Headlines
Super Eagles to Get $95,000 Each for AFCON Win
The Super Eagles players are on a massive $95,000 bonus each to win the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, Sports Extra reports.
The Eagles are already guaranteed $10,000 for their 1-0 win over Burundi on Saturday. They are also guaranteed $20,000 if they win their remaining Group B matches against Guinea and Madagascar.
The players will receive $12,500 should they record another win in the round of 16.
Gernot Rohr’s men will get $15,000 and $17,500 respectively for victories in the quarter-final and the semi-final, while a win in the final will see the three-time AFCON winners earn a $20,000 match bonus each.
“Group stage wins: $10k; Round of 16: $12.5k; QF: $15k; SF: $17.5k. And if they win the final: $20k. So, each player would earn $95,000 for winning AFCON2019,” a member of the Nigeria Football Federation’s Reforms Committee, Osasu Obayiuwana, disclosed.
He added that Rohr would earn twice the amount of what his players get, while goalkeepers trainer and assistant coach Alloy Agu and Imama Amapakabo will receive 75 per cent of what Rohr gets. The backroom staff are entitled to 75 per cent of what the players earn.
The Eagles take on the Syli Nationale of Guinea in their next Group B match on Wednesday, at the Alexandria stadium.
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
