 Thanks for staying with us. It's time now to go and leave off from the press to see the headlines that are making the front pages of our National Davies. Okay, I got stuck there. Well, we're going to be looking at some of the newspapers and we'll see what the headlines are this morning. And joining us to discuss this is Professor Kamilu Sanifagi. Good morning and welcome to the program, sir. Good morning. I'm sorry to you very much. Okay, so the papers today are screaming some headlines. So let's just begin with the very first paper here on our lineup, and that is The Punch Newspaper. The Punch Newspaper leads with diesel price drops as Dangute sells 1,225 naira per litre, supplies petrol in May. The writers also on that story that or the writer is that dealers get 1,000,000 liters each at 1,225 naira per litre. Price drops in your Lagos and Ogung. Your take, please. This is a very good news, but the price of diesel is coming down. Even though it is not as people expected to do, but I think it's a good news because diesel sources are emerging in Nigeria, and it is great in other sectors because, you know, like, heavy industries will now have the term, but then what they used to buy. So I think the impact of this change on the economy. It may not be so drastic that we have a drop in this area. Okay. Well, I should have even started with a smaller headline. We've seen a 44-year-old being sworn in in Senegal. Senegal president sworn in advocates Africa's unity and security. So I'd like you to comment on that. Well, what leaders went there? African presidents went there. This is someone who has never held an elective position, and right now he's been sworn in as president of Senegal. What do you think about that? 44-year-old? Yeah, this is a very good thing, you see. It is now taking us a liter. We are having a break from the legal thing in Africa, where we have people in their 70s and 80s protesting and winning elections. Now here in Senegal, a youth has been able to make it. And these shows are a lot of things. Number one, in the 60s, when we emerged as independent, most of the leaders were youths, and we saw what they did with their respective countries in terms of struggling for independence and in terms of providing possible leadership. So there is a little hope that the person, the old person in Senegal will make it. And the second thing is that the youths in Senegal even have shown that they have impact on the policy, on the policy. Of course, even the former president, Mike Yissel, arrived on the support of the youths to make it. And now the youths, despite the operation of the government, especially Mike Yissel, when he turned against the youth, they are able to rally around behind one of them and they make it. So I think this should be an eye-opener and a lesson to the youths. Not only in Senegal, not only in Nigeria, but in Africa where our youths now are very pessimistic. So I think this will raise their hope. It is unfortunate that one leaders are not there, which shows that most of them do not accept this person. They do give him the necessary support that we should have, but it is an internal approach, it is a democratic thing, but we ought to welcome and we ought to give full support, especially given the protracted crisis in Senegal, which almost blocks the distance of the youth. Despite all these odds, they are able to make it. So I think that the world ought to have come and join in this happy success in Senegal. We also have to be happy because of the trend that is going on now in the area. While we have such a military course, Senegal is holding on to perhaps the only country in the sub-region that has not experienced a limit. So I think it is a good honor that we now see and let's cross our fingers and hope that we give him the massive support that he has from the youths. Is this not a pointer to the fact that his administration may be mired with a lot of problems because he doesn't have the support of some of the people we expected to support him? One of the things that he talked about when he was sworn in is that he was passionate about Africa's unity and we understand whether we say it in harsh tones or we don't say it at all that whenever any leader rises up and talks about the unity of Africa, he does not ever have the blessings of the West because when Africa is united or if Africa is united, there's going to be a different song being sung on the continent. So don't you think his campaign, his manifesto and what he stands for could have been responsible for this unacceptance from the other world leaders? Yeah, I think it is part of the problem, part of the issue. You know, he took the right when he was campaigning, he took again the top stands especially on the Poma Coroma in Nantes, France. He talked about the need of these Western powers to allow African countries to do their own affairs. They should not be meddling in the affairs of the continent. So I think that will be part of the reason why we haven't seen that, especially given the fact that France still has very strong influence on its former colonies. Maybe it is the one that is pushing them to come. So that is one thing. So what all this thing shows is that there is going to be a very tough time. So the way out for a feeling now is not just to rely on rhetorics, but to try to build a very credible team. Because if you are saying they don't have experience and so on, which African leader, which one leader has experience in governance? You know, the success of a leader depends on his position and the team that is able to build. So it is a team work. So if he is able to do that, he is going to move out of his time, he is going to move out of challenges and make it better. All this is an indication that rough times are ahead. So he has to tighten his belt and build a credible team in order to make it. Tough times are ahead. Well, let's bring that home to Nigeria. Federal government finalizes electricity subsidy. This is from the Guardian newspaper. Federal government finalizes electricity subsidy removal. Plans 200% tariff hike. And what do you think about that? Now we are hearing that. The Guardian and also Demi trust carry the same issue. This is one of the major problems of promises here that we are just trying and doing. One, this is going to be a very, very costly thing, not only to the electricity consumers, but to the nation as a whole. By the time the government say they are raising it from, let's say, 65 Naira per unit, 200 Naira per unit, they are just looking at one direction that they are going to make money from. That which is about 200% of what they are saying it now. But they haven't looked at the impact of this increase on other sectors. Definitely this will raise inflation. Secondly, to lead to the collapse of many industries, because electricity is perhaps one of the cheapest or even one of the cheapest source of energy and the main source of energy for industries. Now by the time we raise it to such level, many companies are going to collapse. So at least those who are able to survive it, they are going to raise their costs of production in order to recuperate this huge amount of money. So I think the government is just being very wise and accomplished by raising the electricity. After all, we are just finished saying that there is hope that diesel is coming down. But now if we raise electricity, we are just compounding the problem. And we are going to see so many problems and challenges in the economy as a result of this decision to raise the tariff of electricity. And the unfortunate thing is that they are trying to do it within weeks of having that. So I think all this will not work out well for the country. Yeah, especially now that we are hearing, whether they officially say the tariff goes up 200% or not, the gas supply to these people who supply us electricity is going up by maybe more than 100%. And then we are expecting that when the review is done, the tariff will go high naturally even without the government having to do anything. And then we are talking about electricity and then we have seen somewhere like the UCH. On the point newspaper, it carried that disconnection. UCH doctors suspend night shift begin strike on Tuesday. And also on the Guardian newspaper, we have also seen this story like that about UCH staff scaling down work hours over power outage. This is a hospital where lives are saved, supposed to be saved. And then there are no night shifts, only day shifts because of this connection to a facility like a big hospital like UCH. And it's worrisome for me. The tariffs have not even gone up. But the amount of money being owed, the discourse and who are very responsible is so much that these connections are being made. Even we hear that Ministry of Power, at some point, they were telling us that they were owing. Asurok was even owing. And so many other ministries and power status were owing the electricity suppliers. And we don't know where we are going. Now the tariff is about to go up again. I mean, I don't understand. No, it's not that we don't know where we are going. And just we don't like to know where we are going. Because all this is showing that we are going down the drain. We are heading out towards a crisis. Because if I'm in a hospital like that, you know, I shut it down. And then perhaps I strike there. And then the cost. We are just by city. All these things will eventually explain our role for the government. And also, you know, the primary responsibility of the government is the lives and welfare of its own citizens. We have access to government in terms of how much revenue they generate and how much subsidy they remove. And what is happening in UCFH is that they are going to have a strike. You know, it is the ordinary person that is going to be seriously affected. And these are some of the things that I was leading to earlier on. And I say the hype and these things will generate social problems. Because even the issue of jump up, we are going to see a lot of it. Many people know the every little environment, conducive environment for people to work will not be there. And those who have the means will jump or shift. And they will maybe go to Green and Pistols. That would be another thing. And there will be a cease and strike, you know, on this issue. And there will be high inflation as a result of this issue. And there is going to be, you know, an increase in poverty and the high guide in the country. So I think what the government ought to do is to rethink over this issue and not consider itself as a business venture, where today in the new subsidy they are there tomorrow. Increase price, this one and so on. And at this high time, that the government should help rethink on these IRF World Bank sponsored policies because of the negative impact that they have. And because the way they are leading us into just these hospital shows, I believe fear again. But there could be similar things all over. Perhaps it will not be very late. I mean, too long. One perhaps other sectors will join in the strike. Maybe I will do it in the medical sector and others since they will all join in terms of that. I hope it will not take us to that. And I hope the government will have a rethink like I said on these issues. Okay. Some people are receiving the news of the crash of the dollar with a pinch of salt. Some people are staying positive. One hundred or one thousand two hundred and eighty Naira to a dollar at official parallel markets. That is what the Naira is selling right now. Did you receive that news with excitement or you're still just waiting to see what happens? I received it to the next few weeks. On one hand, we are very hoping that they will be coming down at the dollar. You know, it's a good thing. It's a show. It's a sign of things. But on the other hand, it's mystic that this is too late that we just happened. You know, we have to go back before this administration. We have to go back to less than Naira. One dollar was about six hundred plus to seven hundred. Now it is one hundred and one thousand two hundred plus, which is almost twice what it was in just less than a year. And so we are seeing the effect. And we are feeling the effect of that. Remember, you know, there is a question in the country. And by the time you raise the dollar to such level, everything is what we are seeing now. It's a result of this devaluation of our currency. So, like I said, the government should have a distinct on this, the imperial policy. In just too late, it's just, you know, palliative, if we can call it, we have to call the government to say now it is one entire two hundred and eight. This one, but just kidding, we are just playing with this, you know, the situation because unless we support the Naira, unless the government support the Naira, unless Naira, you know, is strong in all the situation that we are having now, in terms of inflation, in terms of poverty, in terms of unemployment. And we know the collapse of our industries. We are just going to see it continue, which I think I don't know any place for that, but we should expect it. Well, so you don't see any impact on the cost of commodities in the market by the crash of this dollar. You don't see it having any impact on anything else. Because for now, anyway, we have not seen any impact because nothing has come down because of the dollar crashing. But do you think there is hope? No, no, no, you see, one of the problems of inflation is attitude and it is behavior, okay? Even if it comes down lower than this, I think we will not be willing to, you know, adjust the price downwards. Our attitude, the attitude of, you know, market people is such that, or business people is such that they are quick to raise prices, but they are very slow and very unwilling to bring it down despite what happens. So, at least, you know, the government takes action also in good direction. You know, you see, even people like to be assuming the dollar comes to what it was 10 months ago. That is about 670 to 700 dollars. We will likely see a decrease in times of inflation quickly. But, you know, soon we will be able to do it, but we are not going to have it the way we used to have it. So, like I said, part of the problem is also attitude and behavior. We are quick to raise money in the cost prices and we are very willing and ready to bring it down when factors are necessary to bring it down. Well, you talked about hunger and then still on daily trust this morning, there's a story saying on Doe residents loot truck conveying Tinaboo branded greens. We've seen this happen in Abuja. We've seen this happen elsewhere. And now it is happening again in Doe state. Residents loot truck conveying Tinaboo branded greens. I mean, what do you say? You see, this is part of what I said earlier. It is we are sitting on a cake of gunpowder. It's a time bomb. Because hunger is such that it propels people to be whatever they need. Even until they manage to level 6. And secondly, there is this issue of a comfy cat syndrome that it happens somewhere, and some other people are going to do it and so on. These are some of the things that should indicate, that we should tell the leaders that something is wrong in Nigeria and we cannot continue with this kind of policy, thinking that people in Nigeria, like we said, we are the most socialist people in the world, we suffer and smile, suffering and smile in Nigeria. We shouldn't take that for granted. Because by the time it becomes continuous, it will be too difficult and too hard. I mean, we are impossible for the government to erase it. Look, a lot of people are in such crisis. It started in some places, profit of places and the leadership didn't refuse to take action. Until it exploded and became a serious challenge. That is when they took it. And also look at what happened with COVID palliatives. When it started in some places, before we met it, it supported other places. And this issue of also trucks being attacked, have started in one place here and there. But like I said, the thing is such that it is an indicator. That if nothing is done by the leadership, we are going to have a very serious problem on this issue of military, this issue of military. I think it goes like one adage in a language is saying, the stomach is the legislative chamber of a human body. Winning hunger is what makes lose and what decide control the brain and action of the person. So unless we do that and address this issue, I think what we are seeing now will be just a charity. My people have that saying too. What is in the stomach is what carries the one in the head. So unless you feed well, you may not reason well. But I don't know what's the craze about branding these things in the first place. I'm not saying the people who stole it or who cut it away, all the bags of rice or whatever grains they were did well. But what's the craze about branding these things? This is from Governor Diz and you put a photograph there. This is from Tinobu. You put a photograph there. What's the craze about this branding in the first place? These are things that should come to the people as help from the government, as a right to them even. And then you're branding and putting your name like you're doing something that is on head of. Like you are a saint or something. I don't understand why these things are done in the first place. You see in the first place, I don't know whether we will discuss a pretty open room in that. But you know, you're in the meeting. But this branding is just part of the Nigerian politics. The leaders tend to show that whatever they do to the people is when they are right, that it's a privilege, it's a privilege that they are doing it. Initially, this kind of branding used to be other ceremonies like when there is going to be a national day or anything, the house will be. They were used to it when they will have a place with pictures of the leaders and now people will come and... Now it became a campaign issue that whenever there is going to be a campaign, then you have people putting their pictures and names and items so that they can now convince the electorate that the ones that will do them good. But now, at this time, after the campaign, the government is doing it. It shows the level of inconsideration and intolerance of leadership to the issues of Nigerians. It shows also the leadership is taking the people for granted that they will now display and have small bags here and there and then give them, you know, having their own pictures. Or perhaps they will do what they call palliatives, they will select some people and give them 25,000 or 35,000 all in the name of showing that the government is even doing them a favor. So I think the reason is no politics. Then any consideration of the welfare of the people is just political consideration. That is why you have it. And the dangerous aspect of this situation is that people may not bother to discriminate between palliatives coming from the politicians and the goals of private people. So by the time, you know, there is this routine here and there, cutting our tracking, you know, this is a cutting our visit on government issues. We don't need this quote to expand. I don't need to say it, but I will likely go see it generating all public transport, private transport. And if care is not taken, they will even go to stores and market and start doing these things. This is a recipe for anarchy. Like I said, let the government ought to take a lesson and take precautionary measures before it is too late. Well, maybe I don't know the terms in law, but I think this is misappropriation because money is voted by the government. The people's money is voted for a particular thing, and then you're supplying that thing, I know, but with your name, I see if it is coming from your pocket, that for me is stealing or misappropriation or something, one word that is really not good enough. So when something is voted for somebody and you are putting your name like you are the one who is giving, you have to come to the people from money that is voted by the government and you are putting your photograph, you are putting your... I mean, I don't know. But in Kirby State, the governor, that is on Nature News, Governor Idris probes aggregate warehouse looting in Kirby. We're just talking about looting. Sometimes they loot trucks, sometimes they loot warehouses. Now people know where government warehouses are and where they are hungry enough, they go there and loot it. Whether it is because they are hungry or because they are just thieves, but something gave them the opportunity to do that. Something gave them the heart, the strength to do that, the confidence to do that. So I don't know. The governor is probing the looting of the warehouse. You see, probing is just going to be a restricting exercise because this is a no-action. Okay? Perhaps the way they will do is, you may see the identifying the leaders of some of the innocent people will be victimized on that. And secondly, you know, probing will not bring an end to the issue. On the contrary, it is going to add fuel, I mean, fuel to the fire because by the time you do it, people will now begin to lose hope that all what the leadership is about is to suppress them and to come down heavily on them. We believe when they find an opportunity, it is going to be worse. So I think what the governor is going to do is not just to set up a probe and investigate the situation. They should take action, they should take measures. After all, you see, you are delaying the federal government alone but even if they state governments, they are to delay. For example, KD is one of the major rise producing states in the country and naturally each state has an area in terms of agriculture that it has some competitive advantage. The governments want to have also based on that, especially given the fact that we are being told we are now in the removal of all subsidies that the allocation to state has almost doubled. So we should see also the governments coming in on this issue. We shouldn't only blame the federal government but also the governments. The leadership collectively should address these issues rather than to wait when it happens. We now say to the committee to investigate. You know what they say about the committee in administration that the committee is a group of amped doing the unwanted code and really. So we can say to the committee, the government is not willing to do anything but we can say to the committee and we need to do the dirty job unless it will happen at the end of it. It will be a way of addressing the public resources unless it will happen at the end of it. Okay, well, let's hope that something will happen and let's be proven wrong. But when you talk about committees and all that there's also another story here on Nature News. Energy commission to promote clean cooking awareness across Nigeria's geopolitical zone. Is that not an exercise in futility? Knowing that the price of gas is going up, the price of kerosene is up and so many other things. Electricity tariff is going up so you cannot have a hot plate in your house because you can't pay the bills. So clean energy, I don't know what they're talking about promote clean cooking awareness. You cannot use a hot plate, you cannot use a gas cooker, you cannot use anything that is supposed to constitute clean cooking and I don't know how this awareness campaign is going to be successful when people are going back to firewood because they cannot afford gas anymore, they cannot afford kerosene anymore, they cannot afford to use hot plate because of the electricity tariff. So is this not an action in futility? It is. This is what I said earlier about the government should not consider itself as a business bench which should put the welfare of the Nigerians first. Second, the government should be worried about the fact that there is a linkage between all these policies and other sectors of the economy. Well, gas is very expensive so you cannot expect people not to eat and the end result is they will be used firewood and then we will be back to square one on the issue of the green house effect, you know, global warming and other things so there will be deforestation in some places. And secondly, the government, you know, who is talking about clean cooking is also denying the fact that in Nigeria over 70% of Nigerians are in rural areas, not in urban areas. So, many of them have never seen given that gas is let alone gas cooker. And now by the time we are making this when we are raising the price in urban areas also where people are using gas and other electrical materials you want to cook they will sort back to, you know, the traditional way of firewood and that will help a serious thing. I think it is an exercise in continuity what they are trying to do now. The only way is let them bring down the cost of gas that will encourage many people to stay on it and that will minimize all the effects that we are seeing about deforestation and so on. Well, let's hope that the best will come. Quarter one or the first quarter of 2024 was really, really tough and we are hoping that the second quarter and subsequent quarters will be better. Just that I am afraid that on that nature news there is a small headline there that scares me and La Seppa raises alarm on low air quality in Lagos state. So I hope that the air quality will look into it and see how the environment can be kept clean so that we can breathe fresh air and live longer for our families and all that. We would like to thank you, Professor Fage for coming on the program this morning. It is always a pleasure having you join us. Thank you very much for having me. We have been talking with Professor Kamilu Sani Fage and he was with us on the press. We'll take a short break and when we return we'll take our only hot topic this morning. Stay with us.