Author: Chronicle Editor

On Monday, President Muhammadu Buhari in a phone conversation congratulated the President-elect of Gambia, Mr. Adama Barrrow on his electoral victory. Before his departure for the International Forum on Peace and Security in Dakar, Senegal, President Buhari expressed his glee at the conduct of the contestants before, during and after the elections. He further urged Mr. Barrow to ensure that the transition process is also as smooth as the electoral process and carry everyone along in his task of taking the Gambia to a new level. The President also expressed his admiration at the existing rapport between the President-elect and…

Nigeria said on Monday that aid agencies, including the United Nations, were exaggerating the levels of hunger and mass starvation in the strife-torn northeast to get more funding from international donors. In the last few months, Boko Haram insurgents, who have killed 15,000 people and displaced two million since 2009, have been driven back from an area the size of Belgium, revealing thousands of people that aid agencies say are near starvation. President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman, Garba Shehu said “hyperbolic claims” were being made by, among others, UN agencies about the region, where the United Nations says some 75,000 children…

Arsenal’s Chile forward Alexis Sanchez, 27, and Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil, 28, want new contracts that match 23-year-old Manchester United and France midfielder Paul Pogba’s £290,000 a week, but the Gunners will not break the £200,000 mark. (Evening Standard) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has spoken to Sanchez about a move to Etihad Stadium. (El Mercurio, via Metro) City will consider selling England goalkeeper Joe Hart, 29, for a cut-price £10m deal at the end of the season, but not to a Premier League rival. (Sun) Juventus are set to beat Arsenal and Chelsea to the signing of Lyon’s 22-year-old…

Brazilian club Chapecoense have been awarded the Copa Sudamericana by South American football confederation Conmebol after most of their team died in a plane crash en route to the final. Seventy-one people, including 19 players and staff, were killed in last Monday’s crash on the way to Colombia for the first leg. Colombian opponents Atletico Nacional, who asked for Chapecoense to be awarded the trophy, have been given a Fair Play award to acknowledge their “spirit of peace, understanding and fair play”. Chapecoense will be given the $2m (£1.57m) in prize money while Atletico Nacional will receive $1m (£787,000). Chapecoense…

Waidi “Skoro” Usman, national and West African featherweight champion, has vowed to send Dare “Fighting Machine,” former national champion, on retirement when they clash at GOtv Boxing Night 10 at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos, on December 26. Fighting Machine is meeting Skoro again after the later dethroned him as national champion at GOtv Boxing Night 2. “I have defeated him before when we fought for the national title and I will do so again. He is not in my class. I am sure he watched me destroy David “Lucky Boy” Ekpeyong at Gotv Boxing Night…

On Monday, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode announced an increment to the death insurance benefit for police officers who die in active service to the State to N10 million, stating that his administration would continue working tirelessly to ensure the safety of all citizens in the State. Governor Ambode, who spoke at Lagos House in Ikeja, after he was presented with two awards recently won in South Africa by the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the State Police Command, stressed security and safety of the people remains one of the focal objectives of his administration, and that Government…

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka on Monday disclosed that he never applied for an American Green Card and that it was former United States President, Jimmy Carter who got it for him. Soyinka, at a press conference at the Freedom Park, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria also took a swipe at Nigerians who criticised him and wanted to know if he would abide by his comment to dump his green card if Donald Trump should win. An unhappy Soyinka said his decision to dump the green card if Trump should win was personal and was no business of any Nigerian, decrying that…

Nigeria and four countries in West Africa have decided to stop importing “dirty fuels” from Europe, the UN Environment Programme says. A recent report revealed that European companies were exploiting weak regulations in West Africa to export fuels with high levels of sulphur. Nigeria along with Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire agreed on the import ban. The UN says the move will help more than 250 million people breathe safer and cleaner air. The sulphur particles emitted by a diesel engine are considered to be a major contributor to air pollution and are ranked by the World Health Organization…

The Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) has urged the Federal Government to deepen efforts toward advancing application of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the country to address recession. Ayodeji Abitogun, the Chairman of NCS Abuja chapter, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of in on Monday in Abuja. According to him, the nation needs to key into better self-effort solutions to solve the problem of economic recession at the moment. “To solve that problem; ICT has a role to play. ICT is about accountability, transparency, efficiency, blockage of leakages. “When you automate your process everything becomes clear;…

The national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun has defended the borrowing plans of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration saying borrowing is inevitable in view of the current economic realities in the country. Odigie-Oyegun said Nigeria must borrow to invest in infrastructure and grow the economy The APC National Chairman spoke on Sunday night after receiving a lifetime achievement award presented to him by the Warri Choral Society during a classical music concert the Society held in his honour at the Muson Center in Lagos. Odigie-Oyegun assured that the borrowings will not be used to pay…