 Nigeria's growing size of indebtedness raises concern as nation owes 49 trillion Naira. In order to make ends meet in an economy with inflation growing in leaps and bounds, experts say going into business is either a best alternative to a salary job or a good second stream of income. But where do the tools and resources for starting a business lie in Nigeria? We also are going to have something from off the press that we will be looking at. The headlines of today's dailies. Good morning and welcome. I am Maureen. And I am Nyam Gul. Welcome to today's edition of The Breakfast. So we're talking about, let's talk about some of the things trending. Yeah. The cross river street cleaners who are protesting over and paid four months' salaries. Yeah. Four months. It's terrible. It's terrible. At some point there were some, there have been some everywhere in the country. Some of these people endanger their lives and some of them get hit by motorists because they come out very early even with the reflectors that they have and all that. Some drivers, maybe they are coming from somewhere and they are drunk and all that. They get hit and they are being paid. The highest being paid is 15,000 for the RECAS as they call it. And then the cleaners themselves, the sweepers, 10,000. In the case of these Calabas sweepers, the highest is 10,000. The sweepers themselves, yes, 10,000. Yeah. And some of them paid as low as 8,500. And you wonder why this is so? Because the national minimum wage adds since 2019. And mind is that 30,000 Naira wage is applicable to all workers across the country. 30,000. And that's the barest minimum you should give to anybody in Nigeria for goodness sake. Which means I think the agency, I think it's an agency that handles it instead of government itself. So they contracted it out, they gave it out to an agency. So this agency may collect the minimum wage and then pay 10,000 to the people who are on the streets working. This minimum wage act mandates. So this agency, of course, these things are contracted out, but the agency should have made sure that 30,000 as they are negotiating. 30,000 must be earmarked for these sweepers in respect of this minimum wage act. And you also have the national salaries, income and wages commission set up to monitor the compliance of this 30,000 minimum wage. So what are they doing about this? And even if it is contracted out, it is the government that should know better that it's doing this and contracting out. And they know how this... And sometimes when... There you have the governor of the cross river state, Ben Ayade. I wonder how he's responding to all of this because from that report we understand that they littered the streets, leading to the governor's office to press on their anger and frustration. I don't know how he's going to react. I've seen him cry on national television. No, not when he lost, but cry saying that... There you have them and these are... He feels very bad that he's not doing what he's supposed to do, that when he sees people suffering on the street, it really makes him sad and he was crying on television and he went back and still owed salaries, even to magistrates and all that. So I don't know if he's going to respond positively to these. It's very heartbreaking. These people are not even asking for minimum wage. They're not asking for 20,000, they're asking for their 10,000 to be paid. And sometimes when you want to defend the government, you just find it difficult because this same government is doing something that you cannot defend. How can you owe people four months, 10,000? You know, one wonders why a country as rich as Nigeria or as Nigeria should be rich would owe 30,000. I mean, consider the prevailing economic situation in the country and consider the fact that those up there, if someone has described it as maximum minimum wage versus minimum wage and it is unfortunate that in a country as Nigerian opaque nation, that our poorest of the poor cannot earn their 30,000 Naira a month. One of them said she was a widow with children of about three. She lost her husband. So even if she may have other streams of income, but that is like the major one, 10,000 Naira a month. So in four months that you're owing them, it's only equivalent to what should have been for one month. And you're still owing them this money. Maybe we should just take a listen to the people talk by themselves. Let's hear what they had to say there in Calabar at the governor's office. You see, no-go house money, no house work to come and pay us. You don't know house. That's supervisor. That's supervisor. We got him commissioner. Commissioner said no, he bought our money. So we asked him say no, we need no house to come and work. We know you, we don't know anybody. Even as he come here now, you can't complain the same thing. You don't need someone to run and go tell us to go. Okay. You don't have to go. You talk single combat. You don't talk anything. You don't talk anything. You don't talk anything. No. As he talks about what we did to them. People, when they do record with the dad of our superfights, they sweep. They pay them. They pay them. They pay them. Racking people. But I don't want to see that my own, my husband died with me. Only five children. I put them for school. Okay. You not sweeper? Yes. Okay. So sweeper difference, record sweeper. Yes. Okay. Okay. So now that they pay records, but they no place sweepers. In the past 15 years, 10,000. That 10,000 there. I say, we got the first time for, because of six months salary. I say, when they come, when they come put house checkers. Me at the time, my baby for about when we come this office. I see them put up for checkers. When the caller, he say women get the fight. That woman come for it. Tell her to call you. We pay her. Even as if Friday, then they pay orders. Before we reach there, then come put house checkers for us again. Well, our women fall down. We wonder for that side, they help that woman. Okay. Okay. When they put tear gas. Yes. Well. So there are the women. You know, this explains why yesterday you were talking about how that caliber no longer retains that reputation of being the cleanest city in Nigeria. As we knew it back then when Governor Donald Duck was governor between 1999 and 2007. And this explains it, doesn't it? Yeah. It's, it's, it's worse in this administration that is leaving the administration of Ben Ayade. In fact, you can get to some, I wouldn't call them refuse dumps because this, these are places that refuse should go to. And then they evacuated. But you'll see plantains, bananas growing on the dumps. So it will tell you how long it has been there. And to be fair to the people who are sweeping, they do a lot of work. But first of all, they are understaffed. And two, they are, they are starved. Understaffed people are now starved of their, of their salaries. It is very bad. It explains what is really going on in Calabar. Well, let's hope that the necessary relevant government agencies, especially that which has been set up to monitor level of compliance with the payment of the 30,000 minimum. I'm talking about the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission. They should act swiftly to make sure that, of course, we are aware that some states have not yet implemented the 30,000 minimum wage, which we're expecting to even be reviewed next year. Because according to the Act 2019, it should be reviewed every five years. And so next year to be due for review. And while we're considering and expecting that some states are yet to implement that 30,000 minimum wage. So let's hope that this commission succeeds in achieving what it is set up to achieve. And they should start with this case in point. And then the federal government, even when some states have not implemented this, is still talking about increasing salaries of staff of the federal government. And yet some of these staff are not included, like some in the health sector are not included, in the education sector are not included. And we ask ourselves, who are the people who are included in this thing? Because these are federal workers. And then the federal government, well, let's leave that. The other trending issue is that the federal government happily is evacuating Nigerian students in Sudan. They have begun evacuation. That's what we heard. And we heard that they are going to buy 40 buses. Higher, actually. They are hiring 40 buses. Well, in one report I saw they are going to buy 40 buses. No, they can't do that. They are going to hire 40. And we understand that 150 millionare has been released. And some are raising eyebrows. But you say this is a peculiar situation. A lot of negotiations. You're going to negotiate your movement through from the Sudan itself to Egypt, where they are taking them. They are going to have to be escorted by military. And so it's a complicated logistical issue we're looking at. So to put a price to it may not be so easy to do. We definitely know that after the entire exercise we will hear an amount that we will not believe that will come out of this that the federal government spent. I'm sure the person who is going to airlift them will not spend as much as the federal government is going to spend to take them on buses to Egypt. Anyway, the good thing is that the evacuation has started. Lives are involved. This is war situation. It's critical. And we understand that it began last night. They began to take inventory of who they are, checking their identities to be sure that these are indeed Nigerians that are going to enter these buses. Because it's important to ensure that it is our people entering the buses. And according to Honourable Bikadabri, 13 Nigerians who had made the attempt to escape by themselves through Ethiopia have been able to leave that place and have landed Ethiopia. 13 of them. And some of them have also made some private arrangements. And so good to see that so far no cases of casualties. And that is important to us. We do hope it stays that way that there will be no casualties. And we do hope that the number they know is the actual number that is in Sudan. Because, well, we may not know people who went there undocumented. They could be there as well. But when it comes to cases like this, you cannot begin to count and say you came here undocumented. So long as you are in Nigeria and you want to identify, I think they should make provisions for all of them. Definitely. Definitely. Okay. Okay. Well, these topics are trending, but there are so many others. If you go into the social media, you'll see a lot of things that are happening and whatever it is. We've been talking about health this week. So since we are not the experts, we may not be able to talk about so many other things. But the bottom line is if you, anytime in your life, just try your best to go for checkup. Because we just heard a story about a man who was on a bus and he just shouted, My heart. And that was the end of it. But in Nigeria, we know we are going to say village people cost it. But it's not all the time that village people cost. Village people are busy with their own things as well. So don't attribute everything that happens to you to village people. Do try to make yourself available for medical checkup, be it mental, be it physical, be it whatever. We cannot say that. We are not the doctors. But the doctors will be able to see you and tell you what you need to do. Like somebody was joking that if I go hospital, the kind team where they go see, I go tell them I made a change and for me. Like if they tell me not to drink again because I have this, I will say, Change the sickness from your bag. That's if that were possible. Well, your father's becoming a pocket doctor this morning in Yamgo. You know, when I read that story yesterday about that person that slumped in a bus or a taxi, it was quite scary because he wasn't able to, he wasn't saved, even though the taxi man rushed him to hospitals from what we read. He couldn't make it. And it is a very sad report. Yeah, it is. It reminded me of what happened to one of our icons, legends in football, Kanu Wanko. If he were not playing for a foreign club, he possibly could have just died. But because of the place he was playing for and the quick intervention of the paramedics and everything, he was saved. Now he has a heart foundation. But there are things we take for granted we shouldn't. The doctor was here the other day talking about the fact that eating too much salt can cause heart problems for you. But I know people who bought or who have bought bags, a bag of salt and kept. And let's say, let me see how much of this salt I can eat before I die. Can you imagine that? Seriously? That's crazy. But there are people like that that I know. Wow. I don't think you will tell them that will be good enough for them to take as an advice. All right. Well, moving on now. The theme of the day today is entrepreneurial, thirsty. And we'll be taking a look at how to start a business. People should be interested in that. Exactly. You should wait to hear some of the points we have for you. We'll be taking a break now to be back with the newspapers. Stay with us.