 On the breakfast, the limitation of cash withdrawal of the modern to 20,000 naira per day and 100,000 naira per week, fixed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. It's legal, not avoid according to legal practitioner will have further conversation on this ahead. Also, the breakfast speaker of the House of Representatives says the constitutional amendment process may not be concluded before the end of the ninth assembly. And don't forget, we will be going through the pages of today's national dailies bringing you the latest headlines with analysis coming your way in after the press. All these ahead on The Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. And we're back with The Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Very good morning to you. It's a beautiful, beautiful Wednesday morning and we have a lot in store for you as far as our discussions are concerned today. I implore you to sit back, relax and enjoy yourself. As usual, we say take a cup of tea or coffee and just have a sip while you enjoy the show. My name is Kofi Bartel. So we'll get into the papers and into two minute conversations as advertised ahead. But before that, let's look at what papers, sorry, a top trending segment has today. We usually, as we say, take the big stories off the social space and bring them on the air to discuss. The first one happens to do with the theater arts and motion pictures practitioners Association of Nigeria. I don't know if you've heard that group of that group before, but they're there. They're there. They're called Tampan Theater Arts and Motion Pictures Association of Nigeria. And legendary actor is quite a popular man. He's probably known as Mr. Latin, all right, but his name, his government name, like some people will say, his official name is Boloji Amusa. He's been elected on a post as the president, national president of this association. He was elated. So he spoke to the press and all that yesterday. And what he says is that he will work tirelessly towards advancing the association and further improving on actors welfare. He will work tirelessly towards advancing the association and further improving on the welfare of actors in the country, which is a big issue. He also said the health insurance schemes and cooperatives from members will also be prioritized. This is another very, very important issue. Just to take some of his words, he said, quote, this is another opportunity to serve my people. This will be done selflessly just as before. He also said, quote, Tampan has made great improvement over the years due to cooperation of all members of the association. I appreciate everyone, everyone for this. So that's what the man had to say. He made a lot of promises. It's not the first time he's holding this position of national president of Tampan. Mr. Latin had earlier, you know, run a four-year tenor and he is coming back for another four-year tenor. He also said that some executives, other executives who were also returned on a post, he gave some names, so Dunladya Decolas, director, motion pictures, Shalak, Kosokora, Benaz, national auditor and some other names that are out there. So it's good. He said the election, which was conducted in all your state, was credible, free and fair. I mean, I'm not expecting to see any other thing. That's the election that brought him in. All right. So that's that. You know, we have different groups, you know, for those in the film industry, you know, Actors Guild of Nigeria is there, Radio, Theatre, Worker's Union, Radio and Theatre, Work and Arts, Worker's Union, I forgot what it's called. Ratau is there as well. I mean, the modern area, okay? That's what I think. And then these groups are there to protect the rights of workers and all, but it's very important. I don't know what Ratau is doing, you know, to protect the rights of media practitioners in the country. Maybe the modern day media practitioners need to have another union, you know, to agitate for the rights of media practitioners, because that's very important. Media practitioners are going through a lot in Nigeria, going through a lot. So anyway, wish him the best. Worker's, sorry, welfare of people in the movie industry, motion picture industry, you want to call it. And in theatre arts is something to be really taken seriously. Welfare, welfare. A lot of them have had to, you know, come to the public or brought to the public square. Anytime they have an illness, an ailment, you know, and the like, just, you know, to plead for support from the public donations. And some of these things can easily be handled if you have a health insurance scheme, I don't know why they don't have that. You know, it's very simple. Some 3,000, 5,000, 8,000, even 10,000, you know, can handle some of these things every month, you know, full entry contribution. So it's very important for him to see how he can put them together. But I do not know, also, some of these actors, you know, leave, retire, and they go home to nothing. I do not know whether there's some sort of, you know, pension scheme that can be put together to encourage the, you know, to help the actors, those in the movie, motion picture and theatre arts industry. I mean, there are some, a lot of workers in different industries. They go to work, you know, six days a week, five days a week. No health insurance, no pension arrangement, nothing. And the companies get away with it, you know, but these are people in the private sector. So it's important that he looks into that. But question I have for Latin, Mr. Latin is, you were there for four years. You were there for four years. You couldn't even do this. Four years, four years, four years. Like Stalplosan, they say four years don't work, we still the cargo. So you've come to tell people that you would prioritize health insurance scheme and corporate lives for members, you were there for four years. What did you do? Please, she let us speak. What did you do? No, no. You were there for four years. I mean, what do you guys think? So anyway, this is where we are, wish him the best. But the question of my mind is if he could not do anything for four years, all these things he's saying, if he couldn't do that for four years, will he be able to do them in these second four years? I wish him the best and I hope that he can achieve them and more and more. Mr. Latin, congratulations to you. I'm also intrigued that he was returned unopposed. Is that the idea? I know people will challenge him. This thing called unopposed, it doesn't sit well with me. We're always here unopposed in this country. People should oppose you so that he brings out the best in you. But I wish him the best in relations to him. Let's move on. Nigeria's federal government has announced the relaxation of mandatory COVID-19 requirements or restrictions. This announcement came through the Nigerian civil aviation authorities. So that means that we're looking at the airports. These are mandatory COVID-19 tests for those who are traveling through the airport. It's called pre-arrival and post-arrival testing for COVID-19. It is no longer a prerequisite for travelers, irrespective of their vaccination status. So those who decided not to travel for the last two years and keep their money in the bank, use it for other things, right? I'm paying for this test and that test in London and in the US and in Dubai and in Lagos. I'm sure they can now travel, take that money out and use it for something good. But I think it's also a welcome involvement to a lot of frequent travelers who have to spend more to take these tests. The Nigerian civil aviation authority released the letter, the address that letter to airline operators. And this is what the letter read. COVID-19 travel testing, pre-departure and post-arrival COVID-19 PCR tests are no longer required for all passengers irrespective of vaccination status. PCR tests required for all passengers who've been partial or not fully vaccinated have been suspended. So they also said that aside from the suspension of these COVID-19 tests, wearing a face mask is no longer mandatory for passengers on board aircrafts. I remember a lawyer friend of mine who went viral for refusing to wear his mask in a flight and was promptly or subsequently ejected by an air hostess, a very vocal lawyer friend of mine, you know, he was stood on his rights, you know, he said, how can you make me wear a mask and I wouldn't wear the mask and the the air hostess, young lady called a soldier, took him out. He was humbled, there's nothing he could do. You know, I'm sure that he can now fly, I don't wear the mask like he doesn't like wearing them. You know, all the conspiracy theorists can now rest and all that. But I mean, is this early? Is it too early? Is the question to be asked? I don't know. I'm not an expert in this in this in these things. Is this too early? Because COVID-19 is still around. You know, the World Health Organization has not declared it over. We see what is happening in China where they are forced quarantines and will have been dragged out of their homes to go quarantine. They don't want to quarantine and they have been forced. So are we are we moving too fast? I mean, Nigeria is in the first country, even in the West, where they seem to be better at us at managing the health crisis. They have also relaxed some of these things. So I think it's not strange if you look at a global trend. But we also need to still ask, are we in the clear? Is it time yet to take these measures, relaxed measures of wearing a mask at the airport, of, you know, of taking tests, pre-arrival and post-arrival PCR tests? You know, there's some strange malaria going around. I know a couple of people who have been down with malaria. That's really, really serious. I just hope that it has nothing to do with COVID. I hope so. But anyway, it's interesting. This is coming from the NCDC. I know that the Minister of Health, indeed, the NCDC they've been talking about. It seems like someone noticed and brought to my attention that the updates from the NCDC, the daily infection rate that we were used to being, to getting from the NCDC yesterday wasn't there. They didn't update that on their website. So, NCDC, what's going on? Is it the person who is meant to be updating the website that's going to leave, or they've forgotten, or they've relaxed, you know, or what? I don't know. I don't know. But one of the countries, you know, that we can look to, if you're going to talk about the West, like I said earlier, happens to be the United Kingdom that scrapped COVID-19 tests some time ago. This was earlier this year, earlier this year in March. As a matter of fact, people traveling to the United Kingdom, including Nigerians, in March were no longer required to show evidence of COVID-19 tests or proof of vaccination as a precondition for entering the country. So, that was an advisory they released in the UK. It's called a travel abroad guide published in the UK government website. It came into effect on the 18th of March 2022. So, I think we can say that, yes, a global trend towards, you know, moving towards relaxing these measures. So, that's that. In Hong Kong, for instance, they also released protocols some time ago. And that's another example of a country that has relaxed its measures. The federal government had earlier also itself stopped these mandatory tests, sorry, relaxed its measures of well mass in public places. But the airports were aware the focus was on because, of course, that's the entry point for anyone who will be coming into the country with COVID-19, you know, to spread and to infect people with. So, that's that. We'll leave that and we'll move on. We do hope that we won't hear about any spike or any new issue with COVID-19 because people have gone through a lot already. You know, the days of lockdown, it wasn't funny. It wasn't funny at all. These are things that children, children, those yet unborn will tell them and they'll be wondering like, ah, okay, they said it was the time they were not allowed to go out. It's crazy. It's crazy. We thank God for his grace. Let's move on. The Legacy Butter Expressway has been a source of worry, a source of anguish, a source of pain, literally, you know, a source of depression for some people because of the traffic congestion or congestion on that road. It's been traffic gridlock, you know, day in, day out. It's been traffic jam, day in, day out. I know some people who use some part of that road to get into Lagos and they were on the road, a journey of maybe 30, 45 minutes. They spent seven hours just to get into, you know, Lagos, main Lagos, spent seven hours. That's really, really worrying. So, well, the construction has been done. The latest is that the federal government we told through the federal ministry of works has removed the barriers and sections of this road, which are under construction. This is section one, right, section one. This according to the federal ministry of works, yesterday they did the removal of the barriers. It's reported that heavy duty equipment were used to crush the barriers and other diversion points for free flow of traffic at the opaque U-turn end of the highway. That opaque U-turn. One day, it caused them, it was a Friday. The traffic was everywhere in Lagos, from that Ojorubega area, opaque area, all the way to Ojota. Then all the way to all the Magoro areas of Lagos, down to the third mainland bridge, down to Rikoi, there was traffic jam. There are also those heading from Ojota to Ikoruru Road in Yaba and all that. Everywhere was locked. Those who wanted to use Ikoruru Road to get to Ojota and then to get to mile 12, K2 and all those places, or to get into Bega, it was locked down, all right. All the way down to Jibo on Ikoruru Road into Yaba, locked down, third mainland bridge, locked down because of one U-turn that I was told was put there by the federal controller who works in Lagos State. I don't know if that is true and people were stuck. So these things have been there. If there's a U-turn that's been blocked and it's making it difficult for people to go home easily or go to work easily or enter Lagos State easily, then the easiest thing to do is to get those U-turns out. But it reminds me of those roundabouts on the leki corridor. There were some roundabouts that were put there by Fashella, then governor of Lagos State, who is now the minister of works. So maybe it's a fliction rising a second time. And the next governor came, I think it was Ambo Day and he destroyed those roundabouts and made it easier for people to move from leki towards Ajah and Ekpa and other parts of that leki corridor. Well, they've removed the U-turn barriers, they've crushed them, you know, other diversion points, barriers of a place there for free flow of traffic and need to be relieved to motorists who spend long hours on the gridlock. I mean, last week a friend of mine, a body of mine was there for seven hours. He's gone to Lagos State already, seven hours. That's a 30, 40 minute journey, you know. So, I mean, wisdom is profitable to direct. Thank God that they've finally seen wisdom in doing the needful. The director of Federal Highways in the Southwest, his name is Amesadeh Damolakuti, while supervising the old thing. So the government earlier promised to reopen the highway to traffic on Thursday, but brought the date forward to ease the traffic gridlock. He's also saying that because of the festive season, all obstructions on section one, section one, of that route which spanned Ojota Lagos to Shagamo interchange in Lagos State were being removed because of the festive season. We're going to be traveling in and traveling out. You don't want any obstruction, you want to make it easier for people. Okay, I don't know. I think we're going to get these barriers back and block those U-turns after the festive period. It's a question I'd like to ask. They are also stopping the construction on section two of the project. That's from the Shagamo interchange to Ojo in Ibadon, your state. Also, just to help people move smoothly and easily. A lot of people are tired of this. I mean, there's some people who have heard, known of Lagos Ibadon Expressway project all their lives, all their lives. When are they going to finish this road? It's a question we were on. When? It's taking too long. Successive administrations have had such a project. Every year we hear they're constructing one thing, one thing or the other. And this is a very important road. And we just need to bring this to an end. I mean, things that should take ordinarily a year or two years in this country will take five years, six years, 10 years, 20 years. And the government hasn't completed it. If government is a continuum, like we hear them say, even if there's a change in administration, even a change in political party at the center, if there's a project already ongoing, then it should continue. And it should end on time. Look at the second Niger bridge. How many years has it taken? Some people have graduated today, but I think we need to see excellence in all we do. Projects that should take one year. This is 2022. The entire world is moving fast. We can't be dilly-dallying around these things and we're going to do one road, road, one road. They're going to see about the expressway. One road. One. How many kilometers? All these years. It's terrible. And then we're hearing that people are being kidnapped on that road. You know, it's sad. It's sad. Anyway, let's see what happens. They are targeting the delivery of this project in the first quarter of 2023. You know, something tells me they won't hit that target as usual. Oh my God, as usual. All right. They're targeting the first quarter of 2023. They can't even tell us a month. You know, something tells me they won't hit that. I mean, I would like to be proven wrong, but something tells me they won't hit that. I mean, you know, see, when you see these things happening in the country, best way to cope with it is just to laugh. Use it as comedy and laugh. They're going to return to site in January, okay, after the ULTide, and they're hoping to complete it, targeting the first quarter of 2023. If they do, I don't know what I'll do on air. I don't know. What should I do? Shave my beard? All right. That's much we can take on our top trending segment and we'll be back to look at what the papers have to say. We have interesting analysis of those headlines. Please stay with us.