 We're glad to know you're still there and watching the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa and we're going to the press to see what we can lift off the press. What is it that made it to the front pages of our national dailies today? We're going to take just three national dailies that is the punch, the Guardian and the nation newspaper. Almost all of them have the same headlines or all of them have almost the same headlines. That's a better way to put it. And I'm glad to announce to you that this morning we have standing by to help us make sense of the topics or the headlines. Architect Ezekiel Nyaitok, a public affairs analyst talking to us from Aqbaibom. Good morning and welcome to the show. Architect Nyaitok. I'm eating my words. Good morning sir and always a pleasure to be on your program. Yeah. Okay. We have interesting headlines this morning and we're going to begin with the punch newspaper and see what is on the punch newspapers. First of all, the leading headlines or the biggest headlines or the boldest headline there is tunable plates for more time as NLC issues strike notice. And the writers on that story are presidency meets NLC, TUC, over palliative delay, labor insist on Wednesday protests. And then resident doctors strike grounds, hospitals, federal government may enforce court order against labor. Now, this is a very worrisome story. NLC is spoiling for a fight. Nat has already gone on strike and all that. And then the presidency is asking for more time seeing that the president is very new in office and some of these things the presidency is claiming they were not briefed. So they need to look at what is on the table before they can issue a statement or know how to tackle these affairs. Let me hear your take on what is happening. I think it's very depressing and almost demoralizing. And I would like us to know the story behind the story. I am a Nigerian and issues of a quibum state are very important to me because I wanted to be the governor of a quibum extrapolate that and take it to the center. President tunable is not somebody that was that something was hoisted on him. Like in some cases you see a predecessor living office and he just and pick somebody and put the person there. This is a man who says his lifelong ambition was to be the president of Nigeria. And he can be somebody who is talking from the point of naivety because he's been a two time governor of Lagos state. So he understands the functions of a chief executive. Now fast forward that to where we are today. The issues on the table are not new at all. There are issues that I not looking at Nigeria and as my constituency and familiar with. Not to talk of somebody who wanted to be a president who must have been looking at Nigeria as his constituency. Who must have been looking at the problems of Nigeria. Who must have been having sleepless nights and wondering why are they going left when they should go right. Why are they doing it this way when he could have been done better done the other way. He should have been very familiar with our challenges and the solutions to our challenges. And you cannot talk of management of Nigeria without the organized labor because that's your workshop as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria. So the issue of the civil service, the issue of the civil service, the issue of NLC must be an issue that is right there at the tip of your fingers. Now I'm asking you what do you need more time for before you started nursing an ambition to be a president. You must have familiarized yourself with certain things about government but you wouldn't know the details, certain details you wouldn't know. As of today, I have an idea of a minimum of 60% of the goings on in acquired home state because I have friends in government I interact with them so I believe that he must have been having that. Then fast forward I will always say for four months, four months he has been elected as president. Elected not against an opposing government but on his own government meaning that from day one you are already seen as Mr. President. There's no antagonism. You have access. You could have questions after four months. If you do not understand the issues on the table then I feel sorry for us going forward. Let me just understand this Mr. Naito because if I am thinking from a point of view of a layman I'll be thinking about handover notes. I'll be thinking about the transition committee that is being set. What are the provisions inside the notes of a transition committee that a person who has been elected will still claim ignorance of happenings in the previous government? Be it the same party or not? What are those things that are supposed to be in this document of the handover? I'll tell you this. The transition notes if you know what you want should be tailored to answer the questions you would have written down before today. So if you are from an opposing camp they may not be in a hurry. Actually those things you want are the things they would like to hide or bury. But when you have the benefit of this being your own party they will know the things you want. They will know the things that are important, the imperatives. So they will not only give you what you want they will even tell you that this one and this one. I always tell you if you want to be a successful governor have the civil servants as your friends because they will tell you even as a minister if you get into any ministry don't go and try to love over the civil servants you fail. There's what they call management of the boss, managing the boss. They will get you so occupied they will get you so busy but you will not know that these guys are just leading you in the direction that they want. It is when you leave office that you sit back and ask yourself what did I really achieve? But I was busy all along. They were managing you man. So come back to where we are. That excuse of I need more time is untenable, is unacceptable. It means that there's really no plan on ground. Four months after you've been elected, two months after you've been sworn in because you can say well when I'm elected maybe maybe they are saying things that they are still trying to put together or cover or something but by the time you come in and you are elected president first 30 days I can understand because it is into now look let me tell you guy while I was campaigning I knew who would be my secretary to government. I knew I knew whom I would be have as the commissioners of four key ministries and there's nothing in the federal republic of Nigeria's constitution that says you must send all the list in at a time. I would have known who would be my minister of finance then with this issue of labor labor I would have known who would be my minister of labor and productivity because these things have been festering. I would have known who would be my you know my key when you look at your key drivers your agenda I would have known maybe at least five key ministers you send them in you get them cleared they come in who is labor talking with as are today special advisor who is my attorney general and the minister of justice these are issues that relate to interagency the law court and all those things because there are many very serious legal issues you know going on and you have no minister of what do you call it attorney general and minister of justice no you would have known them you would have sent them in they would be there with you working that's how you hit the ground running but when you come and you are waiting for the last day which means if that law was not there guy would not be here for another six months without ministers so I think that Nigerians should really wake up and stop just expecting that the man that they employed is their boss I mean think about what I've just said the man that you employed is your boss it's it's it's it's it's it's an error okay well now now that you just mentioned the fact that if there were no laws maybe you would have waited another six months it gives us worry as well because okay let's go to the guardian newspaper right now the boulder's headline there is tinobu toes familiar path as ministers may not resume till September on the punch it was that okay we're going to have the ministerial list today the list will be out today some people are even saying the list is not complete and before now we've seen very many lists that are that are flooding the internet everywhere you go to there's a ministerial list somewhere and you find another one somewhere else some names are missing some are dead and all that we've not seen the one with a presidential seal yet we're expecting it today but people are also speculating that it is possible these ministers will not even be in office till September that is so many months after the election and after the inauguration so what do you think about that is it taking time to do the right thing or his taking time is unacceptable the taking time is unacceptable absolutely unacceptable that's number one number two he is expected to send the list to the national assembly to the best of my knowledge within 60 days he pushes it to the closing date where the national assembly is about to go on their vacation so he gets clever by half by sending in the list on the last day now the national assembly can say well sorry it's not our fault we already have our timelines and our progress is put in place as a result yes we have got in the list that we need to do a lot of background checks we need to do a lot of you know getting into profiling and everything this is going to take time and since we are going on vacation we will now keep it till we come back so that we don't rush over it we want to do a thorough job you know all those things now as a result they help him go back and once he has fulfilled that there is nothing that says that the list you send in you cannot withdraw my former governor gus will have probably used to say the hand that are points can also disappoint okay which means that you can actually during this period continue your tinkering with the list until this will come back because you can withdraw you are at liberty to withdraw any list that you've sent but the first thing is that he has fulfilled the you know the constitutional obligation and then we now may not have ministers till September like was said I need to be you to be unfortunate but I think that he should be in a hurry right now because Nigerians are losing if I don't want to be uncharitable to say Nigerians have lost patience you know that that that that zest that zeal that and expectation expectation that we had that you know he's going to be a technocrat he's gotten to discover that politics has come to play a game on him so that's the thing he did in Lagos that we used to use and the campaign you know he will bring this and that I think by the time we have seen the the the list that is being um you know sent out you know not not sent out has been speculated that's the word I don't think that there is that excitement and I think he's coming to the reality of what is going to face him as soon as that list officially hits the road and I think Nigerians are going to express the level of disappointment that will not will not be nice for him okay but um would you say what labor and tuc is doing is rather harsh or it's in line because they are insisting that on august 2 they will still go on strike if all the demands are not being met by government we spoke about this when we're in the first topic that we addressed but let's go back to it labor is standing on the august 2 strike or protest do you think they're being too harsh or are there other approaches do you you think that could have been explored rather than going on strike and protesting I will personally accept that I am stuck between the rock and the hard place because two things number one the bible is very clear that a workman is worthy of his wages okay so labor is at liberty to think in terms of the welfare of the workers I also agree with labor that what they call wage today is far from what you may call a living wage very very very far from it even in my own state uh in desiring to be the governor one of the things I was to attack I had to do a lot with um the the the remuneration what is paid to workers it's it's not okay I would say that without even thinking twice or batting an eyelid that's number one number two is that labor has to come to terms with the fact that Nigeria is a country of labor that forms a very small part let me not use the word insignificant part of the population and the removal of of swells subsidy is what affects the generality of Nigerians they affect the staff of government as well as they affect the staff in my employ and they all go to the same market so when labor now comes and saves give us 200,000 as minimum wage what labor is effectively saying is that take the lion's share of what would come from it and give it to my own little people and I think that's being inconsiderate while it is the place of labor to negotiate for their members they must realize that they must be fair on it because each time they talk in terms of we're going on strike they should realize that it is going to affect the generality of Nigeria so the question is how can we build a win-win platform where the 30,000 Naira minimum wage has not been paid this will have not shown that they have the capacity to pay labor should engage Nigerians in setting calculations I've said this time and time again we have an envelope that contains 100 let me just let me ask because of a statement you made that government has not shown that they have capacity at least some states that they have any capacity to pay 30,000 Naira minimum wage is capacity really the word or the willpower to pay this capacity I will say this capacity not willpower you know I talked with some level of confidence because I entered the governorship race on a very cerebral note on a very clear note that's the next thing I wanted to say I have 100 oranges to share amongst 20 people that have equal rights to the oranges and you are asking me to give you five no no no not five because 120 should be five five five you're asking me to give you 30 yeah that's a better you know illustration we have 100 oranges we have 20 people and one person wants 30 oranges why do I give this analogy it's a very simple thing there's a budgeting process in that budget there is a fixed sum that we have then we now have two aspects of the budget one is the recurrent the other one is the the capital and the recurrent in that recurrent you have running of government and you have salaries and wages it means that the asset in statutory works you have to do capital on one hand before you come to recurrent and in the current you have running of government you have salaries and wages so that box is there now running of government salaries and wages affect more of the government you know the government and his workers okay the government and his workers is what you have at that recurrent which is running of government and salaries and wages now what affects the common man is the aspect of the capital and of course repayment of loans is also a subset of that and we are owing so much when you come to do the calculation of 200 000 as minimum wage you extrapolate that you are going to be asking for a minimum of about 30 percent of the wages to be given to that segment now what are you going to have as running of government and what are you going to have as you know the capital that will not benefit the generality of Nigerians it's a discussion that we should have and let the bible says my people pay it for lack of knowledge Nigerians just think you just pick and choose oh they don't have willpower they don't have capacity because if they have to do that they are going to have to borrow so much yeah to be able to meet sometimes okay maybe um maybe some of these leaders need to have orientation before they go into office or just before oh yes after they are elected because we see we see a government that is struggling to have some have a good welfare for the people of the state building for instance pedestrian walkways in villages that do not have up to 10 cars entering the village in a day and there was absolutely no need for that and they are doing it because they just want to point at something and say this is a legacy project maybe we should start to talk about that as well let them have orientation to see the priority of the people because there is no much engagement with the people they are governing because if you come to my village to ask me it may not be a road that i want it may be something else but they don't ask this that is a critical thing that is out of our government how can we bring it back let me tell you something two things madam obby is a quesely and other Nigerians she set up the SPPG school of politics policies and governance INEC should network with such institutions and ensure that before you buy a form to contest at whatever level you have spent two weeks in these institutions that should be enhanced by government to be right down to every local government they can bring them up to the state level okay before you buy a form you go to buy a form with the presentation of that certificate that you have been told and you have an understanding of what this is all about in the average of a man who is going to buy for election he's on his oh boy make a go change my life oh boy make a go chop my own so to them as far as their concerns state capture is the motivation no i've always said that service must be the motivation and the essence for seeking public office but no each time i say that this will look at me and say in yaitouk you've come again with this your grammar but that is the real thing these people for them it's it's it's enterprise for them it's state capture for them is to enhance their lives for them they pay you during election and they have true with you they don't owe you nothing more then they go and have four years of enjoying and Nigerians need to come to terms with this reality that they do it because you you want to contest election they're not asking who you are and it's like how much do you have when you tell them maybe 60 million they say ah no go for senate or house of a reps you understand me if you tell them you have um you know in a quiet room you can bring out the hundred million they'll tell you bros go for senate if it's a half or two five billion even if you are a senate material say ah no you can't go for senate go governorship go governorship and you know it's it's sad that the people that move you into each class are the people that think of what they will be able to get and extract during the process because all Nigerians get is the little they get during election that is why vote buying will continue to be one of our biggest problems until we're able to educate Nigerians adequately now move to step two which is by the time you enlighten people i neck has to do you know about make me believe i've entered that other side we won't leave yet today now the the problem is we'll enter into other issues but when you talk about enlightenment um most times it is about the people the ordinary person that uh is assumed not to know much about the political happenings around them the ordinary masses and you assume that some people are politically aware so much so that they should know what to do but this had the critical people the critical few that influence the majority now if you go and educate these people and the the minority that is critical is not made to feel the sense of patriotism will it even work it's see Nigeria operates on a concept of what i call elitism in our place my village is waiting to hear what i'm saying and if i abdicate that responsibility once more local man in the village is going to give direction people follow direction that is why setting parties just seem to sweep and go they don't have that independent mind to act access now in my village and probably in your village the responsibilities the duties are on you you pay the bills you check your phone on a daily basis what you see is request request request request you can pay and pay and pay and pay but during election rather stand up and say my village you know i've been paying he's got to do the right thing this is where we should go you leave it no and no one will allow then one little man in the village that the local champion takes the decision put what is in his own interest and then you start a new round of having the problems because when you carry square pegs and put in round holes you don't need to be told that it will not fit the only way to fit is where that round hole is bigger than the square peg so you all drop the square peg and the square peg is you know dangling and everything so it's a mismatch and a misfit the only way that we will wake up and have Nigeria of our dreams is when we the elites know that that time has come and to a great extent it started in this last dispensation with that what you call the obedient movement unfortunately we have over personalized it to the person of mr obi no he was a beneficiary of of of of an ideology that ideology is that we want somebody that is not tainted we want somebody that is going to come in and do the work we want that was the ideology and he just happens to fit into that movement and I think that Nigerians should wake up and take the obedient movement beyond the person and have it as a concept and an analogy ideology going forward where people were willing to sacrifice where people were willing to think outside the box where people were willing to come into the fray people who had never ever taken part in politics were willing to come let us not close that box and say oh it is part beta obi oh it is south east let the nothingness also coin another name but with same ideology and find a man that typifies a Nigeria of our dreams where people are going to come out do the work sacrifice peter obi had a lot of things going for him when he was governor when he said look this is state money I cannot waste state money I've got to make sure that I return value for money on the investment of the people called government there are people in the north that have also lived such a life let the nothingness rally around such people there are people in the southwest now why is southwest rallying behind mr tinubu is it because he typified their yearnings expectations or because he has financial capacity if it is on account of financial capacity what they shame it is but if it is that this man is a man that showed us that you can have excellence you can have technocrats and they walk around him because of them as a then now that he's come back to office if he no longer possesses that then leave him and look for somebody in the southwest they are they are multiples of them and rally around them because nature is not ending today but if he is showing that yes the jagaban of those days the tinubu of those days the no-nonsense president the governor of those days is the same man today then continue let it not be about person let it be about concept about ideology and then we start to have boxes that will come together on the long run and form a coalition of people that mean well for Nigerians that understand government and governance and will know that it's not about state capture but about the essence of government as captured in chapter 2 section 14 subsection 2 be of a constant that says that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government i rest my case okay it's it's it's one thing to for something to be written it's another thing for it to be understood take a case in point it's still on the guardian newspaper a case in point that has been highlighted here something that happened a few days ago where the prison officials were fighting or the dss was fighting with prison officials so now dss is saying that they are going to investigate what really happened the people that went into fight it is not representative of the dss who sent them who gave the instructions nba uh monday obani falano others have knocked dss over the acts that they called disgraceful and a lot of Nigerians are seeing that why is it that instead of collaborating especially the security agencies collaborating to do what is right now there's hoarding of information there is power tussle there is this and that things that are making the outside of other countries to mock nigeria i saw videos of kameronians mocking nigeria ghanians mocking nigeria some newspapers in the uk and america mocking nigerians why does it always happen this way it's you know there are two things the first thing is that look slab me worker pass but don't insult me on top by telling me that you didn't see my face you looked at me you slapped me you walked away then you turn around and say i'm investigating why do you understand me you well you just just slab me worker pass how can dss say they they want to investigate please for goodness sake what are you investigating you are investigating that a number of your operatives were there when every Nigerian saw you are investigating that they dragged somebody you're investigating that the judge made a statement and that this should be the case and that they said this is an order from above do you need more than one hour to call the guy and say guy i'm heard i'm told that there was this issue of order from above who is that order from above who said he do sent you and he tells you and then you now make a public statement within the hour or two because you know that this has become a national embarrassment you you you are you it's unacceptable except you are complicit except you are an accomplice except you are part of it except you are implicated in it and if it is and you care about this country even if you don't care about this country and the president cares about the country the least i can do is to put all those people out of the way and the box tops on when they say i am directed you see there was this was the commissioner that gave me a note there was something i was doing for a setting governor and the commissioner sent me a letter i am directed to effectively disengage so i went to the governor i said this letter i've gotten he said i'm directed a commissioner so you must have directed he said no i said when he said i am directed it has to be you to claim self he had to put a call to the commissioner on on on speakerphone akita and yeah it took us just brought a letter here and you wrote i am directed who directed you i said he said come over immediately it sat there and they had to write that an apology later almost and then rescind that letter what am i saying when your staff says i am directed it's got to be by his superior and that superior gets up to the the dg of of dss or it was mr president it's either mr president of the dg or the dg dss those are the two steps that the buck must get to that level and if the dg dss has not taken the bullet then the next step is the office of the president of the federal republic of nigeria and i'm surprised that it's lingered this long it's either he's unaware of what's going on or he couldn't be bothered about what is going on or he is complicit but i want to believe better things of mr president that he's not aware of this because he's too small for him to be so what should he do let him show the world the red of his eyes that you cannot embarrass the government and if you cannot work together two of you leave okay well there should no details nothing should be too small for them to know we we've had enough of i didn't know i didn't know in the previous government this one must not be that way but uh we're wrapping up now if you can in the very uh as short as possible just tell us what your take is on what is happening in nigeria the soldiers have declared that they have taken over power as at this moment uh what is it that you have to say for what is happening there two things number one i keep saying two things i don't know why they're not those two things this time two things number one is and it's an indictment on uh on a president you know there was a time um some years back when president obasan joe was in power uh there was a small country i think it was um uh the the precipice was it wasn't of that country uh that's more island and and precipice okay they decided to stage a coup like that and then president obasan just put a call across to them and said stop that revert and they accepted now come down to niger our president has just become the president elect of echo us before now niger used to be the junior brother of our former president and just as he steps out these guys have struck and i think that for our president's reputation he should bend over backwards and do everything to restore peace and democracy in that country that will show him as being on top of the situation and he will earn the respect of the international community and he will send a signal bold to nigeria that don't even think about it that's number one number two i think that when things are going south in a country the leadership should know that a time comes when they may not be able to take it things are going south in nigeria real hard real bad i want to pray to all nigerians to join hands together and help to put things back so that nobody will as much as entertain the thought of truncating this democracy that we've had and it would be better when the government sits up understands the essence of government works for the people and shows the people that they really care about the welfare of the people we don't care if we don't have all we know that all we care is that the man the our government is doing the very best they can i'll say this as my last word the best of any law can be made useless by the people if they don't believe in it while the worst of any law can be made to work by the people if they believe in it let our leaders know that the future belongs to the thoughts of the people let them measure the temperature of the people today and do the needful for sake of posterity at the end of the day it's about the people that's why it's democracy anyway government of the people by the people for the people it's always a pleasure having you join us architect Ezekiel Nyaitoq we are so delighted that you could give us part of your time this morning thank you so much thank you i'm grateful thank you okay that was architect Ezekiel Nyaitoq a public a first analyst talking with us from Aquabomb on off the press we'll take a short break look at the weather and return to our first big topic stay with us