Society-Watch – Page 2

CAF Awards 2023; Osimhen, Oshoala Emerges Africa Best, Set Records

…as Nigeria also Produces Best Women Goalkeeper and Best Female National Team

It was a night of glory for Nigerian players and National Teams as the 2023 edition of CAF Awards was dominated by the green white green soccer stars.

Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen won the CAF 2023 Men’s Player of The Year award. He saw off competition from Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi, Senegal’s Sadio Mane, and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah, among others.

The 24-year-old, standing at 1.85m indeed stood tall among his peers, with the award coming after a lengthy 24-year wait since Super Eagles legend, Kanu Nwankwo last received the honour in 1999.

The Nigerian striker had a thunderous form in the last 2022/2023 football season. He helped his Italian club side, Napoli, win their third Scudetto 33 years after the era of the late Argentinian legend, Diego Maradona.

Super Falcons striker Asisat Oshoala also won a record sixth African Women’s Player of the Year Award.

Oshoala, who plays club football for Barcelona, beat South Africa’s Thembi Klagtlana and Zambia’s Barbara Banda to the award.

The 27-year-old played a key role in Barcelona Femeni’s UEFA Women’s Champions League success last season.

The Barcelona Femeni star becomes the first woman to claim the award for a record sixth time in 2022. Recall she was also a 2023 Ballon d’Or nominee.

Nigeria has become the first country to produce the men and women winner of the Africa Player of the Year.

Chiamaka Nnadozie was equally crowned the 2023 CAF Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year.

Nnadozie beat Moroccan shot-stopper Khadija El-Rmichi and South Africa’s Andile Olaminii to win the crown.

The Super Falcons goalie was heroic for Nigeria at the Women’s World Cup with her brave performance against Olympic champions Canada, making three saves, including stopping a 50th-minute penalty from Christine Sinclair.

The Super Falcons would go on to secure a goalless draw in the game with Nnadozie bagging the Player of the Match award.

The Nigerian female football team, Super Falcons, walked away with the 2023 Confederation of African Football award for the National Team of the Year.

The year’s award came off the back of an impressive showing at the World Cup earlier in the year.

The Falcons were knocked out of the competition in the round of 16 at the hands of England after losing on penalty shootouts.

Before the defeat, the Super Falcons did not lose a match in their three group games. They drew Olympic champions Canada, shock co-hosts Australia, and settled for a point against the Republic of Ireland.

Tourism; ITPN Hosts Lagos Tourism Roundtable 2

Inducts LALOTO and others

No Country in The World Has Developed Without Their Diaspora – Chief Akinboboye

Newly Inducted ITPN Members with the National President

The Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN) hosted the second edition of its annual event; the Lagos Tourism Roundtable on Thursday November 23, 2023 with the Theme; Diaspora Tourism: An Untapped Niche in Lagos State.

Chief Olawanle Akinboboye, Chairman of La’Campagne Tropicana and Beach Resort is the guest speaker. The tourism guru in his speech emphasized the need for government to create enabling environment for Diaspora Tourism because that’s the future of tourism.

In his words, “no country in the world has ever developed without the diaspora. This is the reason why I came back and entered the bush at age 27. My aim was to begin the tourism revolution here in Nigeria and spread it across Africa. I thereafter established SET that stands for Security, Entertainment and Tourism and that, I’m sure, will revolutionize tourism in our continent”, he boasted.

ITPN National President, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo (FITPN) and Chief Olawanle Akinboboye with LALOTO Members

In his contribution, National President of Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo (FITPN) said diaspora tourism include those that reside abroad and those who were there but decided to relocate back home. There experience he said, was the needed instrument for the growth of tourism.

ITPN Lagos State’s Chapter Chairman, Dr. Mesewaku (FITPN) with LALOTO President, Mr. Damilare Shoye (MITPN)

Earlier at the event, ITPN Lagos State’s Chapter and main organizing committee Chairman, Dr. Babatunde Olaide-Mesewaku (FITPN) described diaspora tourism as an unarguable “future of tourism along the West Coast of Africa of which Nigeria occupies very strong position”.

The National Vice President (South/West Zone), Otunba Ayo Olumoko (FITPN) commended the effort of the one-year old State chapter at sustaining the Lagos Tourism Roundtable discussion.

Among the newly inducted members were the Heads of Tourism Units in all the 57 Lagos State Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas and many others within the tourism ecosystem.

Lekki LCDA Celebrates World Sight Day, Gives Free Drugs, Eye Glasses

Lekki Local Council Development Area in conjunction with the Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA), Lagos Chapter celebrated the 2023 World Sight Day with free eye check, consultation and distribution of free drugs and eye glasses.

The event held on Thursday October 12, 2023 at the Council Secretariat witnessed large turn out of residents of the Council area who came to seek remedy for their eye challenges.

MOH/HOD (Lekki LCDA), Dr. Adeleke Awolesi

In his opening remark, the Council’s Medical Officer of Health and Head of the Department of Health and Primary Healthcare Service, Dr. Adeleke Awolesi congratulated NOA for the celebration of year 2023 WSD. He commended the Council Chairman, Hon. Rasak Bamidele Kasali (RBK) for his sincere commitments to ensuring quality healthcare services to both the citizens and residents of Lekki LCDA. He further admonished the people to continue to check their eyes regularly and seek help as the case may be.

Dr. Blessing David is the Council Optometrist. She revealed that Hon. Kasali has attended to various health issues of his constituents. She said this programme in particular was brought to the Council because of his sight intervention programme where he had sponsored many eye surgeries. She however commended the Chairperson of NOA, Lagos Branch Dr. Gloria “who brought this whole good tidings to Lekki from Essilor lensses and Aventra Drugs.

In celebrating the World Sight Day, Dr. David called on the good people of Lekki LCDA to ‘love their eyes at work’ which is the theme of this year’s WSD. She said, “next to life God’s most important gift is the gift of sight and as we commonly say; na eye wey dey see dey work”.

The Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA) team consist of Dr. Mary Ochuko of Radiant Eye Clinic and the medical team of Lekki LCDA.

86-Year Old Blind Herbalist Dupes An Elderly Woman of N19 Million, Sleeps With Daughter and Granddaughter

An elderly woman is currently battling to retrieve N19 million from a blind herbalist who allegedly defrauded her under the pretext of healing her child and making money rituals for her.

The desperate attempt of an aged woman to prevent death from snatching her children has landed her in trouble. The 86-year-old woman identified simply as Madam Alimot had 15 children, but they were snatched by death one after the other until she was left with only three.

When one of the remaining children was also hit by a strange illness last year, the octogenarian woman began a frantic search for healing. In the process, she stumbled on a weekly programme on a popular radio station based in Ogun State, where a blind herbalist was advertised as a man with mystical powers to heal the sick and see visions about people’s life problems.

Consequently, Madam Alimot, who lives in Mowe area of Ogun State, visited the herbalist, Owolabi Adefemi a.k.a. Ojunu after taking down the his phone number and address, at his home in Ogijo, another community in Ogun State, for a solution to the sickness that had seized her daughter.

Unknown to her, she had walked into the dragnet of a fraudster. Adefemi was said to have told the woman that death was hovering around her household and could only be averted through an atonement requiring a sacrifice with a cow.

The desperate woman promptly provided the amount requested for the sacrifice, setting off a chain of subsequent requests for additional money for unexpected sacrifices that gulped a princely N19 million.

By the time the scales fell off from the eyes of the woman and her children, she had sold her two buildings while her daughter and granddaughter had warmed the herbalist’s bed several times.

The homeless aged woman and her children are now left to cry for justice and a refund of the money the herbalist allegedly defrauded them of.

She said she had noticed that rather than giving her a concoction for the treatment of her daughter’s illness, the herbalist kept saying he could make her rich after making some sacrifice with cows and other expensive items.

Alimot said: “He said we were taking the big cow to Agbara and later changed it to Mowo area of Badagry.

“We were asked to enter the house with our back to the door, and we saw a well-built young man on the floor. He said the cow we gave him money to buy had turned into a man.

“He asked me to pray on the young man’s body and stab him to death but I declined. They took our photographs and I challenged him to take our photograph at the scene while I held the knife in my hand.

“We were shown plenty of cash of different denominations stuffed in a sack.

“Babalawo Ojunu (Owolabi Adefemi) and one old man called Agbaakin, who we met in the building, then said that we could not take the money because we did not come with the third person. We left the place without the money.

“When we went back to him, he also did not give us the money. Instead, he said the money would just appear in my house with at night.

” Later, he said a monarch in Ile-Ife, Osun State had summoned him over my matter and that a sum of N2 million was needed to pacify the monarch.

“We ended up paying him the sum of N5 million on that day, but he never gave me any charm for my sick child and the child has not died contrary to what he said to cajole me to sell my houses and give him the proceeds of the sale.

“I sold the house I had built with N9 million for N5 million and gave him the money. I also sold another house and gave him the money, totalling about N19 million.

“I want to collect my money from Owolabi Adefemi a.k.a. Ojunu and Nigerians should help me because I don’t have anywhere to call home anymore

Credit: The Nation

President Tinubu To Address The Nation

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will make a broadcast to the nation on Monday, July 31, 2023 at 7 pm.

This was contained in a press release by the state house titled; President Tinubu Broadcast To The Nation and signed by the Special Adviser to the President (Special Duties, Communications and Strategy) dated July 30, 2023.

Television, radio stations and other electronic media outlets are enjoined to hook up to the network services of the Nigerian Television Authority and Radio Nigeria for the broadcast.