Following the Super Eagles 2-1 loss against hosts Ivory Coast in the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Nigerians have faulted the team for reserving their worse performance for the most important game despite raising hopes with their run during the tournament, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

After captain William Troost-Ekong gave Nigeria a lead into the break with a header in the 37th minute, the hosts fought back in the second half, producing two goals courtesy of Frank Kessie and Sebastien Haller to win their third title.

Kessie found the equaliser in the 61st minute with a header while Haller, scored the winner and his second goal of the tournament with a poke in between Nigerian defenders with nine minutes left to play.

Despite the final changes made by coach Jose Peseiro, the Eagles couldn’t find the inspiration to come back into the game, missing the chance to win a fourth AFCON title, just like their failures in 1984, 1988 1990 and 2000.

Nigerians were left unimpressed by the team’s poor performance.

“Ivory Coast fully deserve this win. Unfortunately, the Super Eagles saved their worst performance for the final,” journalist, Nurudeen Obalaola remarked.

Another journalist, Wale Agbede also said, “Ivory Coast have been poor in this tournament, yet we somehow made them look so good. Letting them take control of the midfield and also cross at will.”

Others also blamed the players for their lack of sheer individua brilliance in the final.

“Lookman totally off, Iwobi is like he’s not there, Zaidu calamity even Aina is a shadow of himself. This parking the bus was always going to backfire,” A broadcast journalist, Benjamin Okenna also noted.

A brand and marketing enthusiast, Seun Odegbami also said the Eagles rode on luck throughout the tournament.

“Now I can finally speak my mind about the Super Eagles. The fact that the teams they played with in the group stage were fairly good was an advantage for us. If they played the tougher teams first, we wouldn’t have entered the quarter-finals.”

It’s the fifth AFCON final Nigeria will lose, and this year’s loss is similar to the 1984 edition, also in Ivory Coast when the Eagles were beaten 3-1 in the final by Cameroon.

Having reached the final eight times, Nigeria have won only three AFCON titles thanks to successes in 1980, 1994 and 2013. Despite Nigeria having the most podium finishes in the history of the tournament, they have not been able to make it count over the years, having also finished third on eight occasions.

United States authorities on Sunday said preliminary reports suggest that the chopper crash that killed Group Chief Executive Officer of Access Holding Plc, Herbert Wigwe, his Wife, son and others was because of wintry weather conditions.

Speaking during a media briefing Saturday (3 am Nigerian time, Sunday), a National Transportation Safety Board member, Michael Graham, said officials were on the scene to gather perishable evidence.

“Witness reports of the weather conditions during the accident suggest rain and a wintry mix.

“The helicopter was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. This helicopter was not required to be equipped with those types of recording devices,” Graham said.

Asked about more information on the passengers, Graham stated there were no details but added that “any names will be released through the coroner’s office” without specifying a time frame.

Meanwhile, Access Bank had confirmed the death of Wigwe and his family members in a statement on Sunday.

DAILY POST recalls that reports filtered in on Saturday evening announcing Wigwe’s death in California United States plane crash.

Nigeria coach; Jose Peseiro has announced his starting eleven for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations against host Ivory Coast.

The team will heading to the Alassane Ouattara Stadium, Abidjan, for the encounter.

Porto defender Zaidu Sanusi has returned to the team after passing a late fitness test, having missed the semi final against South Africa.

The other change in the lineup sees Samuel Chukwueze replacing Moses Simon.

Stanley Nwabali retained his place in between the sticks with Semi Ajayi, William Troost-Ekong and Calvin Bassey keeping their spots in defence.

Alex Iwobi, despite criticisms from fans who believe his work rate is poor, starts in the midfield alongside Frank Onyeka.

Victor Osimhen will lead the attack with Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze coming in from the wings.

The Super Eagles will file out in what looks like a 3-4-3 formation.

Nigeria’s XI: Nwabali; Ajayi, Troost-Ekong, Bassey; Aina, Zaidu, Onyeka, Iwobi; Lookman, Chukwueze, Osimhen.

The final match of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations will kick off by 9pm Nigeria time.

Mr Osita Okechukwu, a member of All Progressives Congress (APC) has appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), to shelve their proposed strike and key into the Mass Housing Scheme of the Federal Government, and jointly structure long term finance and soft mortgage rates for affordable owner occupier houses for government and private workers nationwide.

Okechukwu also appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to as a matter of urgent national importance, utilise the monies he could have used for increase in salary to fund the new soft mortgage system; hence advancement of the long term finance of Mass Housing Scheme he launched recently with Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

“It is my considered view that arbitrary salary increase would definitely worsen the already spiked inflationary malaise in our dear country. Therefore, the provision of targeted one million owner occupier houses of long term finance and soft mortgage rates structured seamlessly is a Win-Win-Card for all Nigerians. It will be President Tinubu’s foremost legacy.” Okechukwu quipped.

He warned against a repeat of the mistakes of the Jerome Udoji Salary Commission of 1972, popularly called "Udoji award" which unwittingly railroaded Nigeria into dollarised economy.

Okechukwu argued that any arbitrary salary increase now, would spike unbearable inflation and eventually defeat the objectives of salary increase.

He noted that after careful scrutiny of the MOU between the Federal Government and Labour Unions, he couldn’t locate any mention of shelter among the fifteen items; shelter one of 1943 Abraham Maslow’s paper on hierarchy of deficiency needs which actualisation is Rent-Safety-Net for millions of our citizenry.

The former Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON) lamented that since some state governments and private firms have been unable to pay the N30,000 minimum wage engraved in law books; what is the guarantee that they have the capacity to pay the new salary increase?

Accordingly, he proposed that the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Ministry of Labour, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Employees Consultative Association and other relevant agencies should work out long term finance and new soft mortgage rates for affordable owner occupier houses which will draw funds from the savings accruals of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, plus contributions from banks as stipulated in the National Fund Act and foreign direct investment.

He highlighted the multifaceted Win-Win-Card gains in view of the long term finance and soft mortgage rates of affordable owner occupier houses; among which are attraction of foreign investors, Rent-Safety-Net, unprecedented mass employment, lifting of millions out of poverty, change of work ethics,climate change and curbing insecurity via the immediate transformation of the whole country into busy construction site.

“My take is that immediately the cumbersome nature of accessing mortgage finance is watered down and cheap mortgage rates in place; it will be a new dawn for family’s comfort as the over 20 million housing deficit will be drastically reduced to single digit.” Okechukwu submitted.

Okechukwu once more appealed to NLC and TUC to consider this soft mortgage rates of affordable owner occupier houses and shelve the impending strike for the collective interest of workers nationwide and for peace and unity of our dear country.

Implementing code of ethics and conduct in Civil Service is crucial to providing guidelines for both workers and elected officials, while its effectiveness lies in complementing such with training and leadership abilities of different categories of officers for effective service delivery.

The Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Engr. Tokunbo Odebunmi, stated this during a symposium organised by the Commission for its management staff with the theme, ‘’Strict Adherence to the Rules and Regulations in Treating Issues in Civil Service’’, at the Conference Hall, Obas’ Complex, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Engr. Odebunmi, in a statement signed by Mrs. Funmi Onafowope, Press Officer, Civil Service Commission, explained that drifting from the concept and principles of the public service by civil servants as compared with the past, just as the real foundations in Civil Service should begin from Grade Levels 12 and 13 officers, who would cascade the training, necessitated the choice of topic and participants for the symposium, stressing that it was imperative to ensure that the workforce is improved upon, in order to enhance workers’ performance.

‘’The Commission agreed on a symposium where interactive sessions would take place and lead to a better understanding of the subject matter compared to regular in-house training by it in the past where lectures were only delivered to participants’’, he said.

While highlighting some ethical violations that could occur in the Civil Service of Ogun State to include, nepotism, corruption, conflict of interests and misuse of official resources, the Chairman urged participants to make the best out of the event.

Also speaking, the Special Guest of Honour, who doubled as the moderator of the symposium, Princess Iyabo Odulate, noted the rules and regulations guiding the Civil Service were written to be studied, observed and implemented by the Civil Servants, advising participants to be diligent and upright in the course of discharging their duties.

In his remarks, the Head of Service, Mr. Kolawole Fagbohun (HoS), represented by the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Mr. Jola Oyeneye, emphasised on the need for training the workers, disclosing that the HoS had secured several approvals that would facilitate capacity building for the workforce.

The interactive sessions had Permanent Secretaries from Bureau of State Pensions, Mr. Soji Adewuyi; Permanent Secretary and Accountant-General, Mr. Tunde Aregbesola and representative of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mr. Olumuyiwa Ogunsanwo, who spoke on Public Service Rules (PSR), Financial Regulations, Procedures and Process in the Civil Service and Law, Discipline and Consequences in the Course of Discharging Duties, respectively.

Other dignitaries at the event were former Head of Service, Elder Olusola Adeyemi; Commissioners in the Commission, Hons. Adebowale Ojuri, Nike Osoba, Gabriel Falola and Yusuf Adegbemiro; Permanent Secretary in the Commission, Mrs. Roseline Jacobs, among others.

President Bola Tinubu on Saturday urged the Nigerian Army to shun actions that could truncate Nigeria’s democracy.

The president made this plea at the Diamond Jubilee of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in Kaduna on Saturday, according to his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale.

“I urge you to continue to play your constitutional role of safeguarding the territorial integrity of Nigeria, our fatherland,” said Mr Tinubu.

Mr Tinubu added that the army “must shun any acts that are inimical to the well-being of our nation and acts which can destroy the gains of democracy which we have enjoyed in the last 20 years.”

While celebrating fallen heroes who lost their lives protecting the country’s territorial integrity, Mr Tinubu said, “The war against the enemies of Nigeria is not over.”

He charged the Nigerian Army to “upscale the fight against insecurity, which has robbed us of peace and progress.”

The president’s plea to the Nigerian Army to shun actions that are capable of truncating democracy comes as the continent witnessed a series of coup d’états.

In the past three years, several African countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sudan, and most recently, Niger Republic and Gabon have been controlled by military juntas who cited corruption, insecurity and increased poverty as the bases for the takeover from democratic governments.

From 1966 to 1993, Nigeria experienced several coups, excused by military regimes on widespread corruption, electoral fraud and violence, poverty, and insecurity. The country returned to democracy in 1999.

It is widely said that Nigerian judges are overworked and grossly underpaid. Senior lawyers have described the conditions of service of judges in the country as “a disgrace”. So poor indeed is their remuneration that in October 2023, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) doorstepped the federal government asking that the salaries of judges in the country be increased by at least 300%. But some lawyers think this is even too low.

Judicial salaries, it is said, have depreciated to nothing since they were last reviewed in 2008. Since then, allegations of judicial corruption appear to have escalated almost in inverse proportion to the loss in value of judicial pay, leading to suggestions of correlation, if not causation, between the state of judicial remuneration on the one hand and judicial corruption on the other.

Gani Fawehinmi, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who died in 2009, in fact linked this to judicial mortality, lamenting the fact that many Nigerian judges “die in office under circumstances that are related to the barbaric conditions in which they work.”

Every president since Goodluck Jonathan has promised to address this situation without, in fact, doing anything about it. In his first three months in office, the current incumbent, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has — like his recent predecessors — repeated the promise.

Unwilling to wait any longer for politicians whose promises are notoriously fickle, the judges appear to have decided to resort to self-help. On May 4, 2022, Osatohanmwen Obaseki-Osaghae, a judge of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, issued a judgment declaring that “since 2008 is embarrassingly too low and unrealistic, given the current socio-economic and other realities existing in Nigeria and the current global comparative salaries and allowances paid to Judicial Officers of the same or similar cadre.”

She ordered the government to institute a new remuneration structure that would guarantee minimum salaries ranging from N84 million per annum for judges of customary courts of appeal, khadis of Sharia courts of appeal and of the various high courts in the country to at least N120 million per annum for the chief justice of Nigeria.

In reaching this judgment, the judge reasoned that “the downturn in the economy and devaluation of the Naira has completely eroded its purchasing power since 2008”. She claimed that in the 14-year period between the last review of judges’ salaries in 2008 and the judgment in 2022, the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar had depreciated in value from N117.74 to N415.83.

Among the many problems with it, the orders in this judgment were directed at institutions in the executive and legislative arms of the federal government, including the National Assembly; the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC); the Attorney-General of the Federation; and the National Judicial Council, (NJC). Preoccupied very much with the politics of elections since then, these agencies did not appear to have taken note of the judgment since it was handed down.

Stuck for options, it seems the higher-ups in the judicial hierarchy decided in the interim to sort themselves out by dealing with judicial appointments in a manner that entirely unravels their claims about judicial salaries. At face value, the widespread complaints about judicial salaries in Nigeria totally denude the office of a judge of much respect or appeal, or so most rational people would think. Surely, few parents would want to inflict on their much-loved children a job in which the remuneration and conditions are described in the form of expressions routinely used to describe judicial conditions of service in Nigeria.

Yet, despite all the complaints, the senior-most judges in the Nigerian judiciary have “turned the judiciary into premium job racket for family members.” The latest advertisement for this trend is — not for the first time — the recruitment into the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). At the end of January 2024, the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court Husseini Baba-Yusuf, who comes from Kogi State, having secured permission from the NJC, requested nomination of suitable candidates to fill 12 judicial vacancies in his court. The request specifically named the states from which it sought candidates. These are: Bauchi, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara

Kogi, Bauchi, and Oyo States, which were invited to send forward candidates, are already well represented on the bench of the FCT High Court. They just happen to be the states of origin of the chief judge of the FCT High Court; of the immediate past CJN, and of the incumbent CJN. The chief judge of the FCT runs the court system and will shepherd the nominations through the NJC, where the CJN holds sway. What better way to guarantee safe passage of the preferred nominees of the FCT chief judge than by sweetening it with a candidate allocated specifically to the CJN?

So, of the 12 slots on the list, it appears three are already spoken for, with one daughter or daughter-in-law of the CJN, his predecessor and the chief judge of the FCT apparently guaranteed seats on the list of appointees.

For senior judicial figures, the opportunity to plant a child on the bench as a parting gift has become something of a ritual, with judicial appointments timed to coincide with high-profile judicial retirements. For those who were unable to accomplish generational replacement for themselves on the bench before their retirement, arrangements are made to retrospectively cure the oversight.

Hence, for instance, the proposal to translate a daughter of the immediate past CJN, herself currently a relatively junior magistrate in the service of the FCT judiciary, to the high court bench.

This facility is also used to build bridges with political heavyweights. As he was about to retire at the end of his eight-year term as governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, immediate past governor of Kogi State, got the magnificent gift of a judicial nomination for his beloved wife, Amina, to become a judge of the High Court of Kogi State. Her only qualification for this nomination, apart from having notionally been a lawyer for up to 10 years, is that she is the wife of the state governor.

Madam Amina is not a magistrate, a court registrar, an academic or a legal practitioner. But that did not stop the Kogi State Judicial Service Commission, headed by Chief Judge Josiah Majebi, from turning her judicial nomination into a parting gift for her husband. After leading SANs from the state sued the NJC, accusing it of blithely disrespecting its own rules in the Kogi State nominations, the NJC was forced to suspend the process of High Court appointments in Kogi.

It is not only children and spouses of judicial and political higher-ups who get planted into judicial sinecures in this way. Mistresses and other partners whose only qualification is intimate genital relations with people connected with politics or judicial appointments routinely get nominated too. This is not merely a debasement of high judicial office and the vocation of the judiciary or a clear violation of the Judicial Code of Conduct; it also is a very clear rebuttal of the case for improvement in judicial salaries.

Therefore, one may ask: if the job is so poorly remunerated, as they would have us believe, why would a sane and highly placed parent choose to hose-in their child into a dead-end position guaranteed to blight their lives over the course of a tenure that could last over 35 years?

There can only be two possible reasons. One is that the parent wishes the child ill. This is most improbable. The other is that the office of the judge has become so corrupt that the gazetted remuneration really counts for nothing. In the words of an infamous proverb from Conakry, once the child gets into the position, they will follow in the footsteps of their parent or paramour and feed off the fertile offerings within the perimeter of the judicial leash. If that is so, we may ask, why bother?

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro has said the Nigerian team must put in their best to win the African Cup of Nation, AFCON, tournament.

This was as Peseiro noted that winning the AFCON would not be easy for the Super Eagles.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference, the Super Eagles tactician expressed his desire to beat Cote d’Ivoire and lift the 2023 AFCON.

Super Eagles and their Cote d’Ivoire counterpart will clash at 9pm at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan.

“It’s the final, good atmosphere, with a full stadium. Our players know that it is not easy to win the AFCON and they must put in their best to win.

“Playing a final is always important. This is my first AFCON. Some were saying it’s been special, and I can attest to that.

“The emotions in Africa are very special. All of this in my opinion is a great way to learn and I would love to win it with the Nigerian team,” Peseiro said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, increased the Customs duties exchange rate for the third time in 2024.

Import duties have been reviewed upward to N1,417.63 per US dollar from N1,413.62.

With the upward review, Nigerians will pay more to clear their goods at the port because import duties are benchmarked against the dollar.

This represents an increase of N4.015 and a percentage increase of 0.28 per cent, as the official exchange traded at N1,469.97 per US Dollar at the foreign market on Friday.

DAILY POST gathered that the current upward review of the exchange rate for calculating customs import duty is the third in one week and the third in 2024.

It is also the seventh time the apex bank has adjusted the exchange in eight months since President Tinubu’s administration commenced the floating naira policy, a reform to stabilise the forex market.

Recall that the Customs had on June 24, 2023, adjusted the exchange rate from N422.30/$ to N589/$, and on July 6, 2023, it was adjusted to N770.88/$, on November 14, 2023, it was adjusted to N783.174/$, in December it was adjusted to N951.941/$, on February 2 it was moved to N1, 356.883/$ and on February 3, it was raised to N1, 413.62/$ and now it has been raised to N1,417.635/$.

Experts warned that the continued hike in import duty portends a rise in the prices of imported goods and services in the country.

Bisiriyu Fanu, the former chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents at Seme Border, said the hike in Customs duty through high FX rates will affect all goods in the market because every commodity in the market has imported input in them.

Earlier, the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, lamented that increased import duty would further impoverish Nigerians.

South Africa coach, Hugo Broos has reacted to his team winning the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, third-place final against DR Congo on Saturday.

Broos watched as Bafana Bafana defeated Congo 6-5 via penalty shoot-out after the match ended in a 0-0 draw.

Speaking to reporters after clinching the third-place final in Abidjan, Broos heaped praises on his players, saying they showed great mentality.

He said, “I said after the Nigeria match that I was proud of this team, and I think today people can see why I say I am proud of this team.

“We were not fresh but when you see the mentality in that group, it is impressive.

“The boys did very well. They showed great mentality.”