.

    Nigeria’s recent issuance of the Sovereign Green Bond (or Climate Bond) appears to have influenced its three-star rating in the monthly assessment of 20 countries (including the EU) with high emission levels.

    Other ratings include: four-star – Moving forward to combat climate change and support the Paris Agreement; two-star – the country is Standing Still; and one-star – the country is falling behind in its climate change efforts.

    According to the Climate Scorcard, the Green Bond Fund has the potential to move the country forward in fulfilling its Paris Agreement pledge, but that other steps need to be taken in order for the potential to be fully realised.

    On Thursday, December 14, 2017 at the Nigeria Green Bond Investors Forum in Abuja, Patience Oniha, the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), said the Federal Government planned to issue N10.6 billion Green Bonds to finance renewable energy projects to protect the environment.

    Climate Scorcard, however, warned that the Green Bond initiative needed to establish transparency and accountability for its efforts, adding that the government needs to strengthen its communications about the programme so that all Nigerians,  especially businesses, know about it. The group adds that the Nigerian government should ensure that the bonds are utilised by renewable energy and other types of green businesses.

    Out of the 20 nations assessed, only Italy got a four-star rating, ostensibly for its National Energy Strategy, which was approved last November. Sixteen nations (including Nigeria) got three-star ratings, while three got one-star assessments. No country or region got a two-star rating.

    The countries include: Australia, Germany, India (one-star), Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Eurpean Union, France, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Russia, South Korea, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States (three-star) and Italy (four-star).

    According to Climate Scorecard, the monthly Global Summary Reports are intended to be of use to those concerned about climate change and the success of the Paris Agreement, pointing out that it provides links to spotlight reports on activities in leading greenhouse gas emitting countries in relation to climate change mitigation and/or adaptation.

  • NLC tells workers to vote out defaulting governors

    NLC tells workers to vote out defaulting governors

    The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ), Mr Ayuba Wabba, has urged workers to get their Permanent Voter Cards ( PVCs ) to vote out state governors owing salaries and allowances.

    A statement signed by Ms Freda Ukpoju, Media Officer, Say No Campaign, a Civil Society Organisation ( CSO ), on Tuesday quoted Wabba as making the call at the group’s “DoroCorruption programme’’ held in Abuja.

    Wabba decried the ordeal of workers at the hands of state governments in Nigeria, insisting that the Nigerian government treat workers like slaves.

    “It is time the workers used their numbers to push back; I encourage members to get their PVCs to vote out every defaulting state governor.

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    “State governments owing salaries were given bailouts and different Federal Government interventions, including the Paris club funds meant to offset their debts to state workers.

    “While some have met their responsibilities and paid off, chronic debtors like Benue and Kogi states remain adamant in fulfilling their responsibilities and clearing their debts.

    “The challenge is not lack of resources but sheer unwillingness and misplaced priorities. ‘’

    Wabba said that the reality of the matter was that the problem had never been about resources, saying “In most of those states, their priority is not to pay salaries but white elephant projects.’’

    He said that before this current administration came in, Plateau owed seven months salaries but through ingenuity, the governor utilised all the money given to him to settle everybody.

    He said that many states had utilised their money, but some states, about twelve of them, including Benue and Kogi had failed.

    He, however, said that the governors should be held accountable because democracy was about the people.

    He said that if as governors, they were not able to address the fundamental constitutional issue of security and welfare of the people then the people also must be able to hold them accountable.

    “Workers and pensioners must unite to use their PVC to chase these type of people out of government; if workers, in unity, demand it and also use their power of franchise to vote them out of office,’’ he said.

    Also speaking, the co-convener, Say No Campaign, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, encouraged citizens to join unions or associations and actively participate in ensuring that their collective interests were championed.

    Nwagwu said that where members noticed that leadership had been compromised or failed to promote their interest, there should be no hesitation in voting such leaders out.

    He said that the demand for accountability should begin at the  communities level, adding that only when citizens were able to hold their leaders accountable, would they have the courage to hold government accountable.

    He advised Nigerians not to be divided along ethnic or religious sentiments in the demand for accountability because citizens needed to develop the culture of giving ultimatums to government and demand urgent response to their plights.

    He condemned state governors owing workers and insisted that they were inflicting the worst kind of terror on their people by attacking their means of survival.

    NAN

  • Buhari back from Paris

    Buhari back from Paris

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday returned to Abuja after participating at the “One Planet” summit in Paris, France.

    The president’s aircraft landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, at about 4:35 p.m. where he was received by senior government officials including his Chief of Staff, Alhaji Abba Kyari and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Musa Bello.

    While in Paris, President Buhari had appealed to the international community to support Nigeria’s commitment to reduce the negative effects of climate change.

    Buhari told participants that Nigeria could not implement its Nationally Determined Contributions without adequate financial, technical and capacity building support from developed nations

    He said Nigeria had already ratified the Paris Agreement in May 2017 but its Nationally Determined Contributions to reduce emission by 20 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2030 could not be attained alone.

    According to him, the country is not under illusion of the challenges it is facing, having just come out of recession.

    The summit with the theme “Climate Change Financing’’, was attended by over 60 heads of state and governments, as well as representatives of non-governmental and private organisations.