Author: Chief Editor

The Director-General of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Mr Qu Dong Yu, has suggested that to achieve zero hunger by 2030, all forms of malnutrition must be globally addressed among various income groups. Yu said this on Wednesday to mark World Food Day 2019 in Maiduguri, Borno State. He explained that this year’s celebration, on the theme: ‘Healthy Diets for a Zero Hunger World,’ focuses on healthy diets among the peoples across the globe. The Director-General, who was represented by FAO’s Head, Maiduguri Office, Mr Al Hassan Cisse, said, “Eradicating hunger is FAO’s topmost priority, but we also need to…

Mauricio Pochettino’s spirits were lifted during the international break, having felt “dead” after Tottenham’s defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion. A difficult season for Spurs plunged new depths when they followed up a 7-2 humiliation at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on October 1 by losing 3-0 at Brighton in the Premier League four days later. Pochettino was downbeat at the start of the international break, during which he travelled to the Aspire Global Summit in Qatar and addressed several ex-professionals. But ahead of hosting Watford on Saturday, the former Southampton boss was able to consider a…

Arsenal boss Unai Emery is happy with the improvement he has seen with Mesut Ozil in training as the midfielder targets a future at Emirates Stadium. Ozil has played just twice in all competitions this season, yet he insisted in a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic on Thursday that he will not be leaving Arsenal before the end of his contract in 2021. Emery also appears open to giving Ozil another chance, revealing the factors for his limited action this term ahead of Monday’s Premier League trip to Sheffield United. They include an attempted armed robbery in London that targeted…

Manchester United have tied highly rated full-back Brandon Williams to a new deal that will keep him at the club until at least 2022. United also have the option to extend Williams’ stay by a further year. The 19-year-old has come through the academy system at Old Trafford and impressed as a left-back, earning his first-team debut this season when he appeared as a substitute in the EFL Cup clash with Rochdale last month. He also started the Europa League trip to AZ earlier this month, while he was an unused sub in the Premier League games against Arsenal and Newcastle United.…

The Senate Committee on Public Accounts yesterday faulted the style of President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption, which it noted, allows “corruption to happen before sending the EFCC or the ICPC after the culprits.” It, therefore, recommended that the audit system be digitalised to check corruption and the drudgery associated with tons of papers. Chairman of the committee, Mathew Urhoghide, said for effect, the crusade should be coordinated by the office of the Auditor General of the Federation. The lawmaker urged enthronement of tighter institutions to effectively monitor activities of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). “If we are able to…

Since the return of democracy in 1999, the link between party financing and corruption in Nigeria has become more like the Siamese twins. Very difficult to separate. They cut across political divides, whether perceived as progressives or conservatives. Perhaps, this may be the reason why people of integrity, technocrats, professionals, and retired civil servants appear to be distancing themselves from party politics, as they do not see it as an avenue through which they can make their contributions to nation-building because of the presumption that politics is for those who have the wherewithal other than integrity and expertise. No doubt,…

Niran Adedokun Fatima Mamman Daura’s Monday interview with the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation is as audacious as it is revealing. Until Fatima picked up the gauntlet, there were widespread aspirations to put a face to the name First Lady Aishat Buhari mentioned as having recorded and then went ahead to release the video that saw the President’s wife fuming. She did Nigerians the favour of resolving that contention. Fatima’s admittance of the deed may itself have been prompted by Aisha Buhari’s confident and most likely strategic revelation that she was the subject of this video, which hitherto…

Abimbola Adelakun President Muhammadu Buhari built his brand on three myths: self-discipline, fiscal discipline, and military discipline. These myths became the national millstone when fate dealt Nigeria a diseased hand during the night of December 31, 1983 and ushered in Buhari into the presidency until August 1985. His quicksand morality has been an ever-present conundrum. From his first coming till the present time, Buhari has variously talked down on Nigerians about their indiscipline. When it comes to understanding Nigeria’s issues, Buhari’s mind can neither accept nuances nor complexities beyond the nostrum of discipline. He believes if he could intravenously inject…

Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has officially entered the Guinness World Record book for his haul of 12 assists in the Premier League last season. The 21-year-old became an undisputed starter at right-back in the 2018-19 campaign, featuring 29 times as the Reds narrowly missed out on the Premier League title to Manchester City. Alexander-Arnold’s performances earned him a place in the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Premier League Team of the Year and he has also become a regular at international level for England. His effectiveness in the final third has drawn most acclaim and his remarkable haul of 12 assists…

Agitation or call for reduction in the cost of governance has been rather perennial. I wrote on this very topic sometime in the 1980s for the London-based West Africa magazine. I had then called for a reduction in the number of senatorial seats per state, which then was five. I had also called for a reduction in the number of ministers and advisers – all these in the Nigerian Second Republic. I would later follow up this discussion with a memorandum to the Ibrahim Babangida-led Armed Forces Ruling Council, sometime in 1986,in which I suggested that senatorial constituencies could be limited to …