 On the breakfast, less than 8 weeks to the general elections, more than 6.7 million Nigerians have not collected their Permanent Voters card, who will be having a conversation with an INEC official. Also on the breakfast, the Central Bank of Nigeria says it has established policies to address the persistent Naira depreciation. And don't forget, we'll also be looking through today's newspapers, analyzing the biggest stories of the day. Welcome to the breakfast in Plus TV Africa. It's a beautiful Thursday morning and it feels really great to know that you're here with us. Right? My name is Messi Bopu. As always, we set up our conversation with top trending and top on the least for us this morning is that there's also another concern with ASU. So ASU is protesting, not necessarily getting to the street, but we hope that this does not result to another action, probably a strike action and what have you. The head of the ASU chapter at the Federal University of Technology, Mina, has confirmed that the government had not sent the Chekhov dues for November 2022 salaries. So if you're asking what Chekhov dues is, is the money removed from an employee's pay for membership in a union or in an organization, and of course, talking about representation of a work in a particular industry. And so that's why this conversation is ongoing. But we need to establish that there's ASU, there's Konoa. I think that that might be the issue, one of the issues. So you also have the head, this is one chapter of the union that's making this complaint. I know that over time you have ASU, a different point talking about this due that's been deducted and the government is not remitting. So they have said that despite the poor utter salaries that were paid off for the month of November, those who got their pay sleep observed that the Chekhov dues and cooperative dues were deducted. But the issue is that the account of ASU was not credited. Government has given a justification for this decision. And they say that constitutionally, there's a provision of the trade union Act, section 37, subsection 1, that says that every year, every other time, annually, ASU must render an account of money remitted to the body. Well, and they say that all ASU member gets a monthly deduction. So in this case now, ASU has not submitted that audit. I mean, they submitted that report and that's why this is actually ongoing. However, all ASU members are suspected to get a monthly deduction, which is usually given to ASU every month to run the secretary. They also submit an audit report off their money annually, just like I mentioned for a period of time. And so this is the complaint. Well, the reactions and the conversations have continued. And I think that these are lecturers, these are persons who are very displeased with the entire system and the entire process. It's like a two-way thing. Now that you have ASU and you have Konawa, whose side do you have to go to? I mean, is it compulsory association? Being a member of this union, is it mandatory? Is it voluntary? What happens? 2% is what is deducted from the entire package. It's not on the particular salary. Some persons have said that it's a shame that ASU leadership is complaining about the federal government not remitting into its own accounts to check off dues of members deducted from November salaries. Why is government deducting the check off from members? This is also another part of the conversation, rather than allowing members to choose where to belong. Is it ASU or Konawa? They have registered that, you know, we're talking about now. They have to decide, you know, where they belong. But if only they're allowed to say, hey, it's reasonable to get here or get to the other part. I think the parts of this time, because also in 2020, ASU members of the union had complained about the deduction that's been ongoing, and they had said that you can't deduct 2% from salary. This is a conversation that has been going on with the union, right? Members of the union, and they're complaining very well, saying, you cannot deduct this amount of money from the account. You can't deduct this amount of money from the account. And that's what ASU have said over time. And they're saying, hey, why don't you allow the people to go ahead and belong? And if you're deducted, it doesn't have to be that way. Some people have said that the deduction is a universal thing. Others are saying that, you know, membership of this union is voluntary, that you just decide that you want to become a member. If you're a lecturer, you walk to the secretariat and decide that you want to become a member of the union. And then there you become a member of the union, not the other way around. So these are some of the conversations that have been going on about ASU and the union and what have you. Some people have said that the ASU leadership fabricated a constitution that lacks approval of members deducting 2% of each member's monthly salary. And heaping up millions upon millions of Naira, they say that that's to run the secretariat. But it feels like it's a situation where people are aggrieved. Some others are saying that the federal government should stop ASU, the Chekhov dues deduction from its member salary, and allow individual lecturers to decide which union they want to join. So the conversation will continue. But like I rightly mentioned, I hope this does not constitute to another industrial action. Industrial action where these lecturers will say we're not going back to the classrooms, we're not going back to lecture, and what have you. But there was also one complaint that was very outstanding. And the complaint is that, you see, in whose interest is all of this deduction? So yes, once upon a time, we hear that the government was owing the people 6.8 million Naira, deductions that were never remitted. Why will the government not remit this back to the account of the people? I mean, they are responsible for all of that. And some other persons are saying, well, you see, ASU, you're taking so much from the people, from the membership. Well, it's good for you. And then at the end of the day, whose friend do you say that these persons belong to? Is it the government or the leadership of ASU? What exactly is going on? Well, we will constantly say that the interest of the people should be what it should be over time. And that that should be very important. And every other person should pay attention to the issues. I'm moving away from that conversation. Another top trending is that the Nigerian country has recorded 23,550 cholera cases and 583 deaths. Now, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Center of Disease Control and Prevention, that's the NCDC. They review that between January and November 2022, 11 months, cholera killed 583 persons while 33 people died of the disease in November alone. A total of 23,550 people were infected between that period, January and November 2022. Now, the report also showed that 10 states accounted for 95% of the cumulative cases of the disease in the country. The states are burning with 12,459 cases. Yobbe, 1,888 katsuna with 1,632. You have Gombe with 1,407. And then Taraba with 1,142. Karnu with 1,131. Krosheva with 649. Bauchi with 649 as well. Zamfara with 630. Jigawa with 417. It's also reported that 32 states and the federal capital of territory, that's the FCT, had reported suspected cholera cases in 2022. I don't want to go on to mention these states, but well, there's a lot. There's six states, 32 cases or 32 states, however. But let's even get back to what cholera is. It's been proven by medical practitioners that cholera is an acute diarrhea illness caused by infection of the intestine. And people get sick when they swallow food or water contaminated with the cholera bacteria. So there's a bacteria that's responsible for all of that, and that's been medically proven. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, and for most times it's very severe and life-threatening. Although persons have lost their lives due to cholera. However, cholera is largely associated with rural communities and among people with poor nutrition, poor water quality, and poor sanitation. Hence, it has not gotten the desired attention from the government if you look at it. Now, in all of the states that this has been mentioned, it's very important to state that, you know, cholera itself, it's in rural communities. You don't really find that in urban cities, right? So in rural communities where you can't really guarantee access to portable water, you can't really say there's access to a lot of infrastructure and what makes life, you know, 100 for a lot of persons. This is where you find it. But I think that the conversation around cholera has been going for a long time. We've grappled with cholera even when there was a COVID-19 incident. And, you know, this conversation is ongoing, but you have expert who have advised that washing hands frequently with soap under clean water is very, very, very important, right? This is one of the ways and means to prevent all of this. It's also been said that you have to do that and especially also important that we pay attention to the issue of defecation before, you know, handing food or eating. People who should avoid open defecation, I mean, it's also important that people avoid that indiscriminate waste dump which contributes to the spread of cholera and also the issue of improved access to clean water and proper sanitation and hygiene. It is also a critical measure to prevent cholera cases and outbreak. These are expert issues. Moving forward to our thought issue on the top trending this morning is that President Mohamed Buhari or the federal government has inaugurated the NDDC Board. The federal government on Wednesday, that was yesterday, inaugurated the governing board of the Niger Data Development Commission. That's the NDDC. The agency had been without a board for almost four years now. The Senate on the 20th of December 2022 had confirmed the nomination of the chairman and the board of members of the commission after the president sent their names in accordance with the NDDC Establishment Act of 2000. The new chairman of the NDDC Board, Loretta Onoche, her old Nigerian, so gave the board a breathing space for the job to be done. She said that since the establishment of the agency or the act, the commission had received a lot of flak from all and sundry. And consequently, the board will be looking to review a lot of issues in addition to the guideline issued by the Honorable Minister and be looking to review the existing policies guidelines to enable the commission to have a clear side as to where to hit the ground and running. According to her, she said we cannot continue working with a field template and expect to get a different result. Well, in my interest, Loretta Onoche, the chairman of the NDDC governing board, is the seventh chairman of the governing board of the NNDC. And DDC, I beg your pardon, significantly. And she is the first woman to be appointed. We'll just leave this and say, let's have a married time. The board has been constituted. Some people say it's better late than never. But we know the issues. The issues are almost endless. We can go on with all of the issues. However, we'll leave this at this point. We'll definitely be monitoring the development and all of the issues from these agencies. That's the NDDC. And then bring you up to speed. Many thanks for staying with us on Off the Press. We take a break. When we return, we'll be looking at the front pages of our National Dailies. Please stay with us.