 Welcome back to the breakfast and plus TV Africa time for the press as always we'll take you through the pages of a national dailies we have G.D. Johnson who is in standby. Good morning G.D. Johnson. Well as soon as we're able to establish connection with G.D. Johnson we definitely have him share his thought on some of the national issues that we have on the front bone. I like to set up with a daily trust newspaper this morning and the attention will be on the top caption. Looking at the front page it says Ukraine crisis. 12,000 students or the Nigerians trapped. That's what's boldly written on the daily trust newspaper. We're leaving in fear. Students quoted to say parents are worried. Federal government arranged special flights operation for evacuation. Investigation link please military and personnel terrorism financing according to Governor Errol Fai and fuel price high glumes as marketers kick against five million Naira shipment charge. Electoral Act. Four ministers MDAs heads to resign over 2023 and you also have experienced people academics needed for governance. That's what the president is quoted to say an NCAA petitioned as a piece disrespect the Emmy of Canyon. That newborn found with a madman in Biosur. These are the headlines on the daily trust newspaper this morning. And straight to the leadership newspaper of these headlines the big one there APC national chairmanship. Aspirants reject Adamu as consensus candidates say election process amounts of imposition. No need for such a to know I fit the bill. No one has been anointed Mustafa and it's who urges party stakeholders to intervene. And also the paper is not left out of the coverage of the Russia Ukraine crisis. But this headline Russia risks harsher sanctions over Ukraine attack. Leadership makes North and professionals calendar event wise and for our governors no governor sacrificed deputy go so and stakeholders warned against scrapping of police trust fund. Those are the headlines on front page of the leadership on Friday. Away from the leadership newspaper. We look at the punch. The punch says Russia Ukraine were stranded Nigerians send SOS to Buhari demand evacuation. Federal government fails to provide timeline for evacuation as Ukraine shots as space as but slam government for delay as Nigerians invaded. Nation rides Buhari and APC discoursing zoning presidency to South says Arufai. Buhari ignorant of Southwest infrastructure problems. Athenifer is quoted. I remember a time where I had a colleague who said the president you know if you go to the FCT I mean the roads are just very smooth and you know pie situation might not just necessary be the problem. And the president might not be able to relate with the issues that are the pads of the countries faced with. However, that's on the other side. Bring back Nigerians in Ukraine reps tells the president or you may produce APC national secretary governor's planning meeting and you also have narrow losers 10.6% to value annually say is the IMF and legislative aid accused national assembly management of diverting 25 billionaire and few short-shortage pilots error cost of baby fatale helicopter crash. That's according to report for the one of time. We just quickly move away from the punch. Let's take stories on the front page of headlines on the front page of the nation newspaper this morning. The big one there lawmakers seek power to invite president governors. Constitution review proposal gets a set tough conditions for independent candidacy party registration. Interesting one to see and to follow with the ongoing constitution review going on at the national assembly. Why petrol scarcity persists by eight man. Seven SCN 16 others applied to be supreme court justices details on page two of the nation newspaper and tin will visits only gets blessings. Two policemen, five others killed in multiple attacks on banks release out one there. L5 resources in terrorist hands can subvert Nigeria. L5 resources in terrorist hands can subvert Nigeria. Almakura to others reject APC zoning consensus plans. Party picks zonal congress panels and and those are the headlines on the front page of the nation newspaper. Let's now welcome the chief lecturer of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. Judy Johnson is our guest analyst on of the press this morning. Mr. Johnson thanks for joining us. Let's quickly look at the the one the big one on the front page of the nation newspaper the ongoing review or yes a review of third report brought by the the committees relevant committees at the national assembly with the ongoing national the constitution review. Before this we had the zonal and the states you know public hearings. What's your take on the process so far and some of the the changes that are being are being muted. For me fundamentally constitutionally and as required by the principle of suppression of power guided by checks and balances there's no basis for us not to have in the constitution the legislature not having the power to invite the president to come and explain. I recall when the amendment was made in the 7th the proposal was made around the 7th or 8th that the president should there should be a state of the nation address. Wherever the president will annually come to the national assembly and make a presentation on the state of the nation just like you have in United States of America where the president goes to the Congress to deliver an address annually and some people said it was not necessary it is important what platform do we have that brings an interface between the legislature and the executive in explaining what the president intends to do and what he has done beyond bringing the annual appropriation bill presentation before national assembly for deliberation and and passage into the appropriation act. So as far as I'm concerned these amendments are important we need to look at what are the loopholes that we have in the existing document the 1999 constitution has amended which gave too much power to the president in actual sense it makes the president to become an MPRO because this constitution was the product of the 1995 constitution that was meant to perpetuate Abacha in power forever so I hope the national assembly have the resources to go ahead full throttle on these various amendments because once they put this amendment in place and then they turn into a bill now we'll be begging the president to sign that would have the gunshot to ensure that two-third of them overrides the president and battles the president is signing this into law those are the things we'll be we'll be looking out we'll be looking out for and we're looking forward to with respect to these various amendment on the issue of having picking justices from from the bar and not only the benches justice of the Supreme Court I think it's it's a welcome development that you see people that have equipped themselves in private practice even in academia can come to the Supreme Court justices without any political interference in terms of being politically influenced in the career development in the judiciary and then we'll be able to have independent minds that we have in other climes in our Supreme Court so these amendments are welcome and necessary for us to to put things in proper perspective do you think that Nigerians are fully aware of the extent to which this this amendments are going and engaged on the line that we need to talk about for instance the the issue of having life pension for the Senate president the House of Rep Speaker and their deputies the issue of the independent candidacy and other issues that have not been talked about and some have rejected this entire process because the focus of these people is the pension for their principal officers they don't think about pensions for Nigerians and a lot of these things are gross in secrecy and there is awareness what what we talk about is the level of engagement and transparency in in the discussion of this of this of this issue and it's what they want us to know that we know what they don't want us to know they keep shrouded in secret and you know they usually see they go into an executive session whereby they send they send all journalists and they close the door to themselves to have the liberation I don't know where the the parliament is the people's parliament it is the people's house I don't know where the parliament will go on an executive session and then send everybody out if they want to do that you do that at your caucus level once you come for public debate these are some of the things we need to throw away when issue comes up debate in the floor of the national assembly you don't shut anybody out let people know what you are debating on because what you are discussing has to do with Nigerians so the moment you are doing that you want to do that you do it at your caucus level the parliamentary level where each of the parties we have their own deliberation and they come and present their own position with respect to issues of national importance and issues of but what do we what do we know and now we have we have not been elected as legislator they know you know they know better and they say they are going to a secret session one last one on this Mr. J. Lee Johnson and I was at the one of the zonal hearings for this process you know they had the House of Rebs had his own you know groupings of states and the particular state they went to ask those groups of states those states in each group to come present their memoranda of public hearings I was a one of them and and I think I can say that the people of Nigeria were not fully participating in this process some groups came and made you know presentations and all that but but it wasn't really really you know well attended it at some points you know the pool it was almost as if it was just a parade of sorts you know so is this what we need at this point because we're looking at this concession amendment that will last the country for years to come and the concession is a concession is a grandom if it's done it's done we can't change anything except go through another process so do we need this or should we yes coffee why would you delete constitutional amendment to less than a year when transition to the next government will start why to this minute they packed everything together so that people are disturbed and distracted it's a strategy we've asked what you will tell you 2022 to pass a letter at amendment be when the last election was conducted in 2019 could you have done that in 2020 and get done with it in 2021 so it's a strategy these people are smart they don't they don't want you to get involved in this thing and so they packed everything together and you are distracted and you don't have a scene how you are governed you see even those that are coming to the public hearing some of them orchestrated them orchestrated participant in this in this in this public public public here and then how do you do how do you do public hearings the at zooms level you could you could do it on state by state basis you could decentralize this process send some to legal send some to to you if you want to do circles or you put two states together even if I just imagine is you have been doing a public hearing in the North Central just imagine Niger Niger to play to play to to to to to be me been way to to quarrel quarrel to cookie how do you where do they converge where do you know what they are affecting them and this is a jamboree that we have been doing calling consular amendments but the major thing that's of interest to them which will get quick passage you know these just came into into light just recently that you are looking for pension for principal officers of the National Assembly of the National Assembly after after after the end of 2010 this people are just a joke all right GD Johnson let's also take a look at the punch you see for this morning the Russian Ukraine crisis stranded Niger and send SOS to Buhari demand evacuation now the argument has been ongoing or the arguments in our spaces that some people are saying that the government should not be responsible for the evacuation of the student I mean the fact that they're not necessarily the one who send them out and some people are saying that they should evacuate the back-and-forth is still ongoing as you also still have some other countries who have not acted differently from the way Nigerian has we'd like to show your thoughts on this issue what is the responsibility of government to citizenry there's a responsibility Nigerians are caught in armed conflict between two nations that are neighbors and we don't know how catastrophic this could be and having a situation whereby Nigerians are there and some are saying that Niger had no business evacuating them from why do we have embassies in foreign countries why do we send members of the diplomatic community to those countries why that's the question why do we spend money on that on foreign relations if we are not there on the basis of our of our cities just for us to do business alone they know what contributions those Nigerian making to the Ukrainian economy and what contributions those Nigerians are making back okay so we seem to be having some network issues and connection with GD Johnson but as soon as we're able to you know having have a smooth connection then we have GD Johnson back but I mean these are some of the conversations this ongoing a lot of people would say you have parents or words and guidance will send your kids and what have you to study in Ukraine all right GD Johnson your back you had that thought on just before we got disconnected by the the network I just said that the responsibility of government as simple as ABC is the responsibility of government to evacuate Nigerians that are caught in conflict between two nations is a responsibility just imagine it doesn't matter the level and I've been Nigerian is important it's no life is better than other life you all have one life to live you can't borrow other people's life to live your own so assuming that is the children that are there or the students that are there the son of Senators Governors and President what do you think will happen it is responsibility of government government is the father of all children of all Nigerian children so responsibility of government to take to to to evacuate these people and that's my take on that GD Johnson we'll go back to the nation newspaper and the headline of the top left corner of the front page of that is report goes dust why petrol scarcity persists by Ipman being the independent petroleum marketers Association of Nigeria which has explained its members preference to sell of a selling of the reason behind the preference for selling petrol above the regulated pump price and the national according to that paper and this is what the story says that the Ipman national vice president taboca or may Gandhi says that the marketers were getting supply this is a petrol stations now getting supply at one hundred and eighteen era X depot price this is where above what is the approved official X depot price per liter and he says that our petrol remains scarce in major cities for two reasons refusal of Ipman members to get supply at high cost and hoarding of products to sell above regulated price to make marginal profit so what's your thought on this if we have regulatory agencies in the country who've been speaking and shouting and with a sense of entitlement and how come the the the depots are selling above the regulatory price and nobody's saying I've bought well at 200 I bought well at 200 and I put a little consistently about I travel to the state of last weekend I bought one at 200 and so if there are no regulatory body all you just need to do is just to be visited for a station and you see people selling the last I bought for it you are selling the so to close to about 25 cakes before this the the sale to a car in front of me and when it was met on this whole about 15 cakes for my car was was huge so it is a free for all it tells you that there are no regulations this is state of chaos this order and anomy and it's is more less like there's no control things fall apart and the center cannot hold when it comes to and I'm sorry I'm not a prophet of doom with what is happening in Russia Russia is the third largest producer of oil in the world it wasn't happening Russia we see implications of what did we have on global oil market and that implications we affect us in Nigeria because one we don't produce locally a we export our food oil and then we import our finish the finish pulled up back to Nigeria so it's it's it's not something which is going to end soon but we don't have any sort of control locally there's no there's no direction there's no there's no specific response from the government and we are facing independent market our private non-state actors talking and talking and talking whereas the state actors that are a little bit but the ppmc nnpc we are not hearing anything I was telling someone we are we are we are the watchdog of the of the downstream sector of the world are the watchdogs of people going about looking at our that these petro stations are compliant not compliant with what it fits into people's sentiment and suspicion that this presence of casualties and attack by government to actually increase the pump prices of petroleum product that if you suffer for it for about one month or two months we tell government you know what let government start selling this product at whatever as long as the product are available we don't want this actually so it's a trap test strategy and they are deploying it and i'm going to help Nigeria with with respect to what is what is really what is really what is really happening but it's just a matter of time for those that are in office and those that are in authority to understand that you can fool the people um some of the time you can fool them all over time because it's an untowdership I can tell you Kofi and Messi is an untowdership on an average on average Nigeria why should I go to stress paying for a product paying for a service that I'm even going to pay over the top to get it it's it's it's double one is double strategy you kill to buy fuel at the fuel station you spend hours to buy fuel that you are going to pay over the top for something which will be readily available if you pay for a service you should enjoy the service however it is classical case of what Fela said suffering and smiling all right let's uh as we go sit down we look at the daily trust newspaper this morning I like to ask if you do agree with this experience people academics needed for governance that's what the president is quoted to say on the page of the daily trust as various people are great academics academics that can run tertiary institutions successfully they can they can only depend on government to for that's why as you have been going on strike since um that um uh as you have been going on strike the university system and not run democratically you'll just take a look go around acts acts people that work in that the system but the level of autocracy and authoritarianism that characterizes our habit or you'll be shocked with it I'm I'm talking from an industry which I belong to and which I know the level the level of impunity with which things are done and you know in the university system you have a senate just like you have the senate in in in in in the national assembly as part of the organs of of of government um at the at the at the state level in public governance you also have the senate at the university you have the senate at the university system you have the academic board at the polytechnic level all democratic at this so uh the fact that you are at the fact that you are learning does not make you intelligent if you are not learning does not make you a good administrator so did i see if it's not the product of education alone is a product of is a product of your experience is a product of of your of your personal development is a product of of of of your vision what we present you be talking about are people that have vision for this country that are planned program of actions not what what they want to do what they plan to do to absorb the problem of this of this nation if all are investing all the departments of economics business administration and finance and insurance have not been able to come up with the template to help us solve our economic problem so you are going to that community to go and get someone that that that will run that will run your economy or if the all the engineering faculties that we have in Nigeria cannot come up with the with the solution on how we can construct our roads that can last for 50 60 years considering the topography go down we're really sorry i mean time is never a friend of ours when we're talking about it's a pleasure to be with you it's a pleasure to greet you have a wonderful weekend all right thank you so much gd johnson we do appreciate your time and we look forward to having more of you showing your thoughts on the show well it's the breakfast and plus tv africa let's let you know what happened today in history being the 25th day in the month of february we'll be right back after this time out please stay tuned