 On the breakfast, Niger's federal government has officially recognized two new labor association, a controversial move that may have implication for the ongoing strike by university lecturers. Also on the breakfast, as well-teachers' day is 2020 to be marked today, we look at the state of teaching profession in Niger and education in general. And Tunde Kolaweli will join us this morning for an in-depth analysis of today's major headlines. We call it off the press. Well, it's a beautiful morning right here. Thank you for joining us. I am Messi Boko. As always, we set off our conversation with our top trending. And first on the list is a Julius Beger test streetlight on Niger Bridge ahead of the lunch. And that has cost a lot of reaction, responses, argument and debate, especially on the micro blogging platform called Twitter. However, so I think that, you know, first of all, it's really how do we express the feeling that what should be, usually when we have projects and all of that, I mean, it's expected. And then we begin to make, you know, bosses like you belong to a family, and then every other day that you're fed or your father gives you food, then we begin to, you know, make it a big issue that, oh, today I've eaten. It feels like it's natural. These things come to you by virtue of being part of the family. But yesterday on Twitter, I mean, if you look at the trend this morning, there's hashtag Julius Beger that follows, you know, the fact that a light has been put on, switched on, streetlight ahead of the lunch. Apparently it's been stated that this bridge will be ready in December. Maybe, just maybe we're looking at 2023, but we also have some reports saying it will be 2020-24. Well, fingers are actually crossing. The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatundi Fashula, said that the final stage of construction is where the bridge is at. It will be inaugurated in December 2022 and open to vehicular movement. And so there are several reports. Well, fingers are crossing because a lot of persons are anticipating, you know, the opening of the second Niger Bridge, which is a federal government project that's been managed by the Federal Ministry of Works, Housing and Collaboration with the Nigerian Foreign Investment Authorities. Construction on the Bridge had commenced in September the 1st, 2018. This also is one issue, is a point, is a talking point for a lot of persons, especially at this point where there's a lot of politicking going on. And so you have people who are saying, hey, you see, this administration has come on and the issue of, you know, the bridge has been completed. We had a government for 16 years, that's the PDP, who could not complete all of this. But we seem to forget, we seem to forget, we seem to be in a hurry to forget that government is a continuum. Yes, we understand that all of this was initiated by, you know, the administration of Ulushaguna Basundra, a former president at the time. He was kicked off, you know, a few months. The project actually was kicked off, but without any actual action and then Gotti was handed over to Yarodah, took over from it, late Yarodah, and nothing really actually happened. However, it was still in the process. The process was still being taken into consideration and then Jonathan took over with saying, hey, we're going to complete the bridge and what have you. Now you have the president, Mohamed Abohari's administration and the project is expected to be completed because it's not completed yet. That was like a test run. The needed to see what's going on, how it would look like at the end of the day. But we're hoping that, you know, this project is actually completed. But it just also feels we need to understand that government is a continuum. It's one of the characteristics of government. It's important that if a project is started, there should be completion. And so, well, as much as we say that it's commendable, we also need to give credit to all of the people that had initiated the process and all of that. And there should be, you know, no big issue with the fact that hey, a certain government has completed the project. At the end of the day, it's for the good of everybody, for the good of Nigerians. And that's what it should be. Right. Another is that there was a peaceful protest against the EFCC and I saw the video yesterday where you have youth in worry protesting against the EFCC. I really don't know if we'll have that video to put out there. And you could probably hear the citizens or those people who were protesting. The protestors saying, oh, speaking in Pijin, I'm not sure. Do we have audio to this video? Well, so, I mean, that's part of it. You also could see another video. A lot of them made it to Instagram, Instagram blog and what have you. And I mean, part of the social media, different blogs and different social media spaces where you hear the people talking about EFCC and saying, hey, these guys are our boyfriends. This is how we survive. There's a means of survival for us and livelihood. You can't do this. But some people also have the opinion that if you're talking about the fight against financial crime and corruption, then the EFCC should be focused on a certain group of persons. The politicians, those who are engaged in fraudulent activities, diverting funds and what have you, the corruption that's going on in the system rather than focusing on the young people who are also engaging in crime, fraudulent at the end of the day. But it just, at the end of the day, it goes to show as a pointer that the values, our value as a country is depreciating every other time. I really don't understand what's the rationale behind the protests where you have young people trunking out of the streets. And that's a crime when these persons who are engaged in, you know, taking money from people in a fraudulent way, disguising, playing all of these shenanigans and all of the tricks that you have to take money still from people. It is really, really wrong. And well, it feels like everyone is at the pursuit of survival. What can we do to survive? I think that there are other means and ways to survive rather than engaging in theft and, you know, all that it is with all of the justifications that we have. It's not enough. We can't, I mean, there's no way to, you know, justify crime. So when you take something that does not belong to you, you actually put the other person in a very uncomfortable situation or position and that's really wrong. And so for those people who are engaged in the wire, wire, that's what it's been called. You take money. The justification has been that, oh, we need to take away from what was done to Africa and Niger. This is more like a payback, but this is totally wrong and not acceptable. And it's just a reflection of the kind of society that we have. We can continue to, you know, leave like this and expect, you know, different results. There's a lot of work that needs to be done from the family, you know, to the community at large and even to the government. It feels like we're definitely losing it at every strata. The protests, I'm asking, what's the essence of this protest? What is it supposed to achieve? That, you know, the EFCC should be scrapped or they should stop going or chasing those who are involved in this financial or, I mean, fraudulent act where there's camp people, seal identities, take monies for projects and what have you, really? Well, that's it on that. We'll move away quickly because the government of Lagos State, Songoliu, has approved salary increase for Lagos State workers. We quickly take this track and when we return we'll talk more. Stay with us. I don't know what the other parties are. I'm not a rascal. I know that as a country there's pressure. I know that as a country there's hiding of inflation. I know that as a country there's a lot of pressure. I'm sure that staff during inflation to start to work on how we're going to increase the entire salary. Well, that's the Lagos State governor, Songoliu, who has actually announced the increase of salary across levels of workers and public service and the decision according to him was to cushion the effect of inflation and high prices of commodity and the increasing cost of living been experienced across the globe on the workforce. But you know how it can be. A little bit of that. So the timing has been questioned and we're understanding that, hey, things have started already ahead of 2023 and of course there's a need for a second term. Some people have perceived this as, you know, another election tactic as a strategy and that's what it is. As much as this is very commendable if it's implemented, then it would go a long way. I mean that's a lot and that's why you could see the crowd cheering and you know looking very happy that you know salaries would be increased. To me the current reality is, but how much of it? Over time I know that the argument has always been about the increase of salary but we are thinking that if there might just be shift of focus from increase of salary every other time then to other issues, for instance, how about housing, how about transportation, how about healthcare and what have you. This also would go a long way but the comments that you would see online especially on Twitter, I said hey, it's a political season and this is also one of the gimmicks for the elections and that's why you increase in it but let's even see if it will be implemented. So there's a lot of talk why at this particular time. He might just give a lot of thoughts and all of that but will that also influence the decision of the people of who becomes the next governor of the state or on the other hand because we understand that this is the APC administration right here and you also have the fact that at the national level there's consent for the APC of Vine to become clinging to that ticket of saying hey we're going to produce the next president so all of this is the discussion and the conversation that you have online but very commendable is the fact that the legal state government or legal state itself is one of the states that has implemented the 30,000 era or the minimum wage the increase at the end of the day I mean let's not forget that a lot of states across the federation that are still struggling with the implementation of the minimum wage as it were but legal state has fully implemented that minimum wage and let's look at what happens with the increase as much as a lot of people feel like there might just be a trick around there is it a good thing? Very commendable but we hope that it's implemented for the good of the people however a lot of persons are also still thinking that this should not just be one thing that will buy the people over to the other side of the divide but that's the much we can take this morning on our top trending we take a break and when we return it will be time for us to look through the front pages of a national dailies we call it off the press stay with us