 Thank you for staying with us. You're still watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa Well, it's time to take global stories making headlines in our national dailies and joining us to review the papers is Chris gained a one-do is a member of the Chattered Institute of Abitrators in the UK and is joining us from the Center of Excellence Abuja. Good morning, Chris. Thank you for joining us Lovely to have you Okay, so would you at the Center of Excellence only? Oh, Lagos is the Center of Excellence, Abuja is the seat of power. The land of Aquatic Splendor Yes, yes, I beg your pardon. Well, he's joining us from the seat of power Anyway, let's begin with the papers this morning The Guardian is the paper we'll be starting with and this leads by saying households Grown over food prices as inflation and defies interventions Now a similar headline is also on the vanguard It says more pressures on pockets as food inflation rises to 40% and the riders on this one says Hi electricity tariff to dry further rise and analysts And then it's bad for business that has been said by Nassima Small businesses to lose capital base and that's by Asbon. So with all of this I mean we're seeing inflation get up to 33 percent. I mean just the Few weeks ago. It was about 29.9 percent But now inflation is even on an all-time high again Now the dollar, you know, it's almost about 1,000 Naira and they said it should be less than 8,000 Naira really soon A few weeks ago. It was as high as 1,900 So we've seen the Naira gain strength, but then it's not reflecting on the Prices of goods and services in Nigerians And so I want to just get your take on all of this with food inflation becoming so high I don't think they're making a big profit But on everything I want you to see, it's pretty much all of the prices of commodities Prices of yam, rice, beans, tomatoes, meat, fish and all the necessary It's really free-rited But then we can also talk about other issues like housing, clothing and the others But this kind of food-rited and the hungry man is a man with mastery of food I'm not able to provide food for a team of over 200 million And then we are almost like a failed nation And that is why I think we have to concentrate Therefore, what you're saying is that it is going to be a worst Why am I saying that? It's going to devise a food that's going to get to us with the increase in electricity We've got this point where we are now with the federal government of president When I went to Google, he said that it was approved by the Korea administration But it was the president's current president made an announcement on late this night That it was approved by the government of the children products And that in itself has a super spiral effect And by now, prices of goods and services, just like the total subsidy that was approved And it was increased to almost, if not about 300% Prices of goods and services are increased even more than that to close to 500% And for you know, if you look at some of the headlines today The former governor of Kaguna State, Eropa, he said that We are paying more for all these subsidies now than ever before And we are going to look at this kind of contradiction So the oil resources that we have, oil opportunities of subsidies that was removed Which was worth becoming a hint or to go to Say that oil is going to be no better for Nigeria So we are not offering that price that there is no subsidy that has been removed But if not we are hearing that that subsidy is a good platform that we are paying more Now than it was on the 29th of May 2023 There is something is wrong somewhere How come we are just not going to be a part of this subsidy remover? Are we back to the days of Google, Jonathan, where people are just Pocketing and pocketing money from this very subsidy And the theory that they are spotting tankers and the sales of ships of Regional products in Nigeria and calling for them to We will see evidence to show that and they will collect money and put them in pocket So who is the environmental challenge to the federal government as we are? Yes, as Rani said, inflation is going to go to over 30% And interest rate is not even smiling after Look at some interest rates But you can see that most of Nigeria's SMEs cannot even access Goals and from the banks And that is so much of it Now we are hearing that the national grid has collapsed again Of trouble between 2000 and 200, how many thousand we have We have been troubling with 4,000 make hours for how many years now Now this is the another national grid collapse And that is adding more problems to Nigeria's The government is coming and they are going to take care of some of these challenges So now it is just the inflation it needs to be Now in the past people have always blamed the dollar and said They have said that because the dollar is reason That is the reason why prices of goods and services are so expensive But now we have seen the dollar come down To a significant amount Why are people still selling for as high or even higher than what it used to be before? Shouldn't there be some regulatory body to ensure that the prices of things are affordable for Nigerians? Now I have to do a different kind of goods and services in Nigeria But that is not our domestic currency So we are able to do that because of the dollar We are able to describe the value of the dollar If you go to my again, I have to let us know Mr. Kene, the only man on the street selling yam would tell you that the dollar has gone up That is the reason why my prices have gone up So it is just the mentality that everyone has But everything seems to be collected Yes, you import a lot of things Maybe the fertilization that you use, the machinery A lot of things are being imported So because these things go up, there is a ripple effect to the prices in the market And I am thinking that we are more educated than most of the people We have to admit that the problem is that our production line is low We take a food diet and our food production line is low People are not going to the farm again That is the issue I want to be heard that people are being treated with the prices in the farm And they are adopted So people are not going to the farm The area is open-busy A consumer state That is supposed to be a bed And not very far Also for some major crops including natural price And most of the modern states are open-busy now So we have serious security And we have food security problem That is where the issue is Now, maybe if you produce people are finding it difficult To go to the cities Because of course of petroleum and diesel Those are the issues We have to do the dollar We have to do the dollar This is the area Today it is safe And also free Maybe it is both African countries But are we doing the right thing? What is our level of production in terms of agriculture? We are not producing enough And that is it Are we going to be able to feed ourselves? We need to have our equipment And people are usually doing it across the border We should have maybe three lads And two lads of food items that were being That were intercepted by the customs So a few minutes time Maybe a lot of media towards the DJ So those are the issues So from the matter we have to be done last That is not the issue The history is that People are not going to the farm And we need to increase our capacity These days of, I saw it three months ago We are basically home And the customers are going to the farm And say that the farm is not The family has got the young that we have to do it To make sure that we can recognize the farm As if we don't know the value of the farm Where we can cultivate a lot of people to feed them But maybe what we are going to have Is food security We are going to have these serious Food shortages that are curious And that is what we are telling them That is why we have to buy some We have to buy some food And we have to wait Of course the family has to do that We don't have to do that So why we have to consider the competition That is called that We are going to make sure that We are going to look at free items Because What's the idea that we can say Every other thing that we are going to Is just like It is just like That is the situation I will argue What the minister of agriculture said About the problem we are working on I have not heard from the minister of agriculture He is saying Minister of water resources What does he say Minister of finance Are we giving those to farmers To be able to Make sure that they are able to go to the farm And be able to produce enough Look at even when it comes to The issue of food trade When it comes to the issue of Meat When it comes to the issue of fish When it comes to the issue of eggs And all the basic things that we do We are talking about Price and labor we put Pepper and tomatoes from That is not the issue Minister of agriculture We are talking about my constituency The farmers Let me just say what I always say here Everything is connected If you have a litre of herbicide It used to go for 1,000 And 1,500 tops Now it is going for 5,500 Above fertilizer used to be 10,000 Naira But because of the import and all that Because of the dollar that they are saying It is now sold for at least 60,000 Naira From 10,000 to 15,000 To 60,000 from 1,500 The litre of herbicides to 5,500 Naira and all that So if you factor in these things Even the people who are able to Go to the farms are finding it difficult There is a tiller That is handheld It can help you do a lot of work More than the whole They used to buy it for like 250,000 Naira Now it is 950 in some places 1.1 million So how do you look at all those things And you still say that the farmers There is no relationship with the pepper In your farm, you need Insecticides to make sure that the pepper Is not Now what I am saying is that I understand what you are saying But Dollar seems to be One kind of trade that ties everything To the other in Nigeria So whether we like it or not Every institution, every part Of the economy is being influenced By the rise and fall of dollar Especially because we import a lot of things Yes, these pesticides are being imported The fertilizers are being imported The machinery are being imported Even if you are not importing that Your child wants to go to school And your child cannot eat Very solid food in the morning He has to eat maybe noodles That you cannot buy because it is being imported So you will sell your yam To make sure you can buy the noodles You cannot sell the noodles I am just saying I am listening to you I am just asking you a good question Now the dollar needs to be 1,900 Now it is by half It is 1,000 Naira to a dollar So why happen that the food prices are not coming down That is the question we are asking That is the question we are asking this morning For now we have fixated at the food prices We are not talking about the reason Why the food prices rose Dollar has come down but the herbicides I mentioned Have not come down Dollar has come down So why are we looking at the food What I am saying is We are even talking about the food prices We don't have to import the fertilizer You forgot that we used to have napkins And all those fertilizer companies In Nigeria And they are not there And you ask why they are not working It is your question And I give that to you But what I am asking is Why one country in Nigeria does not produce fertilizer Exactly Because of that we are not depending on the dollar So it is not the farmers fault That is what I am trying to say It is not actually 100% the farmers fault No, I didn't say No, I didn't say it is farmers fault I never say it is farmers fault I am telling you that the farmers Are not able to go more Because of certain things And I told you that security Provide security People go to the farm and they can How many people go to the farm Even your own state They will now have the highest food inflation The highest food inflation even The basket of the nation Even my state of people How many people go to the farm Because they are afraid that they will be kidnapped They will be killed As I am saying So many factors And I told you the issue of the children And also and this From the It is a problem Do you know how much I am going to trade So Chris So Chris now Now that the other headline is saying Dangote is going to be buying crude In Naira Do you see any hope Because of that Because even the marketers are proposing 550 Naira per liter to Dangote And I wonder how that is So if it is going to be buying crude Do you think there will be an improvement Where is the crude That is the question The same crude that Dangote imported from the U.S That is imported from the U.S world We don't even have enough to be able to meet Our perpetrator I am sure they are aware of that Yes So what are we That is why So I told that I agree that Dangote buying crude In Naira Is a good thing If this crude is available Now the potatoes in Naira are also going into production For how many weeks now That is also supposed to break down our level Of importation of petroleum products But you see Is it working So even if we cannot be able to Have enough crude to be able to supply Dangote in Naira That means that Dangote the same money If you say you want to save Naira Dangote is going to pay dollars And those are the problems So I don't know what is happening When we didn't have a Dangote refinery We were exporting crude And bringing back petrol and all that Now we have a refinery here There is no crude for him Or is it that it has been used for other There are speculations that Our crude has even been sold in advance So we don't have enough as of right now Oh dear No We have to know that Some of our crude We have used it to collect money Yes, collateral I'm sure you know that And I had to do that for about 6 to 80 months I don't know whether that has lasted So for Naira Whatever you are producing Naira You don't collect the money chopper So you are just supplying Mr Chris who is the owner I was You said that It's a question I said that I said the average Nigerian Now you have I don't have Saudi I never sold no crude Okay, so let's just talk about The collapse of the national greed Because that's also on the headline So in the Guardian it says national greed Suffers third collapse Was sent 20 hours per target On the punch It leads with vandalism Worsens greed collapse as gas shortage Slashes power supply The writers here says TCN Discourse bling gas shortage Vandalism for frequent Collapses from Berg's customers TCN plans fresh investment In power infrastructure as greed Collapses sixth time In 2024 And I know I was saying it's I think it was sick or something It collapses every other day And I said every other month But now we're seeing this happen Time and time again This is 6 times in 2024 In 2024 Exactly So what's happening with our infrastructure Of the power sector Why can't we just have a greed that works Come on We supply electricity to some countries We are the giants of Africa In fact I remember during the AFKON The South Africans were laughing at us Saying we're a generator republic So why are we seeing this Is this a case of vandalism As you know Dave said Or it's just a case of the government not doing enough So if you have a minister Who should filter our fridge And our air condition That is what's consuming What's consuming electricity We are future We are future And this collapses So these are fundamental issues The fact is that we are not doing what we need to do I said it when I opened that We are already between 3,000 to 4,000 megawatts Of electricity in Nigeria That is what over 213 million Nigerians Are sharing And I said it's on this program Sometime ago that South Africa With half a lesser Of over 60,000 Megawatts of power And they are still complaining At 60,000 That is not enough for them So when we look at it The fact is that the impasse culture Is not there That is why it's collapsing Most of these grids Have been in existence since 1960 Even before 1960 And not just have been going to change them Now we generate We generate As much as we can I said it on this program That's what the 5,000 You cannot put on the national grid Because you cannot take it You cannot take more than 4,000 So if you try to push About 5,000 That you just push it It will collapse The next thing they will tell you Is gas No supply of gas But that is understood Every country is very hydro How many hydro power plants do we have in Nigeria? Even the one that We recently in the Manila Said that we almost completed We heard that We cannot even move from The generation into the national grid So those are the issues And the issues that are treated Just like drinking what you have got And leaving headache For goodness sake you don't make any headway To tell us we should switch off Our electricity And the conditions If we don't have power we will switch off So those are the issues So let us face the fundamental The fact also that With license to take over this electricity No less to mountain about this All they have just said it is Just to increase To 3,000 To 3,000 According to them on the so called bank What is particularly on the so called bank If you are not getting the money They said that part of what they said Was that it was going to improve Our supply Now that it is The power is no different So the issue As it were is that We have to go back We have to change We have to re-jig our Architecture Electricity generation The The weakest link In all this is the transmission It is not just It is not generation it is transmission Because if they look to generate And they cannot be able to transmit It is public because As I said The continuous failure Of national grid is that The national grid cannot be able to take Enough of what is being pushed into And that is the issue I am not an electrician I am not an electric engineer And I am also a journalist But simple common sense We tell us that this is what is happening And we want to solve that And with that power No one can do The S&P is practically dead Totally dead Because one of them You have the organizer And the rest of them cannot even buy them They cannot buy them software What are the problems? Well, band A people Yesterday I was listening to the radio Band A people How far? Made that band G I don't even know if I have a band I was listening to the radio