 On the breakfast, Europa's social-political organization of Feneferra laments the spate of insecurity in the country, including incessant kidnappings on Legosi Baden experts' way. And also on the breakfast, Niger export promotion says the nation economy can thrive better without oil if the known oil sector is prioritized. We have further conversations. Don't forget, we'll also be looking through today's newspapers and analyzing the biggest stories of the day. It's a beautiful Monday morning, welcome to the breakfast in Plasti, Africa. I am Messia Boko, it's good to be back on your screen and it's also good to know that you are with us this morning. It promises to be an amazing two hours of conversation, all things being equal. But as always, we set off our discussion with top trending now on what's making the rounds, what are people talking about, quite engaging for lots of Nigerians, especially those who live in Lagos. You want to see Legosi as the fact that Lagos state government says it has plans to ban the sale of plastic bottled drinks exposed to sunlight. Well according to the managing director or the manager, general manager, consumer protection right here in Lagos, he says that plastic bottled drinks exposed to continuous sunlight are really dangerous to the health. As a matter of fact, there's also a tendency that, you know, it's cancerous. And so, as his plan is part of its public enlightenment, that's what the government is saying that between now and the end of 2022, this would just be a campaign to enlighten the public and the people about all of this. But by 2023, that's also planned by the Lagos state government to confiscate such drinks and prosecute those that are displaying those products under the sunlight. So the government also plans to plan to have stakeholders meeting with manufacturers of these bottled drinks so they can have an alternative for dummies of the product for distributors to display. The essence of all of this is that those who display this product in sunlight is that it's supposed to attract consumers or customers to buy. And so if you put a dummy in the sun, it has no effect since the dummy looks like the real thing. So this is the conversation that the government is actually having at this point in time. And you agree with me very well that if you go to the markets, if you move on the road along the roadside, you will see that people just get to display these drinks. So they have different brands. I'm not going to mention all of them, right? But you have these brands being displayed and the essence is that, so you know that, okay, I'm selling XYZ brand and you can have it here. But what's the ideology? I mean, the consumables that will kill you beat by beat should be avoided. This is really the essence. And so the government is actually urging consumers and customers to always ensure that they get value for money on all their products and services that's been rendered. As a matter of fact, consumers actually have a right under the law to complain if they're not getting what it is. But it's really funny because every time we talk about the consumer protection agency and that they exist for, you know, a certain purpose as an agency of government with the mandate to addressing consumer grievances and providing consumer education and encouraging trade, industry, professional association in order to develop and enforce quality standards designed at the end of the day to safeguard the interests of consumers, of course, Nigerians and anyone around. And so the engagement from Nigerians have been very interesting. It has continued on Twitter and the conversation includes job replacement. What would be the fate of those who are commuting from one point to the other? That's what a lot of peasants have been talking about. But let's even get back to the conversation about what government is about. And you know every other time we say that government's responsibility is to ensure that, you know, lives and properties are protected. That is the primary responsibility of government. And some peasants will say that, you know, the consumer protection agency or council has not even leave after this expectation. There's a lot of campaigning that should be done. But we understand, you know, the conversation that a lot of people are raising. What exactly it is? It is only the living that can actually talk about how they survive. So it's important. But I also must say this is very commendable of the government. I also think that it's possible for those who are talking about what becomes the source of livelihood, especially for those peasants who are usually on the street. I mean, if you live in Lagos or you visit Lagos, then you would see that there's a lot of commercial activities on the road, especially when you're in traffic, you have these peasants going about, hawking, selling drinks, you know, what have you, water and all of that. But at the end of the day, the implication, the radiation on this particular product might also be very dangerous. So it feels like you're using your money to buy a disaster that is gradually or just gradually, you know, take your life. I know that we haven't been very great with paying attention, you know, to health and health status, but it's quite commendable. And I think that all things will actually work out if we get to have a conversation. And so don't forget that you also have those who are in their shops where they get to expose all of that. It's very brilliant of the government to say, hey, we're going to be having conversations with, you know, manufacturers to see how we can have the domains. And I think that it's workable if both parties come together. It's really nothing to worry about. That's what I think. But I'm also hoping that the government, this will not just be just a statement, another policy statement or a conversation, just to put it out and make the government look better, but that an actual conversation would be held with all of the stakeholders. I mean, if you look at the chain of command, you talk about distribution up until it gets to the final consumer. So, yes, we hope that the government will meet with the manufacturers, will also meet with the middlemen, will also meet with the wholesaler, everyone, until it gets to the final consumer. At the end of the day, we're talking about health being wealth, because of course, without health, there's no way you're going to make wealth. Sounds like a great rhyme. Moving away quickly is another one. It's very interesting. Interesting, because some people have described this as history. They say history was made because the Naira actually crashed to 800 Naira to, I mean, of course, you're talking about $1 equals 800 Naira. And so currently, the Naira is trading at 800 against the dollar, according to some exchange platforms. Now, as a Saturday, when this was actually revealed, that current market or power market is 800 Naira to a dollar, and 890 Naira to the breaches pound-stelling. You also still have some quarters. The black market, if you would like to see, it was trading at 750, 765, 780, not exactly 800. And that's why some people would say, hey, that's actually not true. But the difference is almost really not too much if you want to ask me, 780 to 800, just like 20 Naira on top of all of this. Well, the freefall continues as the ban on bureau de Schoenig operators remain in place, and the CBN announced its plan to redesign the country's currency in response to the country's economic woes. Now, the governor of the Central Bank of Niger, Godwin Amalfili, had mentioned earlier that the new Naira note would be issued by December 15. This move, which has since been approved by the president and other stakeholders, was set in to boost the value of the Naira. That's the essence of it. But there are a lot of conversations regard the Naira always crashing once upon a time. I remember, it's not like I'm dead in my life. The Naira was 100, so if you want to equate it, 170, 79, 180, 100 Naira to a dollar. But we live in a different dispensation. And sometimes I sit back and begin to wonder why we are where we are today. But you also need to understand that there's been an excuse, there's been justification for the creation of multiple exchange rate for the Naira against major currencies in the world. And so my question will be, why do we even have multiple exchange rate for the Naira? So, of course, there's several of it. But it feels like we seem to have just two of them. So you have the black market, which seems to be very accessible, very popular, and a lot of people get it. CBN had given her justification for all of that. But I mean, is it rational? The essence of the multiple rate, has it been leaked? Have we achieved the reason for that? Because according to the justification, the dual multiple exchange rate system was supposed to help the government off Niger by maintaining optimal production and distribution of exports, stabilizing revenue, reducing the pressure on foreign reserve while keeping international investors from rapidly devaluing the currency and panic principles of secondary. I mean, basically, that's what it is. But if you look at what's really going on, we leave in a country, it's a sovereign nation, that the major currency that we use is the Naira. How come the dollars seem to be on the high? It's just simple. The economic forces have actually, is in play. So there's always an interplay of saying that the principle of demand and supply is just simple economies. And so when you constantly have a demand of a certain product, when the demand is on the high, the price of a certain commodity will be increased. And so the dollar is on the high, that I'm sure that as we progress, I'm not a prophet of doom. This is not just to be non-positive, but it's our current reality, that we probably might just get to a point where we're looking at a thousand Naira to a dollar. That's where we're getting to. And that's because there's need for the dollar. Why are we having need for the dollar? That's a lot of it. So you have the fact that a lot of persons are moving away from Nigeria. That's number one, the need people are moving way back. If you get back to history, if you look at the 80s and the 70s, it was almost nuts in the conversation to have people say we want to jack back and all of that. But that has become our current reality. And so the need for having a dollar has also increased. With the current reality of the CBN thing we're designing, that's also another school of thoughts. And they say, oh, the CBN governance thing we're redesigning the Naira notes. And so there's need to retrieve it on 15th of December. There's going to be new notes that would be in circulation, that should be in circulation. And some people probably actually at the verge of saying, hey, we will take this money because the government at the end of it, the ideology of the central bank of Nigeria is to retrieve the funds that you have. But some people would decide to say, hey, we're going to use the same currency, the same note to buy the dollars. And so maybe we'll probably just be at that point where we might get to a point where we're looking at 900, 1000, if not more, not a profit of doing, but if something is not done quickly. But it's just simple economics. Like I mentioned earlier, we're on a basic elementary economics that we're all taught in school, that if you constantly have demand for a certain product, the prices definitely will increase. And so the demand for, the dollar has made the dollar to constantly increase against the Naira, which is actually the official currency for the country. You also want to begin to look at it, the kind of economy that we operate in Nigeria. An economy that's highly dependent on e-ports. So you have most of the consumables, most of the things that we use in our country has actually been imported. And so if we constantly depend on import, we have to import, there's need for us to use dollar and it constantly adds value to the dollar as against the Naira. But it's simple. It's just simple as the economics is, is that if we fix the economy, if we fix the basic things, if we fix the entire economy, solve the issue of security, provide basic infrastructure, and what have you have a favorable condition of leaving and favorable condition of having business been done, then the demand for the dollar would definitely not be superseding that of the Naira. And that's what it is. But let's move away from that. We hope that the Nigerian government, the Buharis administration will do the needful. Another is very saddening. And we definitely talk about this as a major conversation, but there's something that happened very sad that a suspected bandits abducted several motorists and passengers who were traveling in some vehicles along the Lagos Ibadan expressway. That was on Friday. And this has developed great tension along the expressway as at the time, that's on Friday, you could, if you were actually there, you'd see the videos and the reports that made it. Some vehicles have bought at the trip of their destination and they drove in opposite direction. Everyone was actually running for their lives. Persons have been kidnapped. And we constantly ask, what exactly is going on? How come we haven't been able to secure the highways once upon a time? I mean, I was young and I'm getting very old. Lagos Ibadan expressway has not been void of criminal activities from armed robbery now to kidnapping. It becomes so much at a time where if you look at the ticket, the airfare, the transportation fare for those who would say, hey, I want to use the air system or the flight to get to my destination. It becomes, it's quite expensive. The rate is almost different. And so some people will still resort to traveling by roads, but how safe are roads? And what exactly is the government doing to ensure that lives and properties are protected? Well, that's it on a top trending. When we return, definitely we'll continue with off the press. Please stay with us.