Author: Chronicle Editor

Ex-England player Joey Barton claims “50%” of professional footballers bet on matches, and says gambling is “culturally engrained” in the sport. The former Burnley midfielder, 35, was banned by the Football Association in April 2017 for breaching betting rules. He was found to have placed 1,260 bets on football matches over 10 years. “I think if they found out everyone who has been betting and cracked down on it, you’d have half the league out,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “I think 50% of the playing staff would be taken out because it’s culturally engrained.” Barton – who…

Hugh Masekela, South Africa’s trumpeter, jazz artist and music legend, is dead. He died of prolonged prostrate cancer. He was aged 78. His family first made his death known in a statement. “After a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer, he passed peacefully in Johannesburg,” Masekela’s family said in a statement. It hailed his “activist contribution” to music, which it said “was contained in the minds and memory of millions.” Later, South Africa’s minister of arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa confirmed the death on Twitter, with a moving tribute. “A baobab tree has fallen, the nation has lost a…

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, is set to suspend six telecommunications operators following their involvement in call masking and refilling, despite repeated warnings. NCC said it just concluded its investigation on call masking and refilling and discovered that six telecoms operators were involved in the illegal act that poses a national security risk and threat to the Nigerian economy, and described the act as an offence punishable by law. In technical parlance, call masking and refilling is an attempt by callers to hide their true numbers when making calls, especially international calls which are not charged, because the caller’s identity…

A former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Dahiru Musdapher, has died. Mr. Musdapher died in the early hours of Tuesday at the age of 75. The cause of his death was not immediately clear but family members took to social media to break the news. “My elder brother Justice Dahiru Musdapher former CJN passed on tonight,” Muneer Musdapher, a younger brother of the former CJN wrote on Facebook. The jurist retired from bench five years ago on attaining the mandatory retirement age of 70. Read Also CBN injects fresh $210m into currency market Almost a year to his retirement, he was…

The Central Bank of Nigeria said on Monday it had injected $210 million into the interbank foreign exchange market, extending efforts to boost liquidity and alleviate dollar shortages. The bank said in a statement it had released $100 million earmarked for the wholesale market, $55 million for small businesses and individuals, and $55 million for certain dollar expenses such as school fees and medical bills. The central bank said it: “will continue to manage the forex with a view to reducing the country’s import bills and halting accretion to its foreign reserves.” It will be recalled that the CBN last…

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) collected record N4 trillion taxes last year, representing 82.38 per cent of government set target of N4.89 trillion. The FIRS Chairman, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, disclosed this yesterday during a visit by the members of the Senate and House of Representatives Finance Committees to the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Babatunde Akiolu. The visit was part of the FIRS management stakeholders’ retreat holding at Eko Hotels, Victoria Island, Lagos. Last year revenue generation figure, according to Fowler, marked a 20 per cent improvement on the N3.3 trillion collected in 2016. Addressing the…

The United States has approved controversial tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels. The move is in line with President Donald Trump’s “America First” trade policy, which aims to protect local manufacturers from foreign competition. A spokesman said the administration would “always defend American workers, farmers, ranchers and businessmen”. But China and South Korea, whose manufacturers will be most heavily affected, criticised the move. US officials said more trade enforcement actions would follow. Mr Trump has talked about taking the action ever since coming to office. In his inauguration speech a year ago he promised to protect US borders…

Late Stephen Keshi is arguably one of the most successful African coaches ever and his posthumous birthday was not going to go un-celebrated especially by Google. To kick the celebration into swing, Google had a doodle of the former Nigeria coach on its search engine and it easily caught on. “Today we celebrate the life of Nigerian football icon Stephen Keshi. The beautiful game took Keshi all over the world, as a player and coach. Happy Birthday Big Boss. #StephenKeshi #GoogleDoodle,” Google wrote on its ‘Google in Africa’ Twitter account. Shortly after hundreds of tribute poured in for one of…

Manchester City want Aymeric Laporte and are considering meeting Athletic Bilbao’s £60m release clause for the 23-year-old French centre-back. (Sun) Borussia Dortmund are demanding Arsenal’s France striker Olivier Giroud, 31, in part exchange for Gabon forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 28, or they will put the deal off until the summer. (Mirror) Chelsea are considering breaking their policy of not paying transfer fees for outfield players aged over 30, to sign Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko, 31, from Roma. Antonio Conte’s side could complete a double deal for Dzeko and Roma’s Italy left-back Emerson Palmieri, 23, for £44m. (Telegraph) Alternatively, Chelsea could…

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to build more depots across the country as it aims to make petroleum products more readily available. NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru who disclosed this Monday in Abuja while inaugurating the board of one of its downstream Companies, NNPC Retail Limited, said the addition to the corporation’s existing 23 depots nationwide would ease products supply and distribution in the country. Dr. Baru who charged the members of the board to expand the company’s market share from 13 to 30 per cent said building more depots by the corporation was more feasible than…