Nigeria moves up five places in the new FIFA rankings

Nigeria moved five places up on the Fifa global rankings to place 52nd at the end of 2012 in the latest statistics released on Wednesday.
The Super Eagles have climbed up steadily in recent times after gaining six places in November and have now added a further five to end the year on a rising note ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
Stephen Keshi’s team defeated Venezuela 3-1 in an international friendly in November and this added to the positive climb.
The country’s football suffered in 2012 owing to the inability of the Eagles to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon & Equatorial Guinea. While the team ended 2011 in the 42nd position and fifth in Africa, its ranking slid as low as 63rd and 13th in Africa in October this year.
The Super Eagles now remain 10th in Africa behind Cote D’Ivoire, Algeria, Mali, Ghana, Zambia, Egypt, Gabon, Tunisia and the Central African Republic.
Nigeria will play in next year’s Afcon in Group C where they will face defending champions Zambia (ranked fifth in Africa), Ethiopia (31st) and Burkina Faso (24th).
Spain retained the number one spot for the fifth year, an achievement which earns them the ‘Team of the Year’ title according to Fifa. They are followed by Germany, Argentina and Italy.
The ‘Mover of the Year’ goes to Colombia for the second time since ranking was introduced in 1993. Los Cafeteros finished 2011 in 36th, but thanks to six wins, one draw and only one defeat thereafter – and the 455 points they consequently earned – they end 2012 in fifth.
 DailyPost

Navy Helicopter Tragedy: Nigerian Navy Air Squadron, A Disaster Says Naval Source

Crashed Navy AW 109E helicopter

By SaharaReporters, New York

The Nigerian Navy whose helicopter crashed in Bayelsa State on Saturday, 15 December, 2012, killing the Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa, former National Security Adviser, General Andrew Owoye Azazi and crew members, like many other public institutions, is in a rotten state.
A top Naval source who spoke on the tragedy that befell the nation described the Nigerian Navy Air Squadron which operated the crashed Agusta 109 helicopters from Ojo, Lagos, a disaster. To buttress his assertion, he disclosed that the squadron has lost three helicopters, seven pilots, crew members and six passengers in six years. He recalled that on 20 April, 2006 a Nigerian Navy helicopter crashed near Owerri airport because the pilots were coerced to fly at night to deliver election materials. The helicopter crashed leaving no one onboard alive.
“This means the Nigerian Navy tasked the pilots to perform duties which were not commensurate to the training they were given. Has the Nigerian Navy learnt from this incident? Has the Navy taken any steps to avoid reoccurrence? No official report has been released about this crash. A board of inquiry was set up and investigations were conducted by a team of Navy officers who did not have any know-how, let alone the expertise to conduct proper air crash investigations. As stated earlier, the reports of the investigation never saw the light of the day. May be they are safely lying somewhere in a vault in naval Headquarters, Garki, Abuja. For us, this attitude indicates that the Nigerian Navy is not ready to learn from this incident. Though, shortly after the crash, the Navy has made efforts at training some pilots at Night Flying.”
Two years later, specifically on 26 January, 2010, the officer reminded P.M.NEWS, that another fatal crash occurred near Port-Harcourt, killing all onboard. “As usual, a BOI was set up and no official report has been released from Garki. This shows the Navy is adamant and impervious to learning,” he said.
Following the tragedies recorded by the squadron, the Naval officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to order the Navy to stop air operations now because the Navy has not developed the proper professional attitude required to conduct air operations.
He called for a proper investigation, “not a Board of inquiry by a bunch of clueless Navy officers but a proper air crash investigation by professionals,” to look into the crash that occurred on Saturday.
“Maybe the Presidency, the Senate President, the CDS and the Chief of Naval Staff, may be interested to know that the Navy Air Squadron lacks a proper logistics line; that there are no enough spare parts for helicopters, that spare parts take ages to reach the country even after they have been paid for; that the Navy Air Squadron lacks an efficient technical/logistics support system; that the Nigerian Navy Air Squadron has mastered the practice of removing a part from one aircraft to another, a practice commonly known as cannibalisation. That sometimes, even fuel which is always budgeted for is an impediment to air operations due to late arrival; that technicians/engineers are not properly empowered; they have not been properly exposed to the standards required of an air technician by frequent re-trainings and that their certificates do not meet ICAO standards. (In fact, their certificates should surpass ICAO standards because they are military),” the officer said.
According to him, the Nigerian Navy helicopters are sometimes deployed outside their home base to Warri and Port-Harcourt for long periods of time. During this period, the aircraft is totally exposed to weather elements of rain and too much sunshine. This is so because the base in Warri does not have a hanger. The Air Squadron at Ojo is popularly known within the Naval circle as ‘the Evil Forest’. Nobody wants to be posted there. Junior officers go to the extent of offering bribes just to cancel their postings to “the Evil Forest”, because of the tyrannical, despotic, nature of senior officers.
The atmosphere in the Nigerian Navy Air Squadron is fouled by the despotic and arrogant attitude of the seniors who have created a division in the Squadron, where the juniors see their seniors as their enemies. The trust and rapport between them is broken. This greatly hampers safe operations and inhibits a conducive working environment that is an important factor for aviation safety. The juniors hence find it difficult to engage the seniors in a fine conversation during flight or even offer any suggestion. No aviation organization can operate in this kind of atmosphere, where victimization, intimidation are the order of the day.
He observed that “the pilots/engineers (juniors) just do their work for the sake of doing it. This is dangerous. In fact, most aviators (pilots/engineers) won’t mind leaving the Air Squadron or even leave the Navy entirely. It may equally be of interest to know that “the Evil Forest” (Navy Air Squadron) officers have to fight or bootlick to go on leave and sometimes they are not allowed to go on full leave. This is contrary to the best aviation practices. Aviators need rest in order for them to work efficiently.
Furthermore, the officer revealed, the aviators are sometimes given orders to fly under difficult circumstances. Two pilots were grounded for refusing to fly during bad weather. An inquiry was set up and investigation revealed that the pilots were right for refusing to fly. But, typical of the Navy, the pilots were grounded and their flying wings confiscated. It took the noble administration of the CDS (then as CNS) to re-incorporate them back to the Air Squadron. The pilots are made to fly even when they are tired.
They are made to go for maritime patrols into sea, when they are not trained for that. The Nigerian Navy pilots have performed deck landings on the Nigerian Navy ships NNS ARADU and NNS THUNDER several times. The question to ask is: Are any of these pilots certified for deck landings?
Finally, the officer noted, that “in the Navy Squadron, the pilots are only given basic training. They do not attend redundancy training, night flying, deck landings, search and rescue and other training packages which will make them well rounded pilots. No pilot in the navy can safely conduct a proper emergency landing (due to lack of proper continuous training). The air crew, which includes the Marshallers, ATC and hoist operators, lack adequate and certified training. Some of them receive local training at the squadron, which falls far below the required aviation standards.”

Presidency ‘Betrayed’ By Govs Over Crashed Chopper Probe

The insistence by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s on playing a role in the investigation into Saturday’s helicopter crash which claimed the lives of Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa, former National Security Adviser Andrew Azazi and four others in Bayelsa State, has jolted the Presidency.

Crashed Navy Helicopter

The NGF, in a communique after its emergency meeting in Abuja on Monday, apart from demanding a role in the probe into the crash, also resolved to hire the services of a consultant to be part of the investigation.
A presidential source, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, said the Presidency was not comfortable with the demand.
He said, “The thinking within the Presidential Villa is that the governors are not helping the Federal Government.
“The Presidency is of the opinion that the governors are even inciting Nigerians against the Federal Government and asking them not to have faith in what we do as a country.
“I must tell you that the Presidency felt betrayed by the statement and I think the President would say so anytime he meets with the governors.
“The import of the statement, according to government thinking, is that if the governors can’t believe in what the Federal Government does, how can ordinary Nigerians do?”
When asked if the Federal Government would succumb to the demand of the governors, the source said the Presidency was in a dilemma over the issue.
The source said, “If the Federal Government says no, it may be interpreted to mean that it has something to hide. If it says yes, it may also anger the military, whose helicopter crashed.”
The governors had called for thorough investigation and openness into the air crash.
InformationNigeria.org

Wealth in Garbage: Waste Disposal Worker Finds 18 Million Naira Cash In Rubbish

A worker at a waste disposal site has found 10,000 yen cash in a stream of pulverised rubbish, police say.
“There were about a thousand (10,000) yen (N 18, 080, 000) bills that came out of a pulveriser unscathed,” a spokesman at the Asaminami police department in Hiroshima prefecture, in Japan’s west, said today.
He added that there were also 2300 fragments of bills destroyed by the machine at a municipal facility that processes large waste, such as cupboards and mattresses, that cannot be collected by regular garbage pick-up.
Police suspect the owner of the cash might have forgotten the money was there when he or she threw away some furniture.
“We believe it is unlikely there is anything criminal in this, although we must say we don’t know much about this money at all,” the spokesman said.
The cash was found on Monday. If no one comes forward within three months, the waste disposal facility will have the right to claim the money, the spokesman said.
InformationNigeria.org

Police extend search for Rotimi’s wife to other states

by: Bisi Oladele, Ibadan

•Suspects to remain in custody
The Oyo State Police Command yesterday said it has extended its search for Mrs. Titilayo Rotimi, wife of the former Military Governor of the Western State, Gen. Oluwole Rotimi (rtd.), to other states.
Mrs. Rotimi was abducted by gunmen in front of her company on the Ibadan-Ife Expressway, on December 10, around 6:30pm.
Eyewitnesses said she was forced into a Primera car and taken to an unknown destination.
Police spokesman Mr. Ayodele Lanade told The Nation yesterday that the command was yet to get a strong clue about her whereabouts.
He said the command had extended its search to other states and urged the public to assist them with information.
Lanade assured residents that the command would rescue Mrs. Rotimi.
He said the police have secured a court order to detain nine of the 10 suspects arrested in relation with the abduction, pending the conclusion of their investigation.
Lanade said the only female suspect was released on bail to allow her nurse her baby.
TheNation

Oranyan festival: Ooni is ignorant, says Alaafin

BY OLA AJAYI
IBADAN—The perennial rivalry between the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi and Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade resurfaced weekend as the former described Oba Sijuade  as someone who  is not knowledgeable about his ancestral origin.
The two foremost Yoruba monarchs have been embroiled in crisis over the control of Yorubaland.
The disagreement which had abated after the creation of Osun State, reared its head again recently when Ooni said the Alaafin did not have the rights to celebrate Oranyan, one of the sons of Oduduwa because the deity was not known in Oyo town as claimed by the Alaafin.
Despite many attempts made to make Oba Adeyemi respond to the accusation he kept sealed lips.
Ooni had alleged that Alaafin was reigning over a dead empire.
But, while responding in his palace at a special birthday lecture organized in his honour by the ‘City People Magazine’, entitled: ‘Reviving Old Oyo Customs and Tradition’, he hinted that he did not respond because of the intervention of the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo at a meeting where Oba Sijuade, the Awujale of Ijebu, Oba Oyebade Lipede were in attendance.

Ooni of Ife                                              Alaafin of Oyo

Alaafin recalled that Oba Sijuade had said, “he(Alaafin) is not Oranyan”, but he turned deaf ears because he wanted absolute concentration during the celebration of Oranyan.
Explaining why he broke the silence, he  said Ooni did not refrain from condemning him and his traditional activities.  Alaafin claimed Oyo is superior to Ife in many ramifications.
“Where did this Yoruba Language that we are speaking evolve from? Which language was used in writing the Bible? It is Oyo language. Why not Ife language? Where else are they speaking Ife language apart from Lagere Quarters? Why are the Modakeke people, who are living behind Ife not speaking Ife language?”, Alaafin asked.
Alaafin further clarified that he had posed so many questions to Ooni which, he alleged,  “instead, he came with books that could fill three baskets”.
“In 2009, Ooni had rubbished the institution of Alaafin, but a year after when he was celebrating his birthday, he said Oranyan was his father’s ancestor. How could you have denigrated your ancestors and later claimed that you are a son of the Alaafin. Anybody who does not know his ancestral roots, who did not strive to learn about it, and does not learn from those who know, will continue to make mistakes and flounder in ignorance. That is part of Ooni’s inadequacies”, he said.
“When we wanted to celebrate Sango, they said Sango is not Yoruba. Sango studied Quoran. He was the one that was first conferred with the title of ‘Akeugberu’. He was the first in the art of adjudicating justly. When he was born, the umbilical chord that joined him with his mother could not be severed. Because they pulled it and it would not cut, it became the name ‘Afonja’. The glory, success and tradition of Yoruba started from Oyo”, he stated.
Alaafin alluded to a period during the tenure of late Chief Bola Ige (SAN) when a “stamped paper recognising Oranyan as the Head of the Princes and Princesses in Yorubaland, and that Oyo dominated all other nations, namely: Ife, Ijebu, Egba, Ijesa, Sabe, Owu and so on”.
He reminded people of some historical facts when Messrs. Richard Lander and McPherson visited Oyo Ile in 1827, saying the white men saw some historical structures in Oyo Ile. He warned that Ooni should not distort historical facts further.
The Director, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Professor Isaac Albert, commended Alaafin for epitomizing the rich African cultural heritage.
Vanguard

Appeal Court Orders Retrial of Edo Service Commission’s Case

Symbol of Justice

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The Court of Appeal in Benin City, Edo State yesterday ordered the state Chief Judge to re-assign the case of unlawful dissolution of the state House of Assembly Service Commission to another judge for trial.

The former chairman and members of the commission had approached the court for a reinstatement following their sack before the expiration of their tenure of office by the then Speaker of the state House of Assembly; Mr. Bright Omokhodion, through a resolution of the Assembly.

At first, when the aggrieved party approached the lower court, it struck out the case on the grounds that it was wrongly commenced through an originating summons.

The sacked commission had wanted the court to determine whether by resolution of the House, the lawmakers can dissolve a statutory board and to also determine whether the house could exercise executive powers to remove them.

In his ruling therefore, the presiding Judge, Justice George Shoremi held that the High Court was wrong in law to have struck out the case, saying, “it was an error for it to have arrived at such a conclusion”.

Justice Shoremi further directed that the case be re-assigned to another judge.

ThisDay