Summit to Address Yoruba Unity Approaches

Worried by lack of unity among the Yorubas, a pressure group, Egbe Omo Yoruba in the North America, has concluded arrangement to hold The World Yoruba Summit in Ibadan to sensitise the Yoruba nation on the need to have a united force. The group has also identified the need for economic empowerment of the youths as the leaders of tomorrow and a vital component of the repositioning plan. The summit is slated for University of Ibadan between October 17 and 22 with the theme, ‘Yoruba Renaissance: Understanding Our Past For A Better Future’.

President of the organisation, Agbaakin Bolu Omodele during a press briefing in Lagos said the association, founded as a result of the unexpected annulment of the June 12 election in 1993, decided to organise the summit to promote Yoruba unity and empower the youths.

Omodele, who expressed concern over the lackadaisical attitude of Yoruba leaders toward issues of general interest and their unbridled concern for financial gain, however pointed out that there are some Yoruba leaders, who are equally concerned about lack of unity among the Yorubas and have strived very well to arrest the situation. The president pointed out that Egbe Omo Yoruba is convinced that a big platform like the proposed Ibadan summit will help leaders of thoughts in Yoruba land to reason together and identify challenges facing the people and how to chart a new path for the development of the nation.

“Twenty-three years after we established the association with record of involvements in some national discourse, we have decided to move in at this critical period of our country to address issues related to unity. We have not had any meeting in Nigeria since then, that is why we are convening a world summit of all Yorubas in October in Ibadan. I stand to be corrected but the truth is that we have discovered over time that the Yorubas are not as united as our counterpart from the Northern part of the country. It appears that our leaders are more concerned about personal gain in the power game. We members of Egbe Omo Yoruba in North America now think there is urgent need for us to bring our people together to talk about our unity; our culture and those inherent values deposited in us by almighty God that will help us speak with one voice. We believe the best thing to do is to allow our collective interest to override our individual interest,” he said.

Earlier, a former president of the association, Agbaakin Adeola Odusanya, had appreciated the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, who he said has been campaigning for unity since he assumed office. He also appreciated former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who during a visit to the U.S. advised members of the association to come to the country and galvanise their people on the need to have a united force.

To make the impact of the summit to cut across, Agbaakin Adeola stated that the group had reached out to the Yorubas in Cuba, Brazil, Republic of Benin and other places to join hands with them and assemble for the summit. He also added that the leadership of the association has been moving round to meet traditional rulers, leaders of thought and top government functionaries in the South-west to impress them on the importance of buying into the summit.

Speaking on measures being put in place to make sure the summit is not hijacked by any politician or political party for selfish interest, the Publicity Secretary of the association, Mrs. Sola Yusuf-Aiwinnilomo, said the funding of the summit is restricted to members’ donation and support from individuals, who share their dream. The Publicity Secretary said the summit would also create a forum for workshop on empowerment, adding, “We want to use the workshop to galvanise the youths to be agents of change. We want our people to support federal government move on job creation and economic diversification.” She also disclosed further that the World Yoruba Summit has received the royal blessings of Ooni of Ife and other traditional rulers in Yoruba land, including the monarch of Ile-Oluji, in Ondo State, who has given the organisation some hectares of land for agricultural purposes.

Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho could miss Spurs clash with hamstring issue

Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho could miss the Reds' Saturday clash at Tottenham with a hamstring injury.

The Brazilian playmaker felt tightness in the muscle in the wake of Liverpool's 2-0 defeat at Burnley last weekend, and was out of Jurgen Klopp's side in the team's 5-0 midweek thrashing of Burton Albion in the EFL Cup.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Klopp said he will not be risky with the former Inter Milan man's health.

"The muscle was a little stiff," Klopp said. "He felt something so we didn't want to take a risk [against Burton].

"We left him out of training until now. We have to make a decision on Friday with what we can do with him.

"It is not a situation to take any risk. We have to talk to the player.

"From the medical side, it is not a big issue, but it was big enough to leave him out of the squad for Burton."

Klopp expressed confidence Liverpool have the depth to cope should Coutinho not be fit in time for the match.

"Yes, we still have options," Klopp added. "Adam Lallana can play there, Roberto Firmino can play there, Sadio Mane is back and he can play there ... on the wing if you want!

"Usually, Sheyi Ojo could play there but he has not been fit for a few weeks.

"We have different players for that position but when two of them are not available you have a little bit of a problem.

"That is what football is. We are not allowed to have a squad of 28 players but we still have options."

Ronaldo (Winning BALLON DE O?) crowned UEFA best

Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo won the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award on Thursday after winning both last season’s Champions League and Euro 2016 with Portugal.

Ronaldo, 31, received the accolade for the second time in his career after finishing ahead of Real team-mate Gareth Bale and Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann.

“I’m obviously delighted to receive this award, it’s been an incredible season. But these two other players deserve it as well,” said Ronaldo, who also won the prize in 2013-14.

Ronaldo struck the winning spot-kick as Real claimed a record 11th European Cup title, beating city rivals Atletico on penalties in May, before leading his country to Euro 2016 glory.

Ronaldo scored three goals en route to the final of the tournament to equal France’s Michel Platini’s record of nine goals in the European Championship finals.

The award was voted for by journalists from each of UEFA’s 55 member associations.

Norway striker Ada Hegerberg won the women’s award, ahead of France’s Amandine Henry and Dzsenifer Marozsan of Germany, after helping Lyon lift the Women’s Champions League trophy in addition to the French league and cup double.

Federal, State and Local Govt Shares N443.66Bn – FAAC

The Federal Government has assured states that they can still tap into the fiscal sustainability funds to meet with obligations.

Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahmoud Isa Dutse disclosed this at the close of the monthly federation accounts allocation committee meeting where 443.66 billion naira was distributed between the three tiers of Government as revenue generated in the month of July.

Last month, governments smiled to the bank after revenue rose astronomically following the remittance of company income tax and petroleum profit tax in June.

However that revenue was almost halved in July as gross statutory revenue declined by 250.97 billion naira.

Crude oil export decreased by 2.8 million barrels in April which affected income as Federation export revenue decreased by 102.17 million dollars.

The increase in amount shared was occasioned by a recovery of 1.373 billion naira excess bank charges, exchange gain as well as arrears of 36.494 billion naira from the month of May.

Lagos will soon join the league of oil producing states receiving 13% derivatives and journalists were informed that so far no state funds are being held to repay bailout funds.

Of the 443.663 billion naira distributed, value added tax was 64.308 billion naira, refund by NNPC 6.33 billion naira along with other refunds while excess crude account stands at 3.03 trillion naira.

Minister Beaten To Death By Striking Miners

Bolivian miners on Thursday during a clash with the police in the town of Panduro hacked the Deputy Interior Minister to death.

Interior Minister, Carlos Romero, confirmed on Friday that reports by witnesses indicated that the 55-year-old was beaten to death following clashes between police and miners in the town of Panduro, 165 kilometres south-east of La Paz.

Romero said Illanes had been kidnapped by miners after attempting to initiate talks with them at a roadblock.

The minister, who spoke of a “cowardly and brutal” murder, added that his aide was also injured and was taken to hospital.

He said that one miner was reportedly also killed in the Thursday’s clashes, bringing the death toll in several days of protests against controversial trade union legislation to three.

“Two miners were killed on Wednesday.

“Around 100 miners were detained after Thursday’s protests,’’ he said.

Miners currently represented by independently organized cooperatives have been using street blockades to protest against a law allowing them to join trade unions.

The national federation of mining cooperatives (Fencomin) representing some 10,000 miners rejects any trade union influence on Bolivia’s mining sector. (dpa/NAN)

Klopp vs. Pochettino: the three similarities and differences between the managers

Rivalries and grudges are fired in the furnace of regular competition over similar goals, and in recent years, as Tottenham Hotspur have sought to move in on a top four promised land Liverpool once claimed as their own, tensions have grown.

Both sides have had to contend not only with a veritable glass ceiling set ahead of them by the richest teams in the Premier League but also each other.

It was fitting then that Jurgen Klopp’s first game in charge after taking over at Anfield came against Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs. Given the parallels between the two managers and their approaches, as trainers and as tacticians, they were always destined to be paired off against each other in a battle to become best in their class at what they do.

But what are the similarities shared by the managers of Tottenham and Liverpool and how does their work differ?

Importance of pressing

image: http://www.squawka.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/4842290.jpg

Liverpool players press Arsenal centre-back Rob Holding.

While Pochettino and Klopp may come at the problem of winning matches from different angles – the former being a direct disciple of Marcelo Bielsa and Argentinian football, the latter an indirect student of Arrigo Sacchi and the German school of gegenpressing – their solutions are almost the same.

They like their players to play an aggressive, ambitious and intense pressing game, rapidly closing opponents high up the park, often in their own half and ideally close to goal in order to force errors and launch counter-attacks behind enemy lines.

It is these fundamentals by which they have both ultimately defined themselves as managers throughout their careers so far, and the most obvious parallel to be drawn between them.

Loading on the training

image: http://www.squawka.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/4706491.jpg

Mauricio Pochettino watching England training from the sidelines.

Dutch football fitness expert Raymond Verhaijian may not approve but Pochettino and Klopp often make use of extra training, often double sessions, to try and ensure their sides are as fast, fit and powerful as they need to be in order to play their manager’s hard-pressing systems to the level required.

The Argentinian and the German’s view is to ensure their players put in the work, especially during pre-season, to ensure they are ready for the long campaigns ahead of them. Unfortunately, their demanding regimes out on the training pitch can cause issues as well as solve them too.

It’s no coincidence that Liverpool’s injury record was worsened under Klopp while signs of mental and physical exhaustion in the closing weeks of a season are not just symptomatic of Pochettino’s teams but also sides coached by his mentor, Bielsea, and the many other coaches to follow in his wake.

A settled first-choice team

image: http://www.squawka.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/4846007.jpg

Klopp

Making the most of the transitions between defence and attack – and losing the ball and winning the ball, and vica versa – is key to the style of football Pochettino and Klopp set out to create. However, to execute the rapid, almost automatic counter-attacks required to realise the potential of their ideas, their teams need to be more than just well drilled.

They need the chemistry, understanding and send of collective intuition to make sure – as a unit – that not a moment is wasted on hesitation or indecision. Only time and experience spent playing with the same teammates, in the same side, can forge this kind of bond.

In ideal conditions, Pochettino and Klopp do not rotate. Neither do they obsess over alternatives to the primary plan of action. If they can identify their strongest side and ensure the team reaches its potential – and realises the potential of the system – the results will follow.

Klopp won two Bundesliga titles and constructed one of the most exciting and watchable teams in Europe at Borussia Dortmund. A common view last season was that Spurs were the best, most balanced team in the Premier League, beaten by the forces of destiny swirling around Leicester City.

Different dealings with the media

image: http://www.squawka.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/4762869.jpg

While Klopp may be happy to engage with the press, winning over reporters with his gregarious manner, Pochettino endures a far more evasive relationship with the media.

At Southampton, he pretended to be unable to speak a word of English, using an interpreter during his post-match interviews to bat away questions or get away with less complex answers.

He wasn’t able to repeat the trick at White Hart Lane and since moving to Spurs Pochettino has instead become one of the most reserved managers in front of the media in the Premier League. Klopp’s approach couldn’t be more dissimilar if he tried.

Contrasting functions at full-back

image: http://www.squawka.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/4687579.jpg

While neither Pochettino nor Klopp look to go defence-first when it comes to the personnel they deploy out the flanks of their defence, there is a slight divergence in how they use their auxiliary wide-men down each flank.

The former uses his full-backs for width, instructing his wingers to come narrow and cut inside as alternative threats for the opposition’s centre-backs to deal with while the likes of Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies shuttle the ball forward and sling in crosses for Harry Kane.

Klopp on the other hand still tends to rely on his forwards out on the flanks to do a fair share of the work stretching teams – running wide and at full-backs before coming inside, or sitting slightly deeper to surge forward on the counter, with the rest of the pitch freed for them to gallop through as a three-or-more pronged attack alongside the centre-forward.

It could be argued that Pochettino’s players are more like wing-backs while his German rival still depends on a more traditional, yet still offensively-minded interpretation of the role of the full-back, with defensive stability important as well as their forward propulsion, hence the difficulties Alberto Moreno has got himself into of late.

Target men, or not

image: http://www.squawka.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/reu_2010746.jpg

For Spurs, Kane is key. He is not just their main goalscorer but a vital focus of the whole team’s style of play, holding up the ball, bringing others into play and giving his teammates purchase in the opposition’s half.

By contrast, Klopp’s peaks, with Dortmund and Liverpool, have come without the use of a target man. Even Robert Lewandowski – a striker whose wiry frame makes him look taller than he actually is – stands at just six foot. His great strength was his intelligence, his movement and dexterity for a player of his build, not so much his strength, even if, like Kane, he melded together the roles of playing as a provider and scorer all at once.

Attacks by Avengers, others cut Nigeria’s revenue for July by almost half

Attacks by vandals, notably Niger Delta Avengers, on crude oil pipelines and other facilities, accounted for nearly 50 per cent loss of revenue to the three tiers of government in July.

The monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting, which held Thursday in Abuja, declared the loss of N250.97 billion for the month, against N538.8 billion oil revenue shared in June.

The meeting, attended by representatives of the federal and 36 states and Federal Capital Territory, also reported a cut of about 2.8 million barrels in crude oil exports volume for April.

The permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Dutse, attributed the huge cut to the subsisting force majeure declared at Forcados Oil terminal by oil companies.

Parties in a contract — in this case, oil firms — can declare force majeure when they are unable deliver on contractual obligations, due to unforeseen developments.

“The decrease was as a result of shut-in and shut-down of pipelines at other terminals due to the activities of vandals and for maintenance impacted negatively on production,” Mr. Dutse said.

Despite the increase in average price per barrel of crude oil at the international market in March from $38.64 to $42.21 in April, he said revenue accrual in the Federation Export Revenue decreased by $102.17 million.

Although revenues from non-oil sources declined from N279.16 billion in June to N168.41billion in July, the meeting reported a marginal increase in import duty during the month.

The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, in his report said the performance of Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) declined drastically due to the filing of the actual annual returns by joint venture companies.

Mr. Idris also attributed it to payments made during the month, with taxes paid by blue chip companies not captured under the month, because they were made before the June 30, 2016 deadline.

The AGF said distributable statutory revenue for the month stood at about N268.8 billion, apart from about N66.99 billion from value added tax (VAT) and N6.33 billion refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federal government.

The refund was part of the N450 billion oil revenues from crude oil sales between 2010 and 2011 withheld by the NNPC from the Federation Account.

Mr. Idris said the federal government was yet to commence deducting bailout funds given to states, except those with various loan obligations to fulfil with commercial banks.

He said the debt sustainability programme of the government established to help states restructure their debts was still available for them to take advantage of.

Other revenues accruals during the month, the committee said, included about N1.37 billion excess bank charges recovered from commercial banks between 2008 and 2012.

Another N70.04 billion was realised as exchange gain as a result of exchange rate differentials between naira and the dollar, in addition to about N36.49 billion arrears for May proposed for distribution.

A total of about N443.67 billion was shared during the month. The amount was about N115.4 billion lower than the allocation shared in June.

Details of the allocation to the three tiers of government showed the federal government taking about N129.2 billion, or 52.68 per cent; States N65.54 billion, or 26.72 per cent, and local governments N50.53 billion, or 20.6 per cent.

The oil bearing States were allocated N12.87 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue for the month.

Although Lagos was recognised recently as one of the oil bearing States of the Federation, Mr. Dutse said they would not benefit from the allocation for now.

Besides, each tier of government also received N9.65 billion, N32.15 billion and N22.51 billion respectively for 15 per cent, 50 per cent and 35 per cent allocation respectively for VAT.

The balance in the excess crude revenue account was given as $3.03 billion.