Author: Chief Editor

Lionel Messi scored his 700th career goal but Barcelona suffered another blow to their La Liga title hopes after a 2-2 draw with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. Messi chipped in a penalty to reach another astonishing milestone at Camp Nou but twice Atletico hit back with spot-kicks of their own, Saul Niguez converting both after Barca took an early lead through Diego Costa’s own goal. The result gives Real Madrid the chance to move four points clear at the top of the table if they can overcome Getafe at home on Wednesday, a formidable lead with five games left. Atletico…

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp does not believe he has to spend “millions” in the transfer market, saying it is a tricky task to improve his Premier League winners. Klopp’s side was last week crowned English champions for the first time in 30 years with a record seven games to go. The coronavirus outbreak, which put the Premier League on hold for three months, is likely to have a significant impact on the football transfer market. But Klopp said even if he had a significant war chest, spending it would not necessarily be easy or the right thing to do. The…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has challenged Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford to improve, saying he is open to further strengthening his attack despite their impressive goalscoring form this season. The Old Trafford giants are on course to have two players hit the 20-goal mark in the same campaign, in all competitions, since Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez in 2010/11. Martial’s first Manchester United hat-trick, against Sheffield United last week, took him level with Rashford on 19 goals, while 18-year-old academy graduate Mason Greenwood has found the net 12 times in a breakthrough season. “I think all three that we have talked…

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has denied having any cloned account with hidden $1billion, describing the allegation as baseless. A petitioner, John Okpurhe, had earlier petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) of allegedly refusing to reward him after exposing over $1billion supposedly hidden in an account with Unity Bank Plc and allegedly operated by NPA. The authority, in a statement by its General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Jatto Adams, said that the allegations that it operated such an account was untrue. He said: “Okpurhe, claiming to be a whistleblower cited an…

TUESDAY WITH REUBEN ABATI Except something else occurs that grabs the headlines and dominates Nigerian social media, the big news of the past week would probably be the death of Senator Abiola Ajimobi and the political drama that it has generated. Senator Ajimobi served as a Senator between 2003 -2007. He was Governor of Oyo State between 2011 – 2015, 2015- 2019. He achieved the distinction of being the first Governor in that state to be elected for a second term in office. He broke the jinx. His tenure as Governor was quite controversial with mixed results and divided opinions.…

Former Barcelona great Xavi Hernandez saiys he hope to return to the Spanish club as head coach when the timing is right and that his technical team are already preparing for it. Spanish media had reported that Xavi, who coaches Qatari club Al Sadd, had been approached by Barca to replace Ernesto Valverde before Quique Setien was appointed in January. Barca are two points behind leaders Real Madrid with six matches remaining in the campaign. “The biggest hope I have now is to be Barca coach and get Barca back to winning ways,”Spanish daily Sport quoted Xavi as saying in…

Nigeria’s Super Eagles striker Victor Osimhen has been named the best African player in the French League 1 for the 2019/2020 season. The Lille forward won the award after spending a season (not completed due to coronavirus outbreak). The 21-year old scored 18 goals and provided eight assists in all competitions for the French Ligue 1 side. Osimhen was picked ahead of his compatriot Moses Simon, Habib Diallo of Metz, Idrissa Gueye of Paris Saint Germain, Islam Slimani of Monaco, and Yunis Abdelhamid of Reims. The annual award is named after Marc-Vivien Foe, the late Cameroon and Olympique Lyonnais midfielder…

Obadiah Mailafia Within days of each other, the Washington institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – have both warned that our economy is heading towards a massive recession. Both agree that the novel coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdown have had a heavy impact on macroeconomic growth, poverty and on our human and development prospects. The two international financial institutions are never known for any frivolity. Their warnings ought to be taken seriously by our economic managers. The IMF announced that our economy would undergo a deeper contraction of 5.4% rather than the more optimistic contraction…

Eze Onyekpere The Federal Government has just released its Economic Sustainability Plan. The plan is expected to be a stopgap measure for the next 12 months, to tidy Nigeria over the period of the pandemic, to when it develops a successor plan to the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan. This discourse reviews the content of the ESP on health and to raise and respond to the poser- whether the recommendations will concretely improve health services in Nigeria. The objective of the ESP’s intervention in the health sector is to develop a robust health system with the capacity to withstand shocks.…

Karim Benzema delivered another moment of magic on Sunday as Real Madrid took a two-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga by beating bottom club Espanyol. Benzema’s volley against Valencia could be the goal of the season and he might now have a claim to best assist too after his brilliant backheel teed up Casemiro to finish for a crucial 1-0 win. Madrid’s advantage in the table, coming after Barca’s draw away at Celta Vigo on Saturday, is their biggest since February and puts them within sight of their second league title in eight years. “It’s a…