 Transport fares up by almost three times in 12 months according to report. New report lists top states with poor internally generated revenue. And I do not forget that we're also going to be looking at the papers this morning to bring you off the press and see what made it to the front pages of the National Dailies. Good morning and welcome to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Very wonderful day today, very close to Christmas. Today is the 20th day of December 2023. That means in five days it will be Christmas. So the activities are up and we do hope that you are part of the people who will successfully celebrate this Christmas. Remember it is not your birthday so do not stress yourself and to get the things that you cannot get. The economy is biting, it's not smiling as we say in Nigeria. So whatever it is that you need to do and that you can do, do. The ones that you cannot do please leave them to God. And the best form of celebration for Christmas is to show love and showing love doesn't mean that you have to give a bag of rice to the next person. You always have to give money to the next person to be a bit kinder with your words, with your actions and so many other things. Let us just learn to share this love because love is the only thing that if you share you get more. Okay so we are going on to our top trending topics this morning. INEC plans reruns by elections for February 2024. The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has said runs and buy elections may be held across the country in February 2024. INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu stated this yesterday at a consultative meeting with leaders of political parties in Abuja. Yakubu said the elections would address gaps created by court orders, resignations and debts within the state and federal legislatures. He said that following the conduct of the 2023 general elections courts have ordered the Commission to conduct rerun elections in 34 constituencies made up of one senatorial district, 11 federal constituencies and 22 state assembly constituencies. Yakubu explained that the elections to be conducted were in two categories saying the election petition appeal tribunals set up in the aftermath of the 2023 general elections gradually wind up their proceedings. The Commission is required to conduct rerun elections in some constituencies by court order. He said INEC is also required to conduct by elections to fill vacancies arising from the debt or resignation of members of the national and state houses of assembly. He explained that the Commission intends to combine and conduct two categories of elections on the same day, the details of which he said would be discussed at the meeting. Rerun elections only involve the parties and candidates that participated in the general election unless a party wishes to replace a deceased candidate. By elections on the other hand, fresh elections and consequently political parties must conduct fresh primaries within the limited period of time provided by law. The election petition appeal tribunals have ordered the Commission to conduct rerun elections in 34 constituencies made up of one senatorial district, 11 federal constituencies and 22 state assemblies. February is just around the corner so we're waiting for that and we're hoping that it will be so transparent that we will not have a rerun of the rerun as it is. Some retired, we're going to the second one now, some retired soldiers who fought for the federal government in the Civil War, that is war veterans, have lamented the failure of the government to pay them pension 40 years after the war. The veterans have given the federal government 28 days to pay their benefits or face mass protests come January 15, 2024. The veterans in a statement signed by their national coordinator, Corporal Baba Wande Philip and National Secretary Corporal Okawi Bajo accused the government of forsaking them, describing their ill treatment as unfair and non-recognition of the sacrifices they made during the war. The angry veterans vowed to resume their nationwide protests if their demands are not met by January 15. Though Nigeria is a member of a Commonwealth nation where armed forces remembrance is observed November 15, Nigeria Armed Forces Remembrance Day is observed every 15th of January in honor of those who have sacrificed their lives for their country during the Civil War which ended 15th of January 1970. The statement reads and I quote, We are displeased with the way the successive governments have treated us. End of quote. The statement explained that the veterans have been neglected despite their several letters and other entreaties to call the federal government's attention to their plight. The veterans revealed that in October they wrote the president, the national assembly and the secretary to the government of the Federation, Military Pensions Board and Ministry of Defense all with no replies or response. And this is really, really terrible. If they're saying 40 years after the war their pensions have not been given them. I don't know where the problem is and I'm sure that it can be traced very easily if the people in authority have the will to do that. Someone somewhere may be sitting on their money or someone somewhere may be sitting on that signature that should have given them their money but 40 years is quite some time. And a lot of them I'm sure have died in this struggle and they still didn't get their pensions. And how would you expect someone tomorrow to be as patriotic as you want them to be knowing that whatever benefits that are curable to them may not even come to them. We're not even talking about the ones that they might expect as some lagers or some benefits that are not official. But this is official. This is what they deserve. It's not as if you're, what is the Nigerian word again, now dashing them the money. You're not. You're just giving them what is due them. And 40 years after a lot of them have not received this. This is really, really, really bad. These are the people who were frontliners when we were fighting for the unity of this country no matter the role any of them played. But they risked their life. They offered their lives to make sure that Nigeria stays one. And some of them paid the ultimate price. So I can only imagine what happens to the families of the people who lost their lives. The army personnel that lost their lives. If the ones who are still alive are not even given their benefits. And how can we explain this away? Please whoever is in authority should do the needful. Every year we celebrate the arms forces remembrance day. We remember the dead. What about the ones that are alive? Why can't we give them what they are supposed to get? Look into it if you are responsible for them, please. Okay. The third one is that in a new report, Lagos, the economic center of Nigeria, has been rated second on the list of sinking cities that could disappear by the year 2100. According to the World Economic Forum via World of Statistics, top on the list is Jakarta, Indonesia, which is sinking at a rate of 6.7 inches per year due to excessive groundwater pumping. Lagos is said to be sinking at a rate of 0.3 inches per year. And it's also facing the threat of coastal erosion. Houston in Texas, United States of America, is sinking at a rate of 0.2 inches per year and is also facing the threat of hurricanes. While Jakarta, Indonesia, Lagos, Nigeria and Houston, Texas make up the top three. Other cities in the list are Dakar, Bangladesh, Venice, Italy, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Bangkok, Thailand, New Orleans, Louisiana, Rotterdam, Netherlands, Alexandria and Egypt. These are the things that we should be talking about. Lagos may be sinking in the next 70 years or maybe 50, going by what the kind of culture, the building culture that we have in Lagos especially and then the kind of waste evacuation and other things that we have in Lagos. The gutters are filled. Anybody of water is sand-filled. Everybody wants to build somewhere in Lagos, so that craze is there. So the word is reclaiming the land. Who are we reclaiming the land for? From water. Do you reclaim land from water? We've done enough already. We don't have the bar beach that we used to have those days. We don't have any other attractions that Lagos had in terms of water. And then we're still reclaiming the land from water. And where do we expect the water to go? When the water begins to fight back, there may be a problem. But in the meantime, 70 years, we could look at it as being so far away. That means that a child that is born now that is hoping to live long will witness the sinking of Lagos when they get to 70. That's what you should be thinking. So if you have children now, know that your grandchildren are going to witness that. So what are you doing in your small corner to make sure this never happens? So apart from reclaiming the land, we should try to change the attitude of waste disposal and things that make the water waste clog. Because while we're thinking about the water that might come from the ground, the one that is on top should find a way to flow into the ocean. So these are things that we should be talking about all the time. And when we emphasize this enough, then we will know that some of this reclamation that we are making, finding land to build houses, finding excuses to fill up water bodies so that we can build houses, we should be having everything. So maybe the projection is 2100 that Lagos might sink, but it doesn't mean that it will start sinking in 2100. It could be earlier than that, maybe in the next 50 years, or maybe 40 years, or maybe 30 years if we go by the rate that we are going right now. So we're sinking at a rate of 0.3% or 3 inches rather every year. So in 10 years, that will be something else. You know what it is, maybe like 3 inches that we will sink. Another 10 years, 3 inches that we will sink, that is if it is going naturally and gradually, that's how it will be sinking. But I doubt if that's how Lagos will be going. Because if we are reclaiming, like I said, all the land that has water, one day you will wake up, we are even seeing on the 3rd mainland bridge, they have started feeling some places as well. Before you know it, the entire 3rd mainland bridge is standing on top of a city because there will be no water anymore. And what happens when the water begins to find its level, as we say. Already now on the island, when it rains, you know that it is a terrible place to be. The island, the Victoria Island is a terrible place to be if it rains. I don't know much about Lekki, I haven't been there. When it's raining, I don't leave there, I don't work there. But I think it's almost about the same thing when it rains. So just imagine that happening all through Lagos. So maybe Laosa will be the only place that will be still dry when that time comes. Maybe some other places that are high enough will be the only ones that are dry. But we should start being proactive and make policies that will look at 50 years to come, 100 years to come, 200 years to come, at least some other countries do that. Let's be proactive. I don't want Lagos to sink, any kind of Lagos to sink, even if it is not in my lifetime. But I would like my children and my grandchildren to also see a Lagos that I saw, a better one for that matter. And we have to start now if we want to prevent that. So we're going to take a short break. And when we return, we'll be talking with our guest off the press. We'll be reviewing some headlines that made it to the front pages of some of our national dailies. In the meantime, stay with us.