 No gain thus goes to saying but when it comes to the brain drain in Nigeria's health system, it seems the gain is for other countries while the pain is for Nigerians. So look at the latest on this perennial topic of brain drain in Nigeria's health sector. And also on the breakfast electricity consumers in Nigeria are paying more these days and those in the FCT have declined the increased tariff by electricity distribution companies. But are the tariffs increased justified? And as usual, we'll look at some of the latest headlines on the front pages of today's national daily easing of the press. For good morning to you, we're back with the breakfasts on plus TV Africa. We apologize for starting behind schedule. My name is Kofi Bartels. And I am messy a book boy. It's good to have you join us this morning. Fantastic. Merci. Of course, I'm sure you did you see any fuel queues on your way? Why not? I mean that has become part of our lives. Okay. Right. That has become and at some points it also obstructs the flow of movement, right? So yeah, you know, I usually use a route called Awolowo Road in Niko'i to get to the office every morning. And if you go through Awolowo Road, I think you will not come to work really happy. You need to be a very highly self-motivated person to get to your destination. So you think you're sad now? You know, I'm very highly self-motivated. I believe I'm able to make myself happy. So but today, this morning when I say I had to get down from the the cab that brought me to work, I would come down and go and tell people you, you know, because of course people would stop driving when we go back. You go this way. So it happens almost every year. You're controlling the traffic. Oh yes, yes, I got down. It happens almost every morning. Yes. Why do you just sometimes sit down and do your makeup? Why do you do your makeup? I'm saying you go back, go back at 6 a.m. Kofi, you know how I feel very pain there that you're sounding like this? So do you think that I go through less? No, I don't. Now for me, I have to because I can't go down and then I have to be so agitated. I'm so angry. I'm literally trying to control everybody on the road. What are you doing on the road? Move. And then you get to a point. Okay. For instance, this morning, there's a particular, you know, road that I have to navigate my way through. And what happens is you have a filling station. The question I said that out loud and the driver himself, you know, was looking at me like, you know, she okay. So I can't get to work. So the point is, so I'm asking, why do we have to have filling station, you know, gas station in residential areas, especially when the road. So you have this one very close to the road and the roads are pretty narrow because this are feeder roads. I mean, they're not like the express. So even, even, even the express, you still have, you know, the queues and what have you. So it's, it's not even pleasant as much as you think that. So I think it's double work for me that I have to come, you know, show up here and then sit back to, you know, have my face, wear my face. Your face, your face, your face, okay. So, so, and this is, I mean, is an experience a lot of Nigerians go through where they have to, you know, not just be in the queue to get the petrol for themselves. Okay, they also have to be in the queue or in traffic because of the congestion on the roads caused by those in the queue. In fact, Mercy had a point. I was on some paractics on shortcut on our road and those on the queue were moving faster than those surfers in, you know, so I told my driver to join the queue so we could move faster. He was, he started laughing, you know, but what's, what we have for you today is that the, we seen some pictures alleging the protests in those states, you know, sometimes this thing can take something small, you know, media can take something that is not as it seems and, and blow it up. So, we don't want to be too much into it just yet, but some people in those states filmed themselves carrying placards and protesting against a fierce scarcity in Nigeria and the economic situation, economic hardship. All right, some, some people, some people went on a protest on Monday morning. The video, as you can see, shows them setting fire to, you know, tires and blocking some roads in Benin City, the Edo state capital over this protracted fuel scarcity and the price hike of the product. And of course, also the economic situation. All right, a voice in the narration or the voice narration in the video said, this is happening live in Benin City, Edo state capital, huge protests in his words, going on over fuel crisis. You can see the protesters are blocking the roads and making fire on the roadblocks is what they, they said. So that's that. I don't think this is, is much, I think that, yes, you know, some people can put fire, set fire to tires. And I mean, one person is not a set fire. I don't think this is a widespread protest. You know, I can't see that it says some people, but that's what we see. That's what we see. I'll give my thoughts on that later. But Messi, you go first. Well, so I think that at this point, because it feels like there's an indictment on the media, I was saying the media is trying to blow this out of proportion. I'm not saying they're trying to bomb. I'm saying it's easy to see this and fuel the entire Edo state is on fire. So whether or not, you know, that's the case. The thing is, you have a lot of people, I mean, some persons have taken to the streets and whatever the reason is or the reason that has been stated is that they are dissatisfied. The issue of, you know, fuel scarcity, the economic hardship has, there's a reason for this protest. And I read through some of the comments, you know, on different social media spaces. And then some people said, oh, you know, what's the essence of this? You should block the government house, you know, critical sector of the state and all of that and what have you, that probably would make a lot of sense. But the comments also following the reply to that particular question is that the state was actually on a lockdown that everywhere, you know, people were really angry. But that's not even the case. I like us to cast the man's back, you know, on January the 12th, the first to be very precise, it was a new year 2012, President Goodlock Jonathan had announced the removal of fuel subsidy. If you remember vividly, adjusting the pump price at that time of petrol from 65 Naira per litre to 141, in a move that sparked that mass protest. I will get back to this. And I'm sure that Kofi, you know, would have something to say. If you're very conversant, you know, with fuel scarcity and the protest, then you remember Okupai, Nigeria, which was a social political movement across major cities of the country. However, the price was later adjusted to 97 Naira after more than a week of protest. It was further reduced to 87 Naira per litre. That was in 2015. And fast forward to, you know, 2023, where are we now? But also, prior to this time, I don't forget it was period of politicking and in all of the campaigns, President Mohammed Buhari himself expressed, you know, outweighed. There's a lot of talk that was going on at the field shortage and the fact that it had lingered for a week, criticizing President Goodlock Jonathan and past leaders who had failed to fix the refineries. I mean, you know, that was his actually best response to petrol scarcity that had started. And like we, I mean, from history, it's important that we pay attention to antecedent because you would help you understand what's happening in the now. And so if you look at that time in two weeks, all of that was, you know, retained and once upon a time, once upon a time, this is not Tales by Moonlight, right? We bought petrol at 87 Naira per litre, but that's different. And just as Kofi had said, oh, well, you know, the way people are trying to paint the pictures like, oh, there's a lot of protests everywhere. Yes, you just see one or two persons. We're not saying that that's not enough. It's okay. Protesters, it's a tool that has been used over time, not just in Nigeria. It's just a tool that has been used, you know, to demand from government and demand change and different things in policy governance and what have you. But that's the case. So my question is, what exactly is going on? I mean, if you remember 2012 up until this time and you look at what's going on, I'm just wondering, once upon a time, we had petrol for 87 Naira per litre, if not less. And here we are now. How much are we buying petrol again? Remind me, there's no uniformity. So in some courses, we hear some people are buying petrol for 500 Naira. I mean, that's, you know, black markets, just the same thing with the, you know, these financial sector where you have the black market succeeding. And then there could be selling for a higher price. So people are buying petrol for 320 Naira. What a time to be alive. All right. So, thank you. It's quite interesting, you know, to go down memory lane. I'll just add a few bits to this to say that first of all, like I said, you know, we need to be careful not to over, to blow it out of proportion, not to say that people didn't come out. But there's a tendency to create panic, you know, and a sort of impression that, you know, the estate is on fire, you know. And if you're not careful, some of these soft sell news outlets will go and sell a estate on fire as you use shutdown state, you know, that kind of thing. So it's to have a balance to create a realistic to show people the fact as it is. But what I just want to add to this is that, you know, I always say something, Mercy. Are you tired? Are you asking me? I used to say this situation in the country, you know, we'd always see, are you not tired? With the elections here. And we always see with a sort of a third force coming up and all that. I mean, I used to say back in the day, you know, way before this definition, a mediation came on board, that when Nigerians are tired of the situation or the political parties to have at a disposal, the Nigerians rise up the circuit, we want something different. That's the one. Now, number two, with the situation going on right now in the country, the question, you know, to ask is, are people tired of, you know, lining up in the queues? Are people tired of going to the ATM points? Last night, I saw a video of some people fighting at ATM machines, so literally dragging themselves about several men, you know, muscled men, you know, full grown men, dragging themselves at ATM points. And you need to see the crowd, and I'm sure some of you may have seen these clips of people around ATMs in the country. On Sunday, the videos of people at banks trying to force open the gates to go take their money. So you have the economic situation on one hand, you have the fear of scarcity on the other hand. We're not even talking about insecurity. Now, there's a school of thought, which sounds attractive, you know, to me, that people are not yet tired, because if people are tired, there probably will be no election in the country, you know. If people are tired, people will say, okay, you know what, guys, I think we've had enough of this. Let's sit down and let's talk. All right? Let's sit down and let's talk, you know. But, I mean, to patiently queue, all right, for months over months, and you're paying as much as $400 to buy a liter of petrol, okay? And then you can't even withdraw the money from the bank to pay for the petrol and to buy on these. Yesterday, someone told me, a good old man, a family man, last night, he told me that he had to, you know, soak Gary to drink. Why? Because the Iyakalaba, he normally buys food from, from Bajulaye, okay, in Lagos. He didn't have money to go pay that Iyakalaba because he went to the bank and could not get new Naira. And the Iyakalaba was not collecting old Naira, so he had to go and soak Gary with sugar to drink. That's all yesterday. So we're in a situation right down the country where you have money, but you cannot withdraw because you don't see the new Naira, okay? And we're going to begin to see that crowds will be forming in the banks at the ATMs or right just to get this money. Another one I saw last night, someone said to me, people are paying excessively to withdraw money from POS points. So you have, you know, a lady said in Podakotse, she spent $2,000 Naira, paid $15,000 Naira. Someone told me last night, his mother, she said he sent her money, spent $1,000 Naira per $5,000 Naira. You withdraw $5,000 Naira, they're charging you $1,000 Naira. So what I'm seeing is that all these things going on, you know, are enough to, in other countries that I see that I follow, you know, and they just have just 50% of what Nigerians are facing and people go on the streets and say, okay, you know, we've had enough, okay? So I don't know, maybe, maybe there's some, it's amazing more somewhere, okay? That they took the Nigerian map, held it, and he bought incantations, caught a white chicken, white hen, sprinkled the blood on it, and said, oh, cook, cook, cook, cook, cook, cook, cook. And then put powder, one powder, and did this on the, on the map. So people now become, you know, they become oblivious to something. But there's one thing that you said. So there's, they don't jazz, messy. Juju? Juju jazz, juju voodoo on Nigerians. No, so, but there's actually one thing that you said, you talked about, if that's the case, then one will be thinking that the election should not hold. But I don't think that that should be the case. I'm not saying election should happen. No, no, no, you're saying, okay, so you said something. I'm not putting words in my mouth. I'm saying that from my observation. No, you're saying that. From my observation. No, no, no, no, no. I'm sure that that's something that you're going to be thinking. From my observation, please, please. In other countries where, you know, things like this happen, sometimes it's 50%. And then people will say, okay, guys, we need to have a conversation. Okay. Okay. We don't like what's happening. Maybe NLC, for instance, TUC, NBA, and all that. We'll say, okay, we are tired. We can't go to work. We can't, what's going on? But we are patiently queuing. And you know, Fela was not stupid when he wrote the song, Suffering and Smiling. So Kofi, I like the fact that you have actually put out whatever that was. I mean, it was. I know suffering and smiling. No, we are suffering and smiling. But I like the fact that you have put that, you know, to work. So what I'm saying is prior to all the comments, which you would have just been, you know, that. What are your thoughts? Stop judging me. I'm not judging you because I was worried. There's no reason why an election should not hold. I'm not saying an election should not hold. No, Kofi, so let's let that slide. But my point is there's no reason. I'm not saying an election should not hold. There's no reason why. We're out of time that we need to move on. I'm saying that in countries. I didn't say don't twist what I'm saying. So you know that usually when you have conversations, I'm not trying to put you on the spot. But I understand how it can be when, you know, we're expressing ourselves and it's possible that you could say that, you know, but that's okay. That's not what I said. That's not what you meant. Okay. So that's fine. And I understand. But my point is, I know that a lot of people have queried. I've also seen that thought of lying on, you know, the space and people say, you know, this is what it should be and this is what it should not be. But I'm thinking that just like you have said, if we're tired of what we're going through, there's no reason why you shouldn't get your PVC because that's where the power lies. This is the mistake we make. This is the mistake. I'm sorry to interject you, Mercy. Please forgive me. This is the mistake we make, Mercy. We feel and we foolishly feel, sorry to be that harsh, that democracy is all about PVC and elections. No. A democracy is about telling people that we want things to be done differently. And then you go home. So what happened? The democracy is about going to see your senator, House of Red Semba and saying, what is going on? This is how we feel. You don't see that in one day for four years. If you feel there's something. I mean, it's everything that you said that you have. You go to your House of Red Semba. You go to your governor. You say, this is how I feel. You don't see that as a, okay, this one is going to burn me for four years. Then I'll go and put. No, no. Can you just allow me to express myself? No, no, no. Fine. So my point is this, as much as you think that that's not the way, we look at it. Have we not had several protests in Nigeria? I didn't say that's not the way. No, no, Kofi, you don't need to answer the question. This is a rhetoric question. That's what I'm asking. It's a rhetoric question. And you know, I'm not expecting- It's one of the ways. I'm not expecting that you give me an answer immediately. It's one of the ways. That's what I'm saying. As you're listening to me, and you know, Kofi as well is listening, it's not expected that you give me an answer. But my question is, how exactly do we solve the problem? Or how exactly do you solve the problem? Now, don't forget that we've had protests. The biggest protest that happened in the history of Nigeria is the protest against police brutality. Exactly where we are right now in 2022, you know, 2021 and 2023. What exactly is going on? I don't think we should dwell on that. But I think that, prior to this time, I think that society has become very complex. We're growing and then society is becoming very complex from simple to complex society. Because once upon a time, a lot of demands were made via letter writing. Yes, people were writing petitions. People would petition the government. People were writing letters. But that's not the case. I mean, including the policy, the tool that, you know, a lot of countries have used to demand change or demand, you know, different policy and action or express how they feel about, you know, governance and government policies in different parts of the world seem not to have yielded result. How many times have Nigerians gone to the street and they have been tear gassed or, you know, there's a lot that's going on. How many times has that happened? We take a look at what happened with the hashtag and says protest. Yes, we make an excuse that, you know, we're not some democracy. But I think that, you know, it would be it, as long as, you know, the critical infrastructure in the country is functional, as long as everything is working perfectly, there is, it's very important that we have, you know, a change of government. And someone would say, you know, no, no, no, I'm saying, okay, that's you, right? That's not me. I'm saying that that's what the people are saying. A lot of people have said that. Don't worry. I probably will not put you in that spot. I mean, I'm saying, you know, you need to get it right. I'm just saying that these are the thoughts that we've had over time. And I am thinking that I'm not even thinking that's the right thing to do. That's what it is. We constantly, and I think I had a conversation with someone and say if, because the situation that we're faced with right now, it feels like we're in a, we're in a helpless situation. I feel like there's no hope at the end of the day. And so if we get to that point, you have the executive arm of government, you have the judiciary, you have the legislature, and what have you, there should be, you know, checks and balances. So if the people get it wrong at the ballot box, then what happens to these arms of government? What happens to impeachment? We have never seen that being the case. But we need to move away, just like you rightly mentioned, we'll just run through this quickly, Kofi. Yesterday, president, apparently not yesterday, but he would have been in Kano for the commissioning of a project. Don't forget that he was also in Ligas. To commission project. The president had, was, was, was also in Ligas. I mean, he can commission a couple of projects. He also was in Kano to commission multi-billion solar power plants in Kano. But, you know, apart from that, what was very outstanding, it was okay that he commissioned the project, was the fact that his convoy, I mean, the helicopter, presidential helicopter was attacked. Right. So you found, there's a video, I don't know if we can run that up, you know, put that out. But unfortunately, if we can't, I'm sure that you definitely find, you know, you've seen it already, where you have a mob, a group of persons throwing stone at, you know, that helicopter, the presidential helicopter. Very, very, very saddening and unfortunate. Let me see. You know, this, this visit to Kano, initially we had Governor Ganduji of Kano State, Omar Ganduji announcing on Saturday that the president's visit to Kano was postponed due to, for security reasons, let's call it that, and to avoid a repeat of what happened in Katzina State. There was an operant Katzina State, went some residents, staged a protest to register a dissatisfaction over the currency swap, which has currently thrown them into hardship. The president went home to his home sort of Kano, and he was made with protests, you know, some files were set to tires on the road, and people marched on the road and all that. The bull president, Buhari, you know, somebody was saying their political thoughts. But that, that is what happened in Katzina State. Four or two years later, the president actually did end up going to Kano State. And, well, we're supposed to be talking about the beautiful projects that Omar Ganduji has, has used the public funds to do, you know, people's body to do in Kano State. You can see flyovers, there's some hospitals, cancer center, and all that, very nice ones. But we, what, what grabbed the attention and rightly so is the fact that some angry youth in Kano State were set to have thrown stones at the advance convoy of President Buhari during that official visit to Kano State. We saw, you know, some stones on the streets of Kano, interlocking stones as well. So, and then we saw some pictures of stones of a crushed windscreen of, you know, of a helicopter, which I don't know which helicopter that is. But the president was conveyed by helicopter, you know, from the Amino Kano International Airport yesterday morning to the palace of the mayor of Kano, Amino Bayero. You know, the fact that he didn't go by road and had to use helicopter to go there. I do not know if that is because it did not want to repeat of what happened in Katzina where stones were thrown at the convoy of the president. You know, so this is, this is what we're seeing. Video circulating on social media showing that, you know, I would use pelted stones at the helicopter believed to be conveying the president. I mean, you know, if this is happening in northern Nigeria, which is a president's stronghold in Katzina, his home state in Kano, the biggest center of the north, then I think it shows the growing discontent around the country. What would happen in those states to it, albeit not widespread, then we can say that this is the situation of things in the country. Very quickly, before we go, we'll just play you a clip, which this one shows Nigerian musical artist, Messi, my brother and your brother, said to be pushing or shoving a fan of the state. What happened? This happened in Anambra. We'll be right back. All right, so I'll bless you very quickly. What do you think about that? Well, I think that it's very unfortunate that happened, not, you know, fantastic. Then I know an artist who's also been, you know, on this particular table, especially when it has to do with fans and respectful fans, is born a boy. So a lot of people think there was time to justify Inyanya's action. There was also an explanation. He said that, you know, this particular fan was slapping him. He was using the notes, you know, he was trying to spray the money, but he was using the notes to slap on his face. And he think that was totally disrespectful. And he felt like he had said, you know, don't do that. But at some point, I think he lost his call. And that's what happened. Well, it's such a dicey one to see. But what is wrong is wrong. And that's what it is, despite the situation, especially when you are in, you know, in public space or your, you know, public figure as he is, I saw comments, people say, is this not Inyanya that I was looking for shows in 2021? You know, because recently he came out and said, Oh, God, I mean, there's been a lot of change. He knew how he struggled, you know, to come back and whatever you. But right now it's a different game entirely. And people are saying, I really, how could, how could you allow this happen? How could you have done this? So it felt like it was a justification for the likes of Bonoboi, who, you know, usually had said that he doesn't want people to walk up to the stage where he is, you know, while he's performing, he said that a couple of times we don't come around, right? And then he gets angry and, you know, he pushes the people, you know, very quickly. You have to go. You have to go. All I would say is congratulations, Inyanya, you are trending. Delta police command is saying that he can be arrested if they put him makes a protest. For me, I would have done the same if I was Inyanya. You come to me, I'm performing on a stage you're not meant to climb. You are not meant to climb. That's the protocol. And you can't be to start slapping with money. Okay. He pushed him to go back to where he came from. And I don't think that was as violent as people are making it seem. No, no, I totally understand. But you see, but that's for the case of Inyanya. So what happened to Bonoboi? He didn't punch him. He didn't punch him. So how, what do you make of the case of Bonoboi? He said go back to where you came from. No. So what happens to Bonoboi? Because his safety is at risk. He don't know what was in those, those notes. We have to go. Now we have to go. But, you know, so this is what it is. So it feels like some quarters get different judgment and others get different judgment. We have to go now. We're really out of time. We'll come back with off the press. Please stay with us. Good morning.