List of Highest Paid Football Coaches in the World 2021

1. Pep Guardiola – €24 Million

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach is comfortably the best paid coach in the world currently. He tops this lost as the highest earning coach due to his contract with his new club, Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola is understood to take home a whopping €24 million every year as salary plus other bonuses after it was improved following his success in winning domestic titles with Manchester City in England.

Guardiola is a Catalan from Barcelona in Spain. He has played and coached FC Barcelona, where he trained the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi, Puyol, Iniesta, Eto, Henry, Pedro, Robben, Ribery, etc. He is one of the most experienced tactical football managers who believes in possession football also known as TikiTaka.

2. José Mourinho – £15 Million

José Mourinho was the former coach of Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United. He was sacked recently by Manchester United due to a run of poor result by his players and the negativity perceived in the dressing room with high profile players like Paul Pogba.

Currently, Mourinho was employed by Daniel Levy as Tottenham Hotspur Manager which will see him earn £15 million in a year and £288,462 a month.

José Mourinho seats comfortably in second position as the second best paid coach in the world as he earns slightly lower than Pep Guardiola. José Mourinho takes home £15 million every year.

3. Diego Simeone – £13 Million

He is the current coach at Athletico Madrid. He recently signed a contract that will see him stay at the club till 2022. He is also the highest paid at Athletico Madrid as his salary is higher than that of other premier league and La Liga managers.

Reports according to Marca suggests that Diego Simeome was once the highest paid football coach this 2021 with an estimated yearly salary at £13 million and monthly salary of £250,000.

4. Rafael Benitez – £11.5 Million

Former Liverpool and Newcastle boss, Rafael Benitez is also on the list and you shouldn’t be surprised as his current club Dalian Yifang has the financial might to pay him a whopping £11.5 million a year and £221,154 per week.

5. Fabio Cannavaro – £10 Million

Just like Benitez, Fabio Cannavaro is also a football coach in the Chinese League. His club Guangzhou Evergrande pays him £192, 308 per week and £10 million per year. The former Real Madrid player earns higher than coaches in Barcelona, PSG, Juventus and even Liverpool FC.

6. Zinedine Zidane – £10 Million

Known as ‘Zizou’ by his fans, Zinedine Zidane has shot to the limelight by famously guiding Real Madrid, a club he once played for to the Champions League triumph and an eleventh European Cup crown in 2016.

Although, he left Real Madrid, the world cup winner is now back after Santiago Solari was fired. The Real Madrid boss is also among the highest paid coach in the world and he would reportedly takes home £10 million every year for three years.

7. Carlo Ancelotti – £11. 5 Million

Carlo Ancelotti, a former coach at Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid is seventh on this list of current best paid football managers in the world. The former Napoli Coach reportedly takes home £11.5 millionevery year as salary. It is reported that he will sign with Everton FC for a fee of £11 million per year

Ancelotti has maximum experience especially when it comes to the Champions League, winning this trophy at various clubs he had coached. No wonder he can speak five languages fluently. He was recently appointed as Everton football club manager.

8. Antonio Conte – £9 Million

Antonio Conte was sacked by Chelsea but currently coaches Inter Milan. During his time at Chelsea football club, he quickly settled into life in the Premier League by leading his Chelsea team to the summit of the English top flight standings. Conte was Coach at Juventus where he led them to three successive Serie A titles. He also managed the Italian national team and guided them to the Quarter finals at Euro 2016.

Antonio Conte earns £9 million per annum at Inter Milan Football Club and a weekly wage of £173, 077.

9. Maurizio Sarri – £8 Million

Sarri was rumored to earn around €6M-a-year while at Chelsea FC following the sack of Antonio Conte when he signed a three-year contract. Frank Lampard has since taken over.

Having managed Napoli FC, he is known for his unique style of play and tactics. There is also an option to extend Sarri’s contract by a further two-years if he succeeds at Stamford Bridge. He has since left the club to Juventus where he is rumored to earn £8 million plus other bonuses.

10. Jurgen Klopp – €18 Million

Jurgen Klopp was the former coach of Borussia Dortmund. He is currently the coach of Liverpool football club and he is known for a brand of swashbuckling attacking football. At Liverpool currently, Jurgen Klopp earns €18 million every year as his salary after signing a new lucrative contract deal to keep him at Liverpool FC till 2024.

His club Liverpool are currently in top form after winning the Champions League and are among the four clubs that are in contention to win the English Premier League (EPL). He is also among the managers that earn high salary in the EPL this year.

Nigeria's foreign debt at $10.32 bln by end-June says govt agency

Nigeria's foreign debt stood at $10.32 billion in the first six months of the year, up 10 percent from $9.38 billion in the same period of last year, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Monday.

Offshore debt in naira terms showed a 39.1 percent rise to 2.03 trillion naira, due to a weaker currency which lost 20.9 percent during the period, the government agency said.

The DMO said domestic debt stood at 8.39 trillion naira ($43 billion) by end-June against 7.42 trillion naira a year earlier. (Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha and Oludare Mayowa; Editing by James Macharia)

Buhari’s Frugality And Owambe Politicians

President Mohammedu Buhari

By normative Keynesian econometrics, Malthusian fiscal standards, Adam Smith’s budgetary prognosis and Jankara Market demand and supply economics, it is clear that financial prudence and perspicuous management of resources remains the better part of developmental valor.
That Nigeria’s economy is currently steeple-chasing and wallowing in the murderous oubliette of suicidal doldrums remains an unquestionable truism. This was precipitated by many years of leadership inertia, psychotic malfeasance, oil glut, cataclysmic corruption and humongous planlessness etc.
In this dire strait dungeon the Nigerian economy has been crying for an authentic Moses, a quintessential Satyagraha and somebody with a messianic zeitgeist to salvage it from these paroxysms and pangs of a rabid placebo. IS BUHARI THE ONE? TIME WILL TELL.
Recently, Buhari and his Deputy Professor Osinbajo took some deft and prudential financial steps that are quiet fundamental exemplary and sacrificial for the benefit of the CHANGE mantra, dividends of democracy and good and ethical growth of leadership and financial welfare of Nigerians.
In furtherance and consistent with their campaign promises of reducing the cost of governance for the delivery of democracy dividends to Nigerians, President Buhari and his deputy, Professor Osinbajo reduced their salaries by 500/0.
Without slips of prolixity, this implies that Buhari and Osinbajo will earn half of what former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and former Vice President Namadi Sambo earned. The current annual remuneration of the president of Nigeria as published by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is ¦ 14,058,820:00. This indeed means that Buhari will henceforth earn ¦ 7,029,410 a year or ¦ 28,117,640 in four years.
To make assurance doubly sure and to avoid splendiferous histrionics, Buhari and Osinbajo have formally written to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to inform it of the new development. The letter detailing the presidential directive is with reference number PRES/81/SGF/17.
After this patriotic slashing of his salary by 500/0, President Buhari had earlier rejected a proposal from the Aso Rock hierarchical echelon to approve the purchase of five customized armored Mercedes Benz S-600(V222) cars at a cost of ¦ 400 million. These commendable exemplary moves are already rubbing-off on some of our Governors like Senator (Dr) Okowa of Delta State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and Dave Umalu of Ebonyi State. We hope that the remaining Laodicean Governors and our revered Legislators will follow suit to help alleviate the hideous intensity of impecuniosity and sordid poverty into which former President Jonathan and his Kleptomaniac Junta plunged Nigeria.
We hope these are not mere Barmecidal-dish theatricals-the early morning pomade in the harmatan that cannot stand the rigorous test of the harsh weather. The legal icon Lord Denning said that “A contemptuous contemptible contempt must be contemptuously ignored”. But the vast majority of Nigerians will not ignore these great moves. They are sign post of greater (we hope) things to come.
It must be noted that before slashing his salary by 500/0, President Buhari had directed the release of ¦ 414 billion as bailout funds to States (recalcitrant debtors) to pay the backlog of salaries they owed their civil servants etc. Nobody gives banana to a monkey, fish to a cat and goat to a lion and collects it back with ease. We admonish the Governors and their political surrogates not to squander, misappropriate and misapply the bailout funds in reckless conviviality, meaningless revelry, social rascality and debaucherous OWAMBEISM.
Finally, talking about the tenacity of power and the ambrosial nature of ambition, the English playwright William Shakespeare observed in his masterpiece ‘Julius Caesar’ that,”When Caesar was good, we loved him, but when he became ambitious we slew him. That same dagger we have for ourselves when it shall please the down trodden to call for our blood when we err in leadership” (not verbatim). BUHARI GOODLUCK! YOU CANNOT HURRY THE SUNRISE, BUT INCREASE THE TEMPO OF DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA AND KEEP THE FLAG OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY, ALTRUISM AND TRANSPARENCY FLYING. The world is watching.

Ambode’s N39bn loan condemned

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has berated Governor Akinwunmi Ambode for “hastily” obtaining a N39.4bn loan from the World Bank.

In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Taofik Gani, on Sunday, the Lagos PDP advised the governor to rescind the decision to borrow pending the book check on all previously obtained loans in the state, especially by the last administration of ex-Governor BabatundeFashola.

The PDP also described Ambode “as weak to fight corruption and block leakages” in the state.

“The party’s positions are on the heels of the reports of another World Bank loan and the recent announcement by the governor to scrap the state’s finance and administration department while renaming its administration and human resources department,” the statement said in part.

The PDP noted that “the history of loans in the state is very embarrassing and has plunged the state into local and foreign debts running into a trillion naira.”

“Why indeed will a state still run after a World Bank loan when such state realises an average of N27bn as monthly internally generated revenue? Governor Ambode should have a rethink and be prudent,” it said.

The party also demanded for a detailed and public defence of the loan.

It said, “Again we reiterate that this administration will not be different from the two previous administrations in the areas of amassing unwarranted loans and fighting corruption in the state. Governor Ambode does not have the will and cannot exert his authority to fight corruption in this state; otherwise all a governor should do in Lagos State is to block the leakages and the monthly IGR now standing at N27bn will definitely shove up.

“But alas, this governor is jittery to fight corruption and block the financial leakages because the state’s tax consultant firm, Alpha Beta, is believed to be the company of the governor’s godfather. Until the services and activities of the firm in the state are probed, Lagosians will continue to bear huge figures of loans in spite of huge IGR.”

Obama Was Disappointed by the Lack of Preparedness of Buhari,Entourage During US Visit

Examiner.com is claiming that the White House was disappointed by the total lack of preparation by the Nigerian contingent during President Muhammadu Buhari's visit to the United States.

 

A white house insider who spoke anonymously said, ''May be we are not reading from the same script, but the overall message by Barack is that they should go get themselves together, then get back with us''.

''We are just being polite about this because your President doesn’t seem to understand a whole lot about government,” confided another source. The White House was disappointed that Buhari’s contingent had no presentation about working with the United States to salvage their crumbly economy.

Also, another blunder was made when President’s Buhari, in defense of his cabinet-selection delays, published an op-ed in Washington Post, wrongly accusing President Obama of equally delaying his cabinet selection in the initial stage of taking office. 

''I don’t know where he got that information,. I am still trying to come in terms with the rationale of the above statement in the said article other than the fact that President Buhari has gone to press to lie against his host in a bid to justify his dictatorial rule over Nigeria'', said Oshiokpekhai Utu-Orbih, a Nigerian attorney and writer based in the United States.

Gbajabiamila Loses, As Doguwa, Iriase Accept House Nominations

 Former House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila

•Loyalists Group rejects proposal       
•Plot to arrest Saraki, Ekweremadu alleged

By Damilola Oyedele and Senator Iroegbu in Abuja

After an alleged close understanding between members of the Consolidation Group and Loyalists Group, the two warring sides in the House of Representatives, it emerged at the weekend that former House Minority Leader, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, may no longer be Majority Leader as proposed by the leadership of the ruling party. This is because three close allies of Gbajabiamila and key members of the Loyalists Group, which is aligned with the ruling All Progressives Congress, have accepted House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s script for the distribution of principal offices.

Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa, Hon. Pally Iriase, and Hon. Mohammed Monguno said they had to bend over backward to aid the smooth take-off of the legislative functions of the lower chamber in the overall interest of the country. They joined the spokesperson for Dogara’s supporters in the Consolidation Group, Hon. Jibrin Abdulmumin, to address a press conference in Abuja on Saturday, where they supported the speaker’s nominations of Doguwa from the North-west and Iriase from the South-south as House Leader and Chief Whip, respectively. It was an event that tended to mark the end of the House of Representatives’ leg of a National Assembly crisis that had forced the two chambers to shift their resumption from July 21 to July 28.

But a member of the Loyalists Group, Hon. Nasiru Zangon-Daura, swiftly denied any understanding with the Consolidation Group, saying members of his group declaring support for Dogara’s proposal are acting on their own.

“The APC Loyalists Group hereby deny and unequivocally reject any purported endorsement of a so-called formula on the APC leadership in the House of Representatives. Any member of our group who claims to be part of this arrangement acts on his own and not on behalf of the group,” Zangon-Daura said in a brief statement.

The National Assembly has been enmeshed in crisis since June 9, when Senator Bukola Saraki and Dogara emerged Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, against the choices of their party, APC. The ruling party had chosen Senator Ahmed Lawan for the post of Senate President and Gbajabiamila for House Speaker. Following the election of Saraki and Dogara, APC offered a compromise position in which it proposed names for the remaining principal posts.

APC national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, in a letter to the Speaker on June 23 detailed the party’s zoning arrangement for the principal offices in the House, thus, Gbajabiamila (House Leader), South-west; Doguwa (Deputy House Leader), North-west; Monguno (Chief Whip), North-east; and Iriase(Deputy Chief Whip), South-south. Odigie-Oyegun had also written a similar letter to Saraki and it was completely flouted.

However, in a response on July 16 to the APC chairman’s suggestions, Dogara maintained that the principle of geopolitical balance dictated that the positions of House Leader, Chief Whip, Deputy Leader, and Deputy Chief Whip should go to the North-west, South-south, North-central, and South-east, respectively, which had not gotten any principal positions in the lower chamber. The Speaker, thus, proposed Doguwa as House Leader, Iriase as Chief Whip, Hon. Buba Jibrin from the North-central as Deputy Leader, and Hon. Chike Okafor from the South-east as Deputy Chief Whip. Dogara faulted the proposal of the APC leadership on the grounds that persons from the North-east and South-west had already occupied principal positions in the House.

At the press conference, Abdulmumin stated, “Mr Speaker’s argument has always been since the North-east and South-west have produced the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the remaining principal positions should go to the North-west, North-central, South-south and South-east in the spirit of equity, fairness, justice, a strong precedence and provision of the constitution. In the interest of peace, unity and harmony in the House, Speaker Dogara reached out extensively to individuals and groups and committed lot of energy and time toward finding an amicable solution to the nagging issue.”

Abdulmumin said, “Intense consultations carried out by Speaker Dogara is what eventually led to the birth of the Dogara formula that saw the emergence of what is now known as the Equity Team. In line with the formula, the Equity Team has Hon. Alhassan Ado Doguwa (APC Kano, North-west) as House Leader, Hon Buba Jibrin (APC Kogi, North-central) as Deputy Leader, Hon Pally Iriase (APC Edo, South-south) as Chief Whip, and Hon. Chika Okafor (APC Imo, South-east) as Deputy Chief Whip.

“Interestingly, both the Speaker and a great majority of the APC caucus in the House, including gladiators in the Gbajabiamila’s group like Hon Monguno, Hon Doguwa, and Hon Pally, support and stand by the Equity Team. We have commenced collection of signatures which has reached advanced stage to affirm the Dogara formula. All other interests, including those excluded from the principal offices, specifically Hon. Gbajabiamila and Hon Monguno, will be duly accommodated with commensurate responsibility to serve. Since the Speaker has about 200 positions to share out, many members will have the opportunity to serve the country.”

Iriase, in his address, said Dogara’s proposal ensured inclusiveness and equity in the distribution of the principal positions.

“Mr. Speaker is mandated to ensure that Section 14 (3), which deals with Federal Character, is abided by in the composition of that arm of government. I would urge those who are not very conversant with this matter to look at Section 13, which mandates the heads of the three arms of government to ensure preservation and adherence to the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state affairs in Nigeria,” Iriase said.

Arguing that they accepted the speaker’s suggestions to prevent the discontent in the House from festering, Iriase said, “We urge all those who may have wished that this crisis ought to be resolved in a different way to think Nigeria first, and embrace peace for the sake of having a respectable and enduring institution of the legislature in Nigeria.

“The three of us from the Loyalists Group, who have been noted as being key members, have stepped forward on behalf of our teeming majority to accept the position as indicated in the Speaker's letter. We remain very committed members of that group; we feel this is a fair arrangement to resolve the crisis.” 

In his own contribution, Monguno said, “The reasoning behind the party nominating us to serve in the various principal positions of the House is to take care of the interest of the Loyalists Group. But right now, Hon. Doguwa and Hon. Pally Iriase are still members of the Loyalists Group, and I think they are capable and well positioned to take care of the interest of the Loyalists Group in the affairs of the House, as enunciated by the party. Also in the interest of fairness, to reflect the diversity of Nigeria, to take care of the various geopolitical zones, I decided to follow suit on the Dogara formula.”

In a related development, members of the Lawan group in the Senate, which opposed the election of Saraki as Senate President and Ike Ekweremadu from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party as Deputy Senate President, are alleged to be plotting to sponsor the removal of the two principal officers of the upper chamber.

THISDAY learnt from sources close to the Saraki and Lawan groups that the plot involved a two-pronged plan, to get Saraki and Ekweremadu arrested, or get Saraki harassed to the point of submission to the impeachment of Ekweremadu on the floor of the Senate to pave the way for the election of a deputy senate president who would be a check on Saraki.

In the first plan, the anti-Saraki group is alleged to be scheming to revive an old case against Saraki at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which had been investigated under the former President Goodluck Jonathan government, and use it as a basis for the arrest and trial of the senate president. It is alleged that the report of the police investigation on the alleged forgery of the 2015 Standing Rule of the Senate is being planned as the basis for the prosecution of Ekweremadu.

“Even if nothing comes out of the trials, the two men would have been sufficiently embarrassed to such extent that it will be easy to get their fellow senators to dump them or they can encourage others to get interested in their positions,” a source said.

However, when contacted for comments on the allegations, the Nigerian Police, which is investigating the alleged falsification of the senate rules by Ekweremadu, denied any move to arrest the principal officers of the upper chamber. Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Emmanuel Ojukwu, said, “It is not true,” stressing that he is “not aware of such directive” to arrest and prosecute Saraki and Ekweremadu.

What Is Missing in Lagos Is Good Leadership - - Jimi Agbaje

Mr. Joseph Olujimi Kolawole Agbaje, was the governorship candidate of the Democratic People's Alliance (DPA) in the 2007 governorship contest in Lagos State. He has pitched political tent with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2015 general elections. In this interview, he explains why he believes Lagos State for over 16 years has not done well. Excerpts

What could you do to improve on the achievements of the present administration in Lagos State?

For Lagosians, they would look at it that the party in government for over 16 years has done very well. When you compare it to many states in the country you could say yes there has been a measure of performance. But then the way you move forward is to benchmark yourself, not with those things because in the first place Lagos is not at the same level with other states.

Lagos State has been said to be the 5th largest economy in Africa, what is your view of its growth so far?

Yes they say Lagos is the 5th largest economy in Africa, that is not exactly correct. It may be the 5th largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. If you look at it, it is probably the 13th largest economy in Africa. When you look at the economy of Lagos, you begin to see Lagos as a nation in itself.

The 1st thing is to begin to have a long term vision for Lagos. We should not be looking at Lagos for four years, we should be looking at 15 years and say where do we want Lagos in 2030. Whoever that is coming to office must have a vision to sell to the people and they will know where you are going with regards to Lagos. It is against this background that you ask "what do I want to see in Lagos?"

Some people have decried multiple taxation in the state, how do you intend solving this issue without it really affecting the economy of the Lagos?

What we will do is to balance it by reducing the pressure and employ more hands, this will as well increase the state's tax net.

It will bring less burden on Lagosians who are weighed down with multiple tax. These are some of the things that you begin to joggle so that you can have more people employed.

There seem to be too many people in Lagos State, what plan do you have in terms of housing?

We will begin to look at residential housing because 90 per cent Lagosians are in the middle class. Every middle class wants to have his or her own home. To address that different things come to play. You will need land and fund. In leavabilty index, in terms of acquiring property in Nigeria, Lagos is number 36 out of 36. The most difficult place to acquire property in this country is Lagos State. Now the question is if you want people in Lagos and they cannot acquire property for themselves, are you really working towards having them in Lagos? Are you not driving them away to other places? People always move to where there is a good residential scheme. We have our neighbouring state, Ogun, by the time they put their heads together Lagos would be a loser. And once the rail system starts working, most people won't stay in Lagos again and it begins to loose tax.

Before now, some politicians have given the electorates hope but once they get the power they make the people hopeless, what would you say about that?

Lots of the problem we have in this country is about leadership. Not so much that the plans are not there on paper for the leaders to follow, it is that the leadership is wrong. Leadership is about vested interest. And so you find out that a lot of things that should be done in the interest of Lagosians are only done when it benefits those that have vested interest. For example, the light rail system for example that has been on, we have no idea when it will finish. It is because of the way it was structured. Officially the blue line which is being done is a Lagos State project. There are interests that are affecting the quick completion of that project. Also, like the BRT system that started well but is collapsed, it is because of vested interest. The BRT today is not different from our molues and they breakdown often. Good leadership is what is missing because of vested interest. In other words, it is in PDP that nobody tells the governor how to govern a state.

Nigeria: Divided Nation, Breakup Inevitable By Bayo Oluwasanmi

The possible breakup of Nigeria brings on the bone-shaking shivers doctors call rigors. Many writers have detailed how Nigeria is bursting at the seams with ethno-religious, political and economic problems waiting to explode. However, the apostles of one Nigeria have repeatedly denied or dismissed the notion and tried to nudge us out of that zone.

The possible breakup of Nigeria brings on the bone-shaking shivers doctors call rigors. Many writers have detailed how Nigeria is bursting at the seams with ethno-religious, political and economic problems waiting to explode. However, the apostles of one Nigeria have repeatedly denied or dismissed the notion and tried to nudge us out of that zone.

Lagos Streets in June during the rainy season

By definition, a failed state is one that has simply ceased to function. Going by this definition, Nigeria is a failed state. Nigeria is a divided nation. Nigeria is a collapsed state and her breakup is imminent. The signs are all over the place.

The historic rivalries between east and west, south and north, oil states and non-oil states, Christian and Muslim communities, democrats and autocrats, and soldiers and citizens that have bedeviled Nigeria since its founding are pulling us apart to the extreme. We’re closer to the breaking point.

The elements of traditional prejudice of the three major tribes – Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba – continue to ignite enmity, distrust, and hatred. The three tribes have remained incontestably hostile – forever. Today, there is more animosity than there is collegiality. The three tribes are full of expression of self-hate, suspicion, and intolerant of each other.

Our history proves that ethnic unity is more of a dusty artifact of ancient political arrangement than the outcome of genuine political incorporation or enhanced cohesion among the different ethnic groups. The fragile state of affairs has been held together by tsunami of lies and misrepresentations in whose wake the country is reeling perpetually.

Successive governments were dominated by evil and murderous perpetrators of crimes. Ethnic fragmentation and persistent hotbeds of political criminality were encouraged and sponsored by the rulers. As a result, we were submerged in ethnic hatred, and rabid nationalism that swept throughout the nation like a disease. The absence of a true democracy to ensure devolution of the federal power is a powerful incentive against unity and cooperation.

Nigeria is convulsed by internal violence. It can no longer deliver positive political goods to her citizens. The government is fast loosing legitimacy. The government has become illegitimate in the eyes and hearts of a growing plurality of 170 million Nigerians.

Nigeria sinks deeper and deeper into chaos and calamity. The north-south divide remains the greatest obstacle to a strengthened democracy and a workable union. We’re battling economic confusion, continued corruption, and mismanagement.

The scale of corruption dwarfs any brazen robbery of public treasury in recent memory. Our world has been turned into a medieval hellscape. Corruption flourishes on unusually destructive scale. Our corrupt ruling elites mostly invest their loots overseas, not at home, making the economic failure of the country much more acute.

Our rulers siphon funds from the state coffers. They dip directly into the coffers of the shrinking state to pay for lavish residences and palaces, extensive overseas travel, and privileges and perquisites that feed their greed.  Nigeria has failed to grow economically and its citizens have failed to flourish. For many years, Nigerians have been trapped in irreversible debilitating cycle of poverty and hopelessness.

The paralysis of our democratic structures have illuminated further the mockery and the failure of our democracy. The twice forgotten man in Nigeria has always been the poor. The government response to the abject poverty that has defined the lives of the poor is zero. Our political leaders are not chosen on the merit of mass support. Most are selected by god fathers, elevated to position, supplied with resources and as expected subjected to the king maker’s control.

The Presidency and the National Assembly are inarticulate giants with uneasy gait, subjected to abuse and confuse in their responses to national issues. Checks and balances that are part of a healthy democracy have been deleted in our system. It’s no surprise that our representative democracy is nothing but a disguise in name. It is no exaggeration to say that there are no legislatures in Nigeria. If they exist at all, they are rubber-stamp machines. Our judiciary is a derivative of the executive rather than being independent. Nigerians know that they cannot rely on the court system for redress or remedy.

 The mass poor of our people nurtures a healthy suspicion toward these manufactured leaders. It’s an open secret that money is the chief argument these leaders are offering to induce and buy loyalty. These manufactured leaders lack personal integrity, commitment, and ability. Tragically, they’re not fighters for a new life for our people but figureheads of the old.

They are not impressive or illustrious to their constituents. We’re all too familiar with their impotence and remoteness from the problems that have made life unlivable for the people they profess to represent. Many in their constituencies are among the legions of the lost and have been crushed by the weight of many years of poverty. These leaders do not evoke affection, respect, and emulation.

Our democracy have slid towards autocracy, maintaining the outward appearance of democracy through elections, but without the rights and institutions that are equally important aspects of a functioning democratic system. Our constitution is not robust enough to promote long-term stability, reduce discontent from minorities against the government, and bolster the fight against corruption.

Our democratic system is based on economic coercion. People are forced to do what they don’t want to do. The effect of this is lack of innovation[BO1]  and technological progress.  Our bureaucracy has long ago lost its sense of professional responsibility and exists solely to carry out the order of the executive, and in many ways oppress Nigerians.

We have deteriorated or destroyed infrastructures. Our education and health systems and other public facilities are decrepit or neglected. Civil servants are paid late or not at all. Economic opportunity is only for a privileged few. Those around the president or around the governors grow richer while the rest of us starve.

Our economic insecurity is engineered by our rulers in order to maximize their own fortunes and their own political and economic power. Unemployment is dangerously high and persistent. Regional inequalities remain the rule. Economic decline is accompanied by a diminished confidence in the federal system. Our currency falls out of favor.

It is common knowledge that nations don’t breakup overnight. The seeds of their destruction are sown deep within their political institutions. Some nations fall as a result of total collapse of institutions. Examples abound: In Afghanistan, after the Soviet withdrawal and hanging of President Mohammed Najibullah from a lamppost. In Sierra Leone, the long Civil War erased all traces of existence of government. This form of slow death of institutional failure is responsible for the sub-living standards in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America in contrast to what obtains in the western world.

Nigeria is not going to fall or explode as a result of war and violence, but the refusal or failure to capitalize on the enormous potential for growth and for pursuing a policy that condemned their citizens to a lifetime of poverty.

In the case of Nigeria and like any other failed state, the failure is by design. The institutions are designed to fail by the elites who are the beneficiaries of such design. As we have seen in Nigeria, such elites benefit from rigged political institutions. The system is built on exploitation. And any system propped on exploitation is doomed to fail leading to immeasurable suffering of its citizens.

Nigeria is operating on a tilted plain field. The big men get greedy. The elites control the economy. They use their powers to create monopolies and block the entry of new comers. A good example is Dangote cement and salt. The privatized industries end up in the hands of the elites. The privatized power sector is a case in point. These elites with their fraudulent companies received protection from the state, got government contracts, and large bank loans without needing to put up collateral.

The greedy big men and their businesses could be described as “whales.” Their stranglehold on our economy had created huge windfalls for them and blocked opportunities for the vast mass of Nigerians to move out of poverty.

A successful economy must have effective government. Law and order and the mechanisms for resolving disputes are possible and applicable in a truly democratic system with apparatus of enforcing the laws. Nigeria is yet to create or operate on a set of nationally respected laws or rules.

The absence of the central government is felt throughout the 36 states. The federal government is unable or unwilling to exert control over the whole country. With Boko Haram on the offensive, territories have been federated and annexed. The absence leads not only to lack of public services such as roads, healthcare, electricity, jobs, safety, but also to lack of well-defined institutionalized structures.

Without a responsible and responsive central government, there can be no law and order. Without law and order, there can be no real economy. And without a real economy, a country is doomed to fail. Competition in the coming 2015 presidential election could break the already tattered ties that keep Nigeria whole.

With stagnant economy, Nigerian quagmire, Boko Haram terrorism, ethnic fragmentation, local nationalism, lack of economic incentives, incendiary nationalism, bleak future, and leadership vacuum, the breakup of Nigeria is assured.

Court refers Jonathan’s eligibility case to Appeal Court

Hearing into one of the suits challenging the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election before a federal high court in Abuja was stalled, following  plaintiffs’ application that the central questions in the matter be referred to the Court of Appeal for determination.

Counsel for Olatoye Wahab and the other plaintiffs in the suit, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko, told the court that the president and the Attorney General of the Federation were served with the application for referral last Friday and that they still had time to respond and sought for an adjournment on the matter.

Meanwhile, proceedings in the suit was nearly disrupted by a chieftain of the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who told the court that he had filed another suit challenging the competence of the eligibility suits and the locus standi of the PDP members who instituted the suits .

Mr Ifeayi Nwajiobi, who claims to be a human rights activist and national leader of the PDP’s National Less Privileged Forum in Nigeria, instituted a suit against Mr Mase Daphine Acho, Mr Sadeeq Umar Sarki, Murtala Abubakar, Olatoye Wahab and Adejumo Mansounri Ajagbe who are plaintiffs in the two pending suits challenging the president’s eligibility to contest the 2015 presidential election.

Boko Haram raid Yobe, fire on air force jet

Suspected Islamist militants launched a dawn raid on the capital of northeastern Nigeria's Yobe state on Monday and opened fire on an air force jet circling their forces and dropping bombs, witnesses said.
Residents fled or tried to hide as the attackers charged into Damaturu firing their guns, people at the scene told Reuters. Yobe is at the heart of a five-year insurgency by Boko Haram militants, fighting to carve an Islamist state out of Africa's top oil producer.
The gunmen arrived at 5.30 a.m. and attacked a police station, said witnesses. Local Bala Aminu said he later saw the city's university campus and a nearby police base in flames. "I saw a military jet circling three times. People have abandoned their vehicles on the road and gone home," resident Mustapha Usman said by phone.
Another resident, hiding behind a gate, said he saw the militants driving down a road in police vehicles and an armoured tank, trying to shoot down the plane.
"They mounted anti-aircraft guns and they are trying to shoot the aircraft that was bombarding the town. They were all turning their heads shooting and moving towards Gujba road (south east of the city)," he added.
The gunmen launched their attack from the nearby town of Buni Yadi, a Boko Haram stronghold, said residents. No one was immediately available for comment from the ministry of defence.
Boko Haram, which has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in gun attacks, was blamed for a coordinated bomb and gun attack on the central mosque in the country's second biggest city, Kano on Friday.
President Goodluck Jonathan has asked the national assembly to extend the state of emergency, which expired on Nov. 20, but no decision has yet been reached.

PDP in court, wants Tambuwal to declare seat vacant

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, with a motion ex parte, seeking a court order directing Aminu Tambuwal to declare the Kebbe/Tambuwal federal constituency seat vacant, following his defection from the PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC).

Moving the motion on Monday, PDP’s counsel, Chief Mike Ahamba, said Tambuwal had lost his seat by reason of his defection, according to the provisions of Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution.

The ruling party joined the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Tambuwal and the Deputy  Speaker as respondents in the motion.

It urged the court to order Tambuwal  to give effect to the provisions of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), to declare his seat in the House of Representatives vacant.

PDP also prayed the court for an alternative order directing the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to declare the Kebbe/Tambuwal seat vacant by an order of mandamus.

Also in the ex parte motion, PDP asked the court to stop Tambuwal from performing or continuing to perform the function of the Speaker in the House of Representatives or sitting or continuing to sit in the House as a member.

A 16-paragraph affidavit in support of the ex parte motion averred that Tambuwal, who was sponsored in the 2011 general election by the PDP has left the party to join the APC, as he announced on October 28, thereby informing the House of Representatives on his presnt status as required by law.

The affidavit, as deposed to by one James Ugbogu, a lawyer, said it was constitutional for the House of Represntatives to declare Tambuwal’s seat vacant in the circumstance of his defection to the APC.

HIV's ability to cause AIDS is weakening over time, study finds

Rapid evolution of HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, is slowing its ability to cause AIDS, according to a study of more than 2,000 women in Africa.

Scientists said the research suggests a less virulent HIV could be one of several factors contributing to a turning of the deadly pandemic, eventually leading to the end of AIDS.

"Overall we are bringing down the ability of HIV to cause AIDS so quickly," Philip Goulder, a professor at Oxford University who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

"But it would be overstating it to say HIV has lost its potency -- it's still a virus you wouldn't want to have."

Some 35 million people currently have HIV and AIDS has killed around 40 million people since it began spreading 30 years ago.

But campaigners noted on Monday that for the first time in the epidemic's history, the annual number of new HIV infections is lower than the number of HIV positive people being added to those receiving treatment, meaning a crucial tipping point has been reached in reducing deaths from AIDS.

Goulder's team conducted their study in Botswana and South Africa -- two countries badly hit by AIDS -- where they enrolled more than 2,000 women with HIV.

First they looked at whether the interaction between the body's natural immune response and HIV leads to the virus becoming less virulent or able to cause disease.

Previous research on HIV has shown that people with a gene known as HLA-B*57 can benefit from a protective effect against HIV and progress more slowly than usual to AIDS.

The scientists found that in Botswana, HIV has evolved to adapt to HLA-B*57 more than in South Africa, so patients no longer benefited from the protective effect. But they also found
the cost of this adaptation for HIV is a reduced ability to replicate -- making it less virulent.

The scientists then analysed the impact on HIV virulence of the wide use of AIDS drugs. Using a mathematical model, they found that treating the sickest HIV patients - whose immune systems have been weakened by the infection -- accelerates the evolution of variants of HIV with a weaker ability to replicate.

"HIV adaptation to the most effective immune responses we can make against it comes at a significant cost to its ability to replicate," Goulder said. "Anything we can do to increase the pressure on HIV in this way may allow scientists to reduce the destructive power of HIV over time."

The study was published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Parents of Anni Dewani to sue Shrien

Parents of Anni Dewani to sue Shrien for failing to declare his bisexuality before 'false' marriage

Mr Dewani denies orchestrating the murder of his wife in South Africa in 2010

The parents of Anni Dewani, the 28-year-old bride killed while on honeymoon in South Africa in 2010, has said that the family intend to sue their son-in-law, Shrien Dewani, for failing to reveal his bisexuality before getting married.

Vinod Hindocha said he was not aware of Mr Dewani's sexuality before his daughter married the British businessman in 2010, and that neither he nor she would have agreed to the marriage had they known. He described the wedding as "false".  "Which father in the world, including me, would allow their daughter to marry a person who sleeps with men? I don't think anybody would," he said. "Now we have the truth and that he has literally deceived the whole family. He should have opened his heart and told us 'I love your daughter, I'm bisexual. Will you accept me?'

Mr Dewani is accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife, Anni, 28, in November 2010. He denies the charges. She was shot as the couple's taxi was apparently carjacked in a suburb of Cape Town.

On the first day of his long-awaited trial earlier this year  Mr Dewani confessed through lawyers to paying gay prostitutes for sex and declared himself bisexual. But a London-based prostitute and a senior Scotland Yard officer were banned from taking to the witness box by the judge. Next week a judge will decide whether to halt Mr Dewani’s trial at Cape Town’s high court.

Shrien and Anni Dewani

The Dewanis’ lavish three-day wedding in Mumbai, India, is estimated to have cost £200,000. Mr Hindocha told Mail Online he agreed to pay two-thirds of the bill and would ask for receipts to be disclosed in court in London to prove how the money was spent. Mr Hindocha told Mail Online he was seeking legal redress for the deception. "The whole wedding was a drama and was false. I am going to sue him for that. Not just for the money, but for the loss of my daughter. Anni left this world just for nothing.” The trial is scheduled to resume on December 8.

Nigeria central bank devalues naira to halt losses to forex reserves

Nigeria’s central bank devalued the naira and raised interest rates by 100 basis points on Tuesday, as it sought to stem losses to its foreign reserves from defending the currency hit by weaker oil prices.
The bank moved the target band of the currency to 160-176 naira to the US dollar, compared with 150-160 naira previously, owing to prolonged currency weakness and high dollar demand.
The last time it devalued was in November 2011, when it lowered the band from 145-150 naira to the dollar.
The bank also raised interest rates to 13% on Tuesday, from 12%.
The naira has taken a beating over the past few months, as falling oil prices have shaken confidence in the assets of Africa’s leading energy producer and biggest economy.
Defending the move, central bank governor Godwin Emefiele said efforts to defend the naira had led to "dwindling foreign reserves" and that a "more flexible exchange rate is the most viable option".
"Falling oil prices have consistently reduced the accretion to external reserves, thus constraining the ability of the bank to continually defend the naira and sustain the stability of the naira exchange rate," Emefiele said.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves fell to a five-month low of $37.17bn by November 21, down 5.1% from the previous month as the central bank stepped up its defence of the ailing currency, figures on the bank’s website showed on Tuesday. Despite billions of dollars spent on supporting it, the naira has fallen 10% this year versus the dollar on concerns that a continuous slide in global oil prices could undermine the central bank’s efforts to keep defending the currency.
It opened at a record low on Monday of 178.25.
According to its website, the central bank has spent an average of $27.9m a day this year defending the naira, which has tracked falls in other emerging market currencies, especially those in economies that are more sensitive to changes in the oil price, such as the Russian rouble.
In a further tightening move on Tuesday, the central bank hiked banks’ cash reserve ratio for private sector bank deposits to 20%, from 15% previously.

Two female suicide bombers kill dozens in Nigeria attack

More than 45 people were killed when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded market in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of such attacks blamed on Boko Haram.

The explosions in the Borno state capital targeted the same Monday Market area where at least 15 people died on July 1 in a blast also thought to have been carried out by the Islamist militants.

Tuesday`s attacks came after the militants seized control of another town in Nigeria`s restive northeast, adding to their increasing haul of territory captured in recent months.

Health worker Dogara Shehu said he counted more than "45 people killed, some of them completely decapitated" in the Maiduguri blasts in an account supported by another witness.

An official with Nigeria`s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) confirmed that "many people have been killed" but did not have an official death toll.

"What we have is a case of suicide bombings involving two females," said a senior security source in the city, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The source told AFP that the first bomber stood by a motorised rickshaw packed with goods in the bustling market and took a call on her mobile phone.

"She then dropped it (the mobile phone) and at that moment she blew herself up, so people thought the bomb was concealed in the rickshaw," he added.

"About 10 minutes later, another woman who looked about 19 and carrying what looked like a baby on her back under hijab arrived at the scene that was crowded by rescuers and locals.

"She then detonated the bomb on her back."Northern Nigeria has been hit by a wave of suicide bomb attacks by women in recent months, including earlier this month in the northeastern state of Bauchi and Niger state in the northwest.

In July, there were four such attacks within a week in Kano city.

The previous month, a woman was said to have blown herself up in a twin bombing in the southwestern city of Lagos, although her involvement was never confirmed.

Weeks earlier, Nigeria saw its first female suicide bombing, when a middle-aged woman detonated her explosives at a military barracks in the northern state of Gombe.

Analysts have said that Boko Haram is using either willing volunteers or coercing young women and girls into becoming human bombs as part of its strategy to create a hardline Islamic state.

Three women said to be "female recruiters" for Boko Haram were reportedly arrested in July while an alleged trainer of women bombers was detained in Kano in August with up to 16 "trainees".

Boko Haram has attacked Maiduguri dozens of times during its five-year insurgency, using a range of tactics from suicide attacks and bombings to full-scale assaults on military barracks.

The Islamist group was founded in Maiduguri more than a decade ago and the city was once the epicentre of the conflict until its fighters were pushed out into more rural parts of the northeast.Boko Haram had earlier taken over the town of Damasak, in the far north of Borno near the border with neighbouring Niger, starting their assault with an attack on the market there early Monday.

Maina Ma`aji Lawan, who represents northern Borno state in Nigeria`s Senate, said soldiers and hundreds of residents fled when the heavily armed militants opened fire on traders.

"There is not a single male in Damasak. Boko Haram is in control because all males and soldiers have fled. No one expects women to fight them," Lawan told AFP by telephone from Abuja.

The security source in Maiduguri and a senior local government official both corroborated Lawan`s account, although it was unclear how many were killed in the attack.

Boko Haram`s territorial gains are a change in strategy from its previous trademark of deadly hit-and-run raids or high-profile strikes against government, police or military targets.

The group`s seizure of towns has raised fears about a potential loss of government control in the region.

Many in recent weeks have warned that violence would return to Maiduguri and some have voiced concern that the Islamists might try to capture the key city.

Losing Maiduguri would be a huge blow for Nigeria`s territorial integrity, but the military dismissed the warnings as alarmist

Remembering November 17, 1993 in history: The day Abacha seized government

by Adedayo Ademuwagun

November 17, 1993 is one of the most notable dates in Nigerian history. That day, General Sani Abacha seized the government and became Nigeria’s seventh military dictator.

The incident happened at a time when Nigeria was in free fall. Ibrahim Babangida had just left government having ruled for eight years. The economy was bleeding. Institutions were collapsing. Corruption and fraud had become the backbone of the society.

Mustapha is one of the people who lived through the era. He says, “All the 419, fraud, corruption you see today have their roots in the Babangida era. Those things were not only acceptable, they were the norm. You could defraud anyone as long as you were smart enough. All kinds of wrong things began to happen — smuggling, bunkering, drugs — and Babangida encouraged it. Fraud and corruption became the prevalent ways to really make money. The society descended into utter depravity.”

That year, after Babangida cancelled results of the June presidential election that Abiola won, there were riots in some parts of the country especially the south-west. A lot of Nigerians had looked forward to 1993 as the year they’d be free from dictatorship, and they put their hope in Abiola and the 1993 election. They called it Hope ’93. So they were both furious and gutted when Babangida nullified the election and held on to power.

As the country boiled and support for Babangida faded, he set up an interim government in August and appointed Ernest Shonekan to head it, with Abacha as the vice. Then he left Aso Rock. Some people believe he stepped aside as part of a calculation to tacitly work his way back into Aso Rock.

Anyway, people rejected the interim government, rioting continued and a federal court declared the government illegal. The situation grew more chaotic. In the middle of this, Abiola and his supporters continued to heap pressure on the government in order to force a change in his favour.

Three months later, it happened. That day, Abacha and his soldiers marched into Aso Rock and coerced Shonekan to resign. Then he took over the government.

Timothy says, “Many of us were very happy when Abacha took over. We just wanted Shonekan to go away. His government didn’t get any respect. We didn’t vote for him. Someone just picked him and installed him there. Nobody wanted him. In fact I think if the interim government had lasted some more time, there would been catastrophe, because Shonekan didn’t have the mandate of the people and he couldn’t control the army since he wasn’t the constitutional head of state. So when Abacha kicked him out, I was relieved and hopeful again that we would soon have our man, MKO, in the place.”

But Abacha obviously wasn’t interested in that direction. Soon after he became head of state, he began a bloody tyranny that Nigerians who lived under his rule would never forget.

Mustapha says, “If there’s anything that Abacha would be remembered for, it is that his regime was a regime when blood flowed freely. They imprisoned. They killed. Abacha had people killed either because they were opposition or because he needed them for human sacrifice as his witches wanted. You’ll just see a brand new car park, people would step out and shoot someone and drive away. That was the end. He was merciless.”

“By then, life was tortuous for the common Nigerian,” says Bose. “That time, things were not as costly as now. If you had N100, you could cook a potful of soup with a lot of meat and all that. But how would you get thatN100? You couldn’t even get kerosene. It got to a time, because of the hardship, people invented a stove called Abacha stove (everyone remembers it till today). That stove, you get an empty tin and stuff it with saw dust. Then you add a little kerosene and light it. You’re ready to cook. Such was the poverty that we suffered.”

“I remember that it was around then I lost my bank job because the bank downsized,” Deborah says. “I was a single mother living with my two kids in Lagos. I became so poor that I had to relocate with my children to my home town. At least, my mother would take care of us there and we would live with her. We won’t have to pay rent.”

Nigerians endured all that for five years while Abacha continued his plot to remain in power for as long as he was alive. Then on June 8, 1998, he died.

Deborah says, “I remember my daughter was watching the news and I was sitting outside with neighbours. Then she came to tell us she heard in the news that Abacha was dead. You should see the joy! We danced. we sang. We wept. We had never been that joyful in a long time. Even the Hausas in the kiosk across the street were rejoicing.

“My girl was only nine and didn’t understand what was going on. So she asked me why everyone was so excited to hear that a man died. I told her, ‘Juliana, that man was a bad man who tormented us, and now that he’s dead, we have hope for the future again.”