Jonathan splashes over N300m on athletes, officials

Abuja -President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday splashed over N300 million on athletes and their officials who made the country proud at different international competitions in 2014.

Jonathan announced the cash rewards at a reception in honour of the 351 sports men and women at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Among the athletes were those who participated in the African Senior Athletics Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

Others were participants in the African Youth Games in Gaborone, Botswana; the World Junior Athletics Championships in Oregon, USA, and the 2014 FIFA Female U-20 Football World Cup in Montreal, Canada.

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Ebola Virus Disease and America’s funny hypocrisy

On September 30, 2014 America recorded its first case of Ebola Virus Disease. The source of this unwanted guest to the American soil was himself a guest to America from one of the countries at the centre of the disease. He was Liberia’s Thomas Eric Duncan who was visiting Texas.

Like Nigeria’s index case, Patrick Sawyer, America’s index case was also a Liberian. Like Sawyer, Duncan also tried to conceal the fact that he might have been infected with the disease from medical authorities who sought information on this from him. Asked if he had had any contact with an infected person, Duncan promptly answered in the negative.

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Nigeria threatens South Africa over frozen weapons

Nigeria on Wednesday accused South Africa of blocking a legal arms purchase and threatened retaliation against major South African companies, including telecom giant MTN, if the spat is not resolved.

A top official in the office of Nigeria’s National Security Advisor (NSA) told AFP that the country had an agreement to buy $5.7 million (4.5 million euros) worth of military hardware in a deal brokered by a South African firm.

*Dasuki

The official, who asked that his name be withheld, said Pretoria had frozen cash that had been wired to the South African firm’s account.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority made no immediate comment, but the asset freeze has been widely reported in both Nigerian and South African media.

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