 A recent survey has uncovered that 52% of Nigerian professionals are considering migration. Today, on the programme, we shall be taking a look at the JAKBA syndrome, its effect and possible ways of reversing it on the breakfast. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has issued a fresh directive to all marketers on how to go about getting their refund and the new prices of petroleum products. The NNPCL Retail gave this new directive in a circular released on Sunday and also informed oil marketers how much they will be paying now to get petroleum products. Whether this is going to ameliorate the sufferings of the people and make committing in Nigeria easier is a question we'll be asking on the programme this morning. We'll be taking a look at the front pages of some national dailies and will be joined by an analyst on Up The Press to discuss them. Good morning and welcome to the mid-week frenzy edition of the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. I am Maureen. My name is Nyam Ghul Agadje. I'm so pleased to have you join us on a weekday like this. And we're hoping that you have inaugurated all the things that you didn't inaugurate in your life because this is a time of inauguration. And two wins for Aquabomb State yesterday. One of them was the inauguration of the Senate president who is one time governor of Aquabomb State. And the other one is the official recognition of Hilda Basie who has just broken the record for the Cookathon that she did. It has now become official now. Yes, the Guinness Book of Records have officially recognised what's having investigated all the information that was put out when that Cookathon took place. It's supposed to be a hundred hours but they subtracted seven hours plus from her. And the excuse was that she made a mistake when she began and took a few minutes. Of five minutes. Yeah, so the break extended for a few more minutes and because of that seven hours was extracted. How many minutes would be extracted for one minute that was taken extra? I just don't understand what that is. But they have their laws and if she failed any of those laws and she still won the... Is it a competition? No. She still broke the record. She broke the record. She beat the previous record of 87 hours 45 minutes set by Latter Tundun on India in 2019. And yeah, so Nigeria is now on that. Yeah. Okay, well, unfortunately, whether fortunately or unfortunately, there is another person who started even before the recognition in a kitty state. I don't know how far that is, whether she's continuing or she's not continuing. She's continuing. The first lady of that state has even donated 100,000 Naira gift to her. I am of the opinion that she should have waited for Hilda to get her flowers. A lot of people felt that way but others said okay, the sky is big enough for people to fly. But I don't think... Where was she before Hilda? I'm also of the opinion that she should have waited. I also understand there's another person who wants to paint. Yeah. There's even another person trying to cook too. And then there is a prayer thong that is also the highest, you know, baby, how many hours? I've heard of that. I understand he's rehearsing his prayers. And the question I ask is who is this prayer going to? Is it to God or... Or to Guinness World Records. Or to Guinness World Records. Or to Nigerians. Because I don't understand that prayer. Because prayer is supposed to be mostly spontaneous. You know, you're talking to your father because of the need that you have. But planning to say okay, I'm going to bombard God with 5000 hours of prayer. I just don't understand. Well, that's left for whoever is going to pray for whatever minutes. And whoever is going to pray to. Whether it is the God that we know. Or it's the... Well, even the shonggo is known by other people. So whether it is the God that they serve in the church. Or the God that they serve in the shrine. Whether it's Amadyoha. Whatever kind of God that he's going to pray to. Well, at least one good thing from this is that a lot of Nigerians may not have known that Guinness World Records is something you can put your name in because you can do something extraordinary. So Hilda has opened the gates for everybody to realize that even a Nigerian can win that. She may not be the only Nigerian. No, I mean, Kaffee. Kaffee. She may not be the only Nigerian. But the frenzy of Hilda is... Yeah, the frenzy. Hilda did... Well, back then we did... I'm not sure that Nigerians were that active on social media as we are now when Kaffee did her dance thing. Today, Hilda has the advantage of social media and she did her homework very well. She crushed the website of Guinness World Records. And that was something that gladdened me because if Nigerians support you, they give their best. They give their all. And Hilda got that. And we're glad that at least officially she has been recognized. That's a good thing for me. Yeah, but one of the questions I asked is, is there any monetary gain from Guinness? I hear there is. There's no monetary reward directly from Guinness. But of course this gives you the platform for endorsements, contracts and all of that. And so it is something worth trying and what... It's like singing at the Super Bowl. They have the Super Bowl in America. And I hear they don't pay them. But it exposes you to so much goodies after that. So people scramble to be on that. It is a platform. It's a major platform. Very major platform. So this Guinness World Records... I hear people are already trying to exploit this even before she got the recognition. There was this talk on social media that she was talking about a meet and greet where you have to pay lots and lots of money before you can meet and greet Hilda. It wasn't lots and lots of money. I understand it was just three million Naira. And some controversies around it. I agree with you now. Just three million Naira. Three million is just... As it stands today, now that she's been recognized, I tell you, no organization is going to be able to have Hilda for less than 20 million. Yeah, but you know, this report, the first one came that, okay, for you to be able to see her and greet her, you pay that amount of money. But even though she's saying that she didn't... No, it wasn't a one-on-one thing. It was an organization that organized it. Yes. And they supposedly, allegedly, allegedly paid her that sum. All right? They organized it and allegedly paid her that sum. And of course, it's a business. Yeah, but she claimed that she didn't know it was centered around her. She thought she was attending an event that she had been invited to and paid to make an appearance. She didn't know that it was a meet and greet of her. So she pulled out of the event. Whatever the real story is, but you know, if you do something that is noteworthy, you will be in the limelight for the right reasons. And then you get other goodies that will come to you. Definitely. So everybody should think about doing something... Noteworthy. Yes, noteworthy. Noteworthy. And especially representing our country, Nigeria. All right. Since we've talked about one of our top trending, let's talk about the other top trending, which is that the National Assembly has... The 10th National Assembly has now been inaugurated. We worked and listened to it yesterday. The whole process, very keen contest it was between Akbabio and the person that contested against him. We're talking about as tight as 63 votes to defeat Iyeri, Abul Aziz Iyeri that, you know, contested that Senate presidency with God's will Akbabio. With all the politicking we saw, with all the games we saw, with all the allegations of money, and the anointing that he got, we had thought that it was going to be a lot easier for him, but it was a very tight contest. He got 63 votes while Abul Aziz Iyeri got 46 votes. Okay, well, the coming days will show whether this contest is something that will show us that democracy is stronger now, or that democracy is being bought with money, because if it goes there and we find out that really, he who pays the Piper dictates the tune, then we will know that there's nothing to applaud about this election, no matter how keenly contested it might have been, because if truly, like some papers are carrying it, Tinnubu's candidates flaw rebels. So it now becomes that he put, practically, he put the leadership of the National Assembly where they are, and if he put them there, there's a tendency they will do his bidding, only his bidding. Oh well. We pray it doesn't happen that way. What we pray is a National Assembly that can pass landmark bills and effectively checkmate the executive, and if we do not have that, then the National Assembly cannot be set to be served in Nigerians. We saw what happened with the Ninth Assembly. We're not happy about it. We missed the Eighth Assembly because of how strong and firm Seraki was in terms of scrutinizing requests from the executive. He wasn't a rubber stump, you know, senate president, and that was one thing that stood him out, and that's why today we keep talking about the Eighth Assembly, comparing the Eighth Assembly and the Ninth Assembly, and the situation where you have the executive being so involved in who becomes or emerges as the senate president. It does leave a lot to be desired, but that's what we have playing out. His deputy is Jibril Barrao, and then Tajidin Abbas scored 353 to defeat his rivals, Ahmed Wasi and Aminu Jaji, and then his deputy is Benjamin Carlo. He got three votes. Aminu Jaji got three votes, so you can see that one was, he just had, it was like Waka Pasi, he had no problem. All the opposition party members, they voted for him. They voted for this Abbas of the APC and gave him a whopping 353 votes. That's about 360 seats in the house with 359 members. Let me break it down for you. PDP has 117 members. LP, Labour Party has 35 members. NNPP has 19 members. ABGA has five members. SDP, two members. ADC, two members. YPP, one member. There is a vacancy because one of the members of the APC after election, you know, lost his life, and so there you have it. Remember, shouldn't there be a vacancy again, another vacancy for Bada Bia Mila, who is the chief of staff to the president? Will he hold both positions? Obviously not. Okay, so well, that is it. The breakdown is good. I'm glad we have members of the National Assembly. Appabio is a lawyer. Appabio has been a governor of the state and I must say he did well. Whatever else entered his pocket, I don't know. I really... Nigerians really don't care what goes where, so long as you get the job done. Okay, so he had landmark achievements in acquirement states, so I give him that. And then he was the minister of Niger Delta affairs. That much, we do not know how to assess, because even when he was campaigning, even when he was trying to win people to his side, he said they shouldn't consider whatever happened in Niger Delta, they should judge him when he was the governor of the state. That is not... He cannot write his history. It happened. However, when talking about that thing that happened during his time as that minister, when that off-the-mic thing was said, off-the-mic was said by those who were going to be exposed, if you remember correctly, by those who were going to be exposed. So yes, for him to say, do not judge me by my performance there, means he also knows that... It was abysmal. Because everybody should be judged according to the last thing they did. That is what tells you how you are at this moment. And this is the moment that you want to be a Senate president, and you're telling us not to judge that. But well, whatever the case is, he has become the Senate president. And the Nigerians will give him support so long as they don't see him as a rubber stamp. And we hope he's not going to be that at all. Well, Tajidin Abbas said that he is not going to be a rubber stamp, that the House of Representatives will not be a rubber stamp. And well, don't they all say the same thing? Who would have come out and say, I am going to just be here for the president and not for Nigerians. I would approve everything without allowing us to debate it. Who is Tajidin Abbas? You may ask. We have a little info on him. Born 1st October 1963. He's a Nigerian academic and politician. Who is the current speaker of the House of Representatives? He was born, as I said, in October in Kwerbay Zarya, Kaduna State. And he holds bachelor's degree in business administration and master's degree, both from Amadu Bello University, Zarya. And then he later obtained his doctorate degree in business administration from Osma M. Fudio University. So he began his career as a primary school teacher. He later became... Same in Kwerbay. Not primary school necessarily, but as a teacher. There's hope for you. There's hope for Junior Angol. Well, he later became a lecturer at a polytechnic. He was a lecturer at Kaduna State University from 1993 to 2001. He moved to the private sector where he worked as a marketing manager at the Nigerian Tobacco Distribution Company, now the British American Tobacco Company. In 2010, he joined politics where he contested for the House of Representatives seat in 2011 and was elected. Abbas is a prince from Zerzo Emirates, Zarya, Kaduna State, and holds the title of Janzo. So let's look at his political career. He joined politics in 2010 where he contested for the House of Representatives seat in 2011 and won. He sponsored the highest number of bills in the Eighth Assembly. He sponsored the highest number of bills in the Eighth Assembly between 2015 and 2019. That tells me this guy knows what he's doing. And also sponsored a record-breaking 74 bills out of which 21 were signed into law between 2019 to 2023. He had served in numerous committees in the House such as Commerce, Finance, Special Duties, Defense, Public Procurement, and National Planning and Economic Development Committee. Until his emergence as the Speaker, Abbas was the House Committee Chairman for Land Transport. Okay. Gotswila Kwaabio is now the Senate President. He is Chief Gotswila Kwaabio. He is from a royal house in Akwaibom State. And he started out his career as a teacher and had a brief stand with Paul O'Sarrow and Co, a law firm in Nigeria, because he is originally a lawyer. He was also a school teacher for a brief period and worked with a telecom company, a Lagos-based telecom company, and served in National Publicity Sectory of the Association of Telecommunications Companies in Nigeria, while a director in that firm. He later became the CEO of that company in 2002. He was appointed Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources and turned 2002 under the administration of Abong Victoratai in Akwaibom State. Before 2006, he had served in other capacities such as Commissioner for Lands and Housing as well as Commissioner for Local Government and Chief Tency Affairs. He became People's Democratic Party's flag bearer in 2007 during the electoral election, having defeated 57 other aspirants at the primary election. He became the Governor of Akwaibom State in 2007 and spent additional four years after the end of his first tenure. In 2015, Akwaib was made the Senate Minority Leader by the People's Democratic Party's South-South Group within the National Assembly. The success of the APC in 2015 election took away the power of majority from the PDP caucus in the Senate. And Apavio resigned in 2018 as the Senate... Okay, he resigned in 2018. Okay, as the Senate issued to one chief, Orizu Adotolo Newey in a number of states and not to the Akwaibom State Government. Okay, in May 2020, Akwaib was subbed by members of the House of Representatives over the misappropriation of 40 billion Naira. He has won numerous awards, International Honours and National Honours. And he's a household name, as far as Akwaibom and South-South are concerned. He's now the Senate President of Nigeria and we're hoping that his background as a lawyer and a one-time governor and also minister of the Niger Delta I, will come to his aid, as it were, to carry out his duties. Yes, I mean, looking at the bio of these people, especially Tajidin Abbas, who has sponsored the highest number of bills in the Eighth Assembly between 2015 and the breakout breaking 74 bills out of which 21 were signed, you probably understand why all the opposition members, you know, backed him in this contest. Because sometimes it's not just about the money. Sometimes it's credibility, it's character. Yes, he's a member of the APC, but that doesn't make him a bad person, right? That doesn't make him unqualified for the post. Although I would have wished that since the Senate President is an APC member, that the Speaker of the House of Reps would be from the opposition. It's always for the people with the highest number. So the opposition will align with the person that they feel comfortable with. So if they voted him, more or less, he's also a PDP, a level party, an NMPC person, because he is for everybody. He is for everybody, and for nobody. Yeah, so that's how it is. His body language will tell us exactly where he belongs eventually. Yes, and then we also know that at this moment, Governor Rotimi Keredulou has formally written to notify the on-dose state House of Assembly that he is on medical leave and that his deputy, Lucky, should act as the acting governor. Okay, the Speaker of the House, Olamide Oladidji, announced that the governor has embarked on a 21-day leave for medical treatment abroad, starting from 7th of June 2023 to the 6th of July 2023. And well, it's a laudable thing. From time now, there's this back and forth, he's well, he's not well, he's dead, he's not dead, and all that, and it kept being a secret. And I wonder why our leaders feel that when they are unwell, people should not know. They are not supermen. They don't have superpowers. It's normal for someone to be ill. You just say, I'm ill, and you hand over legitimately to the next person who constitutionally should take the reins of power when you are away. Don't take care of yourself and come back. I don't know why they hide it. But at least, Akeru Dulu, at the end of the day, has said, okay, I'm embarking on this leave, and it's a good thing for our democracy. Yes, it's indeed good that he has come out officially to put an end to all the speculations. He's human. He's human, and who says he cannot recover? So it's good that he's going to take care of his health, which is primary, really. It's more important than him being a governor. He needs to be healthy. He needs to be alive. So wish him the very best. We hope he recovers as quickly as possible so he can return to his office. And then we hope that what the president said about the rule of law and all that, we hope we'll begin to see as at this moment, the court has ordered a rest of IGP Usman Baba because he has been invited a lot of times that he doesn't go for the invitations and all that. So the court has said that National Industrial Court has ordered the arrest of Inspector Gerald of Police Usman Al-Khali and the First Secretary, A.I.G. Hafiz Inua for this being court order to reinstate some police officers who were graduates of course 33, 34, and 35 of the police academy. They've asked him separately what's the matter, come and explain to us, and he didn't come, and he has failed to reinstate these people, and for whatever reason, he has taken scenes July or June last year and he's still not done anything about it. So let's see where now he's going to obey the court order and reinstate them and back with their salaries and arrears and all that. This fragmented disregard for court orders which we saw with the last administration has got to stop. It has to stop. If we say we have a democracy, we must respect our judiciary, we must respect the courts. As much as we say that the judiciary needs to redeem its image it needs to have a good image that should be respected because you begin to ask how did all this disregard for the judiciary start? How did it start? How did we get to this point where court would make a pronouncement, give an order, and it's not respected? So now you blame it on the executive because they have the power to execute whatever the court says. So now the court will do the needful and then the executive will just throw away whatever the court has decided. So it doesn't speak well for our democracy and the institutions we intend to strengthen because if the court will be a two-less dog as they say then it will mean that anybody can do anything and once the court says something it will not be carried out. We already know that. So go to court. That's what you'll be told. Whatever the court says we will not do. So the institutions we want to strengthen will lie strictly on the executive that has the power to execute and to prosecute... to execute, yes, whatever the courts have said. All right, so you're still watching the break. First it's time for us to take a break and give you the weather report so you know how to get set for the day. We'll be back to take a look at the headlines.