 As we keep celebrating decades of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria, what really is the role of political parties in governance? The political climate in River State seems unending. What is the way forward to this volatility? And of course, we'll also be taking the headlines from off the press. My name is Nyam Gul Aghgaji, very good morning to you and welcome to the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa this 22nd day of November. Well we'll go straight to the top trending issues, issues that really caught our interest in the course of the last 24 hours. We'll make it mandatory for INEC to upload results, that is according to the Senate. The Senate Committee on Electoral Matters has outlined some of its plans to tackle challenges facing the conduct of elections in Nigeria. Sharing on television on Tuesday, November 21, the Committee Chairman Senator Sharif Adin Ali said that we'll be making it mandatory for the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to upload election results online. Ali also said the Committee proposed resolving all pre-election matters before the election and upgrading election technology. Kudos to them. Federal Government IPPIS is defrauding our members, that's according to CoS, that is the President of Colleges of Education, Academic Staff Union, SMART or Lubeko, has raised an alarm about members of the group allegedly being shot changed by the integrated personnel and payroll information system, IPPIS. Hailing President Tinnabu for cancelling the policy directing tertiary institutions to remit 40% of their internally generated revenue to the national treasury, Lubeko also called for a review of the centralization of payroll administration. He alleged that IPPIS has become a means of defrauding CoS members as there were thousands of cases of short payment, outright non-payment on lawful delay and or withholding of third party deductions. Remember that ASU had complained about this and so many other people complained that their people were not being captured and so many other complaints. Another headline that we heard is Nigeria is witnessing huge investments under Tinnabu according to foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuga. He said that the country is witnessing a very huge investment under President Bola Ahmed Tinnabu. He was commenting on the G20 compact with Africa CWA conference, Tinnabu is attending in Germany during an interview on television. Tuga reeled out some achievements they have recorded so far. Well, it's left for Nigerians to debate whether that is true, that the huge investments are coming into the country and we do hope that if these investments are coming into the country that it will translate into something great for the citizenry and not just to fuel our coffers. We also have the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Tama Tuga saying that with Simmons gas deal between Nigeria and Germany Nigerians will experience improved electricity supply by the first half of 2024. In his words, in the coming year by the first half of next year 2024 there will be remarkable improvements in the electricity supply in Nigeria. He added that the setbacks experienced in the past would be managed by the President Bola Tinnabu administration. Tuga said the gas deal between Nigeria and Germany is a win-win and Nigerians are hoping also that it won't be like we were told that from June we are going to have locally refined oil and then it was moved to a few months later and now we're told that by December we'll be producing this fuel and we're still to see any sign that this is going to come to pass. Okay, we also have a report from the Chief of Defense staff telling the House of Reps that Salmon Akbar is frustrating their efforts in the Southeast. Now the Chief of Defense staff that is Christopher Musa, General Christopher Musa has accused self-proclaimed Biafra agitator, Salmon Akbar, of undermining the efforts of security forces in the Southeast. General Musa said these while heading a delegation of other service chiefs and the Inspector General of Police during their appearance before the House of Representatives on Tuesday November 21. In the aftermath of Namdi Khanu's arrest, Akbar had asserted his leadership in the agitation for the restoration of Biafra. I wouldn't want to call it the restoration of Biafra but that's the word that's being used in the media for Biafra, agitation for Biafra, not restoration but because it will seem as if it had been a country before. It is widely believed that Akbar is allegedly providing financial support to armed groups operating in the Southeast who often enforce the sit-at-home order declared by Akbar. Using Finland of safeguarding Akbar, Musa urged the federal government to initiate diplomatic dialogue with the Finnish government and invite the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria to address the concerns surrounding the activities of the agitator. Musa acknowledged the efforts of the military and other security agencies in maintaining peace in the Southeast but he expressed concern that Akbar's comments and actions were undermining these efforts. When I was reading the story, I was just remembering the Umarudiku incident. This is Nigeria where we attempted to smuggle someone in a bag or a box back to Nigeria in those days. You don't mess with Nigeria but how can someone stay in a foreign country and be doing instigating the people back home to be killing themselves because as far as I'm concerned, the Southeasterners are killing themselves because the victims are Southeasterners as well. So how can someone be instigating people to fight a country and then to kill himself and another country is shielding this person or is it that Nigeria is not doing enough to make sure that this person is brought to book or something? What other way do they define terrorism and terrorism financing and terrorism enabling? Is he not an enabler of terrorism in the Southeast of Nigeria? So why is the Finnish government keeping him? There are a lot of questions that maybe we need to ask the diplomats to give us answers to so that we get to know why it is so difficult to get this man out of the way. Is he arrested, put him in jail or prosecute him or one thing or the other that can be done to the man? So maybe we'll be asking, like I said, a diplomat or people who are in the know to tell us why it's so difficult because, okay, for instance, Nigerians have just been told why the Super Eagles coach cannot be fired. So we've seen reasons with them. So let's also know why a park cannot be arrested or cannot be taken to court or something. Let's get to know so that we put our minds at rest. He's in a faraway land but financing possibly the terrorism that is going on in the Southeast. Those are people who are some of the most industrious people in Nigeria, if not the most industrious people in Nigeria. And Monday market used to be like the in thing when you're talking business. People were coming from every part of the country to the Southeast to do shopping on a Monday. And now Monday is no longer Monday because there's a seat at home which every single governor has tried to abolish but people are still afraid and you wouldn't blame them for that. Okay, this story, I don't know, people will have it with mixed reaction. There's a headline saying, I will find a way to insert myself in Guinness Book of Records as the president who started instituting reforms from day one in office that is according to President Bola Tinuble. He said this while addressing Nigerians in Germany on November 21 that yesterday he said he will find a way to insert himself in the Guinness Book of Records as the president who started instituting reforms from day one in office. Tinuble noted that he has a private sector background and Nigerians voted for him for reforms and his stock record are former governor of Lagos State as former governor. He stated that Lagos has been able to become the fifth largest economy in Africa after he became governor of the state. Tinuble also said that he has already initiated reforms and will continue working to ensure that the lives of Nigerians are better. Well, reforms, Mr. President, congratulations. You really started reforms on day one. The question is what kind of reforms? That's what Nigerians will be asking. Are the reforms good or are they bad? If you say you hit the ground running, where you're running to is a question because you might not be running to the right direction. I'm just saying. But if you're running to the right direction, Nigerians will be the better for it and we're going to see. One of the policies that we know that you started implementing from day one was subsidy gone. And we have seen how that has led us. Some other countries have also done similar things like Kenya, I think. And then after a while, they saw that it was more harmful than it was helpful for the economy and the people. And they revoked it and this went back to the old ways, but with some kind of reforms. So as we applaud you for bringing reforms to us, let there be the reforms that will reform our life for the better because it's not everybody who is running is running to the target. There's a saying that sometimes there might be a lot of activity without productivity. So let the activity be productive as well. So the federal government revokes 1,633 mining licenses. They did this through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and they revoked 1,633 mineral titles previously given to non-compliant mining companies. The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, announced this on Tuesday, November 21 in Abuja. They said the licenses of these mineral title holders were revoked due to failure to pay mandatory annual service fees of 1,500 Naira per cadastral unit. In line with the powers conferred on him by the NMA, 2007 Section 5A, that's how he revoked the licenses of 1,633 titles. And I'm just wondering, so these things had, these people had licenses and mining has been going on. How much money from this mining has been coming to the federal coffers, just like the mining app? Because I usually like to call even the extraction of oil from the soil mining as well. So how much of this money is coming into the coffers of the federal government, just like the oil money is coming into the coffers of the federal government? So if that sector will be sanitized and everything will be transparent, which a lot of Nigerians doubt, if everything will be transparent, then the diversification we're talking about in Nigeria possibly will be achieved in no time. Because if we don't do that and we rely on oil, the world is moving away from oil. We don't know what will happen even in the next year. Maybe everything oil will fade out. We have solar generators now. We have solar-driven cars. We have solar electricity. We have so many other things that we're using the sun, God-given sun, to get energy from. So we do hope that a lot will be done and transparently too. The 440 million Naira bulletproof SUV we bought is not for the chief of staff, but for his office, Lagos Budget and Planning Commissioner, Okwe George, says. The Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Okwe George, has provided insights into the recently released two NT23 Lagos procurement budget. On Monday, November 20, Governor of Lagos State, the budget is on all who received criticisms. After details of the recently published 20-23 Lagos procurement budget made the rounds on social media, the document showed that 7.5 million was disbursed for the replacement of liquid fragrance in the governor's office while 440 million was allocated for the purchase of a bulletproof vehicle for the office of the chief of staff of the governor. In an interview on Tuesday morning, November 21, Okwe George stated that the aim of publishing the budget was to strive for accountability and transparency. He went on to state that the Lagos LX bulletproof vehicle was assigned for the transportation of dignitaries not for the chief of staff. There are certain specifications that need to be followed when purchasing these vehicles according to him, but they have also purchased certain vehicles from Volkswagen in Nigeria. So they do not support local vehicles and manufacturers. And we just, I don't know, the office of the head of service will have bulletproof cars. And then they said the dignitaries will be transported in that. So when they are going on an official assignment to enter a bulletproof car, when they finish the official assignment, they enter any other car that is not bulletproof so that we know that it is only during official assignments that they can come to him. Well, we still will not understand, may not be able to understand how government thinks, how people in government think, and why they do what they do. Because if it is in black and white, we would say that's wasteful expenditure. How do you buy perfume for 7.5 million or billion? How do you buy a bulletproof vehicle to put in the pool of other cars? And then when you are on official assignment, you use that, and then when you come home, you use something else. I don't know how that works. How will the head of service come to him, who is after his life? We don't know about that. So if the head of service will have a bulletproof car costing as much as that, how many will the governor have that we've not known over the years? But I thank the state government in the first place for publishing the budget. Now people are talking. Now they know what things that the people will be against. When they publish again next year, as I hope they will, then some things also will be pointed out. And gradually there will be change in our policy as we've always wanted it to be. Well, those were all the headlines that captured our interest before the headlines of today on the newspapers. So we're going to take a break now and return with the headlines on the newspapers, on what we call off the press. Stay with us.