Russia 2018: FIFA to conduct special African ranking

World football governing body FIFA has said a special ranking will be established for African countries for the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
In a letter sent by mail to the football federations of the 20 countries in the last stage of the qualifiers, FIFA said it would release the ranking on June 21 following complaints from several of the teams.
The previous ranking, which was done by FIFA last week, was fraught with complaints as some countries believed it should have been done with the June FIFA ranking.
Egypt were reportedly among the countries who complained about the seedings, which put them in Pot two along with Nigeria. They argued that they should be in Pot 1, which is reserved for the top seeds.

Fathia Balogun goes bald again

Nollywood screen diva, Fathia Balogun, has gone bald again in a new film titled ‘Shola Arikusa’. This is coming 15 years after she went bald for her own production, ‘Makomi’ which was a hit movie.
The mother of two said she took the decision  because she did not want to relent in bringing out the best in her.

Marriage slowed us down –Artquake

When the name Artquake is mentioned, what readily comes to mind is the singing duo, Adex and Ice K that sang the hit song, ‘Alanta’ that rocked the airwaves in 2009. However, since they released the hit song, it seemed the duo mellowed on their career as they have not been able to come up with another club banger.
In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, they explained why their career seemed to be on the slow track.

Without my costume, I am physically challenged –Denrele

Known as the weird one, Denrele, has hardly been seen wearing clothes that normal people wear and that has been his brand identity. In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, the young man who is known for wearing crazy hairdos said that the thought of someone shaving his head has played across his mind but it would spell serious trouble because his hair is his saving grace.

Buhari’s military mentality affecting performance – Balarabe

A former Governor of the old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, says Buhari’s military background in addressing ethnic agitations in the country was affecting his performance.
Balarabe said the Buhari-led Federal Government had not shown seriousness in using dialogue to resolve agitations from different geopolitical zones of the country.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Thursday, Balarabe said Buhari should show that he is now a converted democrat by using dialogue to settle crises rocking the country.
The former governor, who described Buhari’s first year in office as a waste, said he doubted whether the President would make the most of the remaining three years of his tenure.

EFCC arrests ex-Customs boss, Dikko, for N40bn fraud

A former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for allegedly diverting N40bn from the coffers of the NCS.

Dikko, it was learnt, had been on the radar of the EFCC for several months but his whereabouts had remained unknown.

However, the former Customs boss arrived at the headquarters of the anti-graft agency around 10am on Thursday where he remained until press time.

Sex scandal: US govt cancels three Reps’ visas, Dogara orders probe

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday, directed the investigation of three members of the House for an alleged sex scandal.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, confirmed this in Abuja just as investigations had shown that the United States Embassy had cancelled the visas of the affected members.

Buhari extends stay in London, returns Sunday

President Muhammadu Buhari will not return to Nigeria from London, where he is spending his 10-day medical vacation, until Sunday.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday shortly before the commencement of a meeting of the National Economic Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari’s 10-day vacation expired on Wednesday.
By the time he would be arriving in Nigeria on Sunday, he would have spent 14 days.
He was earlier scheduled to arrive the country on Thursday.

COURT RULES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL FEDERATION, FIBA

 The court decision prohibits FIBA and FIBA Europe from sanctioning clubs for participating in Euroleague Basketball competitions.
In addition, any national team that has achieved qualification to competitions organised by FIBA and FIBA Europe may not be excluded as a result of any club's decision to participate in Euroleague Basketball competitions.
Any direct or indirect sanctions, threats of sanctions, as well as undue pressure on clubs to act against their own will would result in a violation of the judge’s resolution.

Viable Educational standard, Panacea To Solving Africa's Poverty Challenge---Prof. Rajunor Ettarh

                                                          By D. Marcus Chucxz

“Education is the most powerful weapon with which you can change the world”, said the late South African leader and global statesman, Madiba Nelson Mandela. A look at the world map shows that the nations that are described as leaders in development, technology; nations with the highest GDPs, social stability and peace, are also nations that boast the highest numbers of educated persons and continue to improve the growth of their educational sectors. In the last six years, the Emirate of Dubai has been investing in a project tagged, ‘Educate the child, build a nation’ that hopes to complete her transitions from a product (oil) driven economy to one driven by information.