Month: October 2022

  • 5G: Expanding revenue generation from spectrum

    5G: Expanding revenue generation from spectrum

    Technology 5G

    The Federal Government has unveiled how it will get the balance of the budget N20.51 trillion on a total revenue of N9.73 trillion next year. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is one of the 63 government-owned enterprises (GOE) expected to remit N3.48 trillion to fund the budget. LUCAS AJANAKU reports that the fresh move to offer two slots of spectrum for the deployment of 5G services in the country early next year, in spite of current cash crunch, may provide a new boost to the budget.

    These are not the best of times for Nigeria’s economy. Cash accruable to the Federation Account has continued to shrink, no thanks to leakages, especially oil theft and funding of subsidies on foreign exchange and petrol importation that have taken a huge chunk of revenues to government coffers.

    Already, Finance Minister, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has said the government may borrow more than the current estimate of N10.78 trillion next year.

    She said the total revenue available to fund the budget is estimated at N9.73 trillion. This includes the gross revenues of 63 Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) totalling N3.48 trillion. Of this, Federal Government oil revenue share is projected at N1.92 trillion, non-oil taxes are estimated at N2.43 trillion, and independent revenues are projected to be N2.21 trillion. Other revenues total N762 billion. The GOEs will remit N1.06 trillion to the Federal Government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund, and retain N2.42 trillion for their expenditures and reserves.

    In aggregate, 20 per cent of projected revenues is expected from oil-related sources, while 80 per cent is to be earned from non-oil sources, Mrs Ahmed had explained.

    Faced with this reality and the need for the government to continue to function, the government has worn its thinking cap to look inwards for revenue generation. One of the areas revenue could be generated from the telecom sector is through spectrum sale.

    Spectrum refers to the invisible radio frequencies that wireless signals travel over. Those signals are what enable users to make calls from mobile devices, tag friends on Instagram, call an Uber, pull up directions to a destination, and do everything on the mobile devices.

    The Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) explained further that radio spectrum is used to carry information wirelessly for many vital services. “Demand for this precious natural resource is so great that regulators take great care to ensure it is used as efficiently as possible. Efficient use helps to ensure that the socio-economic benefits that spectrum enables can be maximised,” GSMA added.

    Race for new spectrum sale

    The NCC said it plans to generate over N500 billion as revenue for the Federal Government from the auction of the remaining 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum for the deployment of fifth generation (5G) technology in the country.

    Its Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who disclosed this during an interactive meeting on 2023-2025 MTEF-FSP, organised by the Senate Committee on Finance, said the commission had already initiated the bidding process for auctioning of the spectrums.

    This new bid round will present yet another opportunity for Airtel, Glo and 9mobile to join the 5G race. Airtel had participated in the first auction but was out bid by a relatively unknown operator.

    However, to stand a chance, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile and any other interested telecom firms are expected to pay a mandatory Intention-To-Bid Deposit (IBD) of $27,360,000.00 tentatively by December 5, 2022, which is also the tentative deadline for the submission of applications for the auction.

    telecoms industry, has published the draft information memorandum (IM) on the auction of the remaining 3.5 GHz spectrum.

    The IM defines the process that the Commission will adopt for the licensing of the remaining spectrum.

    It also provided information on the Nigerian communications market, details of the spectrum on offer, the pre-qualification process, the auction process, and indicative timetable.

    Barring any last-minute amendments by the NCC, the auction of the remaining will be held on December 19, 2022, at a yet-to-be-determined venue with a mock auction expected on December 16, 2022.

    According to the IM, the NCC is offering the remaining lots of the 100MHz in the 3.5GHz spectrum band to ensure reliable communications services and innovative digital technologies in the country.

    The Commission is offering the remaining two lots in the band ranging from 3400-3500 MHz and 3600-3700 MHz, totaling 200 MHz for auction.

    Read Also: NCC to issue more 5G licences

    This will be awarded to winning bidders in the 100MHz lot. The auction will be an Ascending Clock Auction. Each lot of 100 MHz TDD represents one eligibility point.

    This means that only two telecom firms stand a chance to succeed in the final outcome of the auction. While 3400-3500 MHz represents Lot A, 3600-3700 MHz represents Lot C and are available for auction.

    The auction closure will occur when the public announcement is made by the auction overseer/manager, revealing the provisional winners to be awarded the licences under the process, at which point each successful bidder will automatically be deemed to have been awarded a provisional licence.

    Dambatta said NCC generated N257 billion in the first quarter of 2022, adding that N195 billion out of the cash has been remitted to government coffers.

    He said from April to August, N318 billion was generated by the NCC, out of which N214 was remitted.

    According to him, the fund realised was occasioned by the auction of two 5G spectrums at the rate of $263 million and $273 million.

    He noted that from 2017 to 2021, NCC also generated N799 billion and remitted N423 billion to the government.

    Lot B (3500-3600 MHz) had been won by MTN and Lot D (3700-3800 MHz) had been won by Mafab in 2021, with the Guard Band of 100 MHz in the range of 3800-3900 MHz.not available for auction.

    NCC had in December 2021 conducted an auction of the first two lots of 100 MHz TDD in the 3.5 GHz band to deepen broadband penetration and support the delivery of ubiquitous broadband services in the country.

    Mafab and MTN scaled through. The reserve price, the minimum price for one lot of the remaining 100 MHz TDD, for 10 year licence tenure, had been fixed at $273,600,000.00 or its equivalent in Naira at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates at the time of the auction.

    However, the fee for the new 5G spectrum licence will be determined at the auction. The opening bid will be an increment higher than the reserve price in the opening round of the auction.

    A successful bidder at the auction will be expected to pay a sum equal to the amount of the winning bid minus the IBD, as well as an operational licence fee, where applicable.

    The balance (winning bid amount less the IBD) of the auction fee shall be paid to the Commission on or before January 20, 2023.

    NCC said it will hold a public consultation in respect of the draft information memorandum on November 15, 2022, in line with its participatory rule-making process for the communications sector.

    If a bidder is disqualified from the process, the Commission reserves the right to impose a penalty. The maximum penalty may result in forfeiture of the full IBD paid and the bidder may be barred from future auctions.

    MTN and Mafab had each completed payment of the $273.6million licence fee required by the NCC.

    Aside the $273.6 million payment, MTN paid additional $15.9 million, being the bidding sum it offered at the assignment state of the spectrum auction, making it clinch its preferred Lot 1 (3500-3600 Megahertz-MHz) in the 3.5Ghz spectrum; while, Mafab Communications, which bided lower at the assignment stage, consequentially settled with Lot 2 (3700-3800Mhz) at no extra cost.

    “I wish to officially announce that NCC has received and confirmed payments from MTN and Mafab for their acquisition of 1 slot of 100Mhz each in the 3.5Ghz spectrum auction, which was successfully conducted by the Commission on December 13, 2021. They both met the deadline of February 24, 2022 as set by the Commission,” Dambatta had said.

    Waiting for Mafab

    MTN Nigeria has since rolled out services in line with the IM while Mafab has secured a five-month extension to roll out from the NCC. The extension is expected to lapse by December.

    On December 13, 2021, when the NCC announced that the MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications were the winners of the bid for the 5G licence, it came as a shock to the industry as Mafab was an unknown player in the sector.

    A group, Transparency Nigeria Group, had petitioned the Federal Government and all relevant security agencies to investigate the business practices of Mafab Communications Limited.

    “Mafab Communications was incorporated in 2020, has no comprehensive tax history, and appears to have been specifically set up by connected insiders for the purpose of acquiring one of the highly valued 5G licences,” the group had alleged in a statement.

    The top bidders were the first auction Airtel Networks Limited, Mafab Communications Limited and MTN Communications Nigeria Limited, with the bidding price starting at $199,374,000. After  11 rounds of auction over a duration of 9 hours, the bid price rose to over $200 million with all 3 companies still active.

    The auction process came to an end when MTN and Mafab posted an exit bid of $273 million, while Airtel posted a final bid of $270 million. Simply put, Airtel offered to pay the least amount among the three companies for the 5G licence, thus falling out of the race.

    Before the auction proper, Airtel, MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications had paid an initial non-refundable 10per cent deposit of $19.75million each, which was statutory and mandatory to qualify them to participate in the bid process.

    The NCC also added to its claims that the auction was free and fair by pointing out that it had earlier awarded Mafab with international data access (IDA), inter-connect data exchange (IDE) and Value-Added Service (VAS) licences. The earliest licence being the IDA issued in October 2020, 4 months after Mafab was incorporated.

    Mafab Communications Limited was registered on July 8, 2020, according to the company’s website and TechCabal’s search on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) site. It claims to provide and operate local Interconnect and International carrier services; there’s no information about clients on its website.

    The company is led by Musbahu Muhammad Bashir, the chairman of the Althani Group, an Abuja-based holdco that oversees a group of companies, including Eman Homes & Estate, Althani Investment Limited, Salam Takaful Insurance, and Mafab Communications

  • NAMA boss urges airlines to report incidents

    NAMA boss urges airlines to report incidents

    domestic carriers

    The Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Mr Matthew Lawrence Pwajok has urged pilots, air traffic controllers, airlines, ground handlers, passengers and other stakeholders in the aviation industry to continue to report aviation incidents to the safety authorities.

     Embarking on such a task, he said, would further enhance the relative safety in the industry and also boost confidence in air travel.

     Pwajok disclosed this as an award recipient at the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN) safety summit and awards which were held in Lagos at the weekend.

     He contended that investing in sensitization of key stakeholders in the area of safety reporting is as important as investing in safety critical equipment and manpower training, stressing that incident reports were a critical and strategic aspect of the aviation safety chain, because “if you don’t report incidents we can’t control them.

     “If we don’t have reports we cannot provide the required risk analysis and mitigations.”

     He commended pilots “for being very faithful in incident reporting, even to the detriment of the airlines, as this could sometimes cause slight flight delays while awaiting a review or investigation of the incident by NCAA before releasing the aircraft back for operations.

     When these incidents are reported by pilots to ATC, they are immediately relayed to NCAA for investigation, and when the reported event or defect is mitigated, the aircraft is released back to service.

    For instance, we had an occurrence at Escravos yesterday that was reported to the control tower by the pilot, and consequently NAMA informed AIB and NCAA, and after the required mitigations were effected, the aircraft was released back to service. It is as prompt as that! These are the kind of 24/7 collaboration, cooperation, and coordination that have largely enhanced safety in the sector.”

     The NAMA boss appreciated stakeholders in the industry for the enhanced safety in the sector which he attributed to the effective synergy amongst stakeholders and strategic efforts by service providers. The NAMA MD opined that the relative safety enjoyed in the sector over the last 10 years was not by chance or luck but as a result of significant investments both in infrastructural deployment and human capital development to enhance safety in the Nigerian airspace, thereby ensuring that major air disasters such as those witnessed between 2005 and 2006 were a thing of the past.

     According to him, “one of the first things the agency did under the Obasanjo government was the implementation of the Safe Tower project  and this began with the automation of the  control tower at Abuja airport in 2007.

    Read Also: FG insists on Air Nigeria with Ethiopian Airline as core investor

     In 2008 we completed that of Lagos and Port Harcourt and subsequently Kano. This project provided the main mitigation to what was considered the primary cause of most of these air disasters.

      The project provided NAMA with automated air traffic management systems, as well as meteorological sensors along the runways and provided ATC with real time weather information from the runways, availing us with wind direction, wind speed, low level wind shear alerting systems, cloud altitudes, cloud densities, cloud direction of movement, air temperature, air pressure, prevailing weather conditions. Thus, basically every element of weather is displayed at the control tower at the four major airports, so pilots are given adequate information on approaching weather, prevailing weather or forecasted weather conditions.”

     “We went further to deploy the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) in 2010. We could now track aircraft over the entire airspace of Nigeria and beyond, unlike before when air traffic controllers had to manually depend on pilot reports to control and ensure safety of flights, separation of aircraft from each other, sequencing them for arrival or for takeoff. The radar system has the capacity to detect conflicts, aircraft crossing each other, with inbuilt ground safety nets such as short-term conflict alert, medium term conflict detection with respect to aircraft crossing at the same level or in close proximity either vertically or laterally, the radar system will alert ATC. The radar system is also equipped with minimum safe altitude warning, thus if you are very low to the terrain it will alert us. The system also has danger area infringement warning to alert aircraft away from restricted, prohibited or danger areas with known or reported activities hazardous to air safety. These are all ground safety nets, about ten of them that are in-built in the radar system to give the air traffic controller adequate information, and to a large extent, that has enhanced safety in our airspace.”

     Pwajok further stated that the drive towards enhancing air safety is attributable to global, regional and national initiatives following the development of the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan, Global Aviation Safety Plan and the Global Aviation Safety Plan in 2012.

     At the regional level, the ministers responsible for civil aviation in African met in Abuja, Nigeria following the ranking of Africa as the continent with the least volume of flight operations, but with the highest fatal accidents rate in the world.

     “Thus on 20th July 2012, we had the ministerial declaration in Abuja: what the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) refers to the Abuja Safety Targets. Ministers responsible for aviation met in Abuja, reviewed the safety level in Africa and agreed that over 60 per cent of the fatal accidents were caused by loss of control in flight controlled flight into terrain and runway incursion, excursion and confusion. In addressing these, the Ministerial Conference and the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) came up with a 16-point agenda out of that declaration: to reduce loss of controlled flight into terrain by 50 per cent reduce runway incursion and excursion by 50 per cent; reduce loss of control in flight by 50 per cent implement state safety programme by Civil Aviation Authorities and also ensure effective implementation of oversight, Pwajok said.”

     He noted that the above strategies were domesticated at national levels, while strategic and concerted efforts were made towards implementation and enhancement of air safety through investment in safety critical infrastructure, training, establishment of safety management system and quality management system, as well as development of safety plans, safety policies, safety objectives, safety key performance indicators, and acceptable level of safety performance.

     He also lauded the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika for facilitating the huge investment in development of air navigation services in line with the aviation roadmap, as well championing recent collaborative efforts by aviation agencies, airlines and other stakeholders in a bid to enhance safety in the nation’s airspace.

  • Business Editors’ infrastructure financing confab for tomorrow

    Business Editors’ infrastructure financing confab for tomorrow

    infrastructure

    The Association of Business Editors in Nigeria (ABEN) is set to hold its 2022 national workshop scheduled for November 2, 2022.

     Billed for the Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos, the workshop will focus on “Infrastructure financing as a pathway to sustainable economic development.”

     The ABEN workshop is being hosted in partnership with Nigeria’s leading corporate organisations, including Dangote Group, Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority, BUA GROUP and Sundry Foods Limited

    Read Also: FEC okays N17.4b for communication infrastructure, others

     The conference will be chaired by Chief Waheed Olagunju, the immediate past Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI). It will also feature presentations from Zenith Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, United Bank for Africa, among others.

    Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Development & Budget, Mr Sam Egube, is expected to give a keynote speech at the event, while Amanze Okere is expected to represent the Director General of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, (ICRC) Dr Michael Ohiani.  

  • Seven fresh deep offshore licences up for sale

    Seven fresh deep offshore licences up for sale

    Offshore

    The Federal Government may have finalised plans to offer for sale seven fresh deep offshore oil blocks later this month. According to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Chief Executive, Gbenga Komolafe, the oil blocks available are at depths of between about 1,200 meters (3,936 feet) and 3,100 metres offshore Lagos.

     According to Komolafe, the oil blocks are located off the city of Lagos, rather than off the coast of the Niger Delta further to the east where most of the country’s oil industry is concentrated. The decision to put up the assets for sale comes months after the NUPRC concluded the disposal of 57 marginal fields after a long and winding process to ramp up the country’s struggling oil production efforts.

     Nigeria’s oil production output fell to an all time low recently, at 900, 000 barrels per day (bpd) in August, but rising to 1.2 million bpd in September. The government blames rampant crude theft on the pipelines that crisscross the Niger Delta for shutting down wells and killing off investment.

    Read Also: NNPC, Shell, others renew offshore agreements

     In recent years, deep-water production led by international companies such as Shell Plc and TotalEnergies SE has accounted for about 35 per cent of oil output but its share has risen this year as onshore operators have struggled. In addition to granting new licenses, the government is encouraging current block-holders to develop more of their offshore acreage.

     Last month, the NUPRC also resumed a separate bidding round for firms interested in commercialising gas that is burned off – or “flared” – by oil producers. Nigeria possesses Africa’s largest proven gas reserves, over 208 trillion cubic feet (TCF), with most of it largely untapped, flared or re-injected into oil wells.

  • Verified Twitter users to pay  monthly for blue badge

    Verified Twitter users to pay $20 monthly for blue badge

    Twitter

    Twitter will soon start charging verified users $19.99 per month for the blue check mark verifying the authenticity of an account, The Verge is reporting.

    The blue “verified” badge on Twitter lets people know that an account of public interest is authentic.

    To qualify, accounts must be “notable, authentic and active.”

    This includes accounts of government officials, people representing prominent brands, news organisations, journalists, activists, celebrities, athletes and others.

     The development comes just days after Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla Inc, completed his takeover of Twitter.

     On Sunday, he tweeted: “The whole verification process is being revamped right now.”

     The whole verification process is being revamped right now  But Musk did not give more details on the process.

    Read Also: Kanye West’s Twitter account suspended

    According to The Verge, a news website, Twitter accounts that already have the verification will have to comply with this new mechanism and pay up for the blue badge.

     It said verified users would have 90 days to subscribe or lose their blue check mark.

     Also, employees working on the project were told on Sunday that they need to meet a deadline of November 7, 2022, to launch the feature or they will be fired.

    The new changes for verified accounts will, reportedly, be introduced under Twitter Blue.

    Twitter Blue, which costs $4.99 monthly, is the micro-blogging platform’s paid monthly subscription which offers users exclusive access to premium features such as the option to edit a tweet, undo a tweet, and read news ad-free.

  • Naira slumps N815/$ at parallel market

    Naira slumps N815/$ at parallel market

    Naira

    The naira has continued its free fall in the parallel market, depreciating to N815 per dollar in Abuja on Monday.

     Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in the Wuse area of Abuja, said the naira was falling rapidly against the greenback amid increased demand by Nigerians.

     This development comes a few days after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that it has redesigned some naira notes and will start circulating them by December 2022.

     The apex bank had explained that it took the decision to reduce excess cash in circulation and check counterfeiting.

     Meanwhile, currency traders in the Victoria Island area of Lagos quoted the naira at N805 to the dollar at the street market.

     The figure represents a depreciation of N63 or 8.5 per cent compared to the N742 it traded two weeks ago.

    Read Also: World Bank links naira crash to rising food, energy prices

     The street traders put the buying price of the dollar yesterday at N785 and the selling price at N805, leaving a N20 profit margin.

     “There is always high demand and no supply. The dollar is just going up every day. Importers are not getting dollars from banks. So, they are coming to us,” a BDC operator said.

     At the official market, the naira depreciated by 0.06 percent against the dollar to close at N444.75 on Friday, according to details on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange — a platform that oversees official FX trading in Nigeria.

     An exchange rate of N447 to the dollar was the highest rate recorded within the day’s trading before it settled at N444.75.

     It sold for as low as N438 to the dollar within the day’s trading. A total of $61.89 million was traded in foreign exchange at the official investors and exporters window (I & E) window, according to TheCable report.

  • Napoli chief blocked Osimhen’s Arsenal move -Italian pundit

    Napoli chief blocked Osimhen’s Arsenal move -Italian pundit

    Victor Osimhen

    Italian football pundit, Umberto Chiariello, has sensationally claimed that Napoli chief Aurelio De Laurentiis turned down a mega offer from Arsenal for his prized jewel Victor Osimhen.

    Osimhen was on the shortlist of strikers being targeted by the Gunners in the summer but their priority signing was Gabriel Jesus and they were able to get the deal over the line without much difficulty.

    Chiariello claims that Arsenal firmed up their interest in the Nigeria international by making a bid of 80 million euro [about N35 billion] around the same fee Napoli paid Lille for his services if performance-related variables are included in the total package.

    Despite being linked with a move to the Premier League, Osimhen stayed back in Italy and he’s enjoying probably his best spell as a Napoli player with eight goals in 10 matches.

    “Luciano Spalletti’s team, in the best of predictions, was given fifth, while I saw it ready to bite the Milanese. It is a team that he re-founded,:” Chiariello was quoted as saying by Area Napoli.

    “Aurelio  De Laurentiis went ahead with his vision: lower salaries, the confirmation of Victor Osimhen after Arsenal ‘s offer of 80 million euro and the bet on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who played in Serie C, Batumi, a championship, the Georgian one, which is like Serie C. Georgia herself, among the national teams, is in Serie C.”

    Osimhen is poised for another superb outing tonight when Napoli face Premier League giants Liverpool in a Champions League clash at Anfield.

  • World Cup out of my mind -Rashford

    World Cup out of my mind -Rashford

    Marcus Rashford

    Marcus Rashford said he has put the 2022 World Cup out of his mind to make sure Manchester United stay in touch with the Premier League’s top four before the break.

    Rashford scored the winner over West Ham United on Sunday — he has now scored in back-to-back games — and put himself in firm contention to make England’s squad for the tournament in Qatar, which begins on Nov. 20.

    But the 25-year-old said he has not focused on the World Cup and is instead concentrating on United’s remaining four games.

    “I’m not thinking about the World Cup at the minute,” Rashford said.

    “I’m concentrating on the next game, we have to try and keep winning games here, we’ve got two more league games before the World Cup, if we win those two games we’ll stay in touch with the top four so that’s what I’m focused on.”

    Rashford’s goals against FC Sheriff and West Ham both came from headers, something head coach Erik ten Hag said the forward has been working on in training.

    “Getting into the areas is one thing, but the technique and the desire and wanting to get your head on the end of it, that’s what I’ve been working on, it’s nice to get a couple of goals out of that,” Rashford added.

    “He just wants me to be in the right areas, scoring goals, pressing high up the pitch, little things I’m trying to keep chipping away at, keep working, even if you’re not having the best of days let’s try and stick to those principles, use that as a base, those fundamentals to round off your performance.”

    Rashford’s 38th-minute winner against West Ham on Sunday was his seventh goal of the campaign, already two more than he managed last season.

  • I will continue to promote golf -Makinde

    I will continue to promote golf -Makinde

    Oyo State governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, has reiterated that he will continue to promote the game of golf in the state.

    Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 7th Seyi Makinde Women Support Pro-Invitational Amateur Golf tournament played at the Ibadan Golf Club on Sunday, Makinde said he has been investing so much in the area of sports, just as he promised to do more.

    He said the tournament would have been the 8th edition this year but due to COVID-19, the tournament could not hold in 2020.

    “For the first time in over 20 years, we hosted an international competition here in Ibadan at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan where Nigeria beat Tanzania 2-0.

    “I am glad that we have been able to sustain this [golf] competition and there are some significant things which I believe have happened regarding this competition.

    “First, I saw that a new generation of golfers is emerging and you can see them, so they are young, agile and they have quite a distance to go, so creating awareness and getting interested to play golf is our priority.

    “So our effort in creating interest for golf especially and for sports generally is yielding positive results. And not just the young ones coming to take part in the competition, it is also the fact that some of them could have been spending their time on other things that are not okay, but I want to assure golfers that in Oyo State we will continue to support the development of sports generally and golf in particular.

    “The competition has gotten to a point where is now attracting others to come in and be a partner and By God’s grace I will be here next year as your Governor so as to woo more sponsors for the tournament,” Makinde said.

    Meanwhile, Captain of IGC, Mr Tunji Oladosu, lauded the governor for his commitment to promoting golf not only in Oyo State but across the South-West.

    He also thanked him for keying into the vision of the convener, Mrs Ronke Adepetu of this tournament, Seyi Makinde Women Support Pro-Invitational Amateur Golf tournament.

    Oladosu lauded Adepetu for promoting her vision of promoting the crusade for women’s empowerment and at the same time helping the United Nations women in achieving their set targets.

    In her remarks, Adepetu thanked the governor for his commitment both to morale and cash in supporting the tournament in the last seven years.

    She commended the IGC for the platform and the participants saying next year’s edition will be more glorious.

    Meanwhile, a member of the Ekiti Golf Club, Adeyinka G claimed the winner of the tournament with 171 Gross over the two days.

    Mary Onyejose, a member of Tiger Golf Club is the runner-up winner with 189 Gross while Sade Ajala won the Best Net with 154.

  • Pogba doubtful for World Cup

    Pogba doubtful for World Cup

    Antoine Griezmann with Paul Pogba in France colour

    France and Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba is facing a race against time to be fit for the World Cup after picking up a fresh injury.

    Pogba has suffered a setback in his recovery from knee surgery, GOAL understands.

    The midfielder has sustained a muscular injury to his right thigh and will be out for at least 15 days.

    Pogba’s injury means he will not play for Juventus again in 2022 and is facing a battle to be fit in time to make the France squad for the World Cup.

    The 2022 World Cup in Qatar kicks off in less than three weeks and doubts over whether Pogba will be fit and ready to take his place in Didier Deschamps’s squad are growing dramatically.

    The midfielder has not played competitively this season after undergoing surgery in September on a knee injury sustained in pre-season.

    Pogba’s injury is another blow for Deschamps ahead of the tournament. The France boss is already without Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante who has been ruled for four months after undergoing surgery on an injured hamstring.

    Pogba now faces a race against time to prove his fitness. Deschamps is due to announce his France squad for the World Cup on November 9 as the Les Bleus’ opening game is scheduled for November 22 against Australia.