 Welcome back. It's time for us to look at the pages of some major newspapers in the country. And we start with the Guardian newspaper. The Guardian newspaper leads with applause as Tinumbu Fire Service Chiefs dissolves board of agencies. In front of this paper, you find pictures of the nearly appointed service chiefs. Nuhuru Badu is very conspicuous here. Probably the most popular among the ones here. If you are not so deeply involved in the workings in the country, Nuhuru Badu may be the only one you probably recognize. But here you have pictures of some of the service chiefs. And moving forward, you have LG LabelFix eight weeks for conclusion of subsidy removal talks. Details of that you can find on page six of this newspaper. No diversion, motorists, commuters, decry on ending sufferings on Lagos, Ibadu Expressway. Details of that inside of this newspaper you find it. PEPC, Tinumbu APC failed to stop APM's petition. INEC staff recount Biva's failure. Ethno-religious regional sentiments are Senate six principal officers. All of these you have details of when you get the Guardian newspaper. And then on the strip down here, you have Eric Eyre, shareholders, trade acquisitions, over 120 billion era elect Ford. That's a huge one there. All right, that's the much I'll be taking from the front page of the Guardian newspaper. From the Guardian newspaper, we'll move to business day newspaper. And business day newspaper leads with Disco's plan to buy power from Janko's heat hurdles. Disco's plan to buy power from Janko's heat hurdles, the right of them. New market phase may mean better supply, increased tariff. We're taking a look at this in depth this morning, later in the course of the program as we take our very first hot topic. Nigerians have been asked to brace up for increase in the price of electricity. And so going further on business day, you have analysts expect FX liquidity as CBN leads dumb account curbs. Tax on diesel imports seen piling pressure on firms. Tax on diesel imports seen piling pressure on firms. Well, that's the much I'll be taking from the business day newspaper. We'll move forward to the nation newspaper. And the nation newspaper leads with Tinubu appoints service chiefs, CDS, NSA, IG, CGC. Forex policy will open floodgate of foreign investment. You find details of that on page four of the nation newspaper. Above the masthead, you have LP, OB, INEC Lawyers Clash at Tribunal. Subsidy palliatives plan ready August. Subsidy palliatives plan ready August. So that's the much I'll be taking from the nation newspaper. From the nation newspaper, we'll move to Daily Independent, which is leading with Tinubu names, Rebado, NSA, Musa, CDS, Lagbaja, COAS. Let's take a look at the riders there closely. Ogala Neval Chief, Abubaka Air Chief, Ebetokon Acting IGP, Adewale, Acting CG of Customs, Adiza Bala Usman, Special Advisor, Approved Dissolution of Boards of Parasitals, Agencies, Others. Okay, if you look down, you'll find lesser headlines, petrol subsidy removal, order stopping NLCTUC from embarking on strike subsists. That's according to court. You have details of that on page 29 of Daily Independent. The riders there, FG Labour Resume Talks, Rays Committee on Palliatives, Salary Adjustment for Workers. So they're still having this discussion. They didn't conclude yesterday. That meeting held yesterday at four o'clock, but was inconclusive. Above the master, they have exchange rates seen closing 2023 at 700 Naira to a dollar. Ogunguba Tribunal strikes out Adebutusuit against Abiodu. All right, so that's the match we'll be taking from the Daily Independent newspaper. And joining us to discuss these headlines this morning, we have our Tuesday analyst and the person of Chris Cain de Wando, member of the Chartered Institute of Abitrators in the UK. He's joining us from Lagos this morning. Good morning to you, Chris. Good morning. Nice to be with you this morning. Nice to have you join us. Let's begin with the headline on the Daily Independent. Tinnubu Names, Ribadu NSA, Musa CDS, Labaja CAOS. How did you see this news yesterday when he broke in the evening? He broke in the evening and it was all over the place. Nigerians were talking. How did you receive the news? Yes, not to surprise. Really surprised there is the swiftness and how the president reacts. Just very three weeks after taking office to change the service team. And definitely he has to put together a team that he can work with. Former service chief were appointed by the former president, Mama Dupuwari, and they won some of them, especially the state attorney of the list. He has to allow just exhausted his time in office. And you can see there was a whole litigation on why he still remained in the office. So the appointment came like a surprise to many, but it wasn't a surprise. I knew that it was coming. The only difference is that we didn't know who and who. The president is going to appoint. And for starters, this is the most balanced appointment in our military architecture. Since 2015, this is a more balanced one. The president was able to go around. I'm sure for those things that can be put into perspective of where they come from. That is why you see the national spread in the appointment. The chief of defense staff is from Kaduna. The chief is from Kanu. The chief of army staff is from Oshun. The special general police is from the state. The chief of another staff from the south is in Ubu. And that was that. So it's a much more balanced. Unlike what president Mama Dupuwari did within the same eight years tenure, where practically all the service chiefs came from one part of the country. And in places like the south, it's never had a shot at enough. Because the only thing that's not there for me is once again the North Central. The North Central had no, I don't know, significant person in the Security Council. But it is still okay, but the North Central just as they were shortchanged during the positioning in the National Assembly. We are of all the four principal officers, which was only the North Central that I think had the position created. People are now waiting for the ministers and also committees of the House and the other principal officers out there, the North Central. But let them be able to get something, thank you. But for me, this is a web-balanced service chief that I have appointed. Yes, the interesting thing you're saying is well-balanced. This very news has brought in a lot of debate. Some are applauding it, some are not. Some are questioning the federal character. Some are saying, oh, they do not have enough people from certain parts of the country. But you've alluded that it is balanced and we're waiting for the list of ministers. That would also give us a clearer picture of the direction that this government is going, isn't it? Yes, as I said, it is well-balanced. But the only thing there is just also the appointment of Nuhu Ibadu, retired AIG of Police, as the National Security Advisor, would not have that for a very long time. And I hope that it will be able to manage that, of course, as it were, because indeed it is the clearinghouse for security and practically all the service teams will be to the largest extent, as much as the report directly to the president, Mada Ejiko, appointed that they'll have to work with the National Security Advisor, who is the coordinating authority on security issues. So this is a retired police officer. So whether he's on behind me, he's ordered by his deputy, Nanda Yen. We have seen in the United States, even civilians, we have paid the National Security Advisor, so I don't see any problem with that. Yeah, we're not surprised to see that Nuhu Ibadu, you know, got appointed. I mean, we saw him immediately after the elections, we saw him around Mr. Tanubu, you know, before he was sworn in, we saw Nuhu Ibadu on different occasions around him. We knew that he was going to be a strong member of this administration. Yes, nothing new. He has always been around, don't forget, Sirat and Sirat also have tried to come to consider the presidents. He was once a presidential candidate of one of the parties. Then he has always been around the president a bit. The appointment of Nuhu Ibadu is like that of Dele Alaki and also Bajabia Mila. These are three people that have been around the president. Wherever you see president, you always see district Bajabia Mila. Dele Alaki and Nuhu Ibadu. So the Soviets, let's also put it in context. All of them are going to be on acting business until they are confirmed by the senator. The senator has to have to confirm them before they can substantive chief of staff or security chief of various agencies. It's good you put that context there. Though have we ever seen any list rejected by the Senate in the past? It's as good as gone. It's as good as done. Yes, exactly. It's true, that's true. All right, FG Labor fixed eight weeks for conclusion of subsidy removal talks. Yesterday they had that meeting. What were your expectations from that meeting, Chris? Well, the expectation for me included the what do you call it? The expectation for me included the the way you're looking at the palliatives. Are you hearing me? Yes, I can hear you. OK, yes. I said the expectations include the the palliatives they put together by federal government and also whether the cost or price of a trillion will be reduced. And those were the two major issues. And you know that the suspect suspended that strike to 19th again for them to have a discussion with the government or the now it has been good for another eight weeks to give them enough time to discuss. But I believe that the way it's going, the petroleum price have come to stay. We don't see people agitating. What we're doing more now is by which they can have just to move around. Those that cannot for the decided on process and the process are not even for me. So it has come to stay. But the fact is that we have to look at palliatives and also also forget the LSE is also tabling before the federal government in new salary, which increase at the point I say that want 100,000 era month, monthly minimum wage. If I if I remains that acts yourself as a federal government to get the money from the source. But for over two, three years now, so many states cannot pay 30,000 in months. So where would they get the hundreds? But I'm actually in the position to let's work in the in the next 80. But as far as I'm concerned, this is a done deal. The price of wealth have come to stay increased. Yes, well, Labor will also have to look at this. New advice has been given to Nigeria and to Brazil for electricity. Forty percent increase. Yes. Forty percent increase. You know, the government has given the discourse the deal with increased prices. The such that has to be approved by NERC, National Electric Regulatory Agency. That's the fact is that why 40 percent increase that between that monthly in the past. But this is the highest demand. I said it will give you a source of a reason. Oh, the prices of generating has gone up. The price of transmission has gone up now. Electricity and they also the prices of the petroleum and other aspects, no justification for me for such increase for now. Because if you look at our system, so many so many people are still living with the with that meters and that in itself is costing so people a lot. I know in the past few months, how much I'm paying for electricity is so much that I have meters that you cannot imagine those that don't say that we're not because. So I think the one I was thinking that we should increase the capacity. We are just running on that five thousand megawatts on a monthly basis. That is not enough to serve Nigeria, which is thinking of I know that this goes and goes from that increase their capacity, increase the capacity of generating and also a capacity of distribution. There's not a sense to be done in this distribution angle. And that is why you see that. Sometimes people say, oh, we have regular likes. Now, yes, some extent we do. That's because of the rainy season. One way out of the rainy season is that's always been like this. All of the body in the country. Yes, past after the rain, now you've seen the threat of all this. But the federal government, I go, should not just let this goes to just indiscriminately raise the prices of electricity. Sixty percent is almost 40 percent. That is very high. And I had that is going to go for about one one I don't I don't know what they use, but that to me is very, very because when you look at it, it's because of the petroleum decrease in price of petroleum, the price of petroleum is increased to close to about three hundred percent. So 40 percent problem from the electricity companies might just be a pie cry for what we have seen in the petroleum sector. One for the petroleum. I've said that is needed for us to build our refinery. Look at that. Go to that will be shouting and talking about this is almost moving to the end of June, not a single drop of fuel or petrol has been put into the market by Dan, but I don't know for now when it's going to come on stream. Now, we continue to also continue to be important first. The more is the more because anything happens in the national community, we go to our first the price of because we are seen to be the only country that continues to say it seems to be the only country that is put in large quantity and in particular, the prices will continue to fluctuate except with the right and with this issue of electricity, meaning that subsidy will be removed from electricity come July. It's subsidy in itself, subsidy in itself is not a bad thing, is it? I mean, countries all over the world subsidize different sectors of their economy to make things easy for the people. But it seems that we are looking at a situation where subsidy will be removed from everything and Nigerians will have to pay a hundred percent. Is it not too much? It's too much for Nigerians. I've said before, so much is the minimum wage. So when you look at that and see the level of unemployment in the country, our battery has gone to about one hundred and about one hundred and thirty million under under the shrewd of poverty. One of the highest in the world that Niger has in time at poverty. Time to do the normal. Yes, Nigerian inflation is already at twenty two points. It's been projected to be 30 percent of inflation. Besides, the banks are increasing their interest rates on loans. And those are the areas I thought that before you do all this subsidy or no subsidy, all the necessary things need to be put in place. You don't just now, even some of the goods that we are getting double taxation on some of the goods we buy. The state taxing, you go out to now, you go out to, you see, here would you stop being, oh, we bring this, bring that, bring that. We're going out of the out of Lagos state from each of the states. You see all these are girls stopping you putting this under your tire and say we have to pay so soon. You know, this level of what I just believe that good enough, the president has set up an economic council led by the vice president. I hope that that council should be able to come up with something reasonable to how to move the economy and also to reduce some of the burdens that are on Nigeria's so far. But it has not been easy. I don't know which is the reason you say so. A lot of people have been jackpot on a daily basis. People rather go to even Libya here to go and be doing many jobs rather than say in Nigeria. You see, you saw the story that when they were making the run about two, three boys that were sent to Cyprus by a pastor, a G of a particular, and the boys have a say, the pastor said that they should come back, that he's going to fund the education. I die in Nigeria, but I say, sir, thank you for helping us, but we are not going to be back in Nigeria. And that is the attitude of most Nigerians now when they are traveling. You know, economic reforms are inevitable. There's no doubt about that, especially with the kind of situation that President Nibbou met on ground when he came into power. But we are hoping that the palliatives will be put in such a way that Nigerians will not suffer as we see playing out, because the way the prices of things are going up, I don't know how much Nigerians can take at this point in time. But we're also hoping for the stabilization so that eventually market forces will bring down the prices of things, isn't it? Yes, but you hit the nail on the head, that is the way to go. So that's why I'd say that the President will be put down. Also, first now, he's going to constitute his cabinet, because the cabinet is going to be the engine room of driving the economy, based on who is going to make an economic advisor, who is going to make, although I think he has an economic address on that. We're talking of the Minister of Finance and the Minister in charge of various key agencies and ministry in the country. Just those also will help the President to be able to drive but I know that the President, during his campaign, has his manifesto and promises that he meets Nigerians. I think it's high time for him to start looking at who is going to make the bet. From the onset, I said, I think it's the President. We cannot tell the portfolio that he inherited from President Muhammad Ubarri. Anybody that think about the affairs of this country, we have to swim and swim to the particular type of the mess that we're in. But I hope that the President is up to the task. Yeah, he says he is up to the task. He says he knew what he was coming into and he wouldn't give us excuses. Well, since we're talking about electricity, the headline on business day is something to mention here. This goes plan to buy power from Genco's heat hurdles. Well, you know, I said, if I said the everything is leprosy, I don't know. I don't have enough information on that. So I might not be able to speak, but the fact remains that part of the problem we're having is that they're generating more than we can distribute. Most of them generate a lot. At times we generate about six thousand, seven thousand as pets, the national grid cannot take more than five thousand. So you ask yourself, what happened to the waste? And that is why I said, over how many years now, going to about 15 years now, these schools have not made any investment in distribution. All they just do is collect from the gencos, pay them and try to distribute. We have to increase our capacity if we're going to even pump anything into the distribution channel. You are going to open up the capacity. What we have now cannot take, according to what I have from the SPA, cannot take more than five thousand. So even if you get, if you generate up to 20,000 or 10,000, you can only pass on what you can, this thing can be able to take, which is less than five thousand. So just now they are sending the new market fees. I don't know what they mean by new markets. But this distribution companies take more delight in increasing tariffs on a daily basis, on a monthly basis, with that having adequate increment in how they will. Some areas in Lagos are very low for now, because some areas are getting as much of about 14, 15 hours electricity daily, which is an improvement. But if you go to the rural areas, I'm not asking they are not allowed. With the recent signing into law of the electricity act, solve this problem of greed, this inability to distribute. I hope it does. I hope it does. You know, when the federal government sold, particularly the privatized electricity sector, we didn't get the right people to buy up what is known as PHCN or NEPA then. We didn't get it because most of them that went on borrowing the borrowed money to buy, it's not that they have the capacity to be able to. And they've been saying, that's what we're having now. Most of the people that put up the PHN and rename it like the Eco, electricity, Ikeja electricity, is it being in electricity and the Nugu electricity, we have the Abuja electricity. They don't have the financial, because the essence of privatizing was for them to bring in from outside. Get investors to invest, when you see that most of them went just to borrow money from Nigerian banks. And that is why they're having an issue. The one in Abuja, I think one of the banks, I've taken over that of Abuja. One of the banks, because they're not, they've not been able to pay back in the case of a particular bank, so that is the problem we have. We didn't have much of due diligence in selecting those that those things were so too. It was more like a party party thing, and it ended up because that's where we ended, where we are. So my own is that we cannot continue to increase electricity tariffs on it. Before it now, it should have decreased by 40%. The next one they're going to increase will be by 80%. And the government doesn't do anything. And we are the messy of these schools. And it's bad enough. Okay, let's move on to some other issues in the daily. We'll go to the daily independent, or the daily independent. Are there stopping NLC2 you see from embarking on strike subsists? That's the court. Yeah, the case is still in court, and the courts, you know that the courts did last thing as NLC2 to suspend that strike, and then pending a ruling on the case before it by the federal government. And then what only the court has done is just extend that instruction that they already gave to the NLC and it to another day. So for now the court, the federal government is using the court to entwist the labor union. And I hope that it's not a negotiation with the governments. And I just, I run out of patience, what is happening. And I hope by the eight weeks window that they have, they could find that discussion to issue relating to the increase in, I hope now that the electricity has come into the radar. Electricity was also from part of the discussion, not just petrol, again. Because that is another key set for that the labor union should be looking at. Good enough. The president of NLC currently, comrade Ajayiro used to be the president of the electricity workers. So he knows so much about the issue of electricity. But I would think that that should also be into the frame. So that Nigerians, Nigerians are already suffering. Adding more burden to us is like just putting a jackpot on the neck of Nigerians and Nigerians are finding it very difficult to breathe now. If you understand what I mean. I understand. In Nigeria with you, will LPOB and INEC lawyers clash at the tribunal? Yes, the clash is the issue of the use of the givers and so on and the INEC representative was, they didn't agree with the submission of the Labor Party lawyers. And they are believing that there was no clutches during the presidential election as being confiscated by the lawyers of the Labor Party presidents. But everybody knows the fact that, everybody knows the fact that there are clutches because during the, there was no direct transmission of the results of the presidential election. All others were able to transmit that very debate. That of when it came to the presidential election. That was not a result transmission where the givers and that was all the problem is they were so, they are having clutches, they are having problem to transmit to and rest of them. That in itself was so suspicious but everybody knew that something was wrong. But at the later, again, INEC said no, there was no time that they said that there would be transmission of results on through that platform on the day of election. But the national chairman of INEC told Nigerians time and time again that as the, as people are voting that you have a direct transmission. So it was to double speak, the INEC chairman was speaking from both sides of his mouth. Right? So the firework is gone at the trapping out the court and let's see how that pans out. So what is necessary evidence? Because in law, what we work with is evidence. What we work with is evidence. If you don't have the evidence to prove your can then you lose it. So if the labor party have the necessary evidence then they have to put it before the court. The same thing with the PDP presidential team. If they have any evidence, they have to put it before the court. But all eyes on the court now because the judiciary seems to be at a crossroad now. If you listen to what happened, where this little collature, what he said about his wife, who was the former president of the court of appeal that he influenced certain judgements in favor of some of his colleagues. That was damaging. That's why the fact that the former president of court of appeal has denied it. I think that the NJC and the NBA should look at that case as it was very, very damaging. Very damaging. We will tell Nigerians what it is. Very, very damaging. Yeah, very, very damaging. In fact, very damaging to the career of the woman and some Nigerians have called for a review of all the judgment that she gave, especially within the period when her husband was in that house. Well, Chris Cain de Wanda, thank you so much for your time on the program today. Chris Cain de Wanda is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the UK. Thank you for your time as always, Chris. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for having me. Have a nice day. You too. All right, you're still watching the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. It's time for us to give you weather report and then we'll come back with our very first hot topic. Stay with us.