Michael Ojuroye Initiative (Ngo)

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE F or many, this is not the best of times for President Goodluck Jonathan. The challenges, facing the nation under his leadership are undoubtedly enormous. Even the confidence of the optimist would fail him when faced with the complexity of problems, confronting the nation. But as the president grapples with the headache of leadership, one area that has become an albatross on his neck is the education sector. As it appears, the efforts of his administration in repositioning the sector has not significantly yielded the desired result. This is even as many would argue that the problem had long been there before Jonathan came on board. It is little wonder that Nigerians, especially parents, are worried over the protracted strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). On July 2, 2013, ASUU declared what it called, “total and indefinite strike” over issues it said had remained unresolved, pertaining to an agreement it reached with the gove...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE FORT MEADE (AFP) – A military court sentenced US soldier Bradley Manning to 35 years in jail Wednesday for handing secret government documents to WikiLeaks, resulting in America’s biggest-ever security breach. The judgement was initially met with silence in the courtroom, but Manning later said in a statement that he was ready to serve his time, “knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society.” The 25-year-old army private could be freed on parole within a decade and his lawyer David Coombs said he would ask President Barack Obama to pardon him “or at the very least commute his sentence.” The White House sidestepped the appeal, saying only that were it to be received by the president, it “will be considered … like any other.” Manning supporters protesting outside Fort Meade, the US Army base that hosted his trial, were dismayed at the sentence, despite it being much lower than the 60 years demanded by prosecutors. But Manni...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE LONDON (AFP) – Just a week into the new season, the Premier League will witness its first major head-to-head of the campaign when Chelsea face off against champions Manchester United on Monday. United began their title defence with an impressive 4-1 win at Swansea City last weekend, but Chelsea’s visit marks the start of a testing four-game sequence that includes matches against Liverpool and Manchester City. New United manager David Moyes could not have asked for a sterner start to the season and in Chelsea he faces a side who are already building up a head of steam. Chelsea won 2-0 against Hull City on manager Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge last weekend and followed that up with a gritty 2-1 success at home to Aston Villa on Wednesday, in a game brought forward due to the Europa League champions’ involvement in the UEFA Super Cup. It means the London side can open up a six-point lead over their title rivals by winning at Old Trafford, and having s...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE LAGOS— After 10 unsuccessful meetings with the Federal Government, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday said government was not ready to end the 8-week-old strike, lamenting that government displayed dishonesty and lack of integrity during negotiations. At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU’s President, Dr. Isa Faggae, claimed that government had declared it would not implement the agreed injection of funds to revitalise the public universities, but was only making a dubious statement of supporting some universities with N100 billion. He said: “Government had also declared that it will not pay university academics their earned allowances which accumulated from 2009 to 2013. Rather, it is talking about providing N30 billion to assist various Governing Councils of Federal Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system.” Narrating the union’s experience at the last meeting with the Governm...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Nigeria international, Godfrey Oboabona, has sealed a much-awaited switch from Sunshine Stars to Turkish club, Caykur Rizespor on Thursday. Oboabona agreed to a four-year deal with the Turkish Super Lig outfit on Wednesday, passed his medicals on same day and signed on Thursday. "Godfrey has officially joined Rizespor of Turkey this (Thursday) morning," confirmed Mike Idoko, who coordinates the affairs of Sunshine Stars as executive director of the Ondo State Football Agency. "He underwent his medicals yesterday (Wednesday) and he officially signed today (Thursday). We are happy he has made a good choice for the development of his career where he will have regular football time. We, at Sunshine Star, wish him the best and thank him for being a loyal employee of our club all through his time with us." But Idoko did not disclose the transfer fee involved to supersport.com though reports suggest that Oboabona's sale must have raked in arou...

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Arsene Wenger has admitted that he is unsure about how severe the head wound is sustained by Laurent Koscielny. The French international centre back received a boot to the head from Pierre Webo in Wednesday night’s 3-0 Champions League victory over Fenerbahce and required hospital treatment for the problem area. The Arsenal boss admitted he had to find out more before commenting on how long the 27 year old will be sidelined for. Wenger told  Sky Sports 1  : “He’s at hospital at the moment. We have to check that there’s no bone broken,”. “He opened the skull but it’s very deep, it’s very very deep.” However after the match, Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud posted the photo below stating “He’s ok no worries HE WILL BE BAAACK!”

BY: FUNMI OJUROYE Nigerians were once again the losers, as six international oil companies — Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhilips, Chevron, Total, Eni and ExxonMobil — paid their shareholders a dividend of $38.76 billion (N6.201 trillion) in 2013. The dividends were for the 2012 financial year, which was approved by their respective shareholders a couple of weeks ago. The dividends declared by the six oil majors represent about 52.93 per cent of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s, NSE, market capitalization of N11.714 trillion. The market capitalization of the NSE is the total market value of all the companies listed on the stock exchange. Last year, Nigerians also missed out from the over $30.82 billion or N4.87 trillion cumulative dividends declared by five IOCs in their home countries, following their refusal to list their shares on the NSE. The five oil majors operating in Nigeria – Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhilips, Statoil, and Eni, had declared a cumulative dividend of $30.82 bill...