 You can no longer buy agricultural produce directly for farmers in Nigeria. That's the message of the Nigeria's government to foreigners. What's the reasoning behind this new policy? Stay with us on the breakfast to find out. The Nigerian Senate has said no to President Mohamed Buhari. Something that's quite rare these days. We look at the implication of the refusal to amend the electoral acts as requested by Mr. President. And we have incisive analysis of the headlines in today's national dailies. This is the Breakfast in Past TV Africa. Good morning to you. Welcome to the Breakfast in Past TV Africa. What's the beautiful Thursday morning? I'm Kofi Bartels. And I am messable for, it feels really great to be back in your screen. There's a beautiful morning. And of course, as always, we're set off with our top trending conversations. Yes indeed. A lot to talk about mercy. The first one is something that you cannot write. You know when they say you cannot write this script? You can't write. This is what we're talking about. We have one concern. I think we'll talk about that in a second. But let's go first to Ukraine. Of course, the Nigerian government through the Minister of Foreign Affairs tweeting, telling Nigerians that there's some good news. Criticism coming the way of the federal government. Regarding how quick or slow they have been to evacuate Nigerians from Ukraine. Especially Nigerian students who form the majority of the Nigerians in Ukraine. But some good news. As the Nigerian government on Tuesday began evacuation of students who were stuck in Sumi. Sumi is a troubled city in northeast Ukraine. One of those cities where you have the Russians already in. So before now, there would have been no hope of getting people out. But the Russians from what you call a humanitarian corridor. Simply saying that we're going to allow people who want to leave leave. We are fighting. We are bombing. We are shooting. But for those who are civilians who want to leave, opening the way they can drive out, move out for medical convoys who are coming to the city to treat the wounded. Or to take people who are wounded to hospital. We are allowing that. So the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jeffery Yemma, he has been busy in recent days and weeks. He's had his work cut out for him and is ending his salary really in this period. Not to say he doesn't work, but he works. But anyway, he's working harder. He posted on his official Twitter handle, on his official Twitter account saying quote, delighted and mightily relieved that the evacuation of Nigerian students from Sumi has commenced. They are in our thoughts and prayers as they undertake the very long and hazardous trip to safety. He called it the very long and hazardous trip to safety. So I think it's good news. It's good news for Nigerian students. Absolutely, good news because if you look at the description over time of Niger and all of this incident, we have been described as very lackadaisical and not want to be proactive in that. Although you still have some persons who are saying, oh, we really didn't act very, I mean, we didn't act on time. However, you want to put it. But there's a good thing that evacuation has started no matter how slow. I mean, it's better late than never. So it's very commendable of the federal government of Nigeria. And we applaud them. And we say it's a good one that they've been able to evacuate. And I'm sure that we still have some numbers who are still stranded. But the good thing is the fact that these students were able to speak up and that's it. It's also good to say that technology is not necessarily an internet. Social media is not necessarily bad at the end of the day because if that outcry was not put out, and then we started having the balls on social media and all of that, maybe just maybe those students would have been evacuated. But we're proud of the Nigerian government. It doesn't matter how late they started, but it's a good thing that we have over a thousand from Sumi. And it's really commendable. Yes, indeed. Yes, look at some comments on that administrative street. Of course, people having good words for the federal government. People having good things to say. Pouring praise. Some are saying this is awesome news. Some are saying great news. Praying for safety and healing. Some deciding to do the political go to political route. Appraising the APC-led federal government. But anyway, if you knock government for not doing well, when they do well, you should praise them. I personally felt that the reaction to the students stopping evacuated was a bit over the top. Because not just Nigeria, a lot of other countries, even Ukraine themselves, never expected that the Russians would do this. And usually, evacuation is a reaction. They could have done better, but it was over the top for me. It was over the top. So if you actually follow, I mean, I mentioned the fact that over time, we have been described as very lackadaisical. We know even if you come back to Nigeria, our country, we understand the body language and how the federal government and the government respond to the issues that concern the lives of citizens and everyone around. We haven't been very proactive. We haven't acted. And so based on that antecedent, he would have been that, you know, Nigeria wasn't really going to do anything right. And so, but I like the fact that, however, we expected that there probably would have been an action. We had the back and forth whether the government should be responsible for evacuating the citizens. Because at the end of the day, you want to say that the government was not necessarily involved in the, you know, the government was not necessarily involved in sending these kids, you know, these children to go school in Ukraine. But you have the parents being very responsible for this particular action. So the parents should be responsible for evacuating them. We had all of this argument. But like I rightly mentioned, it is very commendable. We have proven and we don't have to, but we have. I mean, we, you know, when you constantly want to, you get to a point where you have to prove a point. Then we have to prove a point, but we don't need to get to a point where we have to prove a point. But the point is we have actually proven a point that no matter how bad- Lots of points in there, lots of points in there. The point is we have, we have gotten it. It doesn't matter how late it is. We commend the federal government. We commend everyone that's been involved. And we also commend the students for speaking out and understanding that you can't keep quiet. Because when you keep quiet, evil will continue to thrive. It doesn't matter. So it shows us that, you know, the Nigerian government cares about, you know, the lives of Nigerians. We've seen what happens in Nigeria. And we constantly say, oh, the Nigerian government doesn't really care. So yes, this is me applauding the government. All right. That's very commendable. Interesting. I think also the students themselves also have a responsibility. We can tell you that we have heard that some students who are still in Ukraine don't want to leave. You understand they don't want to leave. And that's a personal decision. Because I know that there was a statement, no matter how badly worded, put up by the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I think, saying that leave. They said leave if you don't feel safe, leave. You know, take responsibility for your safety. And truly, you have to be responsible for yourself. As you have the first responsibility or first person to take responsibility for your safety is you. You don't wake up in the morning and say, if I'm not going to have to take care of me, no. You know, so people should have been a bit proactive themselves as well. To know what is going on. To know how things grow. Not just in Nigeria, but around the world. Governments are usually not fast because of processes red tape and all that. And they should have been, you know, at least started moving up before now. But I'm happy to hear that this has been done. Well, we hope for the best. The people that would say no to war. Yeah, say no to war. But you know, Kofi, I'm sure you never want to be in that situation. But the government would say, you know, take care of yourself. You have to be responsible. Yeah, we understand you have to be responsible. You wake up in the morning. But it's not in a war situation. Expecting the government to do anything for you. Kofi, the examples are not the same. I have never experienced war. And I don't want to experience it. As much as it feels like maybe war would be the way to peace, as people would argue, you know. You can't have peace without having war. But I'm saying that in that particular, you can't just compare it. It's so difficult. First, you're not in your country. You're not in comfort zone. And you understand, you know, how it feels like being a black skin. You can't take that away. Being in another man's... It's such a difficult thing to say. Maybe the federal government would have probably said another word. I mean, it's okay to say yes. Of course, as a human being, there's always a natural instinct of survival. So you will push yourself to survive. They won't do it. They tell you that in the release, for instance, you have the Americans who would normally release a travel advisory to say, okay, they feel that Nigeria or maybe some other country may not be safe for now. Maybe because of an increased terrorist activity or maybe some intelligence they've gotten. And they'll advise that their nationals should not visit. Sometimes they even give this advice just for parts of the country. For instance, they've gained from Nigeria Delta before. Maybe if they feel there's increased militancy or increased kidnapping hotelia, say, don't go to Nigeria south. But if you go, if you must go, they know that you are on your own. You know, so what the government put out was there's some talk of war. What they hear is that there might be attacks in Ukraine from different parts of other countries. The Russians might enter. So please be careful. If you can't leave, leave, but take care of your responsible for your safety. And if you don't wake up, you know, thinking that government will, you know how it is. So you calculate. You know, in life, you shouldn't place your hope on someone who can't help you or who has always shown that they will be slow to help. I understand. But you say it's not a common day. You say the Russians are flying in. I know I've seen the government message. Ha, it's funny. They didn't even write it in good English. But I wait because government has to come and take care of me. That's not the case. What's saying that? I'm not saying that. It's not an everyday case. I'm just saying that it is a part of this situation. So you say that? Sorry, Merci. I'm just saying it's a part of the responsibility here that lies with the people involved. And I'm telling you that we have reports right now. There are some people still in Ukraine. And that's actually their decision. If something happens tomorrow, people are going to blame government. No, they can't. You see, so you say that some people have decided that they will stay back. The point where I'm coming from, you need to understand that just before we move away, just before we move away. So you need to understand that this situation of waking up and saying, you need to take responsibility. That's why Nigerians are taking responsibility for everything. They provide power for themselves. They provide water. They provide everything. No, but that's what we're saying. Ukraine, it's even more dicey for you to say, oh, it's okay for you to wake up. It's a war situation. You don't understand. It's a foreign country. You don't live in your space. You don't even understand where the missiles will be coming from. And so it would be too difficult for you to wake up and say, oh, you have to take. I understand that you have to take your responsibility. Naturally, as human beings, we have the natural instinct to always want to run for safety. So without even being prompted by government, you would always want to find a way. It's just natural. It doesn't have to come from the government. But my point is, I'm not saying that government, I'm not saying that the government should, but you need to understand that it's not easy to be in a war, in a war zone. I mean, for you to even say that to even, you don't even understand where you're going to go, whether it's left or right, but the missiles will be coming from. Sundia Deleja, who is the founder of what is called the biggest church in Ukraine, is a Nigerian. He left with his family. He just got on the plane and left with his family. Kofi, you have, have you experienced a war before? Have you been in a war situation? Can I, can I learn? I'm just saying that people are also, whilst the government has some blame, and I indeed, that's the way it is, because coming is usually slow. I'm saying that also, there's a part of this response that applies on people to being for themselves. So government doesn't come, you're going to stay there and die. You have to move. You have people who walked, you have people who walked, you know, some distance. As long as you can do it, if it's impossible, fine. You know, I'm saying that there's some part of this. You know, I can tell you, Merci, that if the federal government had taken a plane to Kyiv, two weeks before the Russians entered, one week before the Russians entered, five days before the Russians entered and said, all Nigerians want to leave hope on that plane. Do you think people, all of them would have hoped on it? So, so, so usually there's sometimes where you say that there's no need to state the obvious, and the obvious is that naturally, people would always sort themselves out, whether or not government have to make the statement. But you know, the point here is that in war situation, I mean, I have an experienced war, so it would be difficult for you to understand whether you're going to be very rational, you understand the hormones that will be released at a time, you understand a lot. So it's, I think it's very easy for us to sit here and begin to say, oh, you have to take responsibility for yourself until you are in that situation. But I think that it's time for us to move away from it. So next time when the government does not respond to you, you sit down and say, it's natural, they have made an effort. So in the report, I'll just stay here. If you hear in the reports that we gave, they said they constantly moved to bomb shelters. They were making efforts to survive. We have to move. We have to move. Well, the next one, of course, is quite bizarre. That's the bizarre what I was talking about. I mean, a picture of this, someone who has no business in a hospital as a staff, as a nurse or a health worker, putting on a uniform and going to a health facility, a hospital and pretending to be a health worker, a nurse. That's the gentleman there. Should I even, should we even call him a gentleman? A viral clip has been shared on the internet, circulated on the social media. It captures the moment a man who was said to be impersonating a nurse in a bid to kidnap a baby at a public health center in Lagos State was caught. Kidnap a baby at a public health center in Lagos State was caught. In the viral clip, he was seen wearing a nurse's uniform while he was being interrogated by health officials who napped him. The man was caught alongside some individuals who threw questions at him in Yoruba. It's quite unfortunate, mercy. Kidnapped a baby. Remember what we talked about yesterday? I think it was on Monday or Tuesday. And I've been seeing some people out there during election period. Sorry to narrow this down to election period. But somehow, in my experience, as a media practitioner over the years, you have to talk about what happens in the news. Over the years, it has been my observation that as an inch closer to one's elections, you have an increased rate of which ritual abduction and killings of babies and individuals, especially women. I don't know if this is related. I can't tell. But you can't help to think about it. You can't help to think about it. So I think that today is for we commend, first of all, commend the personnel and the officers involved in apprehending and identifying this. And it's really, really applaudable just to imagine that those who were around the environment were not able to spot that. You probably would have had another child just gone just like that. But it's just also a sign and a warning that we need to step up security across different parasitils, especially where you have the vulnerable, the women and the children. We need to do better. Not necessarily saying that the men will not need the protection, but I'm saying that if you look at it, they will always go for children. And then, of course, women, what have you. So it's very commendable. Like you have mentioned, we probably cannot, but we have seen that this has been a practice over time. The issue of retro killings being very high and the fact that people have believed because me I constantly ask myself when people keep, so how do you kill another person and get money? How does that really work? And how does that even add up? I can't even understand the whole ideology behind all of that. But whether or not I can understand it and whether or not that's true, it's important that we need to understand that this practice is on the high and we're ancient closer to 2023. A lot of people want to go very diabolical. Some people want to go extra minutes. And so you have targets and targets will be children. And of course, they're very vulnerable. You want to ask who are the vulnerable in society? So it's time for us to up the game, not necessarily on government or police. Of course, when you talk about government, you want to talk about the police and all the security pests now. But we as individuals, I mean in your different space, like I'd say, these crimes are not committed by spirit. We see the people who committed, they leave with us. They don't come from the sky. They were brothers. They were sisters. They are neighbors, uncles, aunties. It couldn't be anyone. So let's just pay attention. Report the crime. If you see something very suspicious, you need to say something. You need to say something. We can't constantly keep quiet. Because every time we keep quiet, even we'll continue to try. So that's it for this particular one. But I must say that it was very sharp of the person. I was wondering how does this work? How does this work? Is it that the man just gets... He saw the nurse's uniform. Did he get it from his friend? I mean, how did he get it? Did you see the... And he walked into that. Is it that he was just going to stay in the maternity ward anyway? And nobody's looking. Just grab the baby. Some of these people who do this thing, they don't think... Because I mean, it's not possible to just go into a hospital and just pick a baby. Is this something that... Love questions. Is this something that has happened before? Has it been happening? I mean, because they have records of the babies in the hospital. They're clocked in. They have names. They have tags. They have numbers. So if anything happens, they will know. So I don't know if this is something that has been happening before now. I doubt because I've made the news. So how do you just expect to walk into a hospital? And like you said, it's great that the officials, they were vigilant. You know, who are you? What are you doing here? We have to be careful. And that vigilance, everybody in this country, these days, we have to be careful. Look around you. See what's happening. Be vigilant. Don't take anything for granted. When you're in a taxi, in a bus, be vigilant. It's very important. We have to go. We have to go. Merci. Well, that's so much. We can take it this morning. Thank you so much for being part of the breakfast. We'll definitely return with more interesting conversation. And of course, at the hour of 8 o'clock, we'll be tied for us to look at the front pages of a national daily speech. Stay with us.