Blast Naija Media

NFF President Amaju Pinnick Photo credit Pooja Media President of the Nigeria Football  President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick has expressed the satisfaction of the Federation with on-field and off-field results for Nigerian Football in the outgoing year, while expressing conviction that the year 2018 will bring forth more honours and even greater global recognition for the Nigerian game. In the year 2017, the Super Eagles qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals with a match to spare from a so –called ‘Group of Death’; the Eagles B qualified for the African Nations Championship starting in Morocco in a forthnight and; the U20 and U17 girls swept aside opposition to reach the final round of qualification for their respective FIFA Women’s World Cup finals taking place in 2018. Off the field, a string of victories in the boardroom has given Nigerian Football a louder voice in international football politics and; a number of worthw...

L-R NFF President Amaju Pinnick and First Vice-President Barrister Seyi Akinwumi, at the podium during trophy presentation  NFF 1 st  Vice President and Chairman of the NFF Youth Football Committee, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi was full of elan and elocution on Tuesday, after another successful and highly inspiring conclusion to the NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles Championship. This year’s event was concluded at the Agege Stadium. Five days of exciting youth football in Kano came to an exciting finale in Lagos with South East U15 boys emerging champions after a 5-2 spanking of their North West counterparts. Yet, there were so many talents on display on both sides that Akinwunmi, who is also Chairman of the NFF Football Committee, was much delighted: “I am very happy at what I am seeing here. We can safely say the future is here. I had no doubt when we started this programme that we were on to a great thing. “Indeed, in the next two years or thereabout, we would ha...

South West U13 Photo credit NFF media  By Janefrances Nweze Age cheating in Nigerian Football is an issue that dates back to the early eighties it keeps getting more embarrassing as the years roll by. Maybe we thought it would go away on its own and allowed it eat deep into our football system like cancer in the body. We have gradually lost confidence in qualifying or playing any age grade tournament with the right players (who are of the official age) bit rather go for players who above the age limit all in a bid to win. In an interview with ex-international Tajudeen Dosu two years ago on how Nigeria got it right in the years of yore, he noted that players were drawn from schools and they often met in National competitions so they knew themselves and it was easy to draw up the National team from age grade tournaments to the senior national team. This ensured that the players are within the same age grade and consistent performances made it a lot easier for the co...

Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu on Monday swore in Miss Joy Ezechikamnayo as the first one day Governor of Abia State. The SS3 student and senior prefect of Intellectual Giants Christian Academy in Umuahia was yesterday joined by members of her executive council drawn from all the LGAs of Abia State. It is understood that the 14-year-old girl emerged as the top performer after a rigorous essay competition that lasted over a week. The 20 top performers in the essay competition were designated as follows: 1st position-Governor 2nd position – Deputy Governor 3rd position – SSG 17 others are Commissioners It will be recalled that Abia State maintained top position in West Africa School Certificate Examinations for a consecutive 3 years leading to the emergence of the state as the number one state in Education in Nigeria. While performing her first official assignment, Ezechikamnayo declared December 12th teenager day in ...

The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Enugu State Council, has honoured Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State with an outstanding Award of Excellence as “A Pensioner-friendly Governor”. The pensioners said that the honour done Gov. Ugwuanyi was in recognition of his good works in the state and uncommon leadership qualities, which they added have enabled his administration to pay their monthly pensions promptly in spite of the nation’s economic challenges that have made it impossible for many state governments to pay workers’ salaries, “not to talk of retirees’ pensions”. Presenting the award to the governor, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Labour and Productivity, Barr Emeka Okeke, at the 2017 Annual Pensioners’ Day Celebration, held in Enugu, the state Chairman of the Union, Comrade Damian Udeani, in his address stated that “the retired civil servants in Enugu State are lucky to have a Governor who cares”. Comrade Udeani said that Gov. Ugwuanyi “ha...

  The Court of Appeal in Abuja  on Tuesday   dismissed 15 out of the 18 counts of false assets declaration instituted against the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, before the Code of Conduct Tribunal.   The three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson unanimously ordered  the Senate President to return to the CCT to face trial on three of the counts.    

By Martins Ifijeh The Federal Ministry of Health has directed all teaching hospitals in Nigeria to embark on fistula repairs free of charge as part of efforts to reduce the backlog of the number of women living with the health condition, the Country Project Manager, Fistula Care Plus, Chief Iyeme Efem has said. Stating this during a two day Media Roundtable Discussion on Fistula Intervention in Lagos yesterday, he said the directive by the federal government to the tertiary hospitals in the country will help in increasing the number of fistula repairs from 5,000 to 12,920 every year. According to him, “Nigeria currently has a backlog of between 150,000 to 200,000 Nigerian women living with obstetric fistula in the country, with 12,000 new cases added every year. This alarming figure is still worrisome even though our organisation repairs not less than 2000 cases yearly, in addition to the 3000 cases repaired by other organisations in the country; totaling 5000 r...

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State has stressed the need to boost oil palm production in the country and restore its position as a prime income earner. Governor Ugwuanyi made the call in Enugu at a one-day enlightenment workshop on making the oil palm produce value chain a strategic tool for sustainable economic recovery organized by the state's Ministry of Science and Technology in conjunction with the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). The governor who was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, stated that Nigeria over the years has “continued to pursue the diversification of the national economy in the light of dwindling earnings from petroleum”, and regretted the adverse effects resulting from that. “We are indeed at pains to recall that Nigeria once led the world in oil palm production and that the produce and its derivatives actually powered the economy of the defunct Eastern Region. The questions that naturally arise from...

President Muhammadu Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed shock over Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bid to stage a comeback to corridors of power despite the atrocities committed against the country. Buhari said “the atrocities committed by this group against the country are still fresh in our mind, and coming to think of it that they are dreaming to stage a comeback is highly surprising”. The President who spoke during an interactive session with Community leaders in Kano as part of activities to round off his two day visit to the commercial city revealed how “this group plunged the country into unnecessary economic mess owing to wanton looting of our common wealth Buhari revealed that out of the three major agenda of his administration, the fight against corruption has been the most difficult due to challenges from completing agencies. He explained that those who have the onus to administer justice on corrupt individuals are themselves complic...