World Cup, Nigeria, blah blah blah blah

Those of you who followed me here from the old blog will be familiar with the rants. Those who are new may find it annoying. Well! too bad, just ignore them.

Unbelievable! Even I have to say something about the World Cup.

First I have to admit that I am a little sad that I am missing it. At first I thought that my timing for leaving South Africa was great since it would mean that would avoid the all traffic nightmare and zillions of tourists during the World Cup but honestly in retrospect I am sorry that I am missing it... at least a little bit sorry.

The team I had picked was Nigeria.

How does one pick a team when one knows nothing about soccer? Hard to tell.

A friend of mine (who is in South Africa) emailed saying that she saw Chile vs Honduras and she supported Honduras because of the two it was the only flag she could find in the shops! Honduras lost to Chile but still she said it was great to watch the match live.

I had picked Nigeria for reasons I do not recall but since I did not follow the Cup at all and had no idea what had happened to them. Now I am in Canada I have easy access to the internet and I found out that they didn't do well. In fact it went as far as the Nigerian president banning the team from international competitions for the next two years. (You realize that when the text shows up in colour like this it is a link, right?)

Is it me, or is it crazy for a president, anywhere, to ban a soccer team from international competitions?

Hasn't he got better things to worry about?

I do think that they have other issues. Every single country on the planet has other issues more pressing than football/soccer.
Arunma Oteh, I would venture a guess, is a Nigerian which may have other things on her mind. Since January Arunma Oteh has been the boss of Nigeria's Securities and Exchange Commission.

I haven't been following the news so I don't know anything about her, but I tell you, I don't envy her job!!

Here is an extract of the BBC World article I linked you to:

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- " "Oteh faces severe resistance," said one economist, asking not to be named.

"It's coming from very influential, powerful individuals. It is a patronage-intensive society, and their influence extends well into government."

Just months into the job, Ms Oteh faces a legal action, questioning her qualifications.

"It's laughable," says Ms Oteh, a former vice-president of the African Development Bank with a Harvard MBA" ....etc etc etc
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