 All right. So it's time to take a look at what the headlines on some major dailies are saying. And I'll be beginning with Daily Independent this morning. Daily Independent leads with only capital boost, may stop 100,000 Naira to the dollar exchange rate. And that is according to analysts on the Daily Independent. The special report there cannot get first female chief judge as assembly confirms Aboki. You find details of that one on page six. Tenubu sets aside the Buharis tax policies to grow businesses. The writers there suspends 5% excise tax on telecom services, import tax adjustment levy on certain vehicles differs execution or finance act customs tariff. Then on the lowest strip there you have ignored rumors on ministerial lists. Presidency urges Nigerians. You have details of that on page 29. Above the masthead you have Nigeria records 798 diphtheria cases and 80 deaths. Right beside it you have Abokiari remains in custody despite court admitting him to 50 million Naira bill. All right. So that's the much I'll be taking from the Daily Independent newspaper. From that we move over to business day. From business day is leading which Tenubu eases throttle on taxes. Charges on vehicles, beers, phone calls, others on hold. It's a major headline this morning. There's a second newspaper that's headline in this. And then from that you have Naira windfall for oil firms, a CBN leads dollar restrictions. That's on the masthead of the business day newspaper. And why banks' bad loans declined to seven year low. Those are the three headlines on the front page of business day newspaper. From business they will move over to the Guardian newspaper which leads with advocacy for pay on death law heightens as unclaimed funds near 1.3 trillion Naira. It's their big story and it's on pages four and five. And then moving forward above the masthead you have fuel subsidy. Doctors want 550% salary increase for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms. And then from that you have Naira windfall for oil firms, for oil firms, for oil firms and salary increase, threating strike July 19th. And right beside that you have Nigeria's 33 trillion Naira stock market on the valued trading at discount. And go back down again on the Guardian newspaper, just going back and forth there, with so many things that you know, just cannot be ignored on the face of the Guardian newspaper. If I have asset declaration, court grants, abacari, 50 million Naira bail. You have Karno Anti-Graft Agency invites Ghandu J for questioning. All right, that's the much we'll be taking from the Guardian newspaper. From there, we'll move over to nature news. Nature news is raising the alarm. Imminent flawed, Senate or just federal government to construct dams mitigate risks. Page three is where you have details of that. The writer there, Nima issues fresh warnings of impending heavy rainfall. Some newspapers captured this yesterday on their front pages. Gas flaring surge in Nigeria's oil output increases. It started on the front page, but continues on page three on nature news. President Nubu suspension of plastic tax raises concerns over environmental impact. Page five is where details of that is. Well, I shouldn't governor distributes 332 pumping machines to address water shortage crisis. Page 11 is where you have details of that. Expectedly, nature news recovery stories on nature, safety for the environment. That's why you have anxiety as Agib gas pipeline leaks in Delta community. Page six is where you have details of that. Okay, nature care. What are they talking about today on nature care? Healthy weight management habits. If you want to watch your weights, you want to know how to manage your weight and have healthy weight. Go to page 15 of nature news to get details on how you can keep a healthy weight. All right, so our analyst is standing by and it's time to unveil him. I'm talking about our Friday analysts, Mr. G.D. Johnson, chief lecturer and Nigerian Institute of Journalism. He's joining us from Lagos here. Good morning, Mr. Johnson. Good morning, actually, I'm joining you from Kaduna. Whoa, you travel. Yeah, I'm from Kaduna for a program. So good morning to our viewers. Good morning. All in Nigeria and good day to our viewers all over the world, depending on your time zone. It's a pleasure to be with you. Always a pleasure to have you. What's the weather like in Kaduna this morning? Very interesting, it's quite calm. They are not as cool and seems it's going to ring later in the day, but they are not as cool. Okay. Well, I've not forgotten that I gave you a chief transfer title last Friday. So chief, I'm going to go back to it. Chief, you've heard me. You heard the headlines this morning. So I think we should start with this one that's been captured on almost all the front pages this morning. Geneva sets aside Buhari's tax policies to grow businesses. And I'm taking this one from the Daily Independent. The riders there suspends 5% excise tax on telecom services, import tax adjustment levy on certain vehicles, and defers execution of finance act. Customs tariff. Let's start with this. Well, what the president has done is done is to delete the implementation of his policies and put in place towards the till end of the Buhari's administration. At the end of the day, like I said, I think the stars will come in effect. I think the thinking behind the president suspending this is one, the effect of the removal of subsidy and the consequent effect on the disposable income of a big Nigerian and then the double-digit starling inflation that we are witnessing because there's a competitive record for a big Nigerian to survive since the inception of this administration has resulted in removal of subsidy and the inability of government to come up with immediate palliative measures to ameliorate the effect of the removal of subsidy because in Nigeria, the entire economy of Nigeria is dependent on oil, dependent on oil for transportation, dependent on oil for the running of our businesses, most small and medium-skilled enterprise, run for also that itself added to the acquired cost which invariably affect their return on investment and their cut on rent. So what the government has done is to see whether in the next three months, there will be the last cutout, 2023, probably there will be some cushioning effect that will be put into the economy before government begins to do all these various taxes. What I disagree with is the way the NIST paper affirmed this because it does sound okay taxes and the media should have gone beyond this to know their sentiment and set record straight, particularly the great media which in most cases set the agenda for us to follow. Why do you bear the taxes and then besides all this problem, I was on an executive order, I just leased the approach to governors. This approach to governors in a sense that if another president comes in, he could render your executive order useless or if you have stakeholders going to call challenging those orders, the Supreme Court might rule that the president does not have the power to do what he has done. You see what happened in America with the student loan and so the easiest way to public policies for you to come up with laws, enabling laws past the period with respect to that. So what the TNPO administration has done is to score a quick political gains with with a Nigerian people that when we understand yourself knowing we understand the challenges you are facing, this body that was imposed towards the little end of Bowery's administration, we are going to suspend it, but at a little point in time we introduce this policy back. Yeah, so rejoice with caution. In other words, rejoice with caution. Just wait till September. All right, so let's move on now, still on the daily independent, only capital boost may stop 1000 naira to the dollar exchange rate. And that's from analysts. Yeah, you know when the president came up with this policy statement, with respect to unified foreign exchange market and then that the hopeless will be, the hopeless will be opened up, the hopeless will be opened up that the forces of the market will determine the exchange rate. What the exchange rate is, you must back that up with your own internal mechanism. If it's based on the forces of the demand and supply, if you have too much demand for it, definitely to shoot up the exchange, the exchange, the exchange rate. So what requires for government, particularly government to injecting a lot of capital into the economy to make a lot of direct investment into the economy that I am correcting for direct investment or by providing avenues for local business investment to inject funds into the financial sector. It's still early, it's still early. There's no doubt that the witness did stop us because what you have was a rehabilitated approach. It controlled, a semi-controlled approach. Now you have the free-for. So initially you have a free-for. And when you have this free-for, at the end of the day, the dollar will find its appropriate value with the dollar. And when it finds its appropriate value, that's when we begin to know what to do in order to grow our economy because when you grow your economy, go the strength of your local currency. The exchange rate of your local currency to that currency, could it boost it based on your own production capacity, based on the growth of your own local economy, based on the state of the rate of export to import. And those are the things that we ultimately increase the value of Naira. What we have had in the past is the arbitrary value of Naira, which has not F Naira. So this will give us a true state of what Naira is and a true state of what our economy is. And it will give us the indication where we needed the right indication, the real sector that we need to improve on and in order to grow our economy. Don't forget that one of the areas in which the government has spent a lot of foreign exchange and some of us are respected that well with that policy and government removing subsidy. At least I'll build more funds with respect to a billable for other good amounts to utilize foreign exchange for that business because the book of foreign exchange was going to do all and that sector. Now that that has been left open for everybody to come and participate in it, we expect that these are just implications in the short term. In the short term, you have a stack of dislocation in the economy. In the long run, we see we see what implications of what this policies, this quick fix policies that has been put in place by the tenor administration, what impact it has on the financial sector and what the parts of the world have on the monetary sector and overall impact on the economic sector. Yeah, but you know, good as it sounds, market forces will determine and in the long run, we'll know ultimately what the real value of the NARA is. But it does sound scary, doesn't it, to think that the NARA will get to as weak as one thousand to the dollar, doesn't it? Yeah, if you look at the number of loans we took in the last eight years, the loans we took in the last eight years for infrastructure, left, right and center, the much glorified infrastructure, you understand the implications of those loans on our local economy and on our currency. And then you also look at the various policies introduced by the central bank and the various investments we have made in terms of changing our monetary and monetary policy, the NARA, the design, the E-NARA, you know all of those policies, different types of policy and the policy for some of us, does not, economy requires a consistent, a consistent approach, a consistent policy not to take 10 steps forward and then you have policy reversal. I think, and I will, what the Tenuba administration will do, will be both, both enough to stick their guns. Once you have taken a decision to respect the policy, follow that policy, do not have policies of us, left, right and center. That itself creates this location within the economy and it affects the value of the NARA compared to other foreign, foreign, foreign, foreign currency. Yeah, interestingly, in marketing the country to foreign investors, one of the things that this government is saying is they are showing that policies will be stable, they won't see all these policies, some assaults that have been the case in Nigeria for, for some time now. And so here we're having this analysis and then you're talking about this, this halting of the immediate past president's tax policies for a few months. Talk to us about that. Well, it's, it's, it's, I think that then the president and his team are also, I also expected that the president by now, you know, found his cabinet coupled with them, the, the kind of pedigree he has and the kind of image that has been created for him as a consummate, businessman and also a consummate politician and a renal administrator that have built men and have built leaders who are taught by now, modern day, month after his administration, you have your cabinet in place because that itself also pushes the economy when you put in place your team, your economic team, your, your economic team that itself sends signals, signals across the land and bread of Nigeria and across the business community, across the international financial community and international community that yes, we are ready for business as a top now, you have a cautious approach to governance, cautious approach to kind of business in the sense that the government secretary does not have the political, you only have the administrative power and then there's no current policy that has been formed and ideas are now coming from other people to have the president in shaping his economic policy or implementing whatever policy he has to that, to that, to that, to that effect. So when you see some of these, what we have seen in terms of the direction and the administration are taking as top cap measures, top cap measures in the sense that, okay, you know what we are measuring to stop, we are going to stop subsidy. So what are the things that you put in place to ameliorate is the suspension of payment of subsidy or removal of subsidy payment forever. Okay, what are the measures you are putting in place to address the issue of okay, we are floating in unified exchange exchange with there's no parallel market, you go to the bank, you trade, you bid for it and the first market will have control like if the same thing with which government has done with this real form of tax and suspension of this tax delete introduction of taxes on the telco tax, which was, which and the former minister of communication and digital economy was much more interested in and the one on cars and the one on other things. So as far as this issue is concerned, the president need to put his economic team in place, study what has been done in the past and then come up with a comparison because what we are witnessing as just some people that are close to the president and probably recently appointed advisors that are giving him the direction to what they have taken and for me, it's still a stopgap measure. We need a full blown policy to address this issue and this is what I tell you in public office, whether you like it or not, you are marking time. Nobody is going to part. You are elected for a period of four years and then you are required and since the election election took place in February, the winner was declared in March, within that period, issue that been able to identify those that you want to run your government and then why do you think, why do you think it's taking him long? I mean, just as you are saying, I thought Emile Kohn, minute he was sworn in, he would have hit the ground running, letting us know who is going to work with, do you think it has to do with him waiting for the outcome of the cases at the tribunal? No, no, no, I think it's one, the composition of National Assembly, the election of the principal of the National Assembly, it's the component part of it's one of the major reason affecting that and then you also consider the complex nature, the complex nature of our society with respect to different types of interests. But I think that as the national leader, as the acclaimed national leader of the party, before you assume the presidency, you are rearing on the whole of the party knows who and who he wants to, to really tweet and by now we should because that itself will help his administration, that itself will help the economy because it will send the right signals to those because if I want to engage in business with the federal government now, let's say I'm a foreign direct investor, who do I believe with? Who do I believe with now? The partner secretary? That's a very valid question. So it's important for him, that's why you see there's a particular stream because there's been a lot of circulation, that's why there's a particular story that we are told to ignore by his special advisor on communications and strategy and special activities that we should ignore whatever at least we are seeing that when the president is ready. You see, we want the president to be ready from day one, that's why we do our election six months, almost four months before the swearing in and then it will now be declared three months before the swearing in and by that we should be able to put in place the cabinet, it's very important. We are just counselling the president. There's not a single thing we had there to his tenor, if eventually he's the certified and elected president by the Supreme God at the end of this tribunal. So if he's waiting for the tribunal to decide his cutting short, his own tenor of presidency because what you are, this will not be added to it by May 29 next year if he's still the president and he wins the election, you will wish for a second term and maybe the president lost the election by next election in 2027. He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, not simply will be added to it. So I tell people this, tick, say the clock, tick, tick what you have to do. Don't quit. So you're elected, you're offered to be the president, put in your cabinet, set the ball rolling because this set the right signal. It's like you are establishing a TV station and then you just establish this, you've got a license, you said you start, you know, getting rid of your oppression and you didn't get the needed person that you require to function. When we don't put up the cabinet in place, government is not functioning at 100%. That affected Buhari's administration. In his first term, he took Buhari almost six months before he came up with his cabinet. And that's what instructed the national assembly, the national assembly to pass a bill that became an act that within the first 60 days, and I think that there's a need for us to revisit this particular issue. Within the first 30 working days, the president and the government should be able to come up with the, at least the more you tell me on the, the more you have a lot of political interference. I think the president does not want to offer some people, there are a lot of interests that are battling for, to be in the cabinet. As far as I'm concerned, he should not put former governors in his cabinet, be in the executive and the state level, at least he should look for fresh ideas. And of late, of late, yeah, of late, we've seen so many strategic visitations, so many strategic visitors to ASO ROC. Former governors, former Senate president, former days, former vans, true pain to ASO ROC. All those that have run their state background, that have run the economy background, we've seen the result, all of us are complaining about the last eight years, like we were complaining in 2015, the last 16 years of PDB. And so we have seen the capacity and the capability of all of these elements and then get fresh hands, get square pegs in square holes and round pegs in round hole and get moving. You have been elected as the president by the people, so you should understand that the people are waiting for the deliverables of them. The more, you know, we say delay is dangerous and then in judicial policy, justice delay is justice denied. And so in public governance delay is denying the people what they require for survival. Just yesterday with my analysts on the show, we're saying we hope that President Nubu is not one who will be seeking to be politically correct, but one who will put Nigeria first and do what is needful to push the country forward. Okay, so let's move on to the Guardian newspaper. And it still carries this headline on the suspension of the tax by the tax regime by the former president. But I think it captures it the way that you would like. Temporary relief as Nubu defers suspends Buhari's 11-hour tax drive. This sounds more apt, captures it more aptly, right? In your opinion? Yeah, it's just the suspension and I think that the largest and guidance seems to be the newspaper that give the readers and the audience the right perspective to the story. So it's just a prior suspension. What government is going to do like I said earlier, when you use executive order, it's a lazy approach to public policy. The right route to public policy is to have an enabling act. If, even with this suspension, if somebody should go to court and challenge it and the court in this way is done, since the action of the federal committee that will be an infringement on the right of the citizen, an infringement on what should be the responsibility of the state or the local government. I think that will be thrown out by the court. One of the areas which I'm hoping people will go to court is the issue of the part and then that government said is going to collect from, federal government said it's going to collect from market women and the rest of it. As far as the idea is concerned, the issue of market has nothing to do with federal government. The issue of market has nothing to do with state government. The issue of market has to do with the local government. The responsibility is the responsibility of the local government, a part of their revenue for the local government in Nigeria from historical point of view, based on the 1976 Tatsuki reform, which was the first attempt for us to have a unified local government structure in Nigeria. Taxes are meant to be the responsibility of the local government. Even at bat rates, are meant to be the responsibility of the local government, outdoor advertisement, are meant to be the responsibility of the local government where they generate their revenue from. I hope that this government will live to its bidding as a progressive government, as a government that believes in restructuring, as a government that challenged, give a akin and overarching attempt by federal government to take away the responsibility of the states when they were in opposition and when they were in government that did not fall into the same trap of which they challenged the existing power structure at the center for the overarching taking away the responsibility of the state government and the local government. I hope, and we are waiting and when they make such attempts we'll draw attention of the public to it that well, this is what these people preached some years ago, or what they preach, they are not practicing what they preach and this government goes ahead to implement some of these policies and we will just discover that some of the issues they have said in the past, they have just played your stretch. Okay, still staying with the Guardian newspaper, advocacy for pay on death law heightens as unclaimed funds near 1.3 trillion Naira. This is their big story. You are on a personal note, I'll just give you this on a personal note. I lost my first wife in 2019 and then I can tell you that if you've known for the sake of the sun all are forgotten about pushing our pension funds for the past four years we've been going left to the center and for you the bottom line is that the moment you are there whether you are looking for your pension from government or whether your fund's in the bank assessing all of these funds the requirements that are put in place are cumbersome, that sometimes what you're going to spend to assess some of these funds we just, I think that somehow the policies that are put in place is even to discourage you from assessing from assessing this particular fund. Well in my suggestion whereby what you want, let me, I'm just saying hypothetically you want to collect 500,000 and you have ended up spending 350,000 you look at yourself and say what's the essence of me going through this route in order for me to assess and the time and the energy if you call us to everything does not, does not, well I think there is a need for us to review some of these laws that make it very, very difficult for for people to access their own money. Their own money. Exactly, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's a, I tell, I tell, I tell people this it's the same three years experience it's easier for the bank to collect look at the process with which the bank collects money from you look at the process with which the government collects money from you and then look at the process you go through to collect money to collect your own money from the bank from the bank and then the process you use to collect the delivery boost of the democracy from, from the government too hopefully they'll be reformed that's the essence of having national assembly that's the essence of having status of assembly otherwise there will be need for us to be to be elected new members of the national assembly every four, four years because as issues are coming we look at those issues to address those issues in order to make life in order to make life better for the citizenry and that's why you have elected, elected representative I hope the national assembly will look into this particular issue and the needed policy trust will be provided in order to ensure that life is made at ease for, for every, for every Nigerian Indeed, I join you in having that hope that the 10th national assembly will deliver and represent Nigerians truly as they should this is where we stop off the press right now Let me just, let me just look at this and there's this particular story on nature news and we know we had the flood season it's, it's a recurrent annual it's like Florida waiting for the hurricane season South Carolina, North Carolina all the coastal states in America they are fully prepared now why should we wait for the season to come in before we begin to think on what to do it's important and then a situation where a situation whereby you see the Senate the Senate is all different government I think there are a lot of illiterates in Nigeria the federal government is made up of the judiciary, the legislature and the executive but what you talk about in this instance it might be that the Senate urges the presidency the presidency symbolizes the executive the Senate itself or is owned by the power confederate can make laws to address this issue the Senate and the House of Representatives ask the power over the annual appropriation deal that goes to the annual appropriation act what months it is signed by the president and if the president refused to sign to all of the members of the national assembly can override the president on that matter so they can make budgetary provisions inside of patting the budget we do easy contract for themselves as a constituency project as we look at this developmental project and include it in the 2024 appropriate either of all the different it's an irresponsibility on the part of those who have given responsibility to make laws for the good of the society to be expecting the executive to execute laws that they are not made I just want to clear out that no it's good you did that I just didn't go to it because of time constraints but I'm glad you did that my analyst yesterday also touched deeply on that saying that these are things that we should have taken care of decades ago to avoid a situation where every year we find floods taking the lives of Nigerians and destroying their properties thank you so much Chief Jide Johnson for your time again on the breakfast is it really the view that you have my guest in thank you for the Chief Jide Johnson Chief Jide Johnson is the Chief Lecturer Nigerian Institute of Journalism in Lagos but he joined us this morning from Cardinal State okay so we'll take a short break and come back and give you a very first hot topic on the breakfast this morning do stay with us