 Residents of Magogel phase 2 in Lagos stand guard against possible demolition of buildings in the area after a siege of, suppose, hoodlums and a bulldozer. Also on the breakfast, Nigeria's economy is in the spotlight after passing off a 17.1-2 trillion-dollar budget by the National Assembly. What prospects are there for the economy in 2022? And as always, we take a look at the papers this morning for a quick review of the biggest stories making headlines. Always great to have you on the breakfast here on PLOS TV Africa. I am Osaugie Ogbonwang. And I am Mesib Ogbonwang. It's good to see you. Merry Christmas. Yes, same to you. And of course, we had to completely get into the Christmas spirit with our very, very interesting hats this morning. Of course. Yours looks pretty interesting. As well as yours. Good morning. Thanks for joining us. We're sitting off, as always, with our top trending stories. And this morning we're going to Kanu State where the chairman of the, you know, commander of Kanu Hisba has made headlines because he has made statements concerning the, you know, Miss Nigeria pageant, which was won for the first time by a hijabi. Her name, of course, is Shatu Garko. And of course, the Kanu Hisba has threatened to question the parents of Miss Garko for allowing their daughter to participate in the Miss Nigeria pageant. This, of course, has created a lot of, you know, conversations across social media and, of course, across the country, you know, asking why this is necessary. They are saying, according to the Kanu Hisba, that the Miss Nigeria pageant is no different from the Big Brother Niger show, a reality TV show. And the parents should not have let their daughter, who is from Kanu State, to participate in the pageant. Now shortly after she won that, you know, contest, the arguments were on both sides. Now you have some persons who are saying, oh, yes, it's good to see decency win. And I would always say that that's not the only criteria for measuring. Most times it's not about the outfits. They also put out questions there where they ask you. And if you're able to answer some of those questions and come up, you know, with some level of creativity, all of this is some of the measures, you know, that have been used mostly in some beauty pageant. I'm sure that it wouldn't be different from the Miss Nigeria. So not necessarily, you know, the outfit, because a lot of persons made the buzz about having to dress, you know, very decently and all covered. But like I said, looking at these ladies on stage, I mean, at this particular stage, you could see that they are, you know, properly dressed. So there were some persons who said, oh, yes, it's a good thing to see decency win. It's not all the time that you have to put out your body there. Well, of course, we know what beauty pageant's about. And on the other hand, now on some cross, a cross section from the Muslim saying, oh, as a core Muslim, she's not a Muslim. And if she is a Muslim, she would not participate, you know, in this contest because it goes contrary to what, you know, that religion believes or what they believe in and all of that. But I really still continue to ask myself the freedom to associate, freedom of association has been guaranteed by the Constitution. I mean, we're allowed to, you know, choose which religion or association we want to belong without being co-heised and being forced. And I really do not know how she participating. I don't know what, so I don't begin to, you know, offend some persons, but I don't know what the laws for heaps by is. I don't know why they would be asking. She's an adult and I'm sure that she's responsible for taking her decision. So calling the parents and questioning them, I really don't know how that would pan out and why that should be done. So for me, you know, it really depends on what any person describes as indecent. I've never looked at the Miss Nigeria page pageant and seen anything or, you know, in my head thought of anything indecent. It's really just about, you know, personalities and Nigerians deciding to throw words, you know, here and there. And so I don't even know where that, you know, conversation is coming from about, you know, being indecent to win. You know, that's, you know, your first statement. But for me personally, you know, I really just see this as, you know, another moment where you would expect that we would be celebrating the fact that, you know, in 44 years, the first time, you know, a person wearing a hijab is winning, you know, the Miss Nigeria pageant. It's something that we should really be focused on and, you know, getting people to understand that, you know, everybody is welcome, you know, to these pageants and everybody is welcome to, you know, 2021, 2022 very soon to be able to participate. You know, nobody should be left out, you know, because of tribe or religion or anything. You know, a person in Nigeria is free to do what they choose to do. And so I thought that that is something that we should, you know, a lot of people should be focused on and be celebrating. And then aside that, you know, it feels also that every week, the kind of his band, certain persons in the kind of his band think of what new ways can we send Nigeria back 500 years. Let's think of a new reason that we can throw Nigeria back, you know, into, you know, just, you know, after Noah's Ark landed and that era. And that's simply what, you know, this means to me. And every single day, because we move from them talking about, you know, mannequins, you know, traders, you know, should stop using mannequins, you know, out in public because they, you know, are tempting people to sing and some things like that. And it feels every single day like we have been thrown backward and backward and backward a billion years backward by the mentality of certain personalities that are in these positions, you know, in the north. These, you know, thinking, this thinking is not very different from those who are against Western education, you know, in my opinion. It is not different from it. It is simply, you know, a group of persons who have decided that they would not grow. They would not move forward. They would not be forward thinking. They would not try and change, you know, the laws and the religious practices and the thinking, you know, that their forefathers, you know, lived with. They would not in any way try to be better, try to be developed, try to be, you know, to be, you know, to move into the 21st century. They want to remain in the 18th century, maybe in the 17th century, and that's where their mentality chooses to remain. Another thing is, it really just tells you that the concern of Northern Nigeria is not insecurity. A lot of people in the north, I remember we spoke about this on Tuesday. Yeah, you just took that out of my mouth. Yeah, I mean, we spoke about this on Tuesday, and I was saying that that's one of the reasons why a lot of people see the East protests about North is bleeding. And they just, you know, throw their face the other way. Because when you hear stories like this, you get to maybe tell yourself that these people are not really concerned. They are priorities, you know, currently in Northern Nigeria and of course across the country. They are priorities for themselves. And not about security and getting a better life for themselves and getting proper government and getting education, healthcare, infrastructure and some of all those things. That's not their business. They are looking for more ways that they can strangle, you know, the growth and the forward-thinkingness of Nigeria and us moving forward. And Nigeria is a country. If we are being serious about moving forward, because it currently doesn't even seem like we are serious about it. If we are being serious about moving forward, we should kick. We should use broom to flog. We should drive. We should chase away every single character in every office, in every space that still has this type of thinking and still wants to take us back into, you know, the time when Noah's Ark just landed. And that's honestly what we should be doing. Anybody who's still thinking in this manner, who still holds on this tight to whatever religious practice or beliefs that they have should be completely chased away, you know, with brooms. But you know that that's not going to happen. That's because we're very big on religion as a country. And that will constantly... If we're still that big on religion, that isn't taking us anywhere in any way. And sadly, like you have talked about, one would think that the Heaps Bar Police would be very proactive with the insecurity issues that the nothing region is actually going through. I mean, all of that. We haven't seen a rest because we constantly say, these persons who commit and perpetrate these crimes don't leave in, you know, don't come from space. They live with us. Do you know these persons? I mean, there could be your uncle, I mean, our uncles, brothers, sisters, aunties, what have you. So your friend, the next door neighbor. So how come we don't have all of these, I mean, buddies, these persons showing concern, trying to help the effort of the police and all of that in ensuring that... They're not necessarily a security agency. No, no, it's more like, you know, it's like you have the Amotecu to this other part of the South East. Well, I don't think that's what it's about. I think Heaps Bar mostly, you know, are really just, you know, police, it does anything like that. They're not necessarily, you know, a security agency like Amotecu or like Ebube Agu try to be. You know, but I still believe, you know, that we don't even necessarily... And this is me thinking that we don't even necessarily need to have... It's fine to have Heaps Bar. No, no, my point is this, if, you know, it's like saying you have the vigilante groups and you have all of this... They're not necessarily security bodies or agencies or what have you, but of course they perform these functions before... Because prior to this time, prior to the time, Nigeria became together. I mean, before we came, we became together, we were amalgamated and then we became Niger. We had administering our affairs in, you know, the way we could. And so you had tradition, you know, being a big role. You know, trying to please the community and all of that. So it is still, I'm still saying that they still play that role of, you know, security. I mean, if you're going about arresting and saying, well, this one is not doing this or this one, this person should be flogged. So how come they're not also being proactive in terms of security and looking out for these elements who are committing these crimes and trying to, you know, work in hand with the police? That's my point. Once again, you know, they are not that body. You know, and they basically have been set up, you know, to control, you know, the religious practices and the, you know, their society in a religious way. So the issue, no, so what does their religion say about mother? Because at the end of the day, they still kill, I mean, you kill someone. So if they say control religion, no, I'm listening. If you watch, you know, and if you followed when you hear his bad did this, his bad did that, it's not anything concerning security. They are shaving people's head because, oh, you know, she didn't carry dreadlocks. They are destroying bottles of alcohol. They are banning people from... So he doesn't say anything about killing? I don't think that's really what their concern is. And once again, that's what I said. So that's also the pattern of, you know, the religion is not concerned about mother and killing. That's my point. That's what I'm saying. Okay. Well, anyway, congratulations to Chattu Garco. And I hope that once again Nigeria learns that, you know, our focus should not be on some of all these things. You know, we should really be focused on moving forward. And some of the most Muslim countries in the world are more progressive. They are thinking of ways that can change laws, change certain policies, change, you know, certain ways, you know, that they used to be, you know, hundreds of years ago. They are opening up more doors for women even. They are allowing women to drive. They are allowing women to vote in, you know, more religious countries than Nigeria. But we're still here, which is a shame. While also moving to Kaduna State, where the governor, following all of the insecurity concerns, of course, he had to bring the president about all that's going on. And we have also had statements from the president saying we're going to be very proactive. The regular were condemning and what have you. But of course, the governor of Kaduna State, Nasi or LFI is saying that nothing like repentance, Boko, I mean, repentant bandits, because they only are repentant when they are dead and in the grave. That has also generated a lot of reactions and conversation. Because prior to this time, you remember where we had the pardon, we were granting pardon to repentant and accepting them, trying to integrate them back to the system. Now for, so it still brings me back to the issue of does our laws make provision for issues of mother and crime and all of these issues. Because if you look at it, if there's an offense, that's why you have a government and that's why you have laws, you know, to address some of these issues. When people begin to say, oh, it's because XYZ offended and so therefore we're going to attack and then there's reprisal attack and all of this attacks. People are dying. People are dying, just killing, whether for a just cause, because I don't know if there's killing for a just cause. But what does the law say about killing? Why are we not allowing the law to take its cause? And then we say they are repentant. How are we sure that they are repentant? Because I feel like this would constantly encourage people to continue in the act, continue committing crimes. And then they feel like the ghetto points, oh, we're no longer committing this crime, we're surrendering. How do we now measure that? How do we now believe that they're no longer committing these crimes? And then, you know, we integrate them into the society and it continues. So a lot of people just feel, okay, let's continue this. Nothing is happening. We can continue and the government will just give us pardon. How come the laws are not catching up with these persons? Well, so I think the idea of forgiving, you know, bandits and terrorists and repentants, you know, it probably came from two things. I think it came from one of them is some of the military programs that were run in the north. Some of them included the chance of rehabilitating these bandits. And so they had to find a way to explain why they had been rehabilitated. And that's where the idea of repentant bandits or repentant terrorists came from. Which is, in my opinion, another way that Nigeria has shown its level of seriousness with fighting insecurity and fighting terrorism. As for Governor El Rufi, I think we also, as Nigerians, place too much, you know, power. We place too much interest in personalities instead of the strength of our institutions and our laws. We, you know, for me, I read this and, you know, I was once again reminding myself that we really shouldn't care what, you know, this governor or what that person thinks or what that person says. These are just very interesting statements to make. What we should be focused on is what the law says and what the Constitution says. If you have committed terror, then there is, of course, laid down laws that should take place, you know, and should take precedence. Not, you know, whether the governor believes this or the governor believes that. The governor should not be the one to tell people whether to, you know, to forgive repentant terrorists or not. You know, we shouldn't even have that conversation because there's a law that already has been put in place that should guide, you know, our actions concerning these persons. But because we continue to play around with these things, that's why they continue to persist. I shouldn't be bothered, you know, what any person thinks or what any politician thinks. Yes, those are some of the things that should guide you into deciding whether to vote for them or not. But as long as there's two laws in place, as long as there's still a Constitution that really shouldn't care whether he thinks that they should be killed. And remember also that these are also, you know, ways that we eventually push ourselves into extrajudicial killings and then eventually start to regret. If a governor says that they should not, you know, be forgiven, it's not like repentance. What he says is there's nothing like repentance bandits that they should, you know, be killed. And of course they should repent when they meet God. It means you are simply opening the door for extrajudicial killings. Which shouldn't also be, there should also be a, you know, pathway through which the judicial system takes these persons once they are pre-ended, once they are caught. So I don't, you know, necessarily, I'm not necessarily moved by governor of fire statements because I know that the law says that if a pre-ended should go through whatever it is that they deserve, according to the terrorism, the anti-terrorism act, and of course according to the laws against murder, nobody wakes up in the morning and repents as a terrorist. You know, and I'm sure that analysts, security agents have said this multiple times that nobody can just simply wake up. And even if you do, you have still committed crimes against the country. You have committed murder. You have committed all sorts of crimes that you cannot just simply wake up, you know, and decide that, you know, you should be forgiven. So in that light, yes, I agree with governor of fire. Never the person who has said that repentant terrorists do not exist, repentant bandits do not exist. But once again, our focus should not be on what he's saying, but what the law says should be done to terrorists. And you know, that's simply it. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't matter what any other person thinks. This is what the law says and that's what you happen, basically. But of course, you know, this is of course coming after about 40 people were reportedly killed in Kaduna state. And no matter what the governor says, those lives will not come back. What we and what Nigerians and the people of Kaduna state need is justice for those lives that were lost. And justice for the thousands of other lives that have been lost in the last couple of years in Kaduna state and the whole of northern Nigeria. Doesn't matter whose emotions or whatever, you know, sweet statements. Like I always say, it's not rocket science. Whenever we're ready to tackle the issue of insecurity in our country, we all know what to do as governors, as, you know, president, police officers, as individuals as well. We know what to do. And until we get to that point, then we will continue to talk about this every other time. It will continue to dominate the papers of our national dailies. We'll talk about it in different platforms, you know, the radio, television and what have you. So we'll constantly talk about it without any action. We're getting to 2022 and I really do not know what the plan is, but of course it's security. And you're not expecting that you should have the security agencies or you should have anybody come tell you what a strategy is. But we don't need to know. All we need to do is see action. And that's the only thing we need to do. But it's just a reminder that government at all levels should understand that security is the number one priority. It's the reason why you were elected. That's the first thing. And when people begin to act helpless, because I've seen it feels like it's a helpless situation. So we hear governors, we hear people who just act like, oh, we don't know what to do. We can't do XYZ. We're rather asking that you have, you know, experts from China come through. We're rather thinking that to kind of, I think that when we're ready to sort out the insecurity issues in our country in Nigeria, we'll get to work. Absolutely. And of course, you know, moving away from Kaduna State just briefly, we of course heard yesterday that the National Examinations Council has, you know, made plans to make NECO examinations compulsory nationwide. And as I said in the Cross River State, I believe, and the Eboni State Governor also, you know, jumped on this same conversation and agreed that, you know, the students and pupils in the Eboni State will very likely also join in and be, you know, take NECO examinations as a compulsory examination. Governor Ben Ayade, I remember also in the news said, you know, always, you know, thanking NECO for improving the educational sector in the state. I don't understand how NECO did that. Well, I'm thinking that NECO has a lot of work to do because over time, there's been several complaints with administration in terms of, you know, computerization of names and all of these errors. We can constantly have all of that. So if they're going to, you know, say they're waking up to say it has to be a compulsory exams. I want to also believe that they are putting their act together. For instance, you have cases where names are misspelled. I don't know how you do that over time. I mean, wrong names, wrong names and certificates. And I hope that that's sorted out. I hope that all the issues also bordering, you know, administration of exams and what have you has been sorted out before, you know, they're now demanding that this exam should be a national thing. Well, it's all, you know, a work in progress to, you know, improve on an educational system. There's still so much that needs to be done, you know, in a thousand other ways, you know, and remember that there's still the, you know, wassey examinations, you know, that people also take, you know. But it's not just, you know, the, you know, secondary exams. NECO has different exams that they conduct. And of course, it's a continuing conversation. We'll see where this leads. This is where we end the top trending this morning. Stay with us. We'll take a short break when we come back. What major stories are making headlines across Nigeria this morning? We'll be sharing with you with our analyst. Good morning.