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Karim Benzema’s agent, Karim Djaziri, has insisted that the player is not leaving Real Madrid this summer. The French striker has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal and it is understood that Arsene Wenger will wait until late in the window to launch a bid for the 27-year-old. However, Djaziri says his client will not leave the Santiago Bernabeu this year.

Wenger Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, said the thought of retirement makes him “panic”. Wenger is gearing up for his 20th year at the helm in London, following his arrival from Nagoya Grampus, and the 65-year-old Frenchman has showed no signs of slowing down. Long-time rival, Alex Ferguson, walked away from Manchester United in 2013, after 27 successful years at Old Trafford.

Nigeria's 36 state governors have denied asking for a federal bailout to help bankrupt states clear salary backlog. The governors, who met on Wednesday at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum, said the money recently shared to states was from the dividends paid by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have confirmed that Vincent Enyeama has been pardoned and will continue as the captain of the Super Eagles. There were initials thoughts that the NFF chiefs had planned to strip Enyeama of his role as captain of the Super Eagles after he was queried for making unguarded comments about the choice of Kaduna for last month's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Chad which the former African champions won 2-0.

President Obama covered a wide range of issues in his interview with the BBC's Jon Sopel Barack Obama spoke with the BBC ahead of his trip to East Africa. Here is the full transcript of North America Editor Jon Sopel's conversation with the US president. Going to Kenya

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) would soon present a new minimum wage proposal to the Federal Government, President of the congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said yesterday. The proposal is hinged on the elapse of the circle of the N18,000 minimum wage this year following the promulgation of the Act by the National Assembly in 2011.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) has said that online degrees are not accepted in the country as of the moment but may change after the commission has fine-tuned its grading parameters. Spokesperson of the commission, Ibrahim Usman Yakasai on Thursday said this while addressing newsmen in Abuja following a report published by Daily Trust titled: 'Maryam Abacha American University of Niger, NUC square up over degrees.'