Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, congratulates fellow Muslim faithful on the celebration of this year’s Eid-el-Kabir festival, calling it, “a celebration of God’s love and mercy to mankind.”

The former Vice President, who is also the Waziri Adamawa sent his goodwill message to Muslims through a press statement on Saturday from his media office.

Atiku noted that the celebration of Eid, as stated in the scriptures, is not merely a fanfare but an admonition to the people to have forbearance and show compassion in every situation.

“The message of Eid al-Adha is to remind ourselves about the commandment of God to show love to one another and uphold peaceful interpersonal relationships.

“The essential purpose of that message is that we must put our trust in God almighty at all times.

“Even in the face of current hard times that many Nigerians are passing through, we must never fail to put trust in God and, more importantly, extend compassion and safety to the vulnerable people around us.

“What this means is that as we go about celebrating today, we must ensure that we extend good tidings of support and charity to one another, especially those in difficulties.”

The former Vice President equally sizes the opportunity of the Eid celebration to call on governments at all levels to be deliberate in initiating measures that will ease the hardship that confronts Nigerians on a basis.

“As we know that the essence of the celebration today is about a restoration of God’s mercy, it is thus incumbent on government at all levels to take a cue from the divine instruction and make sure that the hardships of the people are minimised,” Atiku said.

He also reminds Muslims in Nigeria and across the world to remember their responsibility of being good ambassadors of the religion by living their lives according to the practices and teachings of the noble Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

“The festivities that we are undertaking today is borne out of the obedience of Prophet Ibrahim and as also exemplified by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It is thus our responsibility as Muslims to reflect on their examples in our lives by upholding the threshold of peace at all times, "Atiku also added.

He wishes every Muslim family a happy Eid celebration and prays for God’s protection and safety for everyone during and after the celebration.

Signed:

Atiku Media Office

Abuja

President Bola Tinubu has directed the resignation of Mr. Mamman Ahmadu from office as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).

This is part of a larger reorganization effort in the public procurement system to reposition the agency for greater efficiency and transparency.

The Director-General is to hand over to the most senior officer in the Bureau, pending the appointment of a new Director-General.

The President thanks Mr. Ahmadu for his services and wishes him success in his future endeavours.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

Nigeria Super Eagles’ coach, Finidi George has resigned from his post as Super Eagles’ coach, two days after the Nigeria Football Federation announced it was going to employ a foreign technical adviser.

A source close to Finidi told Sports Village Square that Finidi sent his resignation letter to Ibrahim Gusau “3o minutes ago.”

 Finidi was said to be livid that the NFF leadership met with the sports minister two days ago, but failed to mention that players reported late to the camp and that they didi nothing to mobilise Nigerians in Cote d’Ivoire to come out to support the Super Eagles in last Monday’s match with Benin Republic.

“He complained that the NFF heaped all the blames on him”, said the source.

 Calls to NFF officials to verify the information were not answered.

[sportsvillagesquare]

President Bola Tinubu celebrates with the Muslim Ummah on the joyous occasion of Eid-el-Kabir, an event that denotes sacrifice, faith, and obedience to the will of the Almighty.

The President congratulates the Muslim faithful and prays that Allah accepts their supplications and acts of obedience.

President Tinubu enjoins Nigerians to reflect on the essence of the occasion, which bears strong meaning and significance for the nation.

The President emphasizes that sacrifice and duty are essential ingredients to nation-building, noting that it takes collective purpose, will, and action to bring about great change. 

President Tinubu calls on citizens to spare a prayer for the nation for continuous peace and stability while working according to purpose in promoting unity, peace, and progress.

The President acknowledges the sacrifices that Nigerians have made in the past one year as his administration sets the nation on a firm pedestal of growth and development.

President Tinubu affirms that the sacrifices and great expectations of citizens will not come to nought as already propitious outcomes are beginning to manifest with the economy strengthening and vibrancy returning to critical sectors.

The President reassures Nigerians that his administration is prioritizing their physical, social, and economic security and will not relent on this noble endeavour.

President Tinubu wishes Nigerians happy Sallah celebrations.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Dr. Mitchell Obi

(African President of the International Sports Press Association)

Topic: "NFF, the Super Eagles and 2026 World Cup Qualifiers"

Date: 15th June, 2024

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92877141732?pwd=VEJWb29OL2VVekZUTHRpdWYxK0xxZz09

Meeting ID: 928 7714 1732
Passcode: 600206

Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has identified Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, as one of the smartest players he has coached in his career.

Guardiola coached the Germany international at Man City before the player left for Barca.

They both won several trophies, including the Champions League and the Premier League.

“İlkay didn’t talk much, but when he did, everyone listened to him, including me as a coach,” Guardiola said (via Barca Blaugranes).

“It was clear and direct. He is a very intelligent player, one of the smartest I have ever coached. He was the key to our success.”

[DailyPost]

• Senate will give Tinubu’s proposed Bill swift passage – Spokesman

Organised labour appears to have backed down on its demand for N250,000 as minimum wage.

Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Festus Osifo said yesterday that there was nothing sacrosanct about the N250,000, adding that labour was receptive to adjustments.

There was no immediate response from the federal government last night on the latest stance of organised labour, although the Senate yesterday pledged to grant accelerated consideration and passage of the new minimum wage bill from President Bola Tinubu.

Only last Wednesday, the acting President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Prince Adewale Adeyanju, said labour’s demand “remains N250,000, and we have not been given any compelling reasons to change this position, which we consider a great concession by Nigerian workers during the tripartite negotiation process.”

Adeyanju was responding to the Democracy Day broadcast of President Bola Tinubu in which he said an agreement had been reached on the new national minimum wage.

Osifo himself in his first reaction to the FG and OPS agreement on N62,000 as minimum wage penultimate Friday had said  “for us (labour), we felt that with the current economic hardship and the difficulty in the land, the sum of N250,000 should be what will be okay as the minimum wage.

But speaking yesterday on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, he said there was  “no figure that is sacrosanct; there is no figure that is cast in stone that both parties will be fixated on it.”

He added: “What we said is that for us, when we give figures, there is always a room to meander; there is always a room for us to do some adjustment here and there.

 “One of the reasons that we went on industrial action the last time was because when it got to N60,000, they told us that a kobo could not even join the N60,000; that they could not even add one naira to it.

“So that was one of the reasons that led to that industrial action beyond the fact that there were also delays.”

President Tinubu is expected to send an executive bill to the National Assembly on the new minimum wage for legislative action.

The TUC President said that they are not going to pre-empt the President, but they are making all efforts to justify why Tinubu should tilt towards the figure presented by the labour instead of the one by the organised private sector and the government.

He said that if the President sends a figure that is not favourable to the labour to the National Assembly, they will still approach the lawmakers and push them to do much more.

Osifo vowed that the work of the labour leaders will not end until the Minimum Wage Act 2024 becomes law. He said it is premature to predict what labour will do if what is passed is not acceptable to them at the end of the day.

The FG and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) had on Friday, May 31 reached an agreement to pay N62,000 to their  least paid worker; an increase of N2,000 on the N60,000 rejected two weeks ago by labour.

The 36 states, which were represented on the Tripartite Committee on the minimum wage, said on the same day that they could not afford to pay even N60,000 while the NLC and the TUC disagreed with government and the OPS.

They said the minimum they would accept was N250,000, which is N244,000 less than the N494,000 they initially demanded.

The Tripartite Committee has already submitted its report and recommendation to the President, who is expected to take a decision on the final figure to be sent by way of an Executive Bill to the National Assembly for consideration.

The TUC President said while labour was not disposed to pre-empting the President on his decision, the unions were keen on ensuring that Tinubu tilts toward the figure presented by labour instead of the N62,000 by government and OPS.

He said should the President decide on a figure labour finds unfavourable, it will take its struggle to the lawmakers to convince them for an increase.

He said it was premature to predict labour’s reaction if the action of the executive and the legislature turns out to be unfavourable.

Tinubu, at a state dinner to mark Democracy Day on Wednesday had declared that his planned minimum wage is “what Nigerians can afford, what you can afford and what I can afford.”

He added: “Cut your coat according to your size, if you have size at all.”

Apart from the state governments which have expressed their inability to pay even the N60,000 which labour had rejected prior to the June 3 and 4 strike, signals from the local governments also suggest that they cannot pay N62,000.

National President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Aminu Muazu-Maifata, said on Thursday that the LGs could not pay that amount.

Muazu-Maifata said some local governments have not even been paying their workers the ₦30,000 approved as minimum wage in 2019.

He said an affordable minimum wage should be set and not something unsustainable.

Senate will give Tinubu’s proposed Bill expeditious passage, says spokesman

Speaking yesterday ahead of the expected arrival of the executive bill on the new minimum wage, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Yemi Adaramodu, promised that it would be given  accelerated consideration and passage.

But he said it would be subjected to accepted legislative processes.

He spoke to reporters in Abuja.

Adaramodu said the Senate would pass the Bill without compromising on standard legislative procedures in lawmaking.

Asked if the Senate would pass the minimum wage bill like it passed the New National Anthem Bill within a few days, Adaramodu said: “Yes, if immediately after Sallah the Bill is brought by Mr. President to the National Assembly, it’s going to be dealt with at the speed of lightning.

“We are going to pass it because it is for the benefit of Nigerian workers. Even if it is possible within 30 minutes, we will do that.

“But it depends on the content of the Bill because the bill will go through the crucibles of the passage of a bill.

“We are not going to sit down and just say that the Bill has been passed. We will go through the crucibles. So within the time, if there is no opposition from outside, if there is no opposition from within, there can never be opposition from within because it’s going to be a kind of agreement between Labour, government and organised private sector.

“So once that one is there and then it comes to us, we will go through the processes without delay and make sure that Nigerian workers get their deal.”

On whether the Senate would take into consideration the position of the State Governments that they cannot afford to pay the N62,000 proposed by the Federal Government, Adaramodu said: “Since they are all meeting, we know that at the end of the day, all of them will agree on the figure, because when it’s an executive bill, an executive bill means state executive, federal executive and even local government executive.

“So definitely there is going to be an agreement. So once there’s an agreement, the bill will come and I don’t think any of the components of the negotiating bodies will oppose the agreed figure at the end of the day.

“So we don’t have any fear about that. You know when you are negotiating, you negotiate from various parameters and parallels. So at the end of the day, all the lines will converge and meet at a concentric point.

So that’s where we now come in. We come in at the end of the tunnel and then we’ll pick it from there and make it into law so that we can have a better deal for Nigerian workers.”

A LOT  of mischief is going on in the banking sub-sector of Nigeria’s financial ecosystem since the Central Bank of Nigeria, on June 3, 2024, announced the revocation of the banking license of Heritage Bank Plc.

The not so subtle campaign by some faceless groups to demarket an otherwise solid financial institution like the Fidelity Bank Plc., however, has not escaped the attention of the discerning banking publics. But it is a mischief taken too far.

In revoking the banking license of Heritage Bank, the CBN made it clear that its board and management has been unable to improve the bank’s financial performance, a situation which the country’s apex bank says constitutes a threat to the country’s financial stability. 

A statement by Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, Ag. Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, said it acted in accordance with its mandate to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria and in exercise of its powers under Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Act, BOFIA, 2020.

Many Nigerians, particularly those abreast of the goings on in the banking industry did not raise any eyebrows at the news of the revocation and subsequent appointment of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, as the liquidator.

But since then, mischief makers have been bandying the names of other banks – Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Polaris Bank and Unity Bank – that will go the Heritage way. To make their spurious claims seem real, they recirculated a circular issued by CBN on January 10, 2024, notifying the public about the dissolution of the Boards of Union, Keystone, and Polaris banks as though it was issued on June 10, 2024.

And even when the CBN, while insisting that the case of the now defunct Heritage Bank was an isolated one, stated unequivocally that allegations of further revocation of licenses prior to the completion of the bank recapitalisation exercise were mere fabrications of those who didn’t wish the banking sector well, such insinuations have persisted.

But the question that continues to concentrate the minds of many Nigerians is: Why Fidelity Bank? Of course, the question is pertinent considering the fact that even if the January 10 notification memo dissolving the boards of Union, Keystone and Polaris banks is taken to mean that the banks were in trouble, Fidelity Bank was not one of them.

It is, however, instructive that this mischief has become more strident in the last one week since Fidelity Bank signed the necessary documentation to raise about N127.1 billion from a public offer and rights issue to its existing shareholders to raise its capital base in line with the CBN’s fresh capitalisation directive.

The bank is eyeing N97.5 billion fresh funds from its public offer and N29.6 billion from its rights issue which offers existing shareholders one new ordinary share for every 10 ordinary shares held as at January 5, 2024, at N9.25 per share. For the Public Offer, 10,000,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each will be offered to the general investing public at N9.75 per share when the acceptance and application lists for the rights issue and public offer open on Thursday, June 20, 2024.

Speaking at the signing ceremony which held at the board room of the bank’s head office in Lagos on Wednesday, June 5, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, disclosed that “the proceeds of the combined offer will be applied towards investment in IT infrastructure, business and regional expansion, and investment in product distribution channels.”

With an international operating license from the CBN, Fidelity Bank is mandated to raise its capital base to N500 billion within the next two years and for a bank that is sure of its business fundamentals, it is not a surprise that it has effectively positioned itself at the forefront of achieving the revised minimum capital requirements for Nigerian commercial banks. No other bank is yet to embark on the process.

Could that be the reason for the campaign of calumny? If it is, then those on this demarketing campaign are tactless and dim. They would have known that the campaign died even before it took off.

But the dim-wittedness of the agents of doom beggars belief. If not, how could one envisage that one of the high flying financial institutions in Nigeria could be at the verge of being liquidated? What explanation will even the CBN give for taking such a step because the truth remains that if Fidelity Bank is declared insolvent today, then no other bank is safe.

Why?

Since Fidelity Bank was incorporated in 1987 and began operations in 1988, it has not looked back. Though it started with a Merchant Banking licence, it converted to a commercial bank in 1999 in a deliberate push to grow as a private limited liability company. Yet, not satisfied with playing the second fiddle, the bank transmuted into a Public Limited Company in August of the same year. Since then, it has grown from being a marginal player to one of the industry giants, securing its universal banking license in February 2001.

 In 2005 during the Chukwuma Soludo-engineered consolidation exercise, Fidelity Bank acquired the then FSB International Bank Plc. and Manny Bank Plc. to become one of the top 10 Nigerian banks. Six years after the consolidation, the bank was ranked not only the seventh most capitalised bank in Nigeria but also the 25th on the African continent. In 2011, it obtained its international banking license and following its renewed retail and digital banking drive, was ranked the fourth best bank in Nigeria in the retail market segment in the 2017 KPMG Banking Industry Customer Satisfaction Survey, BICSS.

Today, Fidelity Bank has presence in all the states and major cities in Nigeria and continues to rank among one of the ten main banks in the country by tier-one capital of nearly $1 billion.

In a report on April 11, 2024 titled, “Fidelity Bank in 2024: A Peek Under the Banking Bonnet,” Proshare, a financial services information provider wrote: “In two decades, Fidelity Bank has sweated its assets to grow gross earnings to N337.05 billion in FY 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 30.3 per cent. The group has diversified its gross earnings, averaging 16 per cent from non-interest income and 84 per cent from interest income. The consistent rise in digital income and foreign exchange gains appears to have supported the continuous rise in the lender’s non-interest income, providing a buffer for rising operating costs.”

Proshare analysts also estimated that Fidelity Bank will rise to full Tier 1 status in its next Tier 1 Banking Sector Report even as it currently leads second-tier banks in gross earnings, profitability, total assets, customer deposits, loans and advances.

In its report on the best performing banks in Q1 2024 based on pre-tax profit, Nairametrics, an online business magazine, said: “Fidelity Bank Plc. posted a pre-tax profit of N39.5 billion, marking a 120 per cent growth from the N17.9 billion pre-tax profit recorded in Q1 2023. During the quarter, the bank posted a net interest income of N99.6 billion, marking a 90 per cent YoY growth from Q1 2023. Fidelity Bank posted gross earnings of N192.1 billion during the quarter, as it also recorded a net income of N31.4 billion, up by 101 per cent YoY from N15.7 billion as of Q1 2023.”

Based on its outstanding financial performance, the bank was voted the most trusted wealth management company for 2023, earning top rankings for “financial soundness, quality of products and services, protecting privacy and security, and sensitivity to customer needs” by Investor’s Business Daily.

The odious attempt to precipitate a run on Fidelity Bank is financial sleight of hand of the worst sort. While the bank is not at any risk considering its very robust fundamentals, the banking industry may be worse such invidious campaign if unchecked.

Those who are trying to instigate instability in the country’s financial ecosystem should desist. Competition must not be a sleight of the hand battle.  

THE on-going right wing shifts in European parliamentary elections give the impression that there are seismic shifts in the plates of its politics. Please don’t worry yourself. There are no possibilities of earthquakes. These are mere rumblings in the belly of its body politic.

It is said that Europe’s far-right gained historic grounds in the elections, but the lesson for us in the underdeveloped countries is that it is better to view the right parties as becoming essentially the same. The lines between the right, centre right and far right, are becoming blurred.

Yes, the so-called far-right made political gains in Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and France. But also, some centre-right politicians made moves to the far-right, especially to fight against migration.

In France, for instance, tougher legislation was passed in December 2023 against migration. President Emmanuel Macron who claimed to have been fighting the far-right in his country over the years, was on the same page with them. He rationalised his anti-migration shift as “a shield that we needed”.

But that did not shield him and his party at the European polls. Expectedly, the National Rally in France made gains at the expense of President Macron. Also expectedly, Macron switched into panic mode. Dazed by the defeats, he called legislative elections in France this month; three months early. Don’t mind the gambler.

In Germany, the right wing, Alternative for Germany, AfD, beat Chancellor Olaf Schoz’s centre left Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the elections by 16 per cent.

Although the far-right made gains, its 150 seats in the European parliament of 720, does not amount to any dramatic shift; what it does is to announce that significant populations in Europe are beginning to shed their toga of human rights and liberal disposition.

Before the elections, Europe which is never tired of talking about partnerships and shared prosperity with Africa, Asia and the Middle East, had been quite busy virtually criminalising migration.

To be sure, they are not opposed to European migration or continued occupation of other parts of the world. Just last month, France violently put down protests in New Caledonia, a colony in in the South Pacific. France does not only want a continuation of the so-called right of its citizens to migrate to that territory, but also, the French parliament voted that recent French arrivals in the territory would have the right to vote in provincial elections. The simple plan of France is to flood the colony with its citizens and eventually in “democratic elections” out-vote the indigenes and, transform the colony to a full French territory.

So, while Europeans think they have the right to freely migrate to other parts of the world, their political leaders are using any means possible, including criminality, to keep people from the underdeveloped countries from migrating to Europe. This includes consciously letting would-be migrants who can be saved, to drown in the turbulent seas. The Italian government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has a policy of denying ships with endangered migrants, safe harbour. It is a crime in that country for a ship with rescued migrants to rescue other migrants from the waves no matter the danger they face.

The least I can say now is that there is confusion in the ‘house’ of Nigerian football.

The last two matches played within a space of a few days, against South Africa and Benin Republic, have thrown the Nigerian Football Federation, custodians of the game in the country, into a state of frenzy.

It is hard for any observer to understand the transformation of the Super Eagles. For almost 10 barren years, with unknown foreign coaches mostly in charge, the Super Eagles grovelled in the dark in search of an answer to her dwindling fortunes in African football. 

Five months ago, fortune smiled on the team. At the African Cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire, against all odds and with plenty of luck, playing a mostly pressure-laden defensive style of play that ‘killed’ six Nigerians, the team got to the finals before capitulating to the home-team that they had beaten in the first round.

Nigerians were so appreciative of that brief spell of success that brought joy and relief from the hardship of life that the government lavished on the team rewards and awards unheard of in the history of football in the world.

Ironically, the foreign coach was so ‘good’ that Nigeria did not renew his contract. Of course, everything considered, everyone knew Jose Paseiro was not good enough. Yet, in what many people still consider a set-up designed to fail, they settled for his assistant, a Nigerian.

After only two games with Finidi George in charge, the team’s fortunes have plummeted and have set off a chain of reactions that have the strength of a volcano to consume Nigerian football if not handled carefully.

Last Thursday, the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, rose from its emergency meeting, and limped back to its previous vomit.

With threats hanging over the board like the Sword of Damocles, the board decided it will immediately embark on a search for a new foreign coach and keep Finidi as his assistant again in the technical team. In addition to that, they will heed to wise counsel and look into amending the constitution of the NFF to include some new stakeholders as advised by the government one year ago.

All of these plus a few other matters, of course, are as a result of the shameful performance and loss to Benin Republic last Monday. It shattered the camel’s back.

Indeed, it was the most humiliating football match. The Super Eagles not only failed to win, they played without spirit, like ‘school boys’ on a vacation. It was a massive dent to the country’s image and reputation as a giant in African football. The result of that match left the public baying for blood.

The federal government was going to wield the big stick. The Minister for Sports fired the first salvo by requesting explanation from the NFF. Till now, huge threats still hang precariously over the board.

I am in my observatory high up in the hills of Wasimi. I am trying to work it all out and understand the motivations for the NFF decisions tumbling down accompanied by many begging questions.

What is the nature of foreign coach this time around? Another journey-man coach? Or a ‘world-class coach as many analysts demand? What is the definition of a world-class coach? Who in that category is available and willing? Who will pay their humongous wages?

What will happen to all of Finidi George’s hired technical assistants?

And so on and so forth. Questions, all begging for answers.

However, whilst waiting for the details of implementation of the NFF’s decisions, I shall share a few random reactions of the public on my platform to the match against Benin Republic last Monday night. They make interesting reading. One or two may even be in support of the decisions of the NFF.

I reproduce them here, unedited.

Opeyemi Ajala

Those opposed to indigenous coaches will gleefully appoint a Lagerback who failed to qualify Sweden but would be eager to sack Amodu that qualified the Eagles.

Mancini won the Euros but fell to Macedonia

John Mastoroudes

Segun, I cannot believe we lost to Benin.

It’s as if I was afraid that this might happen when I sent my last message to you!

I am all for a foreign coach, BUT A BIG NAME, who can inspire our selected players, because in our case it’s all about psychology.

If NFA cannot afford it, many well-to-do Nigerians, I am sure, will be willing to sponsor the salary for at least 3 years. This is my personal view.

I have nothing against Finidi whom I respect as a great footballer.

Toyin Imevbere

I’m still too “pissed off”. Whenever I flash back on that embarrassing match, it looks to me like the match was ‘sold’. There was definitely no urge to win on the part of the Eagles.

I’m not happy at all. My son gave up on them. He went to sleep and said he did not want anyone to give him hypertension jare.

Finidi is too soft to handle the national team.

Prof. Seun Omotayo

I have spoken about the need for psychological management of the Super Eagles players. The game is nothing but a mind-game at all levels, including telepathic connections.

Dapo Oguntoyinbo

Segun, we are all saddened by the loss of the Super Eagles to Benin. Finidi may have underrated them. How could he go to the match without his key players: Ekong, Osimhen, etc? In addition, I do not think the players spent enough time together before going for the match. It was a great blunder by Finidi and will be difficult for him to recover from.

Now, everyone is asking for him to be axed. As a new coach, he should have realised that his first matches would be a make or mar affair. All of us who supported the choice of a Nigerian Coach are now licking our wounds !!!

Godwin Akhigbe

NFF wants to hire a foreign coach to boss Finidi George. It reminds me of what Taju Disu said: that the football body will mess Finidi up like all other ex-internationals who have handled the team. The Eagles refused to play for Finidi.

Omotayo Olanrewaju

The search by NFF for a foreign coach is unfortunate and ill-advised. The solution is not replacing Finidi George but about ensuring the application of Sports Coaching Science and Performance Optimization strategies. NFF should support the Finidi-led Technical crew rather than going on another wasteful quest for a Foreign Coach at this point of our Football Development in Nigeria.

NFF should NOT crucify Finidi for the current performance of the Super Eagles, but should rather ensure the adequacy of his back-room staff which is suspect, a situation and concern that I pointed out on a television program about three weeks ago. Who is Finidi’s Match Analyst?Who is Finidi’s Sports Psychologist? Who is Finidi’s Exercise Physiologist etc? I use this opportunity to reiterate my call for the need for all Sports outfits across categories to be put in place as the SPORTS MEDICINE TEAM.

Kalima

I watched the team. There was no hunger, no thirst, and no leader on the pitch. The captain spoke more with the coach than with his fellow players.

The players have individual skills that can be harnessed with humility. Someone must do the dirty job on the pitch. The mid-field was porous.

Yakubu Mohammed

I am a patriot and I want us to be in the USA, Mexico and Canada, but nothing so far has fired my patriotism.