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2020 Olympic Ticket: Egyptian Embassy Denied Nigeria Visa To Have Edge- Orbih

Published

5 years ago

February 24, 2020

….As Federation Set to Petition, Egypt, BWF

Joel Ajayi

The President of Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) Mr. Francis Orbih, has revealed that the Egyptian embassy denied Nigeria’s Badminton players visa to participate at the just concluded All Africa Senior Championships in Cairo, Egypt was a calculated attempt for them
to have an edge for the 2020 Olympic ticket.

To this end, the federation will petition both the Egypt Olympic Committee (EOC) and the Badminton World Federation, (BWF) over the denial and late issuance of visa for Team Nigeria at the recently concluded All Africa Senior Championships in Cairo, Egypt.

BFN president on Thursday in a chat with newsmen in Abuja, that said there was a need to petition EOC over the late and denial of visa for Team Nigeria so as to stop future occurrence, adding that the incident as affected Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020
Olympics in Japan.

According to him, it was a terrible experience for the federation team

and the entire Nigerian.

“Egyptian embassy purposely denied us visa because they don’t want us to play them, they know they can’t beat Nigeria, we went to morocco last year it took us two days to get our Visa, and they knew what they do.

“And we are not going to fold our hands, we will write a protest letter to petition the Badminton World Federation and we copy the IOC and the African body because the damage has been done already, but we don’t want it to be swept under the carpet, because some many people
have protested that the Arab countries always do that to other countries’’ he said.

“Already the NOC has written a protest letter to the EOC and copied the badminton world federation and badminton confederation of Africa.”

‘’For BCA in which am a member we are going to suggest on some certain conditions that a country must meet before they can host any international competitions which part of is to give visas to very participating teams’’.

“Two umpires who were given invitations for the games was refused visa until today the Egyptian embassy has not given us reason why they didn’t give us the visas on time after summiting all the requirement ten working days before the events which has fueled suspicion of
deliberate sabotage and foul play by the embassy. This negates all tenets of Fair Play and Sportsmanship’’.

It would be recalled that Team Nigeria played in 3 of the 5 finals at the African championships despite all challenges and frustrations which saw the team missing the Thomas and Uber cup qualifiers (Team event) of the championship.

‘’It was a psychological war fear because the Egyptians knew that Nigeria was a big threat to them that is why we encountered problems in securing visas, that resulted in the Nigerian team failing to qualify for the team event in Thomas & Uber Cups in France ’’ he
added.

Despite this performance, Dorcas Adesokan is still on course to qualify for the Olympics while Anu Opeyori and Godwin Olofua face a more difficult task of qualification.

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Featured

RMRDC: Making Giant Strides Under Prof. Nnanyelugo Martins Ike-Muonso

Published

12 hours ago

September 19, 2024

The Gleamer

By Joel Ajayi

As we embark on a journey, we always pray for an able, experienced, and courageous driver, pilot, or sailor depending on the means of transportation.

This is because the captain will have enough experience and boldness to navigate out of turbulence and to bring all the passengers and crew to the intended destination.

Interestingly, these fine qualities of ability, experience, boldness, and many more, abound in the man, Prof. Nnanyelugo Martins Ike-Muonso, who we all are pleased was appointed the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, RMRDC, the Director General/CEO by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu a few months ago. This is because he has brought his knowledge, ability, experience, and doggedness to bear in carrying out his assignment in charge of the Council.

The RMRDC, operating under the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, is pivotal in driving Nigeria’s industrial growth by optimizing local raw materials exploitation, development, and utilization. RMRDC, ab initio, was conceived as a child of necessity when Nigeria was reeling from the throes of global recession and plummeting crude oil prices.

Without an iota of doubt, today, the council is experiencing a transformation with massive innovation in raw material exploitation, development, and utilization, supporting business and industrial growth, and contributing to Nigeria’s economic prosperity.

Speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday, in Abuja to commemorate his 100 days in office, he said the council is laying a solid foundation through numerous innovations that will further enhance growth in the country.

According to him, “In the past 100 days, my strategic pursuits have been to lay solid foundations for enduring success in these goals.

“Upon assuming this position, I set five crucial deliverables which include, refocusing the Council as a premier research institution; Strengthening the Council’s productivity and operational efficiency; and Significantly improving the staff welfare to be the best in the class of similar organizations.

“Others include, Boosting the Council’s visibility and instituting remarkable culture change that encourages ownership and productivity as well as Strengthening and deepening the Council’s place in the international arena.”While speaking on his Achievements so far, the DG revealed further: “My first task, therefore, was to implement a strategic goal-setting for the Council’s staff to define and set out clear objectives and targets to be achieved by the Council within a specified period towards refocusing on this historical mandate. We unleashed five significant initiatives in that regard.

“The nationwide raw material data collection exercise that focused on technical and investment information to drive our mission forward.

“The restructuring and renaming of the former Technology Innovation Complex (TIC), at the Obasanjo Space Center at Airport Road, Abuja, to a Research and Demonstration Plants Complex (RDPC). This complex will be Africa’s first center of excellence in raw material research, featuring state-of-the-art laboratories, technology development workshops, and proof of concept demonstrations.

“We have reactivated the Council’s Journal and repositioned it internationally. The repositioned Journal of Raw Material Research (JORMAR) will host RMRDC’s researchers’ publications, which are crucial in promoting awareness, facilitating knowledge sharing, and informing stakeholders about the opportunities and challenges in Nigeria’s raw materials sector. “The collaboration with universities and academies will strengthen our capacity for conducting market-guided research, ensuring sustained workforce training while deepening our orientation in science.

“The council has reformulated a new template for all our research proposals to ensure and sustain a clear departure from the old culture of blue-sky and deliberately endless research.”Speaking further, Prof Nwanyelugo Martins Ike-Muonso stated that Staff welfare remains a top priority as an issue of unpaid salaries is settled as well as set up a comprehensive welfare program. “Similarly, we established the RMRDC Training School to sustainably build our staff and stakeholders’ capacity to further the staff welfare improvement goal.

“We are committed to openness, inclusiveness, and performance management and have initiated steps to continuously improve staff ownership, orchestrate transformative culture change, boost our corporate visibility, and enhance.

“To further strengthen our visibility and communication strategies, we are upgrading our media infrastructure, which includes the launch of the RMRDC online media platform, The RMRDC TV Online.

“Additionally, we are working hard to effectively enhance the intellectual property and patent portfolio of RMRDC from its current 40 to approximately 200 new patents within the next 24 months. This proactive approach secures valuable IP assets and positions the Council as a leader in innovation within the raw materials sector, contributing to Nigeria’s overall economic growth.“As well as launching an e-registration and certification portal to enhance transparency in the raw materials sector,” DG revealed.

He however reaffirmed his commitment to reshape the future of research, technology, and innovation, driving Nigeria towards an industrially vibrant and technologically resilient economy.

“As I mark 100 days in office, I boldly say that the Council is on the verge of rewriting its history.

“I believe that in no distant future, RMRDC will play a leading role in enhancing raw materials’ development to boost raw materials’ industrial trial processing and attain sustainable industrial growth in Nigeria.

The DG, however, applauded the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, for his unwavering support and mentorship, saying the Minister’s leadership has been instrumental in the progress made so far.

In his opening remarks, the Directorate of Corporate Affairs, Mr Chucks Ngaha commended the hard-working DG who has weathered the storm further to put the Council on the ladder of more prosperity.

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