Author: David Great

Barcelona will make a final attempt to sign Sevilla and France defender Jules Kounde, despite acknowledging they are unable to match Chelsea’s £55m bid for the 23-year-old. (Sport – in Spanish) Barca will turn to Manchester City and Spain centre-back Aymeric Laporte, 28, if they fail to sign Kounde. (Fichajes – in Spanish) Manchester United and Chelsea are competing to sign Bayern Munich and France defender Benjamin Pavard, 26. (L’Equipe, via Sun) Manchester City have had a £30m offer for Spain left-back Marc Cucurella rejected by Brighton, who value the 23-year-old at £50m. (Athletic – subscription required) City have been offered Benfica’s Spanish full-back Alejandro Grimaldo, 26, as an alternative option to Cucurella. (i Sport) Leeds United have…

Sadio Mane was named African Footballer of the Year on Thursday after Senegal claimed their first Africa Cup of Nations title and qualified for the World Cup. Mane finished ahead of Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah, his former Liverpool team mate, and fellow Senegalese Edouard Mendy in the voting. It was the second time the 30-year-old Mane, who last month joined German champions Bayern Munich, has won the award. He was the last winner of the award in 2019. The Confederation of African Football did not hold it over of the last two years and has now changed to recognising accomplishments…

Nigerian airlines have increased airfare Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) suspended Dana Airline indefinitely on Wednesday night. Chronicle NG reports that before the ban on Dana Air, ticket prices were between N50,000 and N65,000 but since the announcement ticket prices have gone as high as N80,000. Checks by our correspondent revealed that flights from Lagos to Abuja and vice versa cost between N70,000 to N80,000 for those seeking to travel within the next three or four days. For flights lower than N70,000, the timing of the flights are all at night, starting from after 8pm. A ticketing agent told Chronicle…

Kano State government has restricted the movement of commercial tricycle operators, called Keke NAPEP, after 10:00 p.m with effective from Thursday, July 21. This was contained in a statement issued by Nabilusi Abubakar, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Kano Road and Traffic Agency (KAROTA), on behalf of the Managing Director of the agency, Hon. Baffa Babba-Dan’agundi in Kano on Thursday. According to the statement, Babba-Dan’agundi, said that arrangements had been made for alternative means of transportation during the affected hours for those on special duties and other travellers. The MD, however, warned tricycle operators on strict compliance with the…

Google on Thursday highlighted  the top trending  personalities, music, movies, high profile deaths as well as sports that trended in the first half of 2022. Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Communications and Public Relations Manager, Google West Africa,  said in a statement that the first half of 2020 had been eventful with high profile deaths, politics, personalities among others. Kola-Ogunlade said that such trends and search were as a results of happenings and events of interest that caught people’s attention. He said the top three trending people in Nigeria in the first half of the year were Peter Obi, President Vladimir Putin and Bianca Ojukwu. The…

By Vincent Akindele There is a Yoruba saying, Oruko omo ni ma nro omo, which can be translated to mean that the name one bears have a lot to do with what one becomes in life. This posits largely that names have the potency of bringing fortunes or misfortunes. Quite a number of circumstances or situations influence the decisions of parents on the names they give to their children. Instructively, christening is done with ecstatic fanfare. Some edible items are symbolically used to offer prayers at the occasion. A few of these items are sugar cane, honey, and fruits. As…

China’s search engine giant Baidu Inc on Thursday unveiled its new autonomous vehicle (AV) with a detachable steering wheel, with plans to put it to use for its robotaxi service in China next year. Cost per unit will drop to 250,000 yuan ($37,031.55) for the new model, compared with 480,000 yuan for the previous generation, Baidu said in a statement. “This massive cost reduction will enable us to deploy tens of thousands of AVs across China,” Baidu’s chief executive Robin Li said at the Baidu World conference. “We are moving towards a future where taking a robotaxi will be half…

Super Falcons are in dispute with Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ahead of their third-place play-off at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON). None of the Super Falcons players has received their allocated allowances or bonus of over $10,000 for the wins over Botswana, Burundi and Cameroon. The players boycotted training on Wednesday evening, prompting the NFF to act swiftly in order to prevent another strike before the match against Zambia on Friday. “The players have refused to leave their hotel in Casablanca over unpaid bonuses,” a top NFF official told BBC Sport Africa. “There is also an issue over…

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Dr Abubakar Kana, says the Federal Government has mapped up strategies and modalities to build a world-class military hospital to cater for the military personnel, veterans and their families. Kana, in a statement on Wednesday said that part of steps taken to achieve the plans was the move to reform the military health services in Nigeria. He said the ministry had also put together a workshop for all stakeholders to discuss the roadmap toward achieving the anticipated reformation. According to him, the workshop which is billed to hold in Abuja on Thursday, will be…

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) says it did not sell its office in Ikoyi part of Lagos State. The agency dismissed an anonymous write up going round on WhatsApp platforms that a certain former NDLEA chairman, sold off its headquarters office buildings in Ikoyi. The Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi said this in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja. Babafemi described the write up as a total distortion of facts as it stated that the NDLEA left its officers and men stranded. According to him, the agency wishes to state that buildings referred to in the…