 With Nigeria's presidential elections, a National Assembly polls less than 72 hours away. And with the nation beset with unprecedented challenges, how prepared is everyone for this all important exercise? Well, look at this ahead on WFST. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, the NNPCL, has announced that it is committed to ending oil theft in the country. But despite the increase in production levels, the question to be asked is how realistic is this? And in the press, we have analysis of some of the headlines on the front pages of today's National Dailies. It's a beautiful Wednesday morning. We're back with a breakfast and plus TV Africa. We're counting down to Nigeria's general elections, which is just less than 72 hours from now on Saturday, the 25th of February, 2023, at about this time Nigerians were tripping out from their houses by foot to go vote in the national elections to determine who they will elect as the president of the country, and of course, representatives of the National Assembly, Senate and House of Reps from May 2023. All right, so we're counting down exacting times. You know, the atmosphere is filled with that expectation of what will happen next. Everybody is wondering. People are asking, discussing and counting down. It's almost as if there is a boxing bout about to happen, or the final of the World Cup is just upon us. Many Nigerians are filled with expectations and high hopes that this election will produce something to switch the country from the path it is right now to a path of prosperity and fulfilled potentials. Plus TV Africa is your channel of choice for coverage round the clock all day on election day, day day, some college judgment day. Before we get into our major conversations, because we're talking about that later on the program, let's keep our finger on the pulse, place our finger on the pulse of what's been trending as far as discussions on the social space are concerned. And we'll start with this one, the United States Embassy issuing a security alert ahead of the 2023 elections. It's maybe no surprises that the biggest democracy in the world, the most powerful country in the world, the world's leading superpower has come out to say that with this travel alert, we'll call it that. I think we're used by now to having these alerts in the country or about the country. Let's get some details of this. It was noticed shared on the website by the United States, the United States Embassy. It sits in Nigeria about possible protests and restricted movements ahead of the two elections, the state elections and national elections, February 25 and March 11, respectively. In that statement on the website of the U.S. Embassy, it's advising its nationals to avoid rallies, venues or rallies, facilities or rallies as, quote, they can turn violent with little or no notice. That is what they're saying. If you remember not too long ago, a fact about a few months ago, the Nigerian government had issues with the United Kingdom and the United States, governments of security alert issued about some Nigerian cities, a breakdown of law and order, especially in the FCT, the federal capital territory, you know, and the advice of citizens to stay clear of Nigeria's capital and some other cities. And we saw American citizens living in Nigeria, you know, in their numbers of videos and pictures of them queuing up at the airports to board a plane out of the country. If you follow those images, I'm sure at that time, what have gone through your mind was that the country was about to descend into some sort of civil war. You know, there was a lot of uncertainty looking at those images. Well, I think by now we should be used to this drama by the diplomatic corps, you know, the foreign embassies, especially the leading ones, U.K., U.S., and it's not unexpected that they'll have something like this, especially at a time of elections. I mean, even every ordinary person out there would by now be saying, OK, elections are around the corner, it's usually an uncertain time, we don't know what happened, we're going to stock our home with some food and basic necessities, you know, water and all, but just to make sure that, you know, if anything happens, we are safe. So no surprises there, but interestingly, yeah, and I think this is, we should borrow from this. The American and U.S. Embassy is asking or advising its citizens, American citizens in Nigeria, to have at least three days of food and water at home in case the movement restrictions extend beyond the election day, you know, just put three days worth of food and water at home. I think I would say one week, one week, because I have one week worth of supplies, the basics, you know, for the week. I had to go yesterday to the mall, supermarket to get some supplies and that's it, one week, because you never can tell. Well, we're hoping for the best, we're believing that the best will happen. The title, they notice on the U.S. Embassy website, Security Alert, Possible Protest, Leading to Elections and Restricted Movements on Election Day, is what they said. This is what it reads. The government of Nigeria will restrict the movement of all personal vehicles on election days across the country. It says information from the government of Nigeria indicates that only law enforcement agencies or personal and independent national electoral commission, INEC accredited elected observers will be allowed to move freely along all the roads. It says based on past election practice, we anticipate personal vehicles will be blocked from any and all attempted road movement from midnight until 6 p.m. February 25 and midnight until 6 p.m. March 11. I think, is it 6 p.m.? Yeah, okay. Yes, that's what they say. So please be advised, the statement says that movement restriction may be extended at any time. Be alert to government of Nigeria's information about the restrictions. Also, that's what they're saying. So, you know, I think it's good, this is normal, it's nothing strange about this, but I think we should all borrow a leaf. They're saying have a stockpile of food at home, right? So, I mean, it's not just from American citizens, you and I should have some food and water at home. You know, after I went shopping yesterday, I was picked up by a cabbie. And the cabbie who picked me up said, ah, I'm sure this is for the elections. And I said, okay, this is not just for elections though, because, you know, when you want to prepare for elections, you don't buy, you know, fruit. I had some apples and I had some, you know, vegetables and stuff. I just stopped by the grocery store to buy. And I told him, oh, God, when it's time for elections, you buy Gary, Gary, buy one sack, half sack of Gary, if you can't afford a full sack, buy Gary, keep it at home. Buy beans, beans. You know, if you can buy a full sack, buy half a sack of beans, keep it at home. Buy rice. Those are the things you buy, ever. You know, not apples and vegetables though. So, as I was telling him, buy, buy, ever. Gary, sorry, keep it at home. Nice one. So, anything happens, you know, you know, I remember the lockdown and not the lockdown, but the end starts protests. I remember when he had some weekend, the governor of River State declared a curfew. In the part of River State called Oyibo, sorry, I talked about River State a lot because it's close to my heart, you know, I lived there for many years. People were not warned, they were not prepared, you know, because of the IPOB related violence, you know, during the end starts, after the end starts protests, people were going through hell because they couldn't leave their houses, you know. I won't go into details, you know, because it's sensitive, okay. But people couldn't leave their homes, you know. There were soldiers everywhere, but I'm going into details because it's sensitive for now, you know. So, people couldn't leave their homes and I had people calling my radio program then saying that they just need food, that they are dying, they need medicine, you know, they need, that's why a lot of people from Southeast who are the dominant people who live in that part of River State Oyibo are not supporters of the River State, they're not, they're not fans, you know. He's not popular, the River State governor is not popular amongst people from the Southeast because he, what he went through, when he declared weeks of curfew, not months, people went through hell, you know. That's why he used to be their guy, but they turned, you know. Anyway, so you have to, I mean, you have to just prepare. If the prophecies we've received from certain ministers, I saw the one of Paula De Farras yesterday, I saw one from one prophet Fei, that one, his own, was really detailed, okay. He said there'll be an international government and all that, you know, there'll be chaos and there'll be fighting protests, worse than answers. I say, hey. So, I mean, I've seen another one from one Igila, I think Igila is his name, and one from Pastor Chris Oyakilome, Reverend Chris Oyakilome, PhD, you know. So, well, it's just smart to, despite the, regardless of the prophecies by these men of God, ordinarily around election period, prepare, okay. So please, be advised. Let's move on to the next one. But before that, I think I saw an advisory yesterday from, is it a U.S. or U.K.? Advising its citizens in Nigeria to stay clear of ATM points. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They told him to stay clear of it. Look for other ways to get money, apart from the auto-teller machines, because of what we see in unfold. It's a really sad one. All right, let's go to another one. This is bizarre. You know, these are the kind of stories I like. I like these ones. These ones are really like the little, these ones are interesting, okay. Lagos Conductor in Nigeria, those who assist the driver of public transportation taxis, you know, these taxis here, or buses, like we call them here, but they're all taxis, right? Bus or even a kind of taxi. The guys who assist them to collect, they can see, you can see this guy, collect the money from the passengers to, you know, open the door so the new passengers can enter and I like to know that. We call them Conductor in Nigeria. And this guy was seen with a PUS, a point of sale device, you know, with which he, I think he is collecting payment from his passengers, since they don't have cash, you know, he has his PUS. Well, it may feel like your plan is working. I think we can just play the clip while we're talking. I don't know if we can play that clip, but if you have seen the videos online, it's quite, quite interesting. You know, this is due to the Naira's scarcity. I've never seen anything like this in my life. Look at him. All right, the video is, if you can see the clip, you know, he's actually agile, very, very, you know, he looks very comfortable with that PUS machine, you know. Imagine getting to a downfall, this yellow bus taxis, we call them downfall, getting into one and then, you know, I think he's a selling point. So in the video he was waving, he was waving his PUS to show people, hey, you can come into this bus, you can come to this bus, we will have other means to collect your money. I mean, if the churches and other places you have PUS machines, no one should be shy, you know, no one should be shy at all. Do we have, can we roll the tape? Okay. So, so, so, I mean, it's interesting, really, very interesting indeed. It's a selling point. While other bus, you know, conductors and drivers are, you know, rejecting passengers, this guy's going to make a killing because he has to wave it. So, I have a PUS, you can come into my bus, no issues, just bring your ATM. But how many ATM cards, how many people out there have ATM cards, you know, it's quite interesting. It's quite interesting. And of course, we know that the Nara's case is lingered around the country. The central bank of Nigeria says it's implementing this Nara redesign port and cash withdrawal policy for monetary or macroeconomic reasons, you know, but people have been unable to access cash, you know, so you're taking your money to the bank so that the old Nara doesn't get stuck at home or you have money already in the bank. And then you can't get what you want out, you know, people have been queuing at ATM points around the country, having gone to the banks, some banks are shut, and they can't get money. You know, it had never had anything like this anywhere in the world, about from maybe countries that are in economic chaos, you know, like Greece, you know, in other countries where as well as people queue in Lagos and other cities in Nigeria for money and they are given only 1,000 Nara, okay? Only 1,000 Nara after hours of queuing, you know, at ATM points. It's strange. It is bizarre. All right, so this guy, I think he was a conductor, he was playing Ketu Ajota mile 12 when he was saying, he had said Ketu, Ketu Ajota, mile 12 by 12, POS, Ketu Ajota mile 12, POS. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You know, I just love the commentary by those who are filming that user-generated video there. I just like the commentary. You know, you just need to use the problems of Nigeria to lower your blood pressure, you know, turn it into comedy. Just laugh about it. Look at the funny side, you know. And I love the way Nigerians go about it. There are serious matters, you know, of state. And we go online, people just just turn it into comedy, you know, and they just, and people say, ah, why are you joking with serious things? Hey, because people are just using that as a coping mechanism, you know, just using the cope, you know. So it's good to see that people are looking at ways to laugh at this. It's really funny. It's really funny. Never seen anything like that before. Quite bizarre, you know, quite bizarre. But I think it goes to show that the cashless policy, the reasons, you know, for having this, you know, policy is working, you know. But it's, you can't, you can't, how do I put it now? I haven't seen any country in the world where people go to withdraw money and they can't withdraw the money, you know. I think at this point we know that there's some silly stuff, conspiracy, you know, plot somewhere to make sure that people do not have access to funds. I just think so because it's not normal what's happening in Nigeria. You can't foist cashlessness on people. It's, there's no economy in the world where people can have access to cash they need. I mean, there's no economy. I don't know about it. I mean, of course in China, we see that people are more, you know, digital in their payments and not just digital, they are contactless. Okay. So they do a lot of this scan to pay where you take your phone, you know, and I've seen it in Chinese villages, village, village in China. And someone buys some food, street food, and then the vendor has a QR code printed on a card. Okay. And they have it on a table and say, okay, you can't pay. And they scan to pay. And what the biggest, I mean, FinTech company in China is Alipay. Alipay owned by Alibaba. Only God knows where they own Alibaba is still now. But the thing is, that's an advanced economy. If you go to a village in China, you see a village. It's not what we think as village over here. They have Wi-Fi. They have Wi-Fi. Okay. The villages now in China are advanced. Okay. It's not the villages they used to have then because the government of China, they've lifted millions of people out of poverty. It's a miracle, really. It's what they say. So you wouldn't be surprised to see you have this scan to pay. And almost everyone is having smartphones. Okay. Almost everyone in China has a smartphone here. Only a smartphone is not too cheap. It's not affordable for a lot of people. So they also have ordinary phones with what we call touch light phones that are not on the internet. They're not smart. Okay. So because of that, you expect that people will have to use the PUS. Otherwise, it would have been better to use a smartphone and then you can do the scan to pay. The guy just says, oh, this is the card. Just scan it and pay me. But I think another thing that we should encourage these guys to do is to use the USSD code. Unfortunately, they've not been working in some banks. I mean, there's a particular bank. I won't mention the name. For months now, I've been complaining on Twitter that the app has not been working as it should. But since this EMEI-fele plan began, policy began, they've gone from bad to worse, really. Even this morning, I tried to use the app. I couldn't use it. Yesterday, several times, I tried to use the USSD code. I couldn't use it. But ordinarily, it would have been better for people to use the USSD code instead of carrying that heavy device around. And also, this is a good time for the Central Bank to make another push. You see if Nigerians will accept mobile money, banking and mobile money services. Another push, you see if Nigerians will accept that because initially, in previous times, it's not been really accepted. The penetration has been low. People have not really gone for that. They favored the organic POS services as supposed to mobile money. So this is not a bad time at all. Let's move on to the next, I think it's the last trending story. This is quite a sad one, really. And a gas plant exploded in a community in Delta State. I think this would be another opportunity for people to be reminded of the dangers of living around gas plants. And also for the media to ask the NMDPRA, the Nigerian midstream and downstream petroleum regulatory agency, what their criteria is for approving gas plants in density populated areas, you know, in residential areas. I remember some years ago, the residents association of one community in a city in Nigeria approached me to say, hey, we needed to talk about this on your programs. There's a new gas plant on this building near where we live. We don't want it there because the situation or the location is just close to people's houses. I mean, you can stretch your hand out of your window and touch the fence of the gas plant and we're not comfortable about it. So these are questions that the NMDPRA will have to answer. What's the criteria for having gas plants, approving gas plants in residential areas or anywhere at all? But this is a community in Delta State, sorry. It's called EFURO. EFURO is where you have the Petroleum Technology Institute, which has been there for many years. EFURO is in Uwe, Uwe local government area of Delta State. And the gas plant exploded on Monday evening. We hear it's at a place called Nelmic Gas Plant. Nelmic Gas Plant opposite the EFURO post office just after the EFURO market. EFURO is just before you get into worry in Delta State. We don't know how many people have died or if there were casualties as a result of that gas plant explosion. We don't yet know what caused the explosion, but residents, we're calling on Monday, we're calling for help to contain the fire outbreak. Those flying the EFURO satellite road had to die because of the situation. So it's quite sad. This isn't the first time we're having something like this. And whenever you have a gas plant explosion, it's usually very, very serious because gas is there, okay? It's there. So wind just blows it to anybody's house or any location close by, the fire will fall. It's quite bizarre. I remember the gas plant explosion in the Ghanaian capital Accra some years ago. Even the persons who were on a flyover, a distance from the gas plants were blown away by that explosion and a lot of people died. So it's quite a sad one. Like we said, this is another opportunity to call on the NMDPRA, former DPR, to try their best to see how they can go around the country again and look at these sites to see maybe there are some gas plants they approved some years ago in areas that were not densely populated and maybe development has caught on in that area. And if people build houses and all that, they need to go around and look at, are these gas plants observing the safety procedures and rules? We need them to be on top of their game because when a life is lost, you can't have it back. This is quite a sad one. And if more information comes out, of course, you'll hear about it on Plus TV Africa. We'll leave it at that. Let's take a break when we come back. We'll dive into the newspapers, looking at the headlines with analysis with our guests who will be on standby in a few seconds. My name is Kofi Bartels. Please stay with us.