 Today, on the breakfast, the socioeconomic rights and accountability project, Syrup urges President Mohamed Abouhari to use his good office to enforce the judgement by the ECOS Court of Justice, which would have an in-depth analysis ahead of the show. Also on the breakfast, the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC and the Trade Union Congress TUC threatened to embark on strike action on June against the administration of President Alec Bola to Nubu over the removal of fuel subsidy. And don't forget, we'll also be looking through today's newspapers, analyzing the biggest stories of the day, we call it off the press. Well, it's not an April 4th, but we're really right here in the month of April. So yes, we have all done the first quarter of 2023. Congratulations to that. And thank you so much for joining us this morning on beautiful Monday, the third day in the month of April. Welcome right here. So on the breakfast, we have a lot of interesting line up for you. The conversation is going to be very intense, I can tell you, because of the line up. But as always, we start our conversation with what's making the rounds. And so, you know, my name is Messi Ebokbo. Now on our top trending, it has to do, I mean, we talk about what Nigerians and all the parts, all the persons are talking about, what exactly have we been engaging with since the weekend. And necessarily, we're talking about the fact that the NDLEA has declared a celebrity couple and charged them for drug trafficking amongst, apart from that, those also, a profit test was also included in this conversation. Oh, just quickly take a break. And when we return, we continue with the conversation. Please stay with us. Well, it's still the breakfast. And as always, our conversation is what we have been talking about. What are Nigerians engaging with? What are the stories making the rounds in different, you know, quarters? Whether you have it on social media, on Twitter, Facebook, and what have you, Instagram as well, or offline, or you want to say off social media, real time. What's the conversation? Now, over the weekend, the conversation has been about, you know, the fact that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency had declared a popular puthaka, Bayes Profites, and founder of Christ Power, Duration, Ministry, Fate, Ugochi, as well as a celebrity couple, wanted for recruiting teenage girls into drug trafficking. Now, the spokesperson of the NDLEA, Baba Femi, had said that the lead blew off when the cartel, that's the cartel, the NDLEA operatives are now called import shield, shade of the Motala Muhammad International Airport, that's in Lagos, Raitia, Keja, intercepted a consignment of 32.70 kilograms of loud, a strong variant of cannabis, concealed in cartons of use, whereas on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, I want to think that, you know, probably let me just be an error, you know, with the dates, or maybe we're back-dating. The NDLEA spokesperson said that the frightened agent was actually apprehended, who co-efined and was immediately arrested, while further investigation led to the arrest of foremost suspect. A 15-year-old was also involved in this, Favour was the first sales girl to be arrested at a fuel station in a jar area of Lagos. If you live in Lagos, I'm sure you know where a jar is. Afterwards, she led the operatives to a do-looks accommodation around Ikate area of Lekki, which was later discovered to be a rented apartment by the criminal group, according to the report. Poposely for, you know, young girls that the syndicate uses for marketing and distribution of illicit drugs. Another girl was also a prehended shalom, who is a fresh graduate, according to the investigation and, you know, interrogation, she's a fresh graduate of agricultural sciences from River State University of Science and Technology, and was picked from, you know, the house alongside Favour during the preliminary investigation. Now, according to investigation or interview, however, you want to look at that, it was length that the syndicate rented another building that was also used as a warehouse inside Richmond estate in Lekki. So the story is almost endless. It's a very lengthy one. If you look at the circle, but I think what caught the interest of a lot of peasants or a lot of Nigerians, if you look at the conversation and the talks around it, is that you have a prophetess who is involved in that, like a prophetess, like a priest, you can say what that is. People have been greeted with a lot of disappointment and surprise, and they have, you know, also said that. And the issue of a celebrity, the celebrity couple, you need to see them. They look very flashy, glamorous, and what have you. But Nigerians have, you know, taken out to the street to complain about those who actually say, hey, they are representing the name of God, or they follow a certain religion, they're Christians or Muslims, or those who constantly say we're celebrities, but this is what we do and what have you. Those who constantly put out pictures and talk about how it works and how they end your resources. The reaction has been mixed. But I don't think that it should be surprising, because it's not everyone that, if you are Christian, or whatever religion that you believe, it's not everyone that says that I'm a Christian. It's not everyone that professed Christ. It's not everyone that says, hey, I'm a prophet of what have you, that is actually genuine. And so it's also been stated, if you believe in the Bible, that you need to test all spirits. And then, you know, a lot of people will come in the name of God saying that, you know, they are people of God. We can't not just desacitate ourselves from all of these issues. If you look at authority, the Bible itself, I have gone through some parts of the Bible. I can't tell you that I've read the entire Bible, but I also know that the Bible is very explicit when it says that we should respect constituted authority and respect authority. And that would mean that whatever it is that is not in, that is not in conjunction with the law, it's country to the law. And then, you know, the religion does not support it. So how do you explain the fact that the prophetess is involved in, you know, drug trafficking and what have you? Now, for the report has stated that there's been a lot of invitation that has been put out to this persons who were suspect, who were behind all of this crime. And it's also very unfortunate. They haven't honored it. There has been several excuses given to why they haven't honored it. But we also also look at the fact that those involved in marketing and trafficking drugs are graduates. I mean, people who go through the four walls of the university and the coma. But what exactly could be responsible? Is it an excuse that people should be involved in crime and criminality because they don't have job because of poverty? I mean, what excuse do we make for all of that? But it's really saddening. It's unfortunate. And we're hoping that the NTLA would go ahead and do her job. And, you know, there's a lot of going on within this particular space. But it's really saddening to see that that happens. To see that people look up to, for instance, we live in an era where social media cannot be ignored. I would say that. We live in an era where social media is a thing. It's always a dispensation. It's a dispensation of, you want to say, technology, social media, what have you, and you can't ignore that entirely. There's no way you're going to hold your hands and say, oh, that's not important. It is important. Well, in this particular dispensation, we see that people are in the guise of, you know, posting perfect pictures, putting out their wealth and displaying wealth and what have you. And then you can't actually say, because you also have people who are working very hard. We're talking about legitimate means of earning a living. And then most times, they look at themselves and begin to query, what is going on? If you have this dispensation, we're looking different. So there's always this comparison. And some people get into depression. Some people begin to look for, you know, all the means to engage and just to get to that position. But you can't tell. For every other time you see people, you know, posting, whatever it is that they are posting and whatever, you also need to ask yourself, how are they, you know, earning? What's it? Because I have seen pictures. I'm not sure we have those pictures to display at this point where these couples are, they've attended a couple of parties and then they're, you know, spreading the notes, whatever notes, whether local notes and the foreign currency in display. And I know how many persons will probably would worship them. But you look at the means of how did they even earn this? What is their source of income? So yes, it's a society that we have found ourselves where values and principle no longer matter. As long as you get it, it doesn't matter how you get it. And honestly, you have to get it now, now, now, now. And that's why, you know, the quick fix came would always, you know, make it, who would take a lot of people, swallow a lot of people. And yes, and that's why it's easy for you to have the quick transfers, the ATMs are there, you know, the instant noodles, what have you. So all of this, we are in that dispensation. But it's important to, you know, to also draw attention back to the fact that, hey, we live in a society where there's a government, there's a system, laws, there are procedures of things that are not acceptable or they're not accepted. And we can't also ignore all of that. But quickly moving away from that for the want of time. It's another interesting one, that Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority has actually put out a disclaimer, if you like to say or clarification, to a video that has been making the rounds, it made the rounds over the weekend. You can see that on the screen, there's a video clip showing four people purportedly pushing one of the trains set to be deployed for passenger's operation for the Lagos rail mass transit. That's the blue real life. I mean this, what kind of magic is this? There's no how you see this. All of my jet. How do you even know now? Who pushes a train? Four people pushing the train. But then I think it's very apt that, you know, this clarification was put out. It was also said from investigation, according to the authorities, it was discovered that the train was clearly moving and it's an old video clip showing that the contractors or showing the contractors staff horsing around the train when a fest came on board. However, they also put out, the authorities are saying that this particular area, since the commissioning by the president, Mohammed Buhari, has flags around it as well as steel protective guards. So if you look at it, how would you even allow a rail to just go like, there's no barricade, there's no obstruction? And what have you, so at this point, this video was posted at a time where the work, you know, it felt like there was work going on, it was fresh. But authorities are saying that this video, it's a time where you have those who are mischief workers, mischief workers just going ahead, you know, to post it. How can four people push a train, really? I mean, you look at that. Who pushes a train? It's not a car. Do you understand what it means to push a train? But it is an idea. I'm sure that when you saw this video, if you haven't seen it or you're seeing it for the first time, I'm sure you want to believe it. But the authorities also made very factual statements that the average length of a train is 84 millimeters. I want to be sure that that's what it means. Definitely cannot be pushed by four people as shown in the video because it's really heavy. You look at some trucks owned by some companies. So they're saying that four people cannot push a train and then they're appealing to the online community to be wary of those who are bent on doing everything to discredit the rail project. So yes, we understand that we're not a perfect society. We don't have a perfect government, but it is not also acceptable for us, you know, because I don't think that outsiders did this. I don't think that people were outside of Nigeria and those in Ukraine and outside, you know, Russia, China would actually be responsible for this video. They're Nigerians. So yes, we do not have a perfect system, but we can also continue to push out such narrative. It is totally unfair. The government authorities also had stated that it was, they had a successful, you know, test run where passengers, over 15,000 people were, you know, carried on this particular train for the past week. So 15,000 passengers. I mean, when I saw that video, honestly, I couldn't have thought about anything differently. I was just only taken aback and I'm saying what exactly are we doing? This is exactly the Zazu situation of a babu living in the zoo and then you say it's a Zazu situation. But I also think that a lot of Nigerians have commended. Some people are still very indifferent, you know, with this particular video and they seem not to trust whatever is going on. But then the next one has also been the fact that a lot of Nigerians, especially those who live in Lagos, we call them legutions, have reacted to what had transpired yesterday where the Lagos state government had announced plan. There was, you know, a shutdown of a session of the Taut-Menneland bridge. I witnessed that because I mean, I was on that particular road, I mean, yesterday from 9 a.m. to about 4 p.m. due to repair works on some field section of the bridge. That's to repair the identified field, peeled as far to accession of the Taut-Menneland bridge. And so I have seen several comments. I have seen the reactions that a lot of persons have reacted. So the thought is, for how long will we continue to have this construction? Every other time the bridge is closed, we're talking about the Taut-Menneland bridge, we're talking about these, or where we understand the traffic situation. And that was for yesterday. That's according to the reports that we have. And what I also witness, I'm not sure that there's a continuation to that. But it's also important to note that, you know, the Taut-Menneland bridge is a bridge that I think is one of the longest bridge so far in Nigeria, was built by Julius Beger in Nigeria PLC during the military era. Now, I'm driving a point with this particular statement. Now, the phase one of the project was commissioned by President Sioux Chagri in 1980. You want to ask yourself, were you in existence? So I'm sure that a lot of persons were born in 1980. But, you know, look at that, 1980, and was then completed by President Ibrahim Babangira in 1990. It measures about 11.8 kilometers in terms of length. Now, this particular bridge is about 33 years old, if I'm not mistaken. We've had several conversations back and forth. I remember in 2012, there was an outcry from a lot of persons. Those were users of this bridge who complained about the fact that they were feeling some sort of vibration in one of you. And it took the government a lot of time to respond to it. Eventually, there was response in terms of, you know, trying to fix it in one of you. It hasn't been very sustainable at the end of the day. We've had several complaints back and forth from 2012, even prior to that time. Well, you look at the 33-year-old, you know, bridge and road. I mean, first, we must commend the military. If you look at the materials, they're three-year-olds to be very sustained up until this moment. I think that, you know, the materials and the quality of materials that were used for the construction of this road, at a time when it was a military government, are really very commendable materials. And if you look at some of the federal roads across the entire country, these roads were constructed during the military dispensation. And I must say that the sum set in, how do you even put it? You want to agree with me that they were really genuine or very honest in terms of constructing, you know, this particular road or the bridge, if you like to say in this particular point, at this particular point. But over time, if we look at the work of rehabilitation, we look at the work of reconstruction, having a facelift in 2018, there was some sort of inspection, shutdown, and we'll have you. One of the challenges that we have over time is that we have not been honest with the construction of our roads. The asphalt was sort of materials that we use and they're durable. About four months in 2020, we also remember that there was some face lifting and reconstruction on that particular road. So how come every other time we're talking about reconstruction? If you have a bridge that has been existent for 33 years, plus or there about, and then you need to just carry out maintenance work, how come maintenance will break at every three months or two months? I mean, come on. It doesn't do justice to that particular road and to those who were involved in the construction of that bridge or the road, however you want to look at it. But I think that we're responsible people as a government. We can't do better. We say that the worst form of democracy is better than any form, the best form of every military government. But I think we need to do the part. We need to leave the part as a people. That's the much that we can take. We're hoping that the Lagos State Government would really pay attention to having a very sustainable improvement or work or construction or rehabilitation or maintenance on that particular road. We don't want to wake up two months after, three months after and hear that, oh, we need to shut down the road again. Whatever it is that we're going to do, let it be very, very elongated. It should take a long time before we come back to talking about it. Maybe a year or there or about. You know, we'll be fair on our part. That's the size of it this morning. On our top friending, we take a break. When we return, up on our boat in Cotaria, we'll be joining us on Off the Press. Please stay with us. Good morning.