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Job loss ranks as one of life’s most
challenging events. Some of the issues involved include, adjusting your
finances, looking for a new job, and coping with the emotional and
social impact of your new situation. It would be much easier to deal
with it financially and emotionally if you’ve prepared for the worst by
planning ahead, but even if you failed to anticipate this sudden change
in your circumstances, here are some practical steps to take if the
worst does happen.

Don’t panic

When you think about all the bills and
monthly expenses you have to face without a steady income, it is easy
to despair. Try to remain calm and do not rush into any major financial
decisions whilst you assess your situation; you need a clear positive
outlook. Even if you are eligible, be cautious about dipping into your
retirement savings account.

Do you have any savings?

How much money have you saved? How long
will it last based on your monthly bills? The importance of an
emergency fund becomes glaring in situations like this. If you have
been able to set aside say 6 months of income in a high yield money
market account, you will be able to pay some of your bills and relieve
some of the financial stress while you look for new job. But if you
have always lived from month to month, this may not be an option.

What are your entitlements?

What do your full entitlements amount
to? If you have no savings at all and you are fortunate enough to
receive severance pay or other benefits, use this as a bridge to tide
you over the difficult period. Spend carefully, and do not use all of
your entitlements to make large payments such as your mortgage as you
might have to live off that money for what could be an extended period
of time. Don’t let such funds lull you into complacency; you need to
actively seek a new job or other income generating opportunity.

Revise your budget

How best can you adjust your budget to
suit your new circumstances? Develop a new written budget to cover
several months based on what you have saved and any expected income.
How much will it cost to maintain your family, your home and lifestyle?
Keep your family members fully in the picture so that they too can
adjust their expectations about what you can afford. You will have to
control your spending by cutting back on nonessential expenses.
Naturally your priority will be for housing, food, utility bills. Of
major concern would be the lack of access to affordable insurance and
appropriate health care. This must also be planned for.

Be cautious about borrowing

It is tempting for credit card holders
to start to load day-to-day expenses on their cards. Try to avoid doing
this unless absolutely necessary and only for critically important
expenses that cannot be delayed. Taking on additional debt can keep you
in denial about your true financial situation and can make things worse.

If you are unable to fulfill your
financial obligations, such as your mortgage or car loan, contact your
lenders immediately and inform them that you have lost your job and are
actively seeking new employment. It may be possible to negotiate new
terms and come to an arrangement to adjust your payments for a limited
period of time. It is better to be approach them upfront rather than to
fall behind with your payments. If you default on your home or vehicle
loan, your bank will take steps to re-possess your property.

Stay socially connected

Some people feel embarrassed or
inadequate after losing a job. Don’t withdraw and let negative feelings
stop you from taking important steps; you need your network now more
than ever before. Reach out to family, friends, ex-colleagues and your
network and spread the word that you are in the job market. By seeking
support you may find they may be aware of new opportunities for you.
Your CV should be carefully updated and circulated.

Seek alternative sources of income

With the sheer number of people
currently searching for jobs, you need to cast your net wide, and not
just for the same type of job. Be practical and flexible and don’t
pigeonhole yourself into a specific role or job so you can increase
your chances of finding work. Consider temporary or part time work that
will generate income and give you the time and flexibility to attend
job interviews and actively pursue a more permanent position. This
might be a time to upgrade your skills, or go back to school which will
all add to an impressive resume.

If you have alternate sources of
income, you will be in a much more comfortable position if you lose
your job. Your hobbies, talents and skills and other interests may be
converted to a business and offer serious possibilities for income.

Be Positive

Apart from the financial issues
associated with job loss, there are usually emotional and personal
aspects that are too often ignored. Whether yours was the only position
that was cut, or an entire unit or department, the feelings caused by
being laid off are largely the same regardless of the circumstances.
Many people experience a loss of self esteem, a sense of failure and
even depression after retrenchment. But it’s important to take your
next steps based on clear rational thought, devoid of emotion.

As difficult as this may sound, one should try to think of losing
your job as a positive event, an opportunity to re-evaluate your future
and, potentially change your career or start a new business. Losing
your present employment may well be the impetus, just what you need, to
take a fresh look at your life and re-define your goals. Often, it is
times like this that propel people into greater things.

So
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would like to see credit to the
private sector grow by more than it has done in the past year?

Credit has strong
uses in most modern economies. Just before the last global crisis
broke, credit-based consumer spending accounted for about 75% of output
growth in the United States. Moreover, current International Monetary
Fund (IMF) estimates indicate that stronger consumption in the US has
been part of the new recovery. Credit works for business investment
too; and when government borrows, it drives government spending.

The apex bank is
thus justified trying to resuscitate bank lending. To this end, it has
tied itself up in several knots. It has eased monetary conditions, only
to find banks building up liquidity in the wrong places, including
balances with it. It has tinkered with the corridor around the policy
rate, trying to discourage banks from warehousing surplus funds in the
CBN’s vaults.

Still, the banks
would rather keep such money with the apex bank, and earn 2% on it,
than lend to sectors of the economy where higher returns might be met
with. When you consider as fact that one of the main responses in the
markets to the current crisis has been for depositors to demand higher
returns on their funds with the banks, then the banks’ behaviour
becomes harder to explain. Surely, there must be better ways to lose
money?

Put differently, is
it enough for banks to have a surfeit of cash in order that they may
lend money? In response to the global and local shocks that have hit
the industry, most banks have tightened their risk acceptance criteria.
They have not only shortened the maturity profile of new loans, they
are more prone to demand that would-be debtors meet requirements that
were not in place nine months ago. Again, we imagine that further down
the road, these loan covenants will firm even more. This would follow
naturally, as risk management frameworks are strengthened in response
to the lapses unearthed by the CBN’s recent special audit.

There are other
worries, not least of which is the fact that most of the banks that
have been at the receiving end of the apex bank’s monetary forbearances
are still in the process of rebuilding their capital. Add to this, the
on-off debate over the extent to which current levels of provisioning
may have sufficiently addressed the industry’s portfolio of
non-performing loans, and the effect on bank lending of current
proposals by the Basle process to raise the industry’s capital adequacy
ratio.

But none of these
attend to the question of how strong the demand for credit is. Current
concern with the supply side of the market for credit is all very well.
However, no less crucial is the need to establish whether there is a
market out there for loans. Are there investment vehicles?

Did the stock
market bubble not inflate largely because the banks had no other place
to put these funds? And what has happened to non-bank sources of
credit? Why have these not taken up the slack from the failure of bank
credit?

The more probable
cause of the credit market problem is that there are major structural
policy challenges constraining the supply and demand sides of the
market.

Until recently, the
downstream sector of the oil industry was a major market for bank
credit. Apparently, the central bank’s intervention at some point dried
this market up. Now, the banks are asking that would-be importers of
fuel obtain promissory notes from the federal government before they
provide the necessary trade finance cover. Because government has
refused to meet this demand, oil importers haven’t had access to the
credit necessary to remove the unsightly fuel queues from our roads. Of
course, government’s practice in the past of not paying these importers
on time was the one reason why their bank facilities did not perform.

Until issues of
this nature are addressed, and you want to add the difficulty with
passing the petroleum industry bill to this list, I am not sure that
the market for credit in this economy will pick up.

The
Anti-Counterfeit Collaboration, Nigeria (a non-governmental
organisation) and concerned brands in the country have called on
federal and state governments to address the problem of counterfeit
products, which they say is threatening the Nigerian market. The
concerns were raised at a media roundtable held in Lagos at the weekend.

Marcel
Van de pas, head of retail, Nokia West Africa, the host brand at the
event, said the brand was glad to partner with the government and local
agencies to ensure consumers have access to genuine products.

“Counterfeit
products are not only potentially harmful to consumers but also have a
negative impact on the local economy and on supporting local
innovation. We will continue to support government efforts to reduce
the proliferation of counterfeit products in our market,” he said.

“The counterfeit market in the technology sector is over 18% and still
growing and from all these, the government does not get anything in
terms of tax or anything in form of revenue.”

Uche
Nwokocha, a senior member of the Anti-Counterfeit Collaboration,
Nigeria said the organisation was formed in October 2006 as an
initiative by Aluko & Oyebode, a law firm, to bring brand owners,
enforcement agencies and interested parties together to fight the
already rampant counterfeiting and piracy in Nigeria.

Mrs. Nwokocha said factors that contribute to counterfeiting in Nigeria
range from the lack of consumer enlightenment on the dangers of
counterfeit products to the perceived cheaper cost of such products.

“The
difficulty of detection by mere physical examination of end users, the
reluctance of brand owners to notify the public of the existence of
counterfeit of its original products so as not to negatively affects
sales, among other factors contribute to the counterfeiting business,”
she said.

Consequences

Apart
from consumers not getting the safe and effective products they pay
for, legitimate manufacturers and intellectual property owners suffer
from the trade mark patent and copyright infringement and loss of
goodwill.

Marc
Schreuder, chairman of the Anti Counterfeit Collaboration, Nigeria and
Chief Executive of KFC Nigeria, an international fast food chain, which
recently started operation in Nigeria, said the challenge of fake
products is not restricted to fast moving consumer goods lone.

“The fast food industry is rife with copyrights infringements which mean consumers do not get value for money,” he said.

Mrs
Nwokocha added that counterfeit products also discourages firms from
embarking on research and development leading to loss of employment
opportunity.

“It
also discourages foreign investment as they would be suspicious that
investment will be negated by competing counterfeiting activity,” she
said.

Urgent solution needed

The
volume of counterfeit goods in Nigeria is about 60%-80% based on a
survey recently conducted in pharmaceuticals, luxury goods, software
and computer hardware, audio and visual sector, motor vehicle spare
parts and food and beverages, Mrs. Nwokocha said.

The
battle against counterfeit products, she added, is the responsibility
of the Nigerian government, the brand owners and even the end users.

“The
Nigerian government should tighten its laws and measures against such
practices. They should also improve communication with consumers and
(make) policies for better surveillance, control and prevention of
public health risks associated with counterfeit goods,” she said.

“It will be more effective if these goods are stopped at the ports
and borders, for those that are imported, than to tell users what to do
to identify the genuine product.”

Some operators at
the Nigerian capital market have described the removal of Aliko Dangote
as the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s (NSE’s) president, a welcome
development that will further boost investors’ confidence.

Ope Banwo, an
analyst and legal practitioner at The Market Ombudsman, said that the
development is a positive one for the Exchange and the financial market
generally.

“I have been on
record for saying that it is morally and equitably wrong for Mr.
Dangote to have been appointed as President of the NSE in the first
place, even while recognising that the Exchange is a privately owned
organisation,” he said.

Mr. Banwo said
fairness must not only be done but must be manifestly seen to have been
done. “Since the operations of the stock exchange directly and
indirectly affect everybody in Nigeria, it should not be allowed to run
under the normal rules of a privately held company. So, putting Mr.
Dangote as President of an Exchange where stocks from companies he runs
and owns are quoted, is a manifest conflict of interest that should not
be allowed,” the lawyer said.

Furthermore, he
explained that it was wrong for the business mogul to have been
appointed president of the stock exchange when there were pending
allegations of share manipulation levelled against him in the law
courts and other forums.

“This is the
equivalent of appointing somebody who is on trial on accusation for
armed robbery of a bank, as the CEO of that same bank while the trial
and accusation is still pending. Just the whiff or accusation alone
should have disqualified him from being considered in the first place,
in any self respecting society. Yet, the powers-that-be appointed him
anyway and now they reap the fruits of their actions,” Mr. Banwo added.

Market improvement

The national
chairman of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria,
Boniface Okezie, said the Federal High Court ruling which nullified the
election of Mr. Dangote last Friday, will bring improvement to the
market.

Mr. Okezie said
that Mr. Dangote was not actually elected in the first place because it
was a unanimous decision that brought him into power. “Now that the
court has asked him to step aside, I think he has to comply, even if he
decides to appeal the judgement. The NSE also has to obey the court
ruling,” he said.

“We (shareholders)
said it from Day One that having been there as the vice president of
the NSE, while the issue of AP and Nova Finance came to play, Mr.
Dangote, as an actor in the middle of the crisis, should have resigned
honourably,” he added.

The council of the NSE, had on August 6, 2009, named Mr. Dangote as its 17th president in a unanimous endorsement election.

Proud of Judiciary

Mr. Banwo said the
development is very positive because it signals to all market operators
that Nigerian courts are up to the task. “I am extremely proud of the
judge and the judicial system these days. They are showing some class
and courage that has almost been eroded in the past 15 years. I say
kudos to the judiciary for the boldness of the judge; rising up against
the lawlessness and disdain to court orders exhibited by big boys, who
believed they were above the law,” he said.

“The judgment will
also send a signal that it is the dawn of a new era where the judiciary
will indeed be the last refuge for the oppressed and the wronged in
society. The development sends signals to the Ndidi Okerekes and Udo
Udomas of this world that their time is running out when it comes to
taking conflicting positions in a market yearning to be transparent,”
Mr. Banwo said.

Ganiyu Solomon,
chairman Senate Committee on Capital Market, in a telephone interview,
said, to avoid a situation of conflict of interests in the general
market regulations, Udoma Udoma, Chairman, the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), and Chairman, UAC Nigeria Plc, a quoted company,
should also resign.

“We should not wait
till we are presented with a situation of conflict of interests. It is
very important that a regulator is not encumbered in any way in
carrying out his duty. If you go through other jurisdictions, you will
discover that they make sure that people holding such offices are not
in any way tied to any quoted company. It is just to safeguard the
interest of the market,” Mr. Solomon said.

“If we say that
anybody can go ahead to hold any particular office, can you envisage a
situation where a stockbroker who is highly connected becomes SEC’s
chairman. Are you going to say he can continue to operate on the floor
and still hold that position?”

The market value of
quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), year-to-date, has
recovered over N710 billion from the N2 trillion losses recorded last
year.

The market
capitalisation of the 215 listed equities, which opened the year at
N4.989 trillion, closed on Thursday at N5.699 trillion, representing a
14.23 per cent increase. Also, the All-Share index, which opened the
first trading day of the year at 20,827.17 basis points, closed
yesterday at 23,666.33; a 13.63 per cent growth.

Some analysts say
it is uncertain if the present positive outlook in the market will be
sustained due to some developments in the financial and political
sectors of the economy.

The Managing
Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismack Rewane, said
the capital market should have performed much better if the political
situation in Nigeria was more stable.

Speaking at an
executive breakfast meeting, organised by the Lagos Business School,
last week, Mr. Rewane said the average daily turnover of approximately
N2.4 billion at the NSE resulted due to “the high political
uncertainty.”

The financial
analyst explained that the Nigerian stock market opened the year with
some strength, gaining 8.43 per cent in January, and remained stable in
February.

“The increased
level of political uncertainty may have impacted the early gains,” he
said. “A sustained rally will depend on renewed interest from local and
foreign institutional investors who still appear to be sitting on the
sidelines.”

Market outlook

Speaking more on
market outlook for the year, Mr. Rewane said, “Resolution of the
current political crises will provide further momentum in the stock
market,” adding that asset managers may embark on a diversification
strategy during the year, reshuffling portfolios in favour of
non-banking stocks.

“Buying
opportunities also exist in the banking sector given the record low of
price-to earnings ratios. Performance will be boosted by consolidation
and improved transparency and reporting standards,” he said.

In his own view,
the Deputy Managing Director of BGL Securities Limited, Wale Oluwo,
said, “Nobody can say specifically that the stock market will go back
to the level it used to be.” However, he said if the current rebound is
sustained by the third quarter of the year, “it will be safe to predict
accurately.”

Meanwhile, as the
actualisation of long awaited Asset Management Company looks realistic
with the bills establishing the company scaling the second reading at
the Senate on Wednesday, Mr. Olowo believes the equity market may fully
recovery next year.

Also, Mr. Rewane
said the new equity issues are expected in the second half of the year.
“Economic recovery will encourage under-capitalised companies to seek
fresh funds in the capital markets.”

According to him,
rounds of consolidation are expected in telecoms. “Success of the
Bharti-Zain deal will force other telecom majors to seek similar
acquisitions. Dangote and Benue Cement Company also on track for
consolidation,” he said.

Market turnover

Available report
from the Exchange shows that the total turnover during the first two
months of the year was 16.14 billion shares valued at N100.8 billion
exchanged in 429,306 deals. In the comparable period during 2009, the
market recorded turnover of 11.232 billion shares worth N66.8 billion
exchanged by investors in 289,389 deals.

The market value of
the 261 listed securities closed at N7.62 trillion on the last trading
day in February, up by 1.76 per cent from N7.5 trillion recorded in
January. According to the NSE, “The rise in market capitalisation can
be attributed to the rise in the prices of equities.”

Bond trading

A turnover of 1.4
billion units worth N1.64 trillion in 18,206 deals was recorded in
February, in contrast to a total of 1.15 billion shares valued at N1.31
trillion exchanged during the preceding month in 13,818 deals.

The most active
bond, measured by turnover volume, was the 6th Federal Government of
Nigeria (FGN) Bond 2029 Series 3 with traded volume 178.12 million
units valued at N249.5 billion and was followed by 4th FGN Bond 2014
Series 3 with a traded volume of 128.35 million units valued at N161
billion.

Reliable and
efficient payment systems have been identified as aiding regional
integration, especially with regard to establishing a common platform
for regional trade. Mansur Muhtar, the Minister of Finance, speaking at
the regional policy workshop on Payment Systems and Cash Couriers in
West Africa, in Abuja on Wednesday, said non-cash payment systems can
transform a financial landscape.

Intra-regional trade

Specifically, the
minister said that it is pertinent for West African countries to create
a conducive environment for the promotion of intra-regional trade, to
accelerate the journey towards regional integration.

“Indeed, the
efforts towards regional integration, especially with regard to
establishing a common platform for regional trade, can only yield the
desired results if there are reliable and efficient payment systems in
place”.

He argued that
recent developments in Nigeria provide good examples of how non-cash
payment systems can transform a financial landscape. “The phenomenal
growth experienced by financial institutions in the acquisition and use
of cards and card payments by their customers, is a testimony of
availability, reliability and acceptability of modern systems and
processes, not only in the financial sector, but also as experienced in
the telecom sector.”

Furthermore, he
said that the new tax systems introduced by Nigeria’s Federal Inland
Revenue Service (FIRS), is also a model for efficient tax collection
through modern electronic payment systems.

Financial reforms

Mr. Muhtar,
however, expressed regrets that while individual countries in the
region are making progress in reforming their financial systems, this
is not the case at the intra-regional level.

He noted that
despite the fact that indigenous banks are spearheading financial
system reforms, we are yet to make a significant breakthrough in the
acceptability, efficiency and reliability of non-cash payment systems
in the region.

“The ubiquitous
impact cash-trust people have in cash transactions has become the norm
rather than the exception in modern day commerce. This situation should
not be allowed to continue after over 30 years of ECOWAS existence,” he
said.

The minister added,
“The recent financial and economic crisis has many lessons not only for
us in this region, but the world over. One of the lessons is that the
global economy is far more integrated than we have ever imagined. What
happens in the United States has the capacity to affect our region
through a spiral effect of liquidity freeze.”

He called on
financial institutions operating in the region to demonstrate total
commitment to its development by creating efficient, reliable,
dependable payment systems, saying that money laundering, which is an
international crime, has become more compounded by globalisation and
greed and further fuelled by desperation and marginalisation of the
poor in the country.

Nigeria, he said,
is fully committed to addressing the problem of money laundering and
terrorist financing by cash dominated economies, by deepening the
reforms in the financial sector and the enforcement of relevant laws to
limit cash transactions.

Mr. Muktar said the
bill seeking the amendment of the Money Laundering Prohibition Bill
presented to the National Assembly by Acting President, Goodluck
Jonathan, will bring the country’s anti-money laundering legislation to
full conformity with international standards.

Global economies

Also speaking,
Abdullahi Shehu, the Director-General of the Action Group against Money
Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), pointed out that economies of many
countries of the world have moved away from the dominance of cash as a
medium of exchange to non-cash payment systems.

He said cash
transactions present a unique challenge in the identification, tracing
and recovery of laundered proceeds of crime, particularly in the
absence of legal frameworks limiting cash transactions, or lack of
faithful enforcement of available laws.

The workshop, he
noted, will among other things, provide a forum for concerned parties
to deliberate on the implications of cash transactions and cash
couriering in West Africa and to also consider ways of addressing the
problems, especially of how existing and emerging new payment systems
can be tailored to meet the needs of the region.

The workshop was organised by the Inter-Governmental Action Group
against money laundering in West Africa (GIABA), in collaboration with
the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS).

Anti-corruption cop
Nuhu Ribadu is ‘dead’, long live corruption and other anti-social vices
that are killing Nigeria and Nigerians faster than the speed of
lighting.

Just as the ‘War
Against Indiscipline’ died the day the Buhari/Idiagbon government was
overthrown, the war against corruption died the day Ribadu was
‘removed’ as the head of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC).

For those in doubt
about the death of the anti-corruption war in Nigeria, the recent
scandal involving top officials in sports and English coach Glen Hoddle
is a clear example.

When in need of a
coach, the Nigeria Football Federation contacted Olatunji John Shittu
to use his vast network to assist them. On behalf of the NFF, Shittu
spoke to Guus Hiddink and other top coaches. This was acknowledged by
Hiddink and his manager when they said only Shittu had contacted them
on behalf of the NFF.

The federation did
not move fast, and they lost Hiddink, but Shittu still got them Hoddle;
both arrived the same day for interviews in Abuja.

Saraki’s explanation

The story changed when Hoddle, who demanded $900,000, refused to agree to give members of the panel an invoice of $1.5 million.

And nothing
confirms this more than the words of Kwara State Governor, Bukola
Saraki, who told the media that, “I was in Abuja February 25, when I
got a call from Shittu that he and Hoddle wanted to see me. When we
met, Hoddle complained that he was asked to part with $500,000 out of
his $1.5m and that was the only way to do business in Nigeria. I was
very upset.

“He (Hoodle) said
some people asked him to quote $ 1.5million instead of the $900,000 he
asked for. I asked him if his agent could confirm it. What I did was to
set up a meeting between Rotimi Amaechi,

who I know to be very straightforward, and Shittu. Anybody can call Hoddle and his agent.

“By the way why
would the PTF or Nigeria Football Federation pay $1.5million when the
coach agreed to collect $900,000? I did not search nor seek for Hoddle.
Let me make it clear that my action was taken out of my love for the
sport and my belief that a coach must be hired on the basis of
competition and he must be competent and again we have to tackle the
issue of corruption at all levels.”

Under Ribadu’s
EFCC, these words from Saraki were enough for anti-corruption cops to
quiz the members of the panel, Hoddle, Shittu and other parties
involved, to state their sides of the stories and prosecution would
then commence immediately if there are evidences of corruption.

But the EFCC is in
the morgue, the leader Farida Waziri seems to have other priorities,
and fighting corruption seems not to be one of them.

And because the
anti-graft agency is dead, members of the panel who ordinarily should
bury their heads in shame or should be donning prison uniforms and
talking to lawyers, have the guts to issue press releases.

But their spin
doctors did a poor job. Their response planted in about six newspapers
were not only identical, there was no attribution to anybody. So are
members of the panel cowards who cannot come out to defend their names?

Between Ogunjobi and Shittu

The chairman of the
NFF technical panel, Taiwo Ogunjobi, who spoke on the issue, chose to
chase shadows rather than substance. Ogunjobi attacked Shittu instead
of Saraki who come out boldly to say this is what Hoddle told him.

Saraki never said
Shittu made any allegation, all Saraki said Shittu did was that he
brought Hoddle to him and Hoddle alleged that some people in the NFF
told him to up his demand from $900,000 to $1.5million.

Ogunjobi said we
should not take Shittu seriously, but we take Saraki seriously and
Ogunjobi and others should just react to what Saraki said Hoddle told
him and stop chasing shadows.

Indeed, those who know Shittu and Ogunjobi’s antecedents will rather take Shittu seriously.

Let’s examine both
characters. Ogunjobi was one with Ibrahim Galadima when he was
re-elected as chairman of NFA in Kano a few years ago..

But the moment
Ogunjobi realised that Galadima had lost out to so-called government
people-led Samaila Sambawa, he quickly changed camp and queued behind
Sani Lulu, the present president of the NFF.

Compare to Shittu
and his role in one of the biggest transfer sagas in football history.
After the Finland 2003 FIFA U-17 World Youth Soccer Championship,
Shittu took John Obi Mikel and three other players to Manchester
United. Alex Ferguson loved them, but there was disagreement about who
would manage them, so Shittu took the boys to Claudio Raineri,
Chelsea’s coach who loved them and sent them to South Africa and
Norway. When Ferguson later realised his mistake and attempted to
resign Mikel through back door with the assistance Morgen Andersen,
then of Lyn Oslo, the media – both local and international – was awash
with all kinds of stories calling Shittu all forms of unprintable names.

Then, I told Dare
Esan, the editor of Complete Sports, even before I contacted Shittu,
that I have known him since April 1998 as a man of integrity, and that
all the reporters would swallow their words.

Esan, who had not
met Shittu then, took my words. I recall that shortly after that,
Shittu came to Nigeria, and Esan and I met him at Lagos Sheraton Hotel
and he showed us all the documents about Mikel’s transfer. The rest, as
they say, is now history.

Shittu was not only
vindicated with time, but Andersen, the controversial agent, was
sentenced to one year suspended sentence by a Norwegian court for
falsifying documents in relation to Mikel’s sale. Just as Shittu was
vindicated, I am positive he will be vindicated again.

Calling on Madam Waziri

Thankfully, Shittu,
whom Ogunjobi called a coward, has called on EFCC to investigate the
allegation “My hands are clean in this matter,” he said. “It is only in
Nigeria where the complainant will suddenly become the accused. This is
why I am calling on the EFCC to wade into the matter. It is clear the
investigative panel set up by the Presidential Task Force on Super
Eagles qualification for and participation in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
to investigate the matter, has not done a thorough job.” Shittu is
probably living in the past. The EFCC of today will not do anything
about it.

The practice of
upping coaches’ salaries, bonuses and allowances is not a new thing in
Nigeria, it is as old as the country’s football history. The reason why
we talking about it now is because Shittu and Hoddle did not play ball.

In the past,
members of the NFF, coaches and agents just ‘chop and clean mouth’.
Nigeria is the only country where coaches got sign on fees in the past.

And I believe Osasu
Obayuwana’s claim that a member Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force
confirmed to him that Lars Lagerback had accepted $675,000, but
overnight the wage jumped to $1.5 million for three months. Into whose
hands is the ‘extra’ money going?

We will know very
soon. If the local media and EFCC refuse to do their job, foreigners
will do it, and at the end of the day, the truth will be revealed and
the offenders will be put to shame. Impossible? Don’t bet against it.

Aside the
allegation of bribery that rocks the appointment of Lars Lagerback as
the Super Eagles coach, a subject that is generating intense debate in
the sports circle is Nigeria’s preparation for the New Delhi 2010
Commonwealth Games scheduled for October.

After an
unimpressive performance at the Melbourne 2006 Games, officials and
managers of Team Nigeria promised us that preparation for the New Delhi
Games will start immediately, but a few months to the Games, athletes
and coaches are worried that no adequate preparation has been put in
place. They argued that unless something is done fast, our team will
record woeful performance in India.

Ken Anugweje, a medical doctor and president of Nigerian Universities Games Association thinks otherwise.

Anugweje, a PHD
holder in sports medicine and an academician at the University of Port
Harcourt, said camping athletes for months is not the same as adequate
preparation.

Anugweje, who is a
member of the board of Athletics Federation of Nigeria, believes that
athletes are better when they work individually.

Camping is not preparation

“From my
experience, preparation for Games is not all about camping. In Nigeria,
we tend to elevate camping to a level that is very unreasonable. I
don’t intend that a Olusoji Fasuba should come and stay in Nigeria; to
be trained by whom? Modern sports training has been reduced to very
simple times called periodization and this entails that you must
prepare for every event, breaking your training into compartments
called periods. You don’t expect somebody who is training for
Commonwealth Games in October to start now to prepare for those Games.
It means that the person will not take part in any other intervening
competition, so what we are saying is that if there are Golden League
competition to go, the person now sits down and say I want to be at my
peak performance by May.”

The European Indoor Circuit

Anugweje has been
following the performances of our athletes in the European Indoor
Circuit. He speaks on athletes and how they prepare for tournaments “I
saw Franca Idoko run at the indoor competition, although she did poorly
but it’s part of her preparation, maybe she had not peaked before this
time but I think if she has a good training programme she will keep
improving until that day. The AFN was trying to start a training camp
at Ijebu Ode, I don’t know how advisable that camp is because I know
that for maximum training, athletes insist on having personalized
coaches. Your coach may be having one, two or three athletes at the
maximum and they have their training programme so many of them will be
very reluctant to come to camp. They will prefer staying with their
coaches and that is what I’m seeing now. I’m in contact with very many
national athletes and they tell me they are training with their
coaches, they don’t want to toil around with their training programme.
I bet that by summer the preparations for the Commonwealth Games will
be obvious to everybody.

Training grants

With most of our
athletes from humble background, training without financial assistance
from the government has been a source of worry, but he explained that
“Patrick Ekeji, the Director General of National Sports Commission is a
very strong advocate of training grants. I know that in this year’s
budget we have captured those aspects and I’m sure when the time comes,
our top athletes will be given grants. You see you don’t just call a
group of people and start giving money to them.

“But we need to
invest more in schools sports. We have not given sports the right
consideration in Nigeria universities and this not only traceable to
the Nigerian universities, we should also blame the National University
Commission the NUC which is the supervising body for the universities;
we will also blame the ministry of education that ought to give
direction. They have a sport desk in their ministry but they don’t give
us directions even when we initiate programs and project they don’t
really encourage us. But having said that, if we consider the
contribution of NUGA to Nigeria sport, you can see that it is
unprecedented.

“In the last
Beijing Olympics, for instance, every medal that Nigeria won had a NUGA
imprint. The Chukwumerijie chap who won a medal in taekwondo was the
NUGA taekwondo champion in his weight class in the last NUGA games; the
relay quartet that won the bronze medal Franca Idoko was ABU, Blessing
Okagbare is a NUGA athlete, because in world universities games you
represent your country. You don’t represent your university or the
country of study so all four of them were NUGA athletes.

Gloria Kemasouede was in the University of Ibadan she ran for her
university. She ran for NUGA in 1999 at the world University Games so
you can see that everybody who won anything in the last Olympic games
had a NUGA colouration except the soccer team.

British Lewis
Hamilton may dream about being cast in the role of James Bond, but
seven-times Formula One champion Michael Schumacher said the role was
already his.

“I am probably
James Bond because I did my seventh title in the 700th grand prix,” the
German, returning to Formula One at the age of 41 and after three years
out, told a Mercedes news conference when asked what movie role he
might fill.

“So that means 700
— 007.” Hamilton, McLaren’s 2008 world champion who has yet to race
against the most successful Formula One driver of all time, told
Reuters that he had always dreamed of being cast in the role of the
British secret agent.

With Mercedes
fielding an all-German team of Schumacher and Nico Rosberg against
McLaren’s reigning champion Jenson Button and Hamilton, the season has
already been scripted as an Anglo-German battle.

However, Schumacher
warned that it could take time for Mercedes, who have taken over 2009
champions Brawn led by his long-time friend and former Ferrari ally
Ross Brawn, to get up to speed.

“The most important point is that probably we won’t be able to win straight away,” he said.

“If possible,
great. But I don’t think that is the key factor for the season. For me
obviously, the goal is the end of the year result and that means not to
lose too much ground at the beginning.

Where exactly we are going to be, I don’t know.”

Four champions

The German, who won
his five most recent titles with Ferrari and has a record 91 wins to
his credit, is returning at a very different time to the one he
dominated before retiring at the end of 2006.

There are four
world champions on the starting grid and the top four teams all harbour
realistic title ambitions in what is shaping up as the most competitive
season in years.

“I think you see four teams that have been very close over winter testing,” said Schumacher.

“The last test
showed McLaren quite strong, so was Red Bull and all winter Ferrari was
very strong and we believe we are strong.” The German said he could not
wait for the challenge, with his wife Corinna joining him in Bahrain
and fully supportive of his return.

“I mentioned when I
announced the contract that I felt like a little boy of 12 years. I
have grown a little bit since then but not much,” he declared.

Schumacher said he
was not focusing on new opponents, such as Hamilton and Red Bull’s
young German Sebastian Vettel, but more on the challenge of driving
itself. Continued…

The oldest man on
the starting grid recalled how he had felt on his debut in 1991, when
he was racing against the ‘old guys’ like Brazilian Ayrton Senna,
Britain’s Nigel Mansell and Frenchman Alain Prost.

“It’s a good
comparison,” he said. “When I arrived in Formula One, it was so far
away that my biggest expectations were far off what I finally did. I
didn’t think I would be able to play on the same playing field.

“But when I arrived
I understood that they all cook with the same water we all do. They are
all humans, with special abilities but so did I have.

“The same way round, I have the greatest respect for all the other
guys that are around. I know I have been very successful and success is
lots of details that make it. I will work very hard on those and so do
the other guys. That’s why I respect and expect a tough fight.”

The Swede, Lars
Lagerback, is now Super Eagles new coach. The former coach of Sweden’s
national team arrived Nigeria on Tuesday, after briefly returning home
to tidy up domestic matters before resuming fully on his new job.

Mindful of the
little time available to accomplish what many Nigerian football fans
consider an impossible mission (to take Nigeria to the semi-final of
the World Cup in South Africa), he has submitted his programme to the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

With the Swede
still keeping his strategy close to his chest, a look at his coaching
philosophy may provide an inkling into the shape the Super Eagles is
likely to take under his direction. Just before he was appointed Eagles
coach, he granted an interview to Europe’s football governing body,
UEFA. The interview, reproduced on their website, reveals the working
of the mind of the Swede. In the interview, he takes a look at the
different departments of a team and the kind of players he prefers in
those departments.

Now that he is
ready to work, we try to take a look at the direction in which the man
may be heading as helmsman of the Eagles, based on his philosophy and
the players available.

Attack of the attack

He says: “A really
good striker is always at the right place. In a way, that is the most
important thing – if you have good techniques, and you have high balls
coming at you and you can finish with your first touch. They have
something to read the game, be on the right spot at the right time, but
also you want very good technique, how they finish with whatever part
of the body they are using.

” If you look at
Ronaldo, who has scored the most goals in the World Cup, he can be out
of the game for 5 to 10 minutes but suddenly, he is there and scoring.
So, for the classical goal scorer, this is typical. If you play at the
highest level today – I do not see many teams having this kind of
players – the forward has to be involved in the game because the
demands on every position are rising every day.”

In the Eagles
attack at the moment, we have Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Obafemi Martins,
Ikechukwu Uche, Michael Eneramo, Victor Anichebe and Joseph Akpala.
This statement presupposes that he will defer to use the preferred
playing formations of either 4-1-2-2-1 or 4-3-2-1. The number one(1) at
the end of it is a lone striker who should be big, strong and reliable.
That means Obafemi Martins and Ikechukwu Uche are out of that equation.
Of the remaining three, only Yakubu Aiyegbeni has the experience to
play that part perfectly and to some extent, his fellow Everton
colleague, Victor Anichebe, who has the added attributes of youth and
aggression.

It is almost a
no-brainer that in whatever form, Yakubu will be in South Africa
leading the line, unless he breaks a leg. He has scored the most goals
for club and country and is the second leading foreign striker in the
English Premiership, after Thierry Henry. His substitute may be
Anichebe or Joseph Akpalla. There may not be a play maker in the mould
of Austin Okocha, but there will probably be a shadow striker, and that
role in the present Eagles’ team is tailored for Osaze Odemwingie.

Lagerback continues:

“A target man must
be able to receive the ball, shield and distribute but in the next
phase of the game, he must also be able to score.”

Yakubu has played
as a lone striker for Everton on many occasions and his forte is
probably bringing others into play. He can shoot with both legs and he
is decent in the air.

Midfield

Lagerback prefers a lone holding midfielder who will act as an auxiliary defender. He says:

“You can compare
this to the libero in times past, just like Franz Beckenbaeur. You must
have extremely good running abilities. I will be pleased if he is not
found wanting in the one-on-one defensive part of the game. He should
be a good reader of the game and must have good passing technique. The
first holding midfielder I saw in the modern game was Dunga – Brazil’s
captain to the 1994 World Cup. He was really a role model for that
position, and he had good passing technique, was physically strong and
could run – a very good all-round player.”

The position
Lagerback has in mind suits Sani Kaita to the bone. Mikel Obi will be
the screen in midfield and will occasionally swap positions with Kaita.
Either Etuhu or Ayila will also fit into the Kaita role. The U-23 star
has also shown that he can pass the ball. But the important trait is
that he can defend, but he should be more disciplined.

For a coach that is
impressed with Dunga’s playing style, Kaita will be in serious
reckoning to play the screen for the defence. Kaita is a workaholic,
who loves defending. So, expect this guy to be in the starting line-up.

Given Lagerback’s
thoughts on the role of a play maker, the Eagles may not play with a
playmaker per se in South Africa but with a shadow striker, who has the
attributes but more importantly, is expected to score his fair share of
goals:

“If you talk about
the playmaker, the typical No.10, I think they are disappearing more
and more from the game. In today’s game, I would rather call him a
shadow striker, and he must definitely have offensive skills.

“Zinedine Zidane
was the typical playmaker, but there is also Dirk Kuyt. They have the
same characteristics. When you talk about the shadow striker, the only
difference is that the shadow striker must also be able to score. It is
not that important that the playmaker is a clinical goal scorer in the
penalty area.”

Osaze Odemwingie is
about the only player that fits the shadow striker mode. He possesses
guile, can shoot with both legs and is good running at defences. So, in
the Locomotiv Moscow striker, we may have another certainty for the
Eagles starting line-up.

Defence

The new Eagles coach likes his defenders to be tall. He says in the interview:

“For the centre
half, it is important that he is tall, at least 185m, and he must be
good in the air. That is a quality that I think is needed today. For
me, the most important thing is that he can defend.”

Where does that
leave Onyekachi Apam and Obinna Nwaneri, compared to players like Danny
Shittu and Joseph Yobo? Danny Shittu and Joseph Yobo are the tallest
players in that department. Rabiu Afolabi of Red Bull Salzburg in
Austria may come into serious reckoning now that Amodu Shuaibu has left
the team.

Lagerback continues, regarding the centre half:

“He can move the
ball well, attack well and win one-on-one situation. I want them to be
tough, if I can use that word, but if they want to play at the highest
level, he must have a good passing technique and a good understanding
of how to start the attack. But my priority is that he must be a good
defender.”

Going by this
comment, one of the toughest defenders in the current Eagles team is
Danny Shittu. He is also always 100 per cent committed to the national
cause.

Lagerback believes
that for the team to be really solid at the back, there has to be
proper co-ordination in the midfield and defence:

“In the midfield
and in the back four, it is important that you have good leadership
because they can see much more. So, if you have good leadership from
those playing the central defence, I think that is very good. They can
also talk a little bit more from that position. Talking of centre
backs, they have all the players in front of them so perhaps, they have
the best overview of how the team is working.”

The combination
will likely be Yobo, who will also captain the side, and Shittu. The
only place where they need to work on is communication and
concentration. If Lagerback is able to instil that discipline he is
noted for on the defence line, the Eagles may stop letting in cheeky
goals.

For the goal
keepers, just like former German handler, Berti Vogts, Lagerback’s
preference is for big guys to man the goal posts. Austin Ejide stands
in good stead in this regard. But in terms of agility, concentration
and ability in one-on-one situation, Vincent Enyeama should be first
choice in South Africa. The Swede says of this department:

“The length of the
goal keeper is very important with the number of crosses that are
coming in. The goalkeeper ideally should be tall. Understanding and
reading the game are also vital. As the games are now faster, he cannot
handle back-passes. You must also be very quick to react in today’s
game (agility). You need a keeper that is an athlete and he must be
brave of course, because there are a lot of situations where you have
to dive at somebody’s feet and all. I also think they must have a
special quality in concentration.”

Lagerback seems to
have a clear idea of what he wants. Whether he achieves the semi-final
target the NFF has set remains to be seen. He knows quite clearly that
he faces a daunting task, but he seems primed to give it a good shot.
At his unveiling two weeks ago he had said:

“I think it is
quite possible for Nigeria to reach the semi-finals in South Africa. I
think every coach, every country going into a competition, always have
their aim on winning it.”

Well said, but for $1.5 million, anybody can say such. He went further to qualify why he said the above.

“You have good
individual skills in Nigeria, so if we can get that together with the
players, I think we have a fairly good chance to go far in the World
Cup.”

All the players have been told that there are no automatic shirts.

“You have to prove
yourself but like they say in football, let the feet do the talking. I
have always been impressed by the Super Eagles and Nigerian football.”

His optimism aside,
the truth may be that for most Nigerian football fans, he will truly be
judged, not on his ability to meet this semi-final benchmark, but on
whether he is able to restore confidence in our football.