 Welcome back. It's still the breakfast and plus TV Africa time to look at what the papers have in store for us this morning. Very interesting headlines on the front pages of the punch. This day the Guardian and the nation newspapers and we're going to go through them first before we bring our guest who is standing by but we have G.D. Johnson on the line legal practitioner. Sorry. Tunde Kolaoli on the line with us this morning. Apologies for that legal practitioner. Barista, good morning to you. Good morning. I hope you had a lovely night. Very well. Thank you and yours. Time goes okay. All right. You're starting with the power supply. Yes, I can imagine. I can imagine. But you sound quite energetic and upbeat this morning. I can't wait to get your thoughts on what the papers have to say. Let's start off with a punch in newspaper that has a following headline. It's a big story on the front page. Budget deficit rises 370 percent. It's 47 trillion Naira under Buhari. Budget deficit rises 370 percent. It's 47 trillion Naira under Buhari. The writer to that president to pass on 15.62 billion dollar euro bond repayments to the next government. That's quite a nice way to welcome the next government. More from the paper. Ballot paper. Local printers set to sue INEC. Local printers set to sue INEC. Commission extends PVC collection till January 29. I'm sure that's why lawyers like you Tunde Kolaoli would always be smiling to the bank because we have these court cases around. But we have more. FG rules Spanish investors for seven oral blocks. FG rules Spanish investors for seven oral blocks. 648 cases brought against president FG. AGF. That's according to the AGF. It says 648 cases brought against the president and the federal government. More from the paper. Beguided by diplomatic practice. FG urges envoys. Government kill four a number of vigilantes. Bomb five buildings and EFCC shortlist 26 bidders for forfeited assets. EFCC shortlist 26 bidders for forfeited assets. Some of the stories on front page of the punch. Let's move over to this day on Friday with these headlines. Big one. Again Buhari wants foreign missions against interference in Nigeria's politics says nation working with echoes to secure region halt coups sparing to collaborate with Nigeria in insecurity fight. Confess posthumous award on late envoy silky silver seeks help to tackle insecurity in our sector. Of course these four known voice were welcomed by the president. It's a huge ceremony. Punch had some of the pictures on its front page. The paper we earlier looked at. More from this day. CBN intensifies nationwide awareness on redesigned Naira. Insists new bank notes have come to stay. Cessitizes only chartered is kind of growing marketers. Others on security features of new notes. Maintains new 1500 and 200 Nair can only be dispensed through ATMs. Interesting one. Alec extends deadline for collection of PVCs to January 29. Neck discolors collected 188 billion Nair as revenue out of 265 billion billed in Q2 2022. Next one. Obi we will destroy structure of criminality build new Nigeria says PDP APC field Nigerians insist lecturers won't go and strike under him. Promises insurance for security agencies. Interesting promises there by a presidential candidate. And the final story from this day. Your allegations against me unfortunate. Monarch replies Kogi government will leave them with that one as we move on to the next paper. The Guardian. It leads with this headline on the front page of the Guardian. Banks defy CBN continue issuing old Naira notes. Banks defy CBN continue issuing old Naira notes. Any surprises there. Riders who that new bank notes still scanty. Only one out of nine banks in Boko issuing new notes. In Balmer new notes treated as souvenirs. Canon customers tackle cashiers over mutilated notes. Long queues at ATMs paying new Naira. Apex bank kicks off sensitization program at riders for that headline. Interesting ones there. Next one from the Guardian. You've lost equal support over comments. SERG tells Tinnable. So only promises better tomorrow if re-elected. Better tomorrow if re-elected. Reminds me of a better life for raw women. I don't know if you all remember that one of the late Mary and Babangida. Let's go on. Government kill four or four vigilantes raise buildings in a number bomb attack. Government kill four vigilantes raise buildings in a number attack. And the interesting big story from the Guardian on Friday. They are big story you know you have it on pages four and five of the paper there. Focus is on Ajakuta steel plant. I don't even get tired as I am affaring about Ajakuta steel plant. But what the paper says is Ajakuta steel plant. Steel plant rather. Like refineries a story retold promises unkept. You see a picture of the Russian president, a Long Center Nigerian president. That itself tells the story. You can read more from the Guardian if you can grab a copy. More. I think the final one from that paper. I never wanted third-term presidency says Obasanjo. I think we need to pause and reflect on that. I never wanted third-term presidency says Obasanjo. That's just at the bottom of that screen. Sorry it's out of your shot but we'll look at that as we go on. Let's move over to the final paper this morning and that happens to be the nation newspaper which always has political slants because of the season we're in. The big story on the front page. Millions of uncollected PVCs force INEC to shift deadline. Millions of uncollected PVCs force INEC to shift deadline. 13.87 million cards printed for valid registrants. Agency probes a legs extortion and this interesting way the paper is describing INEC's extension because another angle to the whole situation. More from the paper. Rejection of new naranotes not a crime. Oh sorry. Rejection of new naranotes a crime CBN warrants. I wonder why I was reading the rejection of new naranotes a crime CBN warrants. Troops killed 50 terrorists in three weeks says DHQ. AGF 6.32 million pounds 5.5 million euros and 390 million dollars looted funds recovered in 70 years. I don't know for some reason I my mind always tells me that the AGF is always mentioned alongside money in the news. Alongside money. Senate urges federal government to stop bowings. NLCT you see others in those temples and all who why I can't campaign for or be by Obasanjo. Government demand 10 million dollar ransom on Osho farmers. I have to make a call in order not to take too much more time I will stop at that and come over to you. Let's start with Obasanjo or like Chief Tommy Kimi said you know that popular that famous PDP primary at Eagle Square then Obasanjo Obasanjo Obasanjo Obasanjo. On the front page of the nation at the bottom he says that why I won't campaign for be that's the first one and then on the front page of the Guardian he says I never wanted third term presidency. The man never fails to grab the headlines even though he's not the president tell him what I thought on these two stories. Can you repeat the question please. All right on the front page of the nation Obasanjo says why I can't campaign for or be that's the story there. Yes why I can't campaign for be by Obasanjo and then on the front page of the Guardian he says I never wanted third term presidency says Obasanjo. Chief Obasanjo or do you call him general Obasanjo or if you present or present Obasanjo we should call him. He is a man of many qualities so to say and the man that is in my humble opinion could be very very difficult to predict. Probably too he is a man I am of your opinion likes to play to the gallery in the sense that if you have adopted the man you say look this is about the right candidate for the nation at this crucial period in time. I don't see any reason why we should not be ready to campaign for such a candidate. Campaign comes in different form it's not just by mounting the soapbox and traveling all over the place that you can campaign for a candidate you could take a bag for him you could go to some of these plant companies, trucking, mosques and water. You can even print leaflets in respect of the candidates that you have adopted and then this would be leaflet to be able to campaign the man to be able to sit through your wishes that that kind of a person to win the lecture. So my presentation, I am taking this to my humble opinion it's not good for his post talent as a man who has adopted format of no view but his presence as a plant of the of the healthy which regards to his saying that he doesn't want the presidency but that flies in the air why do I say that flies in the air you and I will remember the other allegation very very strong allegation for that matter that has been made by senators who said they were opposed just a few days ago governor Jiu Zoukalu that came out to say that you should go back to your podium for a third agenda. We also recollect that Rufai had also made a similar allegation for some of the governor Jiu Zoukalu for some of the governor Jiu Zoukalu said they were approached for a third time. So when Jiu Zoukalu said he doesn't begin to say that he really doesn't want the presidency or not and not to show that he is being honest with the Nigerian people but that is neither here nor there whether he wants this or not the issue today is that this country is devout with a lot of problems economically, socially, politically and not at all and if anybody has a formula with which you can rule out of these challenges and what at all I should thank such a man should put his hand on the plow and do everything possible that he finds a solution to the mirado problem confronting the relation. Jiu Zoukalu said not do we need to campaign for a candidate that he has adopted the man will look you know looks like somebody who really wants to eat his cake and also still have it is the kind of standing on the fence so that even at the end of the day who will loses it's a little difficult to really engage the Georgia government to do or to say that about what you are saying in the campaign so she will be true as it appears to me they have done similar things in the past I remember some people in time he has said he forgave me he forgave Tiku Aubaka but at the end of the decision to release campaign for Tiku Aubaka and also when I see what he wants to know who she will tell him and how that the killer that was going to tell him from Guadalpia Mila was that Robert Milo was disposed to interview the presidency so this came from both sides of the Maotai and Maombu look you know doesn't know what was the image of Johnson's passenger and those months in Nigeria people in 94 all right he said he never wanted third term presidency he said he says he never wanted a third term presidency but he never wanted to be president third term third term presidency is on front page of the Guardian okay the second story I actually comment on to comment on is the one on the front page of the Guardian I never wanted third term presidency says Obasanjo I never I have those I have those of my 93s of that I said look people like all these local you have come out to say that Obasanjo approached him to to for his third term presidency and we finally came out to say that Obasanjo approached him for his third presidency and you also recollect the as in some other governor who said they approached them for the third presidency I am not to show that all these were meaning Nigeria or Nigeria that we can say on the 9th of September and Canada who just sit down in the compass of the offices of their home and begin to cook up with the legation that Obasanjo even wanted the third term presidency and of course to the former speaker of the Assocism this is also came as a third Obasanjo was desperate to have the third term presidency the argument that he he was said to have made at that point in time was that his fourth term in office he merely used it to please the Nigerian politicians who impose on him all manners of people as ministers as advisors and as thermals of paratartas and boss and it was only during the second term that feeling booties are on the cloud and began to do the work of the presidency and what happened so it's for him to compress it for the four years of his fourth term of presidency that he never had the total control over what he wanted to do that he was said to have been desperate but that was the argument he was said to have made for his third term presidency because he did have flies in the air in the sense that in the country of 200 million people it's going to be full of you or not too tidy because that's one thing we did here to think and believe that he solely didn't have the answer to all the problems that he does with that term is confronting a dear affirmation the the next president whoever it is of Nigeria whoever becomes the next we'll have a gift you know handed over to them from President Buhari you know Babu tells us of the three wise men who went to Jesus Christ baby Jesus bearing gifts this time it's President Buhari passing a gift on to the next president 47 trillion era current debt all right this is on the front page of the punch newspaper budget deficit rises to 370 rises 370 percent sorry hits 47 trillion era so one of the gifts that we passed over to the next president will be humongous debt profile of the federal government and including the euro bond they have about 15.62 billion dollar euro bond repayments that will be due and they're going to hand the payment or repayment of that to the next administration how how difficult it be for whoever becomes the next president to do anything and succeed in in four years to the color what do you think and the chancellor of the not too long ago very eloquently with regard to the challenge that the nation is facing and then what might be confronting whoever whatever passes on the next election and never become the president of Nigeria with the mountain of debt that the Nigeria nation now has on its head according to the prognosis of it if I've ever heard of that now what the next government probably will require to do is what about God did when he was so similarly confronted with the rich death when he became the president you see that you go to some of these nations to go and take them to go and process before them to write on some of his debts and all that and if they are not willing to do that you might need to go there and then also not do them so it gives out to to kind of a court can take less amount of money for whatever amount of money that you might be wearing them but that is going to be a difficult exercise difficult in the sense that these nations and countries and organizations have done that before for you and then you haven't learned any lessons from me you see we went out again to start filing off debts at Lola I'm not too sure that anybody is willing to either reduce or amortize or to even wait whatever just Nigeria may be wearing them because Nigeria it will appear to be getting like a political sum who hasn't learned anything I want people to forgive your debt as organizations as individuals and nations at Lola it is not easy to not talk it is the taxpayer the taxpayer for giving the show that is going to be shown in the responsibility for those debts in terms of the amount of taxes that they may have to pay to really be able to sort off or to really be able to cover the gap that the money or the debt that has been forgiving is going to be creating in their own national body or in their own GDP or in the health of their nation as they are going to confront where for me any politician who is coming into office this time around Lola already knows the challenges that he said that he said before him I want to say that it's good management I want to say that prudent money management resources an ability to cost our quote according to the size of our clothes it is impossible to manage some of these debts and others why am I saying the little surrogate that I have done over the years has shown me that when Nigeria makes a budget in Lola that less than 20 percent of what we budget for annually actually goes into a kind amount to whatever the possibility whatever your social whatever you want to do as a nation the remaining 50 percent ends up in individual people's pockets you should also remember that when budgets are taken to the national assembly for a proof of whatever all manners of page goes into it and there's also never been a year in which Nigeria fully implemented its annual budget most time the budget is implemented to the tune of less than 30 percent of what the national assembly has to for what that tells us affirmation is that we can do with lesser money than we actually been budgeting for in all these previous years of Lola because like I said most of those money ends up in private pockets in terms of in terms of uh project in terms of whatever that has never been secreted in terms of a bad non-project in terms of inflation of culture we should also remember essentially what we have from President Gullo-Gineta that he was visiting South Africa and when he got to South Africa he made an inquiry as to gather most of the culture to give their international airport and when he compared what was due to give their international airport and what we used to do renovation in Nigeria they were way way far apart I mean they were far apart simply because in here in Nigeria here most of our budget are implemented to the tune of the under each not a thousand percent and when you have other people to ask a few of them questions they say they look they replace the cost of this contract because I mean simply because most time when there's a huge contract for two three four years another the government never gets to pay them we are at the level that they take from the bank and all that and we will continue to to to a cool situation to the to them all the cost of borrowing money in Nigeria is also to the tune of that fight to say whereas in other countries of the world we don't require money I mean interest is between two percent two and a half percent to five percent but here in Nigeria there are components that fight to say I don't see any business man can execute a contract or supply government to me execute government business and all that without replacing the contract so that is this are some of the areas to require to look at. Nigeria's debt is manageable most of the money that was budget for and now we are borrowing he's been treated the way to one direction or the other so I think we put that money then and with the man who puts himself who has a who is women who intend to limit and achieve these programs and go to a lot of and who has the intent of the Nigeria people like that. I think Nigeria's problems or Nigeria's debt is nothing so much. Nigeria's problem we could have to take. Thank you. Thank you very much interesting thoughts and you know some of the facts you put out there very interesting indeed let's take another one the Guardian gives a very very good expose on what is going on right now with the the tales of the new Naira let's call it that not tales by moonlight but tales of the new Naira says the banks are defined CBN and continuing as they continue issue old Naira notes they're talking about scarcity of of the new bank notes and that the banks can't even load the ATMC those new bank notes. What are your thoughts on this difficulty in accessing new bank notes despite CBN saying oh we have them and we just load them in the ATMC go there you get it. Honestly speaking when you look at both the Bible and the Quran they tell us that we must no matter the circumstances respect our leaders and the reverence to them but when you think critically about what we have done with beginning to design the Naira as the way out of this government and not it begin to question the rationale and then the concept and also the the purity or the sanity of the mind that went into a really thing that at this way out is when we should be designing the Naira you are talking about a country that is a bank of that has no money to render service to pay salaries and also execute the contacts and not what the Nigerian nation should be pursuing and that is what most of the country that are pursuing is a countless policy so if you are pursuing a countless policy and that's it that should be the program what are you now concentrating on wasting resources on designing the Naira but what is the what's goal you don't want to achieve with you designing the Naira note for me it looks like a white elephant project one of these prestigious projects we generate value this is the first time when it was nutrient of state adapters in time he said a lot of people are holding the Naira I mean the currency adapters in time at home except this time you know the feelings of their homes and all that in order to render whatever they may have sold me and kept away from calculation you said he's changed the money I mean changed the Naira adapters in time but you see this is not in 1983 in 1985 we are in the year 2023 and most of the time when people stealing money they don't keep them at home in Naira most of the time they go to the black market buy dollars, buy euros, buy pens, pens and water and then because those monies are stable they are valued to be placed as quickly as our own though they are also very small in terms of their design and the type they are easy to keep when you go out and say because you want to render you slave whatever people may have started somewhere or put on me in their 30 times at home and all that you haven't done a good analysis of the challenges thank you very much we'll be out of time we have to go to the Colombo corporation to print the notes and money to put in circulation short and long I also read in some papers that the counter for the designing of the Naira note were awarded to certain persons and all that for God's sake when you are worth that kind of contact to individuals and whatever what is the guarantee that they might not be they print this out for themselves and then put it in circulation to the Colombo we have to go for that's the much you can take today can you hear me yes sorry because of time we have to pull the plugs when you raise some very important points and you've taken us down memory lane talking about money being hidden in septic tanks and all that that was 1983, 1984, 1985 it's almost 40 years from then but we will look at what happens as time goes on you know as far as policy is concerned I don't know if you've been able to lay your hand on anything do you have the new notes do you have a copy of the new note maybe have you withdrawn from an ATM I have been giving a few of it when I went to bank to cash a little money and the job like some modern ideas are complained the quality, the durability and then the printing smears your hand that is to see the color or the view for some of this thing when you rub your hand a heart on it or you have a little muscle on your hand and know that the color comes off too easily and I want to say that the ordinary man that shouldn't be decayed that's about the quality of the printing that's out on top and if you are talking about durability how would that kind of the new that is in the belief be able to live long in circulation all right to Nikolaou thank you very much I haven't the last time I withdrew from the ATM was old notes let's see what happens because if you say a CBN do one thing the banks can't do it because they don't have the notes then it means that your policy has already failed but thank you for your time to Nikolaou and I hope to have you again next week do have a fantastic weekend so thank you very much and we'll be back with our first major conversation we'll look at the UK boarding schools week and then educational exhibition schools exhibition holding in Lagos, Nigeria stay with us