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Nigeria is expected to make history on October 1, when its caterers build and unveil the world’s largest cake. The 65,000kg cake, will be unveiled at the National Stadium, Abuja, is expected to beat the current Guinness World Records. (more…)

Sun News Publishing in an Editorial examines the relevance of zoning to Nigeria’s political development (more…)

“For me, personally, it is an honour to seize the opportunity presented by this (2011) election to run for the exalted office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, inspired first and foremost by a divine call to duty, to salvage our beloved country from the inept, corrupt and purposeless leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.-Chris Okotie (more…)

Prof Chukwuma Soludo, former Governor of Nigeria’s Cental Bank writes on the need to reform Nigerian Politics.

This lecture is about provoking informed debate about how to proactively prepare for Nigeria to be a major player in the 21st Century, and avert any doomsday scenario. I will argue that sustainable survival will depend on how urgently Nigeria reorganizes itself for a world with minimal dependence on oil and other natural resources. My thesis here is that without realigning the incentive- sanctions regime, the talk about diversification of the economy will remain what it has been since the 1970s— just a wish! (more…)

In France and Nigeria, politicians have stepped out of line by acting as though their national teams’ World Cup disasters are major affairs of state that should divert them from other, truly vital issues of life. They are not. And pretending otherwise just smacks of political opportunism.

If soccer players need to apologize to anyone for on- and off-field performances, then it is to their longtime supporters — to the ordinary men, women and kids who root for them, not to politicians whose sudden interest in the misfortune of a national squad is suspiciously timed.

Yes, Nigeria had a poor World Cup. It hasn’t won a World Cup match since 1998 and again went without a victory this time.

But no, that doesn’t mean Nigerian players should now be made to sit in disgrace in a corner, banned from taking part in any international soccer for the next two years — which is what the West African nation’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, has decreed.

“The nation has been punished enough. Enough,” said Rotimi Amaechi, head of a presidential task force on the nation’s World Cup team. “People have had heart attacks, people have had all sorts of issues because of Nigerian football. We now want to reorganize and get back to what it used to be when it was the pride of the nation.”

Sounds serious. Way too serious, in fact. Losing is as much a part of sports as winning. Nigeria’s government should perhaps be explaining that simple fact to disappointed fans not whipping up emotions by taking an extreme view of defeat. The hundreds of death threats that were e-mailed to midfielder Sani Kaita after he collected a red card in Nigeria’s 2-1 loss to Greece showed how ugly things can get when soccer passions spill over.

Media reports out of Nigeria say the government will also be investigating allegations of soccer corruption there — there’s nothing wrong with that if the probe has no hidden political motives. And the government won’t be faulted if it catches soccer bosses with their hands in the till and misspending money that should have gone toward the sport.

But the best way to get the national team, dubbed the Super Eagles, to play better can hardly be by stopping it from playing at all. Two years out of international soccer, if it really comes to that, would mean Nigerian players missing the next African Cup of Nations and perhaps even the 2012 Olympic Games. That hardly seems likely to position them nicely for the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014, if they even qualify.

Whether the Nigerian president really does have the power to clip the wings of the Super Eagles, who are not meant to take their orders from government, remains to be seen. But the end result may be the same if soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, determines that Jonathan is sticking his nose into matters that shouldn’t concern him. FIFA takes a very dim, if at times also selective, view of political meddling in soccer and could respond by suspending Nigeria. That would mean no international soccer for all Nigerian teams, including clubs.

France’s government is also making a political mountain of the national team’s World Cup fiasco. France’s players made fools of themselves by rebelling against their coach Raymond Domenech and the French Football Federation at the World Cup, even refusing to practice one day. And French lawmakers have subsequently looked foolish, too, by acting as if this really is a major issue for France.

They grilled Domenech and outgoing federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes on Wednesday. But they let the pair off the hook by holding the hearing behind closed doors. That was unfair to fans, because instead of speaking to lawmakers, to whom they owe no explanation, Domenech and Escalettes should have spoken to and apologized directly to the French public — which they still have not fully done.

None of this is to say that soccer players and officials shouldn’t be held accountable — to fans — when they play or act poorly. And politicians of course should have a say when matters in sports go beyond the field of play. That could be the case with doping, for example, which is both a sports and a public health issue.

But let’s not turn World Cup players into political footballs just because they disappoint.

// The National Chairman of the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP), Dr. Okwesilize Nwodo, left Nigeria yesterday to attend a two-day conference on Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee  holding in London on Monday and Tuesday. According to a statement signed by the Special Assistant, Media, to the PDP Chairman, Mr. Ike Abonyi, President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to deliver a keynote speech at the summit. But THISDAY learnt last night that the President  may not be attending the summit because he was scheduled to use the opportunity to see the Bristish Prime Minister whom he had already seen during the G8 summit in Canada. The summit will also be attended by about 18 state governors and over a dozen ministers as well as strategic chief executives of agencies and commissions in the country. The statement said issues expected to be discussed at the conference included power, infrastructure, corruption, health, education and agriculture. Jonathan has come under attack for allegedly jacking up the N600million proposed for the golden jubilee celebration by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua regime to N10 billion. But denying the accusation, Information and Communications Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyuli, had said the committee for the celebration put together by the late President Yar’Adua had proposed the sum of N10 billion. She, however, did not say how much President Jonathan had approved for the celebration. According to the statement,  Nwodo is scheduled to have interaction with a cross-section of members of PDP in London where he is expected to intimate them with his reform agenda for the party particularly the new registration policy being put together to sanitize the party. The PDP chairman is expected back in the country by weekend.

The All Nigeria Peoples Party yesterday said it will not put forward any Presidential candidate for the 2011 elections until the he ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s announces its choice for the election Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja on the 2011 presidential election, the party’s National Chairman, Ume-Ezeoke said: “when PDP comes up with its candidate for the presidential election, then we shall come up with our candidate and this will shake the entire country.” Prodded to give hindsights to who shall become the ANPP presidential candidate, he said, “just wait and see what will happen.” Some of the candidates who have indicated interest in taking over from Ume-Ezeoke are the former governor of Edo State, John Oyegun; former chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party, Harry Akande and the former National Secretary of the party, George Moghalu.Others include the incumbent National Publicity Secretary of the party, Emma Eneukwu; and the current Chairman of the party’s BoT, Gambo Mogaji. THISDAY gathered that the odds favour Akande and Oyegun from the South-west and South-south respectively. This is because the vice presidential candidate of the party may emerge from the south-east. A source further confirmed that the next chairman of the party would be a straight fight between Akande and Oyegun. The party’s National Executive Committee meeting which took place in Maidugiri last month had ordered a national convention for July 17 to elect a new set of members for the Central Working Committee. Ume-Ezeoke and his team were elected in August 2006 for a four-year tenure

The appointment of Attahiru Jega as as the new chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, was confirmed by Nigerian Senate, Thursday

Jega, vice chancellor of Bayero University in the northern city of Kano, was nominated to the post by President Goodluck Jonathan two weeks ago.

Jega said during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday that his nomination for the INEC job “is the greatest challenge of his life” and pledged to do “everything” to conduct a free and fair polls next year.

He is to replace Maurice Iwu, the former INEC chairman who conducted the 2007 elections which were judged “flawed” by local and international observers.