Dear Mr, Festus Keyamo, 

Our epistle is today addressed to you as a contact point because our object of reflection is aviation, in reality though, the content of our considerations affects all of us citizens, operators, regulators and consumers of the aviation sector of Nigeria. They are considerations about a sector that was conceived to make all fly but in Nigeria it has the knack of making the most prominent drown. 

I invite you to think of and read about the rise and fall of many Nigerian airlines and allied companies in the sector to get a feel of the gist here. 

Let us start from the personal. Well over two decades ago, my son who is now a computer scientist but seems more interested in making money than computerising the world, expressed a desire to become a pilot, and many in my family expressed their concerns about the dangers of flying and the concern each of his flight would give the family. 

Amazingly, my late papa, an economist turned accountant and practicing auditor who had spent over four decades in aviation, simply quipped that “the real endangerments in aviation come from the offices and management not in the sky…”. He was a man that firmly believed that “accidents in aviation are planned and achieved via bad management and negligence of the rules of aviation”. 

Whilst still on a personal note, let me invite you, Honourable Minister, to consider that the most noticeable of your predecessors in the ministry of aviation you head today are noted in the industry not for their contributions but for their troubles with the law. Messer Femi Fani-Kayode and Stella Odua are two names that should suffice to making this point clear to all within and beyond the aviation community. 

Your immediate predecessor has not disappointed those expecting the wings of aviation to drown many. Former Minister Hadi Sirika is a man who lately tweets about Islamic teaching, in Hausa, and copiously quotes the Quran. Before then however, he was a man who about 20 days before leaving office got the Federal Executive Council to approve over half a million dollars for the engagement of consultants for the master plan of airports, then about three days before leaving office he launched an airline that had no plane and Air Operator Certificate to operate. 

Like the children of his generation that believe that packaging is everything and that the “why” trumps the “what”, the then minister and his team hurriedly arranged an Ethiopian Airlines plane draped with the logo of “Nigeria Air”, and made it fly to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, a few hours to the end of his tenure in office. The logo of “Nigeria Air” was first unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show in the United Kingdom, we were told then that the project was expected to cost $8.8 million in preliminary cost and $300 million as take-off cost.

Readers of this page will remember me saying that the “Nigeria Air” so dear to the minister was “conceived on PowerPoint, presented in PDF and will die on twitter”. The project was suspended two months later….

When the “Nigeria Air” fantasy reared its head, or shall we say logo, again in May 2023, we, on this page, called for an independent public inquiry that will allow all those involved and interested to give and get a clear, detailed and final understanding of the process, negotiations, partnerships, expenses, and parties involved in the “Nigeria Air” project. It is now close to a year since then and we are still waiting. 

As if to respect the tradition of notable ministers of aviation in Nigeria, former Minister Hadi Sirika has returned to people’s mind because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is having conversations with his brother over contracts awarded by aviation ministry and have frozen an account with over N8 billion, please note that given the rate of the naira to the dollar when the money got into the account, the frozen funds must have been nothing less than 10 million dollars then. The former minister’s brother is a deputy director in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

As citizens respectful of the law, we must assume all are innocent until proven guilty and we must give the minister and his brother the space and the right to explain and defend themselves in a clear, detailed and final way on why a civil servant will be getting millions of dollars worth of contracts awarded by a ministry headed by his own brother, what happened to the contracts and the source of the money in the account. All those are criminal matters and we can leave such to the EFCC and the courts to deal with. 

We must however remind the operatives of the EFCC from investigators to prosecutors to make sure they have a clear, tight and convincing case. Sensationalism will lead us nowhere, what we desperately need are more looted funds refunded and paths to future looting blocked. 

The rest of us however need to look at the political, institutional and financial elements of the aviation industry. You, Hon Minister, need to call and promise yourself not to follow the tradition of the noted ones that came before you, yes, a promise to be good is not enough but it gives you a vision to follow. Operators in the aviation sector need to find a way to ensure that no one is allowed to abuse office, disrupt plans and hinder the many progress that the aviation industry can bring to our economy and country. 

No minister can manage or mismanage the aviation sector alone, those around the office of the former minister too should be looked at and those around the current minister should look at themselves.

Outside government, operators in the private sector need to find their voices, before that, they even need to discover or rediscover their worth and consequence in the country’s economy as a whole and in the aviation sector in particular. A well organised, invested, committed and self-regulated private sector that strives for excellence can and should take the lead in aviation, treat regulators as guests not as owners, so that the wings of aviation will make all fly not drown. 

Join me on Twitter: @anthonykila, to continue these conversations. 

The new Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has, so far, demonstrated a hands-on determination to make a difference regarding the fate and fortunes of the Naira. The forces arrayed against him and his team include the following: (1) A volatile and economically insensitive political environment, (2) Elite consumption patterns, (3) Overall low national productivity, (4) Limited public understanding of the difference between fiscal and monetary policy issues, (5) Incredibly high demand for the dollar and, very importantly, (6) The new-found use of the dollar as a major Store of Value.

The points I made on this page on November 15, 2021, Under the title “What the CBN Cannot Do” are even more poignant today, as the new leadership of the bank grapples with great odds today. Those points are so relevant, and so painfully responsible for the crisises of the moment that the article under reference will be reproduced in large measure here; so that Cardoso does not draw undeserved flack for the systemic, contrived and institutionalized shadowboxing that has taken over the profile of our national currency. Here we go, as was said here two years ago.

“The CBN cannot do much about the value of the Naira, for as long as we produce very little, consume much that is not produced here and retain a monocultural economy that is driven by a leadership elite that focuses on distribution and consumption, rather than production. The calls for diversification of the economy have been on for over two decades now. These calls have been so strident, repetitive, and over-dramatised by successive government. That is why, today, the concept has become all but threadbare, tiring, boring and of little interest to many people.

Yet the point remains, that only the diversification of the economy, redemption of our national road infrastructure, reversal of the current state of insecurity in the land, rescuing the power sector, making realistic and sustainable investments in education and health, among other critical interventions, can save the national currency, the national economy and the people.

Looking at some of the issues in detail, it is a matter of record that general insecurity and banditry have been undermining the massive national investments in agriculture for years now. Banditry has laid waste massive farmlands, reduced farmers’ access to their farms and their farm produce, in addition to outrightly wiping out or chasing away large farming communities. When financial outflows into the agricultural sector do not yield the expected returns due to insecurity, the projected gains in terms of food availability, food security and forex earnings from food exports go up in smoke.

Thus a “silo” conversation on diversification of the national economy, especially with agriculture in focus, which does not also simultaneously address insecurity and national road and transport infrastructure is an exercise in self-delusion. You do not drive foreign exchange earnings by designing wonderful projections and making speeches about them in airconditioned halls, when farmers cannot go to their farms.

It is the same thing, that is, misplaced priorities and wrong leadership orientation, when many states of the federation mistake investments in health and education infrastructure for actual investments in “education” and “health services.” They need to be told that brand-new health centres, schools, new classroom blocks and massive stockpiling of teaching equipment are procurement contracts. They do not translate into investment in health and education unless, and until, these states also have commensurate and possibly higher investments in health workers, teacher recruitment, teacher skills upgrade, training of new teachers and retraining of old teachers.

An investor who spends money setting up new baking ovens and launching them is not a baker. Bakeries produce and deliver edible bread. So, state governments that are awarding construction contracts, importing furnishing material for new public and private facilities, have no idea of how much damage they are doing to their states and to the national economy. They are not offering needed health services or producing the needed human capital for development. When misapplied funds are retired under the heading “investment in health” or “education and human capital development,” the people and Nigeria are swindled. But we are digressing.”

The foregoing, which was said over two years ago, reads like it was written for the first time this morning. The reason it sounds so fresh is simple: Nothing has changed. The problems  are still the same today.

The article under reference continued thus. “That the value of the naira continues to plummet, as I write, is not the work of the devil; no! That many big and small businesses have lost value and shut down, is because of high replacement cost for goods sold out and their inability to obtain long-term facilities that would make sense in a Third World economy.

To understand the “replacement cost” narrative, let us suppose that you sell bicycles. If you buy fifty bicycles at twenty thousand Naira each, that would mean that you spent one million naira to stock up your shop. If you sell the bicycles at twenty-five thousand naira each, it will mean that you have made a profit of two hundred and fifty thousand Naira on your current batch of bicycles. It is up to you, whether to keep aside your profit of two hundred and fifty thousand naira, or buy more bicycles; after removing other costs. Whichever way you look at it, or whatever you decide to do, you have enough money to “replace” the bicycles you sold.

Now imagine what would happen if, after selling your 50 bicycles you discover that the price of bicycles has jumped from twenty thousand naira apiece, to N50,000 apiece! That is a 150 per cent increase in bicycle prices. This means that, all of a sudden, you will now need N2.5 million to buy the same number of bicycles! It also means that your “replacement cost” has moved up astronomically. If you do not have the new replacement cost, and your original business capital can only get you twenty bicycles, your business has lost value by a whopping percentage.

Which means that 80 per cent of the shop space may not be needed anymore. Which means that at least 50 per cent of you workforce may have to be laid off. Which means that property rate for shops, and related, real estate will drop at the same time that young traders are becoming jobless and declining income is becoming the norm. Which means that some parents won’t be able to pay school fees, etc., etc. Which then further means that most sellers who still have some old stock will do “anticipatory” mark-up, because of the difference between their original “procurement cost” and the new replacement cost.

That is the reality of the Nigerian wholesale and retail trade economy and situation today. This is in addition to the fact that more is being imported from outside than what we are sending outside for sale. But assuming that, by some as-yet-unknown magic, the CBN grabs the naira by the neck and yanks it back to one dollar to one naira, what then? Will this increase national productivity, diversify the economy, or remove the fact that the problem is much broader than the CBN as such? Will it remove the fact that our foreign exchange problems are connected with our taste patterns, limited productivity, elite excesses and poor integrated national planning? With agriculture, education, health, power, tourism and security in the doldrums as major national challenges, we cannot save ourselves from the avoidable foreign exchange constraints the nation is saddled with at the moment.

A nation with a predominantly consumption-drive economy cannot suddenly catapult itself into the Neverland of foreign exchange El Dorado. You make money from what you produce and sell, or from what you can do and be paid for. You also buy with what you have earned from either goods or services you offered. You get paid nothing when you produce nothing. You spend more than you earn when you produce and sell far less than you buy. The person who produces nothing and earns nothing, but buys a lot, must be getting the money for his purchases from somewhere. If in addition to producing nothing, the person also has some savings, then he must be depleting his savings. But what if this person also has no savings, in addition to producing nothing, that means he must be borrowing. And to borrow is to get credit for present needs, with payment deferred to a future date, right? Well, that is our lot in Nigeria today. And we are still borrowing!

The Igbo man will tell you that you do not borrow money in order to take the Ozo title, or to marry a wife. If you borrow for either of these endeavours, how about maintenance – and other matters arising? But we are digressing, again!

It is largely because we are consuming more than we are producing, and also buying more than we are selling, that the speculation for “phoney money” and profits without productivity have overrun the land. Thus arises the predicament of nations and individuals with “unbalanced” market profile and appetites. Thus also stands the crisis of the Nigerian state and economy today, in bold relief. Thus also shall it remain, no matter the ingenuity and efforts of its central monetary and fiscal regulatory mechanisms, until the right things are done.

Truth be told, our monocultural economy, or overdependence on one major source of foreign exchange revenue, is a drawback that can only be remedied by real diversification of the economy. We are yet to see the alleged gains, or the promised food sufficiency, of the tenure or Adesina as Minister of Agriculture, or the food exports of Audu Ogbe’s intervention.

Are we producing enough to save the Nigerian economy? Is our foreign exchange capacity not constrained because we are not producing, or exporting enough? What is the impact of our energy problems on overall national productivity? If I must buy an industrial generating set in order to set up a big business outfit, and a pepper grinder must also do the same in order to be in business, will the demand for generating sets of all makes and sizes not remain? And will this not mean a continuous demand for forex by importers to buy generating sets from outside the country? And what do you expect when the outflow for all sorts of things, including furniture and kitchen napkins, is not only higher but continues to rise even as the inflow is smaller than the outflow and also dwindling?

As a farmer trying to water and nurture the naira, the CBN “alone” cannot rescue a currency that is surrounded by thorns, dangerous weevils and inclement weather.”

With the above coming from my intervention of two years ago, I conclude today by pointing out that Cardoso is no magician. The man is swimming in very turbulent waters. Besides policy support, he needs resolute political backup as he takes the necessary hard decisions. And take them he must.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will tackle the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in the 34th Africa Cup of Nations Final on Sunday.

Ahead of the potentially explosive encounter, here is the fact file of 2024 Africa Cup of Nations finalists Nigeria:

Path to final: Group A – Equatorial Guinea 1-1, Ivory Coast 1-0, Guinea-Bissau 1-0; Last 16 – Cameroon 2-0; Quarter-final – Angola 1-0; Semi-final – South Africa 1-1 (4-2 penalties)

Scorers: 3 – Ademola Lookman, 2 – William Troost-Ekong, 1 – Victor Osimhen, own goal – Opa Sangante (GNB)

Rankings: 6 Africa, 42 world

Captain: William Troost-Ekong

Coach: Jose Peseiro (POR)

Previous appearances: 19

Best placing: Champions 1980, 1994, 2013

Record win: South Africa 4-0 (2004)

Record losses: Sudan 0-4 (1963), Algeria 1-5 (1990)

Nickname: Super Eagles

Squad
Goalkeepers: Stanley Nwabili (Chippa Utd/RSA), Olorunleke Ojo (Enyimba), Francis Uzoho (Omonia/CYP)

Defenders: Chidozie Awaziem, Bruno Onyemaechi (both Boavista/POR), Ola Aina (Nottingham Forest/ENG), Semi Ajayi (West Brom/ENG), Calvin Bassey (Fulham/ENG), Kenneth Omeruo (Kasimpasa/TUR), Bright Osayi-Samuel (Fenerbahce/TUR), Zaidu Sanusi (Porto/POR), William Troost-Ekong (PAOK/GRE)

Midfielders: Joe Aribo (Southampton/ENG), Alex Iwobi (Fulham/ENG), Raphael Onyedika (Club Brugge/BEL), Frank Onyeka (Brentford/ENG), Alhaasan Yusuf (Royal Antwerp/BEL)

Forwards: Samuel Chukwueze (AC Milan/ITA), Kelechi Iheanacho (Leicester/ENG), Ademola Lookman (Atalanta/ITA), Terem Moffi (Nice/FRA), Ahmed Musa (Sivasspor/TUR), Victor Osimhen (Napoli/ITA), Moses Simon (Nantes/FRA), Paul Onuachu (Trabzonspor/TUR)

[DailyTrust]

From the pre-show at the Peacock Theatre to the main event at the Crypto.com Arena, the 66th edition of the Grammys, which was held on Sunday, February 4, 2024, was laden with drama.

DAILY POST takes a look at some of the events that defined the 2024 Grammys.

Nicki Minaj’s Prank

The Recording Academy sparked controversy after it appeared to have pranked rapper Nicki Minaj – the Grammy organisers announced ‘Barbie World’ by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice as the winner of the Best Rap Song category on their website and social media handles but later deleted it.

The organisers made a new announcement, flaunting Killer Mike’s ‘Scientists & Engineers’ as the rightful winner without any statement or apology for their initial error which angered fans of Nicki Minaj who hasn’t won a Grammy in over two decades of her career. The development means that Nicki Minaj is yet to have a Grammy to her name.

Jay-Z’s Outburst

American hip-hop legend, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter appeared to have called out the Grammy organisers while receiving the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the 2024 Grammys at the Crypto.com Arena, in Los Angeles, on Sunday.

Using his wife, Beyoncé’s Album of the Year snub as a case study, Jay-Z criticised the Recording Academy’s sense of judgment, pointing out that despite Beyoncé being the most awarded person in the Grammy’s history with a total of 32 awards, she has never won the Album of the Year category.

The Roc Nation boss said, “She [Beyoncé] has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. Most Grammys never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.”

He went on to accuse the Grammy organisers of “robbing” some nominees and awarding undeserving recipients.

“Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category.

“Sorry, when I get nervous, I tell the truth,” Jay-Z said.

Killer Mike’s Arrest

Rapper, Killer Mike was arrested shortly after winning three golden gramophones at the 66th Grammys on Sunday night.

Chris Gardner, a senior staff writer for Hollywood Reporter, revealed via X that the rapper was “taken away handcuffs,” in the Crypto.com arena during the telecast for the main categories.

According to a statement by the Los Angeles Police Department, Mike Killer was booked for misdemeanour battery after being detained and questioned at the Grammys.

The statement added that the rapper was in the process of being released around the time the Grammys ended.

Nigeria’s Miss Out

The poor outing of Nigerian artists at the 66th Grammys appeared to be one of the major talking points from the event.
DAILY POST reports that the Nigerian quintet of Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, Davido, Asake, and Olamide were snubbed at the 66th Grammys on Sunday, with Tyla, the only non-Nigerian nominee in the maiden Best African Music Performance category, picking up the award.

Davido and Burna Boy also lost their nominations for the Best Global Music Album and Best Global Music Performance categories.
Burna Boy lost his nomination in the Best Melodic Rap Performance category as well.

Nigerian artists’ Grammy loss angered many of their compatriots, with some alleging that they were deliberately snubbed in a bid to suppress the buzzing Nigerian Afrobeats genre while others called for a boycott of the Grammys.

Davido’s hypeman, Special Spesh accused the Grammy organisers of trying to control African music, vowing that Africans won’t give them the power to downplay Afrobeats or any other African genre.

“We won’t give you the power to dumb Afrobeats down or Afrofusion or anything African!

“That’s (white) America’s problem! When things start to take over and get massive they always want a part then try to have a say then try to control,” Spesh wrote via Instagram.

Similarly, British-Nigerian media personality, Adesope Olajide, aka Shopsydoo, called for Africans, especially Nigerians to boycott the Grammys, accusing the Recording Academy of using Nigerian artists for promotion.

Speaking via an Instagram live session, Shopsydoo claimed that the Recording Academy does not care about African music, stressing that the Grammy band playing Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s ‘Water’ after ‘Water’ when South African singer, Tyla was announced as the winner of the inaugural Best African Music Performance category, was enough reason that the Grammy doesn’t have a clue about African music.

[DailyPost]

Some players in the Nigerian football team recently got pranked by content creator, Napi.

In the clip circulating online, the man dressed tattered with holes in his trousers with no footwear and carried a piece of luggage on his shoulder.

He tried to frighten the players by getting close to them and in turn capture their reaction.

He pulled the prank on Moffi, Omeruo, and other players who all reacted differently.

However, Osimhen’s reaction got the attention of many. The Napoli striker who was about to get off the elevator was shocked upon seeing the man waiting at the entrance. Osimhen who obviously didn’t want to risk it simply retrogressed as he chose an alternate floor to alight.

Reacting to the clip

@amara_shuga wrote: “This is not prank,this is nonsense this should be allowed in hotels and reservation centers,deep down those players are not even liking it that much.”

@jeff3xl wrote: “Victor think say na Ivory Coast send devil come ????????????????????????????????.”

sossiofficial wrote: “Osimhen bombastic side eye na real street ????.”

shegs16 wrote: “So all these boys wey Dey shout no gree for anybody, na only for field ????????????????.”

dike_writes wrote: “Osimhen think say village people don show????.”

domingo_loso wrote: “Osimhen no waste time. E move, he elevated.”

iamwillsteel wrote: “Osimhen be like “na u dem send to injure me, not today”

jennyadams101 wrote: “Oshimhen belike shey na eyes dey pain abi watin be this????????????????”

tinacharlez wrote: “I no blame Osimehen abeg. Make mad man no go bite am ????????”

Watch the video below:

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Oyerinde Adeniyi
(Strategist/Thinker/Trainer/Agripreneur)

Topic: "Food Insecurity"

Date: 10th February, 2024
                         
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92877141732?pwd=VEJWb29OL2VVekZUTHRpdWYxK0xxZz09

Meeting ID: 928 7714 1732
Passcode: 600206

Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, on Friday, signed into law the Oyo State Electricity Regulatory Commission Bill 2024.

The governor, who performed the signing ceremony at the Conference Room of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, said the signing was to give the state opportunity to develop its own roadmap to sustainable electricity.

The governor stated that with the decentralisation of electricity generation, transmission and distribution, it has become obvious that Nigerians can access dividends of democracy if federalism is practised as it should be and more powers are devolved to the states.

Makinde said: “As promised earlier in the week, we are signing the Oyo State Electricity Regulatory Commission Bill 2024 into law today. This law will enable Oyo State generate, transmit and distribute electricity within the State.

“Amendments of the constitution like these is what we mean when we advocate for fiscal federalism.

“In years to come as we work towards energy sufficiency, our people can hold state governments accountable on the issue of electricity supply.”

Presenting the bill, the deputy Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Mohammed Fadeyi, said this is the first time that the state would come up with an independent electricity project.

Present at the signing of the bill were members of the executive, legislature and judiciary.

Ahead of the final match between Nigeria and Ivory Coast at the ongoing African Cup of Nations, a self-acclaimed prophet, Dr Kan Ebube Muonso of the Power and Victory in Christ Church has predicted that Ivory Coast will go home with the cup but in error.

In a post on his church’s Facebook page on Friday, Kan predicted that the error would be caused by the referee.

However, the self-acclaimed prophet said he would collect the cup from Ivory Coast and hand it over to Nigeria after his mountain program by the power of God.

According to him, Nigeria is the rightful team to go home with the cup.

“IVORY COAST VS NIGERIA.

“I saw Ivory Coast going home with the cup in error by ref/partial against Nigeria but Nigeria is the rightful team that is supposed to go home with the cup, but I will collect the cup from Ivory Coast to Nigeria by the power of God after my mountain program which will commence tomorrow.

“In my next post after mountain, you will know that there is power in God.

“Operation show your power. My God will prove himself again,” the post read.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja unveiled the registration of two million businesses as part of efforts to curb rising unemployment and achieve the 50 million job creation target for Nigerian youths.

The Registrar-General and CEO of the CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji SAN, at a ground-breaking ceremony in Abuja, said the registration was part of efforts to simplify the burden for young Nigerians who want to contribute meaningfully to the Nigerian economy.

“The registration of the new business was part of the CAC’s contribution to the realisation of the present administration’s economic revival plan in collaboration with moniepoint to develop the MSMEs sector, in line with the current administration target of 50 million jobs,” he said.

He said the president has youth employment as priority and the first step is to ensure that those willing to engage in different ventures donot encounter hurdles because when they start their enterprises, they will also be employers of labour.

Moniepoint Executive DirectorBabatunde Olofin stated their readiness to actualize the project in line with the present administration’s economic revival agenda, adding that the financial services provider has recognized that crimes and other vices can only be reduced if youths are meaningfully engaged.

In her brief remarks, the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Dr. Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite, described the event as a landmark achievement through the use of information technology to catalyse the economy.

[NaijaNews]

The highly anticipated friendly match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and Argentina has been officially cancelled.

The cancellation comes in the wake of controversy surrounding Argentine football superstar, Lionel Messi‘s absence from a recent exhibition match in Hong Kong.

Messi, who currently plays for Inter Miami, was expected to be the main draw for a match against a Hong Kong XI.

However, the Argentine captain did not participate, leading to widespread disappointment and frustration among fans.

This incident has had a domino effect, influencing the decision to call off the upcoming friendly between Argentina and Nigeria, which was set to take place in Hangzhou, China, in March.

The situation escalated when Messi, despite missing the Hong Kong match due to injury, appeared in a game in Japan just days later.

In response to the outcry, organizers of the Hong Kong event offered a 50% refund to ticket holders, acknowledging the fans’ dissatisfaction with Messi’s absence.

The fallout from the incident has led sports authorities in Hangzhou to announce the cancellation of the friendly match.

In a statement, Hangzhou authorities, said, “As a commercial event, a company and the Argentinian soccer team negotiated that the team would play a friendly match in March this year in the city of Hangzhou.

“In view of the current well-known reasons, according to the competent authorities, conditions to hold the friendly match are not mature, therefore (we) have decided to cancel it.”

[NaijaNews]