 A very good morning to you. You're welcome to the breakfast on Class TV Africa. My name is Romare Paulson. How are you doing today? How was your weekend? Well, it's a beautiful Monday morning. It's the 15th of April, 2024, and I'm sure you're ready to start your week. Now, to this show, we'll be talking about the war in Israel, as well as Oshoon Monarch expressing discomfort over Nigeria's preparedness for state police. We'll also be taking global stories making headlines in our national dailies as well as some top trending stories. But first, let's check out our quote of the day. The person miscomplains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change, and the realist just adjusts the sales. And that is by William Arthur Ward. He was an American writer and he says this morning, the person miscomplains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change and the realist adjusts the sales. Now, where are you in this whole conversation? Are you a pessimist? Are you an optimist? Or are you a realist now? You can stay and keep complaining about something, but if you do not try to make a change, nothing is going to happen. You're always going to stay in that position. So do not be a pessimist. Are you an optimist? You can say, yes, I expect it to change. It's good to be hopeful. It's good to, you know, have those lofty ideas. But also what are you doing about it? You need to execute it. You need actions in place. And that is where the realist comes in. So in as much as you want to be an optimist, you should also be realistic about where you are and what you need to change. Now, the realist just adjusts the sales. You know, you're like, maybe this isn't working here. This isn't working there. Let's move over. Let's just move the sale, right? And that just takes you to where you want to be. So how do you apply this to your life? Are you supposed to, you know, get a course, get some training for something? You know, are you looking to go back to school? That is where it comes in. You adjust the sales. Are you, you know, do you have a business? Are you looking at I want to be better? You know, I want to be business savvy. What are you doing about that? Are you applying, you know, all of the things that you're even taught? Are you getting the right personnel, you know, for your business? What are you doing? Do you think you need more time for family? You can be complaining and saying, I don't have time. I don't have time. But you have to create that time to make sure that you're spending time with your family, your friends, the people you care about. So don't just be a pessimist complaining about everything. You can be an optimist. Yes, you're hopeful that things will get better. But in as much as you've been hopeful, you should also be realistic about your situation and look for the things that would help you to get to that place, that place that you want to get to that place of beautiful, bountiful, wonderful ideas and, you know, a better life for yourself. So please we're telling you this morning in the words of William Arthur Ward, that do not be a pessimist, you can be an optimist, but also be a realist. And that's it for our quotes of the day. We'll move over to some top trending stories this morning. And the first one, well, the first story talks about armed men besieged all your state secretariat. Now some armed men or some armed intruders laid siege on the all your state government secretariat early on Saturday, attempting to enter the governor's house and the state House of Assembly complex. The intruders were said to have arrived at the secretariat in buses, hoisting a flag suspected to belong to some agitators. The reason behind this onslaught is unclear, as the secretariat is on break and deserted. An eyewitness account said men dressed in military camouflage covered their faces with masks and scarves. According to the eyewitness account, it took the combined effort of policemen on duty at the governor's office, operatives of the Southwest Security Network, better known as Amotecum and other security reinforcement to stop the intruders. Now some arrests have been made in connection with the invasion. The police later said 20 persons were arrested. The arrest sources said were made after a gun duel between the invaders and security agents. Now this is coming from all your states. I mean, I know Amotecum has been doing great work here, which is so great. And in fact, one of the topics we're going to be talking about later on the show is about the idea of the state police. So we're seeing Amotecum, which we can liken to some form of state police or local police. And we're seeing how they rise up to the challenge and chase away these intruders. Now, I know we keep talking about our security system in Nigeria and we're like security is just really poor summer blame dates, you know, to be lack of employment. So because, you know, an idol man can be a devil's workshop. And so they're saying maybe some people are not really employed, they need to find ways to put food on their table. But having, you know, to threaten the lives of Nigerians is not a good way to put food on your table. You don't go kidnapping people, you don't go stealing, you know, robbing and, you know, just committing atrocities. You don't do that. Instead, you try as much as possible to get a job. If the government doesn't provide something for you, you should be your own government as well and say, you know what, I'm going to provide a job. You can start a business. But yeah, we're talking about security here. And I mean, I'm glad that Amotecum was able to, you know, with all the local police there, policemen there, they were able to make sure that these intruders, you know, do not just attack them. And so we're seeing this happen in all your states. And we're thinking, you know what, why can't we just replicate state police in other states as well? Because at the end of the day, I would always say this, a local policeman obviously knows the terrain of the community. You know the nook and crannies, you know, even if there's some gangs, you know them. So you can know how to fight this insecurity. If we're seeing that we're really trying to fight insecurity, then maybe this is an option that we need to look at because at the end of the day, you need to exhaust all options before you give up, right? So we know that security takes a huge chunk out of our budget, a lot of money, because that's like the number one in the Nigeria's budget at the moment. And so if security is taking that chunk, it's not just about saying we're going to allocate money for this. What are you doing? What are the actions, you know, that are being put in place by the federal government? Because at the end of the day, the lives and properties of Nigerians should be paramount. That should be your number one priority. And so if state police might just work, why not? Now, could as to Amotecon, thank you guys for the work that you're doing in the southwest of Nigeria. Thank you so much. And you know, we just hope that other people would rise up to this challenge and we can fight insecurity head on. And at the end of the day, the lives and properties of Nigerians will be safe. All right, moving over to another top trending story. Now, this one says Labor proposes fresh 615,000 minimum wage demand. The new wage of 615,000 monthly was reached after consultations between the Nigerian Labor Congress NLC and the Trade Union Congress TUC. The labor union said that the current minimum wage of 30,000 a year can no longer cater for the well-being of an average Nigerian worker, lamenting that not all governors are paying the current wage award, which will expire by April, five years after the minimum wage act of 2019 was signed by former President Muhammad Dubehari. The act is supposed to be reviewed every five years to meet up with the contemporary economic demands of workers. The NLC and the TUC have at various times called on the administration of President Bolatinebo to hasten the upward review of wage awards. Early in January, the federal government inaugurated a 37-man trope trite committee on national minimum wage with a mandate to recommend a new national minimum wage for the country. The NLC had announced 1 million Naira as the new minimum wage due to the rising inflation in the country, which had pushed many into poverty. While the TUC demanded for 447,000 Naira as a new monthly minimum wage per worker, the NLC later requested 794,000 Naira power worker. But it was guarded that the two unions in a fresh proposal to the government presented 615,000 Naira as a new minimum wage for workers. Now we know that, you know, in recent times, I can say in the past few months, in fact in the past 11 months of this present administration, because President Dubehari is almost a year in office, in fact by May 29th, which is next month, he would be celebrating one year in office. And we know how difficult, you know, these times have been. I mean, the president has come out to talk about how we need to make certain sacrifices. And in fact, one of the sacrifices that we had to face head on from the first day he assumed office was the fact that fuel subsidy was gone. And that was just how it went. And we saw, you know, the prices of goods and services just go up. In fact, transportation was at an all-time high. You know, if you go to the market, things are super expensive. And I just think to myself, how are we supposed to cope in this, you know, in these times, really? Because if the minimum wage is 30,000 Naira, that could barely afford anything. How do you get 30,000 Naira a month? You have to pay your rent. You have to, you know, pay transportation to your place of work. You have to feed. You have to pay your children's school fees if you have some. So there is a lot that you need to do with money. And 30,000 Naira is quite a meager sum, if I can say that myself. And so, I mean, the NLC and the TUC are coming out and asking for, you know, 600, over 600,000. I know 1 million seem like a huge amount for a person, right, as minimum wage. But we're just hoping that there's dialogue and disnegotiations. And we just need to be realistic. I know that Nigeria, you know, has a lot. You know, they are in debt at the moment. Our debt profile, you know, is quite huge. And I'm sure the government is also going to be thinking of that. Like, how can we, you know, pay these people? And is it going to be sustainable? Whatever amount we're going to put out there and say this is the new minimum wage, is that going to be sustainable? Can we always pay this amount? So I'm sure that's a question, you know, that's on everyone's mind, right? Especially the government. But at the end of the day, you need to understand the plight of Nigerians and give them something that is substantial, right? 600 and something thousand. I don't know how that is going to fly with the government because, I mean, if you're going from 30,000 to over 500,000, we don't know what's going to happen, but at least something that's substantial. And, you know, the NLC and TUC, I love the fact that they're championing this cause because obviously, you know, they want a good standard leaving for Nigerians. I mean, we're not even asking for so much. It's just the basic, really. We don't have good healthcare. So if you're sick today and you have to go to the hospital, is 30,000 now going to be enough for you to pay your hospital bills? Well, I do not think so, even if you're going to a government hospital. I don't remember that there's still a lot of things that you need to do with that money. So 30,000 error definitely is not enough. Is 600 and something thousand error going to be what the government will pay? Well, we are not so sure. And also, let's not forget that these are for civil servants. Now, in the private sector, I don't know how this is going to translate. I don't know if, you know, they're also going to adopt this and say, you know what, if this is the new minimum wage, this is what we're also going to pay, you know, even in the organized private sector as well. But I mean, we're just hoping that everybody can just have a good life. You can have money in your pocket. If you need something, you can, you know, just easily afford it because we're really, really deep into the poverty line. And we do not want this situation whereby Nigeria is the poorest country in the world. I mean, we cannot be the giant of Africa. And then, you know, people are impoverished. You know, we need to really, really do something. I don't know what the government is trying to do about, you know, getting more revenue. I know we have a lot of crude rides and in fact, some would say that the crude that we have have been sold in advance and we're not really making money. But we need to explore other options because we need to ensure that Nigerians are living good lives. Nigerians are happy they're, you know, flourishing. And so if we know as a government that we need more money for these people, then we need to explore other options on how to make money. What do we do with agriculture? What are we doing with tourism? I mean, over the weekend, I went to the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Ibadon and it was a beautiful place. In fact, I think everyone needs to go there, right? You're seeing the beautiful waters, you're seeing agriculture, at its finest, you're seeing farms. How many people, you know, go there for tourism? And that is just one place. We have other places, you know, in Nigeria that people can go to for tourism. Now, I know security is a major issue and that's the reason why people don't want to, you know, just travel or even come to Nigeria because of the security issue. But I mean, if we can tackle that, we can also look at tourism. We can also look at agriculture. We can look at manufacturing things where a country that keeps importing. How about we start to export other things, you know, and make money? I mean, earlier on, I mean, in years before, agriculture was how Nigeria survived. Now crude oil came and it just seems like we've forgotten how we survived. So we need to go back to the drawing board. How can we make more money? How can we get more revenue and make sure that Nigerians are happy, right? And so for the minimum wage, we hope that the government and the NLC can come to an agreement as swiftly as possible because I, for one, I would think you know, this has lingered for too long. It's just dilly-dallying. How about we reach an agreement and people can start to see these monies. Now for all the other states, because here there's some states are also not even paying the current minimum wage, we hope that it would also comply, you know, to that. And if you're owning, you know, workers' money, please pay them because they need to be able to leave. So we're hoping that the NLC, TUC, and the government reach an agreement as swiftly as possible and they have a good minimum wage for Nigerians. All right, over to our final story. Now, this one says disclosed Nigeria's loan agreement since 1999, Serap urges Tinibu. The socioeconomic rights and accountability project has urged President Balotinibu to disclose the agreement and spending details of loans obtained by the administration of the Nigeria's past precedents since May 1999. Serap urged Tinibu to direct, in quote, appropriate ministries departments and agencies to provide our organization with copies of the loan agreement obtained by the government of former precedents Ulusegun Obasunjo, Umar Musa Yarodwa, Goodluck, Jinnaknen, and Mohamedu Buhari. This was disclosed in a statement issued by the organization's deputy director, Kala Wale Oluwadare. Serap is also seeking, in quote, the spending details of any such loans as well as the interest and all other payments so far made on the loans. The organization stated that widely published the agreement would allow Nigerians to scrutinize it and demand accountability for the spending of the loans. Now I think one thing we've always said on this show is it's okay to take loans but what are you using the loans for? We cannot be taking loans and it's just for some people to splurge and, you know, live good lives while others are leaving in penury, while others are leaving in poverty. So I agree with Serap. I mean Serap is coming out and asking the current administration to, you know, publish all the loans that Nigeria has taken so far since 1999. That was the day, you know, that was the year that we started this whole democracy. So if we're saying that we are truly a democratic country, I think democracy, you know, is linked with transparency and accountability. Now you cannot be saying you are or we are, you know, having a democracy and things are still, you know, on the wraps. No, we need accountability, we need transparency and so here if Serap is asking for, you know, the loan agreement since 1999, they're just asking for transparency and they're asking the government to be accountable. Now if the government does that, we start to build trust. Nigerians and the government are not in the best, you know, trust position at the moment and so the government needs to find ways to build trust with Nigerians and so, I mean, Serap asking for this loan agreement, it's a great idea. The Nigerian government should be able to provide this. We can look at it and say, okay, this is where we are. Where are we at the moment, where was our debt profile like, you know, we're wearing debt so much that we don't even know how much now they say on the average that every Nigerian owes about $3,000 or something. I don't know about that but come on, just let us know where we are. It's just like a company, if you are in debt or if you're not making money, you have a conversation and say, this is where we are, this is our financial position. What is the financial position of Nigeria? We really don't know but if the government can come out and, you know, publish even the loan agreements, that is starting from somewhere and then we're just still, because I mean, I love the fact that, you know, we're doing certain things like, you can hear of the New Coastal Highway coming in the next, at least it will be built from now to the next eight years. So we're seeing infrastructure coming, we're seeing the government trying to do something and we expect that if you're taking loans, I mean, loans are okay but that's if you're using it for something good, that's if you're using it for a substantial project that we can see but you cannot be taking loans for you to buy, you know, SUVs of $160 million of yachts, of, you know, foreign, you know, going on foreign travels, you cannot be doing that because at the end of the day, we're talking about an entire country that is a make-up of so many people and you don't want them to be impoverished. So syrup asking for this loan agreement since 1999, it's a great idea and we would expect the government, you know, if they're kind enough to let us in on that, that would be amazing and like I said, that would start to build trust because that's transparency and accountability. All right, that's it for our top trending stories. We'll go on a short break, we'll take a look at the weather and when we return, we'll be reviewing the papers. Please stay with us.