 We're glad to know you're still there. It's still the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. And we're going to look at the headlines right now. We're being joined by Mr. Tunde Kolawole, a legal practitioner here in Lagos State. Good morning and welcome to the program, Mr. Kolawole. Thank you for having me. Yes, it's always a pleasure having you. Okay, let's begin this today's paper review with what we find on business and G. And the headline here, the biggest headline here, is more hardship as prices of rice, beans, gary, or the spike by 50%. We'd like to, first of all, hear your comments on that. Well, the truth of the matter is that it's not just the prices of food items that are going up. Basically, everything that we want to purchase, even the Naira, has quadrupled skyrocketing on the water. But with regard to the prices of food items that are going up, all would have thought that the people of Mr. President that glaze would be released from the silence, from the food storage and all that. But that would have some dumpy effect or would have some effect. Concussion is the prices of the food storage in the market. And some governments have also taken steps to regulate the prices of food items in the market. And then the movement, the whole transaction of these food items, and they are affected to many. So all these things were expected to bring that up to pressure the prices of food storage. Although it did not come in that direction, both the director of Mr. President, that of the government, the chairman, did not have anything to impact on the prices of food storage. And we shouldn't be surprised to, we shouldn't be surprised to, in the sense that, if you are lying to me, that it doesn't work to happen in the market that you can eat condom transactions of, in terms of buying and selling. The food items are just not there because the farmers are finding it very difficult to go to the market because of insecurity. You are lying to me, we also know that can't be food items like beans, and the rice, and what have you, come from countries like Nigeria, and some of these food items are from African countries. With the crisis in the airport, in the region, and then with the product short, between Nigeria and then, for example, the Nigerian Republic, and what have you, in all cases, that has an adverse effect on food items. So, the effect that government is to raise the money, is to show that the government has to do the kind of cash importation of some of these food items, especially the rice, especially the beans, especially maybe canned tomato, poonies, and water from some of these products, to bring down the cost of the food, the prices, the grains, and water, so that the other people are the commoners who have started demonstrations in places like the Niger State and some of these other places, who, their fears in regards to food transmission can be nearly as weak. We are in a very, very serious problem. We don't need to put our weapons in order. We need to put out our safety caps. We also need to be our other people and be very critical time with regards to food insecurity. Well, I don't know. The directive of the president was that the silos should be opened, and these grains and everything that we need should be put into the market to slash the prices, but we know what happened during the palliatives. We know what has happened about the, was it gift, they call it, the 25,000 Naira cash award that was supposed to be given to workers, which the NLC is still protesting today. We know what, they were promised that it was going to be paid to them, the 35,000 Naira that was going to be paid to them for six months. We know that it was paid for one month, according to the NLC, and the reason they are saying they are going to protest in less than ten days now. So I don't know how this directive will work. If the president has given the directive and if it's going to be carried out at all, and if it is going to be carried out, will it be carried out like the palliatives that was, I always ask these questions, this question, the government doesn't have a market, how will they put this in the market to slash the prices? Will they have a particular store where they are going to sell it? Because as of two days ago, the price of a bag of rice in Ikorodu, for instance, was between 72,000 and 76,000 Naira per bag. I don't know how that, because subsidy gone, brought untold hardship, it brought the cost of fuel, it's chiroquated the cost of fuel, just that statement. Release of grain should have also made people to crash the price of whatever we are crying, that is too high right now, but it's still going higher and higher. Do you think it will even succeed at all? Well, it's not impossible, despite it can't control and brought in, how we need to do is site this full scarcity from different directives, I mean from different direction. Releasing the food silos for the food in the silos on Kapaizu-ri-ka, is one good story that Mr. President has taken. On the truth of the matter is actually not because it's just like the drop in the ocean, where a country of not less than about 200 million people and how much are these grains that are in the Kapaizu-ri-ka, taking cognizance of the scarcity, the huge, huge differential that we have on the ground and the gaps of the vicinity are non-availability. So, like I said, I would expect that the government should back on immediate importation of some of these strategic grains and the food items so as to bring down the supply. You are also asking how will the Kapaizu-ri-ka be able to approach the market, and then the state government will be able to approach the market and make these some dealers or retailers directly under them. Where most times what the government have on the top is to use some of the establishments or dealers in the different places, and also some of the established retailers in some of these places. And of course too both the local government, the state government and the federal government, they know some of the dealers, they know some of these markets. For example, the market leader will be able to identify their members who can help both the state government and the federal government. And the local government to sell or distribute some of these food items in some manner that it is not going to be ordered, in some manner it is going to get to the right place. And this will also appeal to me and me, not to see this as a business as usual, not to see this as an opportunity to make profitable to really become their brother's keeper in terms of making some of these food items available to the ordinary and different people. I think we might need to be able to get some solutions to do. Both on good side to provide this food capacity and guarantee food security. All we need to do is to ensure that the farmers are able to go back to the farm and fill the soil. And the only way the farmer will be able to go back to the farm and fill the soil is for us to be able to provide clarity in the different areas. Anything outside that might not going to be in Iraq. In the sense that the food silos that you are releasing from the country are not clinically. Sooner or later they can also get exhausted. And again too, if you think you are going to import some of these items where is the money to keep importing? And even if you have the money so that means that you need to import everything that you consume in this country. The answer is no. So the thing that we as a people must go back to the farm and the only way we can go back to the farm is to ensure that there is security in the area and also we make a delivery to the farmers with a bit of seedling and then the agricultural expenses are the same. And we used to be telling them in the past to ensure that they fill the soil profitably to get the data used from whatever seed season that they plant. And that the farmers don't become the kind of judgements the ad-label that it has always been. And make sure that farming, keeping them caterpillars and normalizing keeping them to the farmers in the rural area to be able to supply their food without too much of a reduction of energy. Well, first of all I'm just taking the experience with the lake rice which the government had a very good intention to make sure that rice is affordable to at least the legosians and the people of Kaby state which had a ripple effect and I know how some people, government officials were hoarding these and giving to their cronies or selling this rice at a price that wasn't supposed to be sold. But my concern is I think it's very unfair that any time we're talking about crashing prices we talk about food and that is because we just think that the farmers after all you go to the farm and you cultivate these things and you take it back we're not talking about noodles which is also part of food we're not talking about bread we're not talking about any other thing that is manufactured we're talking about the things that are being planted by our farmers and I think it's not being fair that we're not being fair because these farmers also buy what they use like you've suggested there should be tractors and other things for the farmers which are not available acquire government to enact law on food prices food prices and when they're talking food prices they're talking gary, they're talking yams they're talking rice, things that our local farmers produce because they think that these people don't need forex or I don't know what they're saying and we also have a story federal government plans national commodity board to tackle food inflation the target is food and when we talk food farmers, we're not talking about anything else that is imported or something like I mentioned nobody's talking about spaghetti nobody's talking about noodles nobody's talking about bread nobody's talking about any other thing we're talking about yams, cassava, gary we're talking about beans, we're talking about millet and all those things we're not being fair to the farmers that's my thought, I don't know what you think all the things that you have mentioned are quite correct I give you an example you mentioned your prey which are you that you love to prey on the food and men, on the food and table things like that arrive at the Convally's table food items in Nigeria today and you and I do know that they are monthly the quantum of rice that we consume in this country we are not producing about 10% of it most of them are imported from Thailand and some of these other countries of course the wheat that we need to make prey I'm not too sure we're even producing any of that in this country and what are they most of these items are imported so we really need to look at some of these things there has been efforts in the past to ensure that we plant the wheat in the country that it depends on the position of wheat which we need to make prey to the concept within of the past also look at sugar that is something that we consume on daily basis with very very huge competence also remember that those who produce everything they can know that also using sugar every effort that has been made in the past to ensure that this country becomes a fully self-sufficient in sugar production and fulfill a very workflow not because we don't have the land to do not because the expertise is and is killed and found for because that there is Nigeria because it doesn't want to consume wheat or bread that is made from Nigeria grown in wheat or sugar that is produced in Nigeria it's just because there has been Nigeria in need to import some of these things so then in the market that some cutthroat prices make huge amount of money and there you pay the money in terms of dollars and dollars to some of these other things in some of these areas this is an area the government both the local government, the state and the entire country have to look at not so much any of these food again any of these things and like we have also we must find a way to get all our hands back on track with regards to farming in this country any sort of that is going to be a country that is unable to feed so that it depends on food importation cannot be said to be independent these are part of the issues or part of the living people not Korea that they are developing atomic energy for they are unable to feed their people it depends on China it depends on Russia it depends on some of the countries to begin to donate food items to feed their people we cannot afford to do that we are a huge country of about 200 million people who is going to be giving out enough food of themselves to be able to feed 200 million people if you don't do that but not just the Lekai other governments in Lekai to follow the food temple the Lekai state government and then begin to see what area in the field of planting, processing of food again like you said here it has become a reality in a unit of of here now cost as much of 4,000, 5,000 and what have you whereas the Amadarile used to be like this people again but now they might quickly produce and then eat it has become a luxury and begin to go back to the farm and do the needful so that our people can begin to do away with the condition that we can in the field and I think that the quasi can be human in the temple in terms of food and sufficient well I think the federal government state governments, local governments as you mentioned should do the needful there are so many places that rice is being produced there are places that rice can be produced even if it is small quantity, 10 bucks here 50 bucks here and so on the challenge in Lagos especially is you don't even have the small rice milling facilities that you can mill that rice so you produce 5 bucks for instance, you don't find a place to mill the rice you cannot take it to a motor for that can that mills tons and tons of rice you can only take it to a very small place so if government can produce these small milling machines to communities that they know can produce rice then it would be a very good thing I have experience of someone who was producing like 30 bucks in Lagos he had to transport this to somewhere in Ogun state and even then there are no more mills now so he stopped so if 50 bucks could have been brought into the society who knows how many other 50s can be brought so government should look into this now we move to the punch newspaper where cost of living federal government, NLC meeting deadlocked, bakers threatened shot down, the riders are strike will go ahead, federal government negotiation not fruitful, NLC leaders insist and then federal government wants against unrealistic demands as labor seeks yearly pay rise so this is where we are right now even labor is talking about the possibility of asking for 1 million Naira because the realities on ground show that even that 1 million Naira will go nowhere at the time when they were talking possibly about 200,000 Naira minimum wage let's say the exchange rate was 200 Naira to a dollar that will mean that about a thousand dollars will give you the amount that they are talking about right now 1,000 dollars we will be talking about 1.5 million or 1.5 something a million Naira so what are we saying so this is where we are there is deadlocked, federal government and NLC are not agreeing what do you think may be the outcome tomorrow I quite sympathize with the NLC when you look at the demand of the NLC and the TVC one might be thinking that if it's not your NLC it's 12 activities where do you want the federal government to look at me that I am unable to pay that 1,000 million Naira minimum wage to the worker but the truth of the matter is that when you look at the 1 million Naira the labor is demanding if the worker gets 1 million Naira on the monthly basis and you get that 12 times in a year that's just 12 million Naira if you look at the cost of accommodation, renting, housing in a place like Lego cost of transportation and what are we you will agree that that's 1 million Naira that Naira is asking for but the truth is that these matters not meet the needs of the average Brazilian worker but then the question you want to ask is where would the federal government be able to find 1 million Naira to be able to pay workers all over the country where would the federal government be able to find 1 million Naira to be able to pay its workers where would the local government that cannot even pay the 30,000 Naira minimum wage be able to find 1 million Naira to pay its workers and even the government are able to pay their workers that's a jumbo amount of the salaries and what have we the private sector that's the most major the 85% of the government belong to be able to pay 1 million Naira as minimum wage the answer is not is not or is not they won't be able to pay Naira so how do we find a common ground that will cushion the capacity of the economic situation in the country to pay and also help the government to be able to help the workers both who are on salary and also the private sector might take on it to be for us to really fight inflation we try that government to take government and then the local government will find ways and means to fight inflation part of the measures too we we can fight inflation like we try to really bring immediately important food like rice like yam, like beans like tomato, like onion and flood the market with the interest the market is flooded with food items and the amount of other places and all that the possibility that it will crash the locating food prices all over the country is very high and then why we do this on the interest measure we now begin to see time ways and means to bring together farmers back to business farms and I mentioned in the past which I think both the state government the local government and the federal government are not paying attention to it is a research institute in the past years most of our research institutes could call this past past research right research in Badegui and what happened they were all very active they were all producing they were all hiring and producing all these programs to the farmers to take it to another but when you go to some of these research institutes they are very focused they are no longer functioning those all that are there they are only able to pay a few of the workers that they have been paid they are as much as the specialists have the credit of the country and go to different other countries where they are best valued and water we must inject life back into all the research institutes especially the agricultural institutes who will be able to help our farmers to get better use from the effective farm and of course through the muscle field to the security people and not all these things are going to depend on that without security in the rural area without people being able to move from one part of the constitution from village to village state to state and all that there is no way we can bring about a conducive environment for the farmers to be able to team the soil and then for people to be able to make goods and services from the different parts of the constitution and then be able to crash the prices of these kind of cutting items all over the place because we find out even if you have a million banks of rise in the constitution and the transporters are afraid of taking it to Kano, to Zalia or taking it to Mezugudia and water as well and then you sell it to me just to eat and murder the constitution with people there it's replaced like Nezupu, Huku, Kano it's replaced like Eula and water so it's not the only situation at all there is a fire on the mountain there are all the people in government and all the security chiefs and water more just an effort to sort these problems Well it's very disturbing because we have even seen like in the daily trust now rising production costs because begin nationwide strike February 27. So everybody's beginning a strike, somehow, there are protests here and there, pockets of protests and the ruling party is saying that whoever is making noise about the cost of living is in opposition or doing the bidding of opposition and I don't know how that is supposed to be a response to what is happening in this country right now. Well, it's unfortunate. Even we saw a video that, I don't know what I would say went viral but we've seen a video in the past few days where a governor in the north is giving directives that there should be no more selling of food in bulk to other states. The food should remain within the state and that's the directive that he gave. So if every state is beginning to say this, you go to Crosseva or a Borny state and they say their rice can never go out of Crosseva or a Borny, you go to Benwe, Benwe says their yams and their rice cannot go out of Benwe and everybody's hoarding their own food then I don't know how it's going to be. We're going to be like coconuts that are in the same bunch but they do not share their water. That's how it's going to be in Nigeria and I don't know where that will take us. It's really worrisome for me. Really, really. That's worsen the situation my brother, it's worsen the situation. Prices are sometimes better controlled by having free flow of goods and properties in the different communities, in the different towns, villages and they're among the respected states of federation. What the governor of that state, I think he was right about this, his proposal is not going to work. It should only lead to smuggling and then people open these goods and properties from different parts of the country to Georgia, basically at night. But you see how desperate, it shows how desperate we have reached. It shows the... It increases all sorts of finance, sending those goods and properties. So let's show that people are able to mount goods and properties, freeway from one part of the country to the other, so that the country can come back. If a man named Edubo Lee is hungry, he has a corollary effect on the person who is in Lagos. If the person is hungry, the person in Sokoto will not see the competence at all. Whatever happens to the people in Lagos, one way is going to have corollary effect on the business of Sokoto and the different parts of the country and all that. We must have a basic view of some of these things, any major things, any major solutions to some of these things to further aggravate the situation and create people's wealth and properties among the Nigerian people. So, and then with regard to government, who are saying that certain politicians are behind these things to discuss things that are racial, that certain persons that are trying to use these food issues as a particular tool. I sort of disagree with those who have that belief. You remember, there was a time I won't mention it, when there was a billionaire, wife of one of the children of billionaire, from, again, but I won't mention it, people before the presence got decried out, the human lives in Abuja. And she was saying that the package of tomato that she used to buy for 5000 EUR, now cost about 50,000 EUR in the market. That is from two years ago, that this woman raised this alarm and all that. But the package of tomato has gone to 50,000 EUR. You can imagine what it is to pay. So that has been happening, some two years ago, when the issue was not about politics and norah. Why would anybody now be saying that certain politicians that are trying to find the ember of the package with regard to these food packages? Recently too, the enemy of Kano was speaking to the fourth leader and asking how to carry that message to the host band. As you guys can see, the enemy of Kano is not a politician, but at least the enemy of Kano is changing. It's mostly because he secrets the other people, the people he presides over, that they're coming to him to turn him, to discuss it as they are going to. I also remember that the enemy also feels that the enemy has to feed. So if the enemy has been feeding this people 10,000 EUR some six months ago, as it now cost him about 2,000 EUR to feed these people, nobody needs to tell the enemy that there is a problem with regards to food packages in the country. So rather than beginning to say this is a political issue, we should learn as individuals whether it's the PDT, APC, Labour and the APC and what are those? A team of the petrol and fine solutions to these food packages because when they are active, it's not just who is APC, who is PDT, who is Labour and who is most important and who is an APC. It's a serious matter and we all begin to talk together. Well, the ruling party is saying, okay PDT and other oppositions, if you have anything, come and tell the president so that he can change the policies. Don't just stay there and talk and then they will say in the same breath that the policies that we are suffering now, the reason we are suffering is a result of the poor policies of the past administration, which was also APC and they had the solution maybe and they didn't tell him until now that they are crying that okay, it is the previous administration of the same party that formulated very poor policies. Anyway, we have now heard something that was, we heard in Undo state before the late Akere Dulu that governor's signature was forged. Now we have evidence, oh not evidence, a witness who in no lesser personality than the former secretary to the Federation who is saying that the former CBN governor forged the signature of the president to collect the 6. something billion dollars to give foreign observers or allegedly give foreign observers. Buhari's signature forged, we draw 6.2 million dollars from CBN, ex-SGF governor is saying that that's on the punch and also on the daily trust. Buhari didn't approve 6.2 million dollars for election observers, his signature was forged, that is according to the ex-SGF. What do you say? Well, to the extent that that case is in court, I think we can literally try to, for some of these cases and others, we have to be careful, we cannot make too much comment on this. Well, I don't call this what it is. But the forge of signature of a very important people, or political of his or that's our position, is not new in our country. It's a very late attempt there. Even if we are not in CBN, first time, we are all boys and we're all boys. Most times forge a signature of a very important person and we try to use them to cash, to go and take money out of the photo, to take money, out of the photo to take money, out of the photo to look at money. Just about this week or this last week, somewhere in the south-south, there was a report in the paper that the phone of one of the governors had been axed into and that everything that the governor says are not certain persons or the manipulators and the usage to give or that, to certain persons. I also remember that when the somebody was governor of the legion state and other, there was also that issue of his whole mean-hard thing to, and somebody giving direct to the activity of the governor of liquor things to do certain things. Thank God that was a quickly intercepted and then the necessary action was taken. Also, you remember, sometimes in the past, in which I had reported, I reported that one of the former, the mind set of the listener, the driver of former president Omar Bousbouhari had at one time called the signatures to take money out of certain places and what are they? So all these things are not needed. But the truth of the matter is, which is shocking to me, is it is a problem at the end of the day that the signature of Mr. Pezman was sent to the court at the Kendall Bank of Nigeria to take money out of the signature because the people in the city don't need to call the signature of Mr. Pezman. So they're able to move money from the CDN and give to certain characteristics, to certain places and all that. They don't need it. The signatures, they said, that Bank of Nigeria said before, it's official and the authority to allow certain resources, certain money. All they need to do is for memos to be done by certainty. The signature and the memo may be forced. No doubt about that. But the signature that will move the money from one place to the other, from the thought of the CDN, I don't think the CDN before the court could be in terms of forcing a check on something and to move the CDN. So let us be very careful with regards to this matter because of the fact that the case being caught and then because of the fact that we haven't, we don't have in our hands sufficient evidence to be able to make an informed, this is my opinion to pick up to this issue because sometimes people in government engage in a lot of propaganda when things are not going the way we should go. Propaganda against their predecessors and propaganda against their political opponents and propaganda even against the people they are supposed to decide on that. Look at what we learned this morning. The fact that people in government are based in the official position that behind the potent, they are taking print from states if you can't oppose to country. When you and I do know, that can challenge not the truth. Okay. Well, now this other one, I don't know if it should be funny or it should be saddening. IMF confirms return of petrol subsidy under Tinobu. That's also on Daily Trust newspaper. Yeah. That has been in the news. I won't be surprised even though the Nigerian newspaper have reported that in the past which the government has neither denied or hold on to. But why we will not be surprised that the subsidy regime is back? Why will we not be back? The message is very simple. Most of the petrol products we consume in this country is impotent from abroad. And now you see, the agenda denominator, you know, the money, past dollars in the military and other. And then the course of the matter is falling. And then the dollar, the euros and other are rising. The defense will have to be provided for by the federal government when they are going to buy these things in the international market. So you can imagine, notice that if your own value of the matter is falling and the value of the dollar and past dollars, at least you trade in the international market itself, is rising. You have no authority other than to either consider the petrol products that are impotent or to ensure that the value of your matter goes up. This is the dollar or past value. It's an elementary logic. If you don't pay subsidy, then the value of the petrol products is the bumpy part of diesel, of petrol, of kerosene and other will not have remained what it is today. Because it's important it's on five months to go at one alone at five hundred and nine per meter and then they are importing at three hundred or eight hundred and then they are still selling it to us after the three hundred or five four six hundred and one hundred. How are they doing it? Other than they are going to be taking subsidy from the federal government. So the IMF is nearly selling all the all the alls who's been a giant superpower for the project before now. I don't see where manner the federal government can stop subsidizing the petrol products as long as the value of the Naila is going down as long as we continue or we are depending on the possibility of petrol products from from abroad. If it cuts if it's 22 or what is it what is the situation that we are finding out or could it even be said that there is fire on the mountain? Okay. Well the subsidy we knew has been stopped. The subsidy we don't know is continuing and the people of Nigeria are not feeling the impact the way they should feel the impact. But whatever that is why ever that is a secret that should be kept I do not even understand if you're spending money on us we should know that you're spending money on us and we'll be applauding you. I don't know why they're keeping it as a secret. Unfortunately we have to wrap it up at this point Mr. Kolaoli thank you so much for being a part of our program this morning. Thanks for helping me my brother. You are the lovely dear. Happy valentines to you. Okay we've been talking with Mr. Tunde Kolaoli a legal practitioner here in Lagos State on the paper review that we call of the press. We're going to take a short break now and return in a moment. Stay with us.