Jonathan, Mark, Tambuwal, govs felicitate with Nigerians

 

Jonathan, Mark and Tambuwal

President Goodluck Jonathan, the President of the Senate, David Mark, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Tuesday felicitated with Nigerians, especially Christians, as they celebrate this year’s Christmas.

But they had a common message:   Nigerians must rededicate their lives to the virtues and ideals of Jesus Christ.

In his message, Jonathan  said  he joined  Christians and all other Nigerians today in giving thanks to God   because  his  grace and benevolence had  helped the nation to overcome the  many challenges it had  had since the last Christmas.

He said in the  message which was signed  by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati,  that  the annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ was a most auspicious time for all to emulate the ideals the Messiah preached and exemplified during his earthly ministry.

The President said, “Let us all therefore resolve this Christmas to make the ideals of peace, harmony, tolerance, love and goodwill to all even more manifest in our interactions with others.

“It remains my sincere belief that no height of human accomplishment is beyond us as a nation, if we can overcome our differences, such as they are, and forge a binding national consensus to put the progress and well-being of the country above all other considerations.”

Mikel pleased with Chelsea display

Football | Nigeria

Nigerian midfielder, John Obi Mikel has voiced his satisfaction with the point picked up by Chelsea in Monday’s 0-0 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
The two big hitters in the Barclays English Premier League shared the spoils under atrocious conditions on Monday night and Mikel revealed that Jose Mourinho’s men were the happier of the two sides with the result.
Mikel, as the anchor midfielder, was pleased with the limited impact Mesut Ozil and the other Arsenal attacking midfielders had on the game, but admitted it had been a tough contest in the middle of the park.
"It was a difficult game and it is always difficult to play against Arsenal, they have good players who like to pass the ball around but we didn't want to lose the game,” he told the club’s official website, chelseafc.com.

Latest Boateng injury 'not serious'

Football | Ghana

Kevin-Prince Boateng's injury-prone career is worrying all stakeholders of his play, but Schalke say the latest one is not serious.
The Bundesliga outfit are confident that the Ghanaian will return to first team action before the league resumes from the winter break.
The 26-year-old sustained another calf injury while training with the Royal Blues before they met Nurenburg.

Da Silva says no to KSA deal

Football | Egypt

Al Ahly attacker Dominique Da Silva has refused an offer from Al Faisaly of the KSA and decided to wait for a better deal.
The KSA side Al Faisaly had sent a formal offer to Da Silva this week and Al Ahly head coach Mohamed Yousef accepted to release the player.
" We talked with Dominique about the offer but he refused and asked us to wait till we have a better one and we have to respect his decision" Al Ahly director said to supersport.com.
" We will wait for another offer and will let Da Silva go after the head coach gives us the green light "

Abdul-Pele declares support for Abdulrahman

Football | Nigeria

 Wikki Tourists chief coach, Ahmed Abdul-Pele has declared total support for the team's newly-appointed technical adviser, Tunde Abdulrahman.
The former FC Taraba gaffer was recently handed the mantle to oversee the Bauchi-based side's campaign in the 2013/14 Nigeria National League season due to kickoff on January 25.
Abdul-Pele said he is damn prepared to support anybody who shares the side dream to return back to the elite league at the end of the coming season.
“I’m ready to work hand in hand with the technical adviser, Tunde Abdulrahman to achieve our aim of gaining promotion to the Premier League at the end of the season.
“Together we’ll fight hard to get back the side to the elite league where it rightly belonged.
“Abdulrahman is an experienced coach as his wealth of knowledge was handy to see FC Taraba gain promotion to the Premier League in the out gone Nigeria National League season,” Abdul-Pele said to supersport.com.

Galaxy Backbone partners Microsoft on job creation initiative

Galaxy Backbone Plc has partnered Microsoft Nigeria to create employment opportunities for young Nigerians through the Employable Skills Development Internship Programme.

The ESDIP programme is part of the Government Wide Messaging and Collaboration project based on the Microsoft platform, and is targeted at providing capability development programmes and training in the federal public sector for the already deployed GWMC platform, while also enhancing adoption and usage of the platform.

Galaxy Backbone is a government agency charged with the responsibility of providing a common Information and Communications Technology platform for Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

By this, Galaxy Backbone will enhance modernisation in government via the increased adoption of the already deployed government wide messaging platform, elevate the security stature of government data by ensuring that all sensitive government communications move from public mail infrastructure to the secured and award-winning 1-gov.net platform, a statement by Galaxy Backbone on Monday indicated.

This, it added, will also help to drive skill development and contribute to employability/job creation in the country.

Refineries’ sale to begin after steering committee meeting

Warri Refinery

The steering committee for sale of the nation’s four refineries chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Deziani Alison-Madueke, needs to meet to provide the guidelines for the transaction before the process can begin, the Bureau of Public Enterprises has said.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, the Head, Public Communications, BPE, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, said the workers would also be consulted in the process leading to the sale of the refineries.

He said, “The privatisation process has not commenced. It will only commence after the steering committee chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources meets to provide the broad guidelines for the transaction.

“Labour and their unions are critical stakeholders in the privatisation process and their buy in will be sought before the commencement of the process.

“This is in line with what the Federal Government did in the power sector privatisation by actively engaging labour. All the concerns of the labour unions will be looked into and amicably resolved to ensure the success of the privatisation process.”

Online medium tackles Okonjo-Iweala over waivers

Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

An online news medium, SaharaReporters, has faulted the reaction of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to a story it carried on import waivers.

The medium had claimed that the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, sought and received import waivers that she then turned over to Coscharis Motors, a private car dealer, to import 200 BMW cars in 2012.

It reported that Mrs. Jonathan secured the import waivers in the name of her pet project, African First Ladies Peace Mission and that whereas the Ministry of Finance outlined the reasons for giving out waivers to the Lagos State Government and others, it just stated that the waivers granted to the President’s wife NGO were for the importation of “units of assorted brands of BMW” cars.

However, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, in a statement late on Monday, accused the medium of extracting and distorting information on the list of beneficiaries of the revised waivers policy, which the ministry voluntarily published as part of its drive for transparency and accountability.

Leading the league, Liverpool a resurgent force

Football | Barclays Premier League

Through financial turmoil, court battles and humbling setbacks in recent years, Liverpool has risen to the top this season and reached a noteworthy milestone in England.
Ahead of Arsenal on goal difference, the Reds lead the Premier League heading into the traditional Boxing Day games on Thursday.
"It is a nostalgic time and people always want to know where the team is at around Christmas Day," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said Tuesday. "It is brilliant for supporters. I am not going to deny them a dream."
The last four Christmas Day leaders went on to lift the trophy in May. The last not to was Liverpool in the 2008-09 season under Rafa Benitez.
So much has changed since then.

World Cup stadium has leaking roof

Football | World Cup 2014

The most expensive of the 12 stadiums built or revamped for the 2014 World Cup has a leaking roof less than eight months after it was finished, the stadium's operators said on Tuesday.
Secopa, the local government agency that runs the Mane Garrincha National Stadium in Brasilia, will ask the company that rebuilt it to explain why parts of the roof let in rain during last weekend's women's match between Brazil and Chile.
Local media reported that almost the entire lower ring of the stands was soaked although Secopa played down the problem, saying the leaks were not serious and would not affect any of the matches being played there during next year's World Cup.