 Thank you for staying with us. You're still watching The Breakfast on Plus TV Africa and right now It's time to take stories that are happening in Nigeria and making headlines in Nigeria and across the globe Joining us to review the papers is G.D. Jensen. He's a chief lecturer Nigerian Institute of Journalism, but he's joining us here from Lagos State. Good morning, sir Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. All right So we're starting with the business NG and the major headline here is says NLC TUC to embark on a nation-wide strike and even on the Guardian as well It says labor intensifies pressure gives federal government 14 days to address hardship and hunger I'd like to know your thoughts on this one well How many times has given Advanced notice of going to strike And I'm very time particularly in the last eight years and how many time I've been successful in carrying out the strike As far as I am concerned about I'm always of this family that's tried does not Not really sort of problem because at the end of the you go and strike you cripple the economy you render the private sector And don't forget that it's only a few percentage Of the Nigerian population that are working in public in public service The bulk of Nigerian Are working in the private sector and particularly most Nigerians are self-employed. They operate We bring the small and medium-scale enterprise. So when they strike the government Officials those working in public service at the end of the day We get paid their salaries However, those that are operating There's more medium-scale enterprise. What form of politics do they get from government? With respect to the losses they are going to encounter During during this during the strike and I think that They allow strike using strike to stop To to to to address socio-political and economic issues nationally Should should be looked into another strategy should should be designed So what other strategy can you advise? For example, could we have could we have rallies could we occupy government offices And ensure that where government offices does not function Whereas people can go about the normal businesses and run the own private Private enterprise could we have that we have a situation whereby we render asurok In capacity that's what by requiring all the public servants that are working. They're not to go to work The governor's offices across the length and breadth of the nation The Secretariat across the length and breadth of nation comes in terms of Sit sit down and not work. That's my my ideas. My look Well Not not not Not effective or not appealing to my but I've seen over time in my little years on That what do we achieve at the end of strikes? Strikes that have been embarked upon by various labor leaders Since I became knowledgeable about about about about Nigerian Labor Congress and and it's consequent In effect on shipping government policies and government government programs at the end of the day When people have jaded off on the strike, you see the labor also calling off those strikes Okay, so I mean you you spoke about rallies instead of strikes, right? um But then my question now is there were some people because rallies might you know seem like a protest And there were some people who went into the streets of Mina protesting against the hardship and hunger and then they got arrested And when we're talking about strikes, I remember when I was much younger Adams of Schoenmole was like, you know, the The leader of the nlcs at that time and when you just even have a wave that the nlc is going on strike The federal government is already coming into, you know, the Negotiation room and trying to see what can happen. So we don't go on strike But these days the federal government even folds their hands like yes, you say you're going on strike Well, we know that you might not go on strike. So is it that the nlc has been watered down And then too if we start to do these rallies, what if people get arrested and then they turn into a world A worldwide, okay. Well, not worldwide, but they turn into a protest that we might not be able to contain You've seen that those that were before from the strike during the pdp administration the strike was a bit recurrent Incessant and now in government, you see that's that's that's not the era of Getting involved in strikes. So during the during the during the during the Schoenmole And then when we Schoenmole became governor, where the type is how Tolerant was he or strives in a ghost Outer land was he Against public protest or any form of dissent expressed by people in response to their dissatisfaction Of his policy. So as far as I'm concerned the politicization of libo. They are involved. Okay. Look at what happened with the nlc president the current nlc president when I was trying to get involved in the politics of you state You know what happened with respect to death How do I do not approve of him being being battered and utilized by security against because it's an insult on the fundamental Human rights of any citizen. You have the right to protest. You have the right to express your opinion You have the right to express your public dissent petition your government and the rest of it however We just see that It's more or less like okay, even the emergence The dust ordinary union. Let me talk about the industry which I belong to Let's talk about the unions the various union and professional bodies that you have in the media industry. Can you become Um, can you become the president the president of nijangil aveditas? Or you become the national president of nijangil of journalists or other bodies In in in this industry without having any one of political plutonics. You're asking what the political class have done is to infiltrate All Labor congress and ensure that they have control and they have the on-president in there and I tell you, okay Let me even talk about an industry which Um, I said to which I'm very much involved. Let's talk about academic institutions now How many sug president i'm talking about the union president of Universities across the studio union government of universities across the land and play down Nigeria How many of the presidents are independently elected without any interference by the bc Or the governing council of nijangil playing playing a critical role in it determine who becomes the sug president Of of they're not sure you have seen that in the in the in the history of nijangil A protest in the easy of in the history of Anti-government movement populist movement against government it has went over the years because strategically and tactically student union Student unionism has been destroyed has been destroyed because you now have puppets and apologist of those in In in in authority running the student the student the student union union government How many students you know government have you seen that has emerged in the last in the last in the last 20 years? like you have which you're rare or like you have Like you have that world what you raise doing amongst amongst other things so Everybody has become a realistic in their thinking everybody has become a bourgeoisie And not fighting for the interests of the workers and all you just need to do is to take a trip and look at the type of cars The nsc presidents and the various nsc state Chairman are driving or look at the type of houses. They are living or look at the types of Of clothes or shoes they are wearing too Or you look at the union of various organizations union of various corporate organizations established Establish organizations and look at their union leaders or let's talk about a key arm of Protest and rally in Nigeria the national union of road transport workers. Just take a trip and see their leaders And how many people that are comfortable want to fight for the rights of other the world are Interested in maintaining the status quo and the All just they do is just to back a little and once they back a little and some Things were thrown some some turkeys and them state turkey and them roast fried chicken Trun at them Then they stop backing and then the the commentary, you know, we are suspending the strike Who start negotiating with the government at the end of the day? No form of negotiation But the other I have not seen strikes up in this problem. What I'm seeing That is emerging and which is is is going to be a national Inational rally national Inational protest with respect to when people are dissatisfied Common policy. It's it is organic It is it is not it is not them It is not be planned or organized by the Nigerian labor congress. Just take movement globally That's nothing to do. I've asked where have you seen workers protest that are soft problem globally If you have one example, just give it to me and then I'll join my line of thought with respect to my My my non-support for for for strike and the rest of it Okay, let's move to another issue. They From a governor of Lagos state who was a minister in the last administration Fashula wants constitution review to allow states to determine minimum wage. What do you think about that? I don't know how these people how they sleep And now And how they think How they talk before the thing or the thing before the talk Because you have people that have been given responsibility. There hasn't that had influence over shaping government policies Programs and plan and for example, this is a man that has been in government that Had been in government for quarter of a century. It was it was chief of staff for eight years For seven plus years seven years to be precise after after being chief of staff then He became governor for two terms as he was finishing his Governorship, you know, he became minister minister for the first time in the history of Nigeria was assigned three ministry And under the first term of Bari and the second term It was it was it was it was assigned two ministry works on housing and I want to ask him the question How many houses did he build? For example, how many house how many house improvement did he complete with his eight year tenure as as as as as the minister of housing how many How many how many did he build in for example in Lagos? Let me let me particular with Lagos in surfing in in addressing the housing deficit which we have What policy did he put in place? He tried to do the monthly for example the monthly rental water view when he was governor But what what did they give to the execution? All these people are just all folks and because they've had an opportunity There is this intellectual organs and this feeling of that, you know They have the quick fix to solving the problem But when they when when they had the opportunity to to to ship government policies and rest of what did they do with it? And that's that's just my take that's My view and I'm entitled to it if anybody disagrees with his that's his Okay, one point of view to so as far as I'm concerned I don't listen to them because I count them to be relevant because when they had a problem They didn't do anything. They didn't they didn't do anything. Why is he looking for a limelight? I'm talking about issues which he has control over and he's not able to do anything with respect to it while he had That authority Okay, still on the guardian newspaper We have this headline saying that the refs tighten the formation car laws Meet Bajabia Milas three billion covid-19 fund allegation. It's been an issue People accusing him that he had misappropriated the funds and all that so Reps are now tightening deformation laws amid uh, this issue of uh, covid-19 funds. What do you think? Well, if you look at the With respect to disbursement of covid-19 fund whether in Nigeria or in Great Britain Or in the United States of America across governments all over the world There have been series of allegations Encounter allegations with respect to the management of that of that of that fund and Talking presently, you know that The issue of the management of that fund or mismanagement of that fund code on code Is also responsible for why the minister the current minister for For for monetary affairs is on that suspension We seems not to be hearing anything with respect to investigation into that particular matter There's no way the speaker will not be involved. Don't forget that Bajaz also has always been involved in comments since 2003 that he became As a rep member he's been minority leader. He's been majority leader and he's been speaker. So for the past for the past for the past Now he's chief of staff So let me talk conveniently that for the past 13 years Bajaz has been in the corridor of powers at the national level Shipping and influencing government government government policy. So there's no way that anything And don't also forget that the power of the post belongs to the to the legislature Is legislator that have the right to debate And and and legalize whatever appropriation deal that is put before before it So There's no way that One way or the other he must not have deep on his hand in the cookie job Allegedly and then if you also look at some of the things some of the projects that he commissioned recently Which in gravely it was it was it was more or less reported Like it is his personal money that he used to do national project Then you begin to wonder How are we able to separate a private life from a public life and what should be public fund and what should be Our private funds and running project. So let them tighten it if they try to make the law Um because of one person it will help the system in gravely because it will come back to for information I'm totally against blackmail. I'm totally against Deformation I've always said it when I teach my student. I said it's only a thin line that separates Your exclusive investigative stories about about about an individual From the formation. So you must be able to to to separate to to to to separate the two you must be able to to separate Your being objective or being balanced in your reporting from being blackmailing Public official or disparaging the public official from his management of what so as far as I'm concerned I'm totally disparaging of public officials. I'm totally against you Engaging in character assassination or trying to get bought. It's also important for the public the right of the public to know What is really what is really happening? There's always an attempt by those in authority I was having a discussion with my wife yesterday Yesterday night and we were talking about the evolution of the media and how those in authority have always made an attempt to control There were when newspaper emerged there were attempt to control newspaper to licensing fee the same thing with when TV radio emerged An attempt to control TV by the by the allocation of the frequency and the bandwidth which we treat the operating So it's the same thing that they are trying to do with social media now That okay, you know what we are going to have control So those in authority don't want the public to know what is happening and the those that are operating in the media wants Do you want to they have the they have the the intention and the right to know what those that they have given authority to are doing As far as i'm concerned let the ultimate power belongs to the people so very easy belongs to the people Unfortunately for those in authority Social media has like has liberalized that it has given absolute power To those to the people is the power that belongs to the power that belongs to the people and It's a god-given right the right of expression and the right And the right to self-determination and the right To to to express your thought your views concerning issue within the confines of the law Not disparaging on Trampling on the right of other people so it's it's not in you But i've seen over the years and over time that every attempt by government to control the media The means of public expression has always failed and this will fail is the one thing they don't understand is that Those that have made an attempt to to to to control the media They've they've they've looked at this control from the prison of personalization Personalization of the institution of the state that when it was monacaica government or whether it went when it was an authoritarian government Whichever government you practice Whichever authority you are trying to represent that they are personalized in order to control over the the exchange The free flow of exchange of ideas and information that person or that individual has a time span Whether it's a queen or is a king or is an emperor they will eventually die and when it that's that's reality They are kind of laughs so the time of those that are in government now it will last All right, let's move over to another story This one still on the guardian says government orders release of 102,000 metric tons of rice and maize However, there's still another small story here that says women farmers deny receiving 15 trillion naira agreek intervention so The government is already saying they're about to release 102,000 metric tons, you know of rice and maize to people and I think there was Gary and some other things as well and we asked the question How is this going to be delivered to people? Are they going to sell it for maybe a subsidized? Subsidized rate or are they going to give it out as palliatives? How are we sure that we're even going to get this or benefit from this and is this even The way to go because we're talking about hardship and sufferings of the people So is it giving us rice and Gary that supposed to be our sufferings and then you see women farmers talking about They're really denying that they received 15 trillion naira agreek intervention So is this just a sham? Is this something that they come and they say but they never execute? Well, there's one thing for you to make policy statement and there's the other angle of execution The question I want to ask is that this will be the second time in recent time that the president ordered the release of grains from the strategic reserve So if you have this much greed in the strategic reserve, why have you not released it in order to force down the prices of Goods of goods in the country of commodity of commodity produce in the country. Why have they not done that? They say why do you have to keep something in the reserve when people are actually going on green? I recall that the president or that When the first came in I think about About some few months into this administration the president ordered the release Of strategic green and the president is ordering the release of the strategic green again. The question I want to ask is now why was 100 million are located to each of the hours of representative for them as polity for them to buy greens and share within their constituents Within their constituency When we have the strategic green in reserve, why do we have to go to minister of agreek? To purchase all of these items rise Beans garrie and the rest of it to be distributed as palliative in order to cushion the effect of the removal of All subsidy and then the unified exchange rate. So sometimes when these people talk They think that We we are not intelligent We are just fools and then they can just drop anything in the public space and we take it to climb and sinker without having A mind of our own and it makes me to remember one of the songs of fela Say when you hear after you hear these people talk if you like you cuckoo gege if you know like you cuckoo gege so It's what is saying in effect is that if after you hear these people talk if you like you believe it If you like don't believe it They don't even really care about about about about your thoughts or your feelings to what they have said They just drop whatever they want to drop in the public domain and allow you to debate over it my my If you have this this this and I want people to to show me the images of the release of the previous Greens that the president ordered in the first under within the first three or four months of his administration That is now ordering the release of one again We don't have greens to eat and then they have greens in the strategic reserve and then called talking to about the issue of Whether they have access to to funds Which were meant for farmers we have always said that there's no way in the world that you do You do You do cash transfer You do one form of political intervention of government You you discover that the money that is spent on the logistics for the management of this fund is even much more than the money that is actually released and the beneficiaries of of these funds are actually look All you need to understand is very simple that there is conflict of interest Which quote on quote public official in Nigeria does not have a farm How many of them How many of the staff working in the ministry of our greek? Either at the state level or the federal level does not have a farm What is usually the retirement plan of generals in the Nigerian military structure so when you when when when when beneficiaries of the When executor of government policies are beneficiaries Of such policies there is conflict of interest It don't actually get to the people that you want it actually to get to like our like I appeared on one program And we are talking about this hundred million or no hundred million That the president quote on quote graciously and that's as some of the as of rep members graciously Are located to each Of the as of rep members and I can't record the amount of money that was given To each of the senate and I said why do you have to centralize this month? Why for example the one for my federal constituency? Why not allow the local traders in my federal constituency To supply the beans to supply the rice To supply all what is required And not for it to be done for you to be done by the ministry of our greek Centrally for the for the 360 years of rep members in the process You have not allowed the nutrition in the process You have not allowed the money to flow down to the local areas where the people look the locals themselves can feel The the benefit of being of being citizen and participate in the economic process In we are when it's when it's time to vote the ballard boxes and ballard people We quickly get To the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. We will get to the banana area. We get to the most Unaccessible parts of this country within hours But when it's time to share the socioeconomic benefits it becomes pretty difficult That's a food for thought Well, it's it's really a food for thought. We do hope that The government will be fast about it and there will be more transparent about whatever they're doing because we need to see results because Protests here and there might made one day and it will become something that we cannot contain But this is a good place to leave this This morning. We'd like to thank you. Mr. Jede Johnson for coming on the program. As always, it's a pleasure having had you on the program Thank you for having me and I want to be the super ego success on sunday after the festival I tell you, we could be celebrating if there's one thing that brings Nigerian together You understand that there's a Nigerian spirit. We all love ourselves. We love our country We don't care about our tribe religion Raise or creed when Nigerian plays every Nigerian roots for Nigerian We don't care if 11 of the players are from one section of the country or one or one on one family as far as They are Nigerian putting on the Nigerian spirit Nigerian Jesse putting on the Nigerian flag We all wrote for them and that's the spirit that should guide Our nation and that's the spirit which you use moving moving forward But for political reasons they always fight one way or the other to divide us but united We stand divided we fall once we put that spirit together I can assure you this country will achieve the greatness which is destined for so we wish them success Thank you very much for having us We use this time also to say Those who lost their lives because of the tension watching the The match between Nigerian South Africa Whatever the problem was but they died on that day that Nigerians were celebrating watching the game We pray that their souls may rest in peace All right, we'll go on a short break when we return we'll be looking at our first hot topic. So please stay with us