CROSS KOPA YAKURR

With the domestic season now finished, Ben Lyttleton looks ahead to what awaits us at Euro 2016 in France. With less than two weeks before the start of the European Championship, and the deadline for squads to be submitted coming on Tuesday, expectations are building ahead of what will be a fascinating tournament in France. Here are some storylines which we can expect to hear more of once the kick-off comes around next month. Complaints about the format Eighteen months of qualifying can seem terribly dreary when most fans are able to predict the identity of the final tournament teams once the qualifiers have been drawn. That was not the case this time around, with the increased format to 24 teams in France making the qualifiers far more exciting, with shocks including Slovakia beating Spain, Ireland beating Germany, Albania beating Portugal, and Netherlands missing out altogether. One argument for the larger teams slipping up was that, quite simply, they could, because the enlarged...

My compatriots: It is one year today since our administration came into office. It has been a year of triumph, consolidation, pains and achievements. By age, instinct and experience, my preference is to look forward, to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead and rededicate the administration to the task of fixing Nigeria. But I believe we can also learn from the obstacles we have overcome and the progress we made thus far, to help strengthen the plans that we have in place to put Nigeria back on the path of progress. We affirm our belief in democracy as the form of government that best assures the active participation and actual benefit of the people. Despite the many years of hardship and disappointment, the people of this nation have proved inherently good, industrious tolerant, patient and generous.  The past years have witnessed huge flows of oil revenues. From 2010 average oil prices were $100 per barrel. But economic and security conditions were deteriorating. We campaig...

Good morning guys. We'll begin an interesting series this morning through which quotes will be uploaded on an ALMOST daily basis for you to get prepared for your moment which is definitely going to come. They're not tips for success, they're not necessarily secrets to happiness; they are what youll need to be prepared for the moment that'll come at the right time.   Take this one as I'm stressing the need to tread carefully when choosing the path(s) to go. Believe me, not all high paying jobs will give you satisfaction. You're meant to do what you enjoy & enjoy what you do. The moment you start Doing something then forcing yourself to enjoy doing it, you should know you've probably gone through the wrong channel. It's this way; Enjoy the prospect of doing something, then do it. One post from @thinkgrowprosper captivated me..it reads " If you're not excited about it, it's probably not the right path". Enjoy your day.

From the Publicity CDS group of Yakurr Local government area,  Cross River state, we wish Nigerians at home and in diaspora a very happy democracy day. May God bless the federal republic of Nigeria .

Eleven officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission who supervised the 2015 general elections in Gombe State have admitted to receiving N120m out of the N23bn ($115m) allegedly disbursed by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The revelation comes about a month after the EFCC arrested a former Resident Electoral Commissioner in Rivers State, Mrs. Gesila Khan, and other top INEC officials in the South-South for allegedly receiving N675.1m from Diezani. Sources at the EFCC told our correspondent on Friday that the 11 officials had been interrogated and had made confessional statements. A detective at the anti-graft agency told our correspondent that the electoral officers, who were in charge of the 11 local government areas of Gombe State, reported at the Gombe State zonal office of the commission on Thursday. The detective said, “They have made useful statements and most of them hav...

As sensational American singer, Alicia Keys rendered her amazing songs in the opening ceremony of the UCL final in Milan, it meant two things; Realmadrid being clear favorites will go ahead and conquer europe for the 11th time. You won't for a second think that Atletico madrid were pushovers. Definitely not. They have grown to own one of the most coordinated defences in world football. Which takes us to the second point we were to watch out for; They were huge contenders. And so it happened in the 15th minute that captain, Sergio ramos lit up the san siro and sent a signal straight to the red men from madrid which reads " We are Realmadrid ". Atletico certainly looked clueless after the first goal from the same man who began thier condemnation in lisbon 2 seasons ago in the same tournament. He just joined an elite group of four defenders to score in a UCL final. But they steady grew in confidence,  controlling midfield with intent, luis felipe and saul exchanging...

President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors have ruled out elaborate celebrations to mark this year's democracy day and their one year in service. Previous years have seen administrations mark May 29, Nigeria's democracy day with fanfare. This year's is in fact particularly special as it doubles President Buhari's one year in leadership. But it was learnt that tomorrow's event will be without grand celebrations. One week long activities are usually lined up to mark the annual occasion. It has been reported that this year's celebrations would not be elaborate due to the economic crisis facing the country. It was learnt that to commemorate the day, the president would only make a nationwide broadcast on Sunday. The president is expected to use this broadcast to list the achievements of his administration since taking over from Goodluck Ebele Jonathan last year. He also promised to disclose the amount so far recovered by his administration from looters in his ...

Students of various Schools across Ugep, Yakurr LGA came out in mass today to support their ' gallant' marchers in the nationwide celebration of Children's day. See pictures.

Portuguese international, Jose Mourinho who had been without job since being sacked by Chelsea fc last December has finally ended speculation on the vacant Manchester United managerial sit by signing with the Red Devils on a 3-year deal. Mourinho succeeds Dutch veteran, Louis van Gaal who recently won United their first trophy since Sir Ferguson's departure. Mourinho had been touted favorite to land the job even with LVG on sit and his arrival has even added more sense of anticipation to a forthcoming premier league season which will have some of the world's finest managers with luxury of funds to challenge for the highly coveted Premier league crown. José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix is arguably the most successful head coach in world football with an amazing trophy laden career that begun at Fc Porto with two primeira liga titles , the UEFA cup and the UEFA champions league over a period of one year. He went on to Chelsea , Realmadrid and had his second spell with the b...

The Local government Inspector,  Mr Dominic Brown speaking to corps members after today's CDS meeting , has expreseed displeasure at the lack of discipline corp members show towards the weekly CDS meetings in terms of late coming and absenteeism. CDS group meetings were scanty as at 10am this morning and was quite displeasing to the LI who attended his first official CDS along with CDS coordinator for Yakurr LGA, Mrs Reginna. He held a closed door meeting with all CDS presidents afterwards and decided that strict measures be taken to latecomers and even absentees. CDS presidents could now begin to hand clearance to members before every monthly clearance. He also admonished corpers to maintain the proper NYSC  dress code when going for any official assignment. The date for june  monthly clearance has not been decided however.