 Thank you for staying with us. You're still watching the breakfast on plus TV Africa. It's time for off the press We'll be looking at what the national dailies are saying this morning now We have our guests who's going to review the papers for us. We have Chris candy wonder. Good morning, sir Thank you for joining us Good morning, Merry Christmas to you and all our viewers. Thank you for joining us. Okay, so we're going to go straight into it. And we're starting with daily trust this morning I think the one that screams loudly to me is not the major headline, but this says how Naira scarcity devaluation Inflation and others dominated economy in 2023 2023 is almost over. We have just a few days left here but we're still seeing the cash crunch even at this time and Some would say yes is dominating our economy But we want to hear from you all of these things I have mentioned the Naira scarcity Devaluation the inflation and others have they really dominated our economy and what has the impact been so far even from your personal experience Myra, it's myra and that needs to have a lot of threat on it You will not see so many people lost their lives So many Benefits we were born to banks. We are borns. We saw women fighting in banks with some men tearing their clothes fighting We saw bank Staff and officials killing fence using ladder to scale fence to run away from banks and restaurant and everything was Equated to to have started from the policies of the central bank and then also in a fit from a couple of central bank And all the blings were hit on him then we were that storm and good reasoning Prevailed and later We had some kind of stability, but the question now is About six months down the line that So how come that we are still having the same problem and that was That's a question of what people continue to lay blames on individuals. I mean you come to realize that at times It might not just be directs. It might not be them directly because I don't know But if I remember that how come that We did not envisage what is happening and the most annoying part of is that central bank is not coming out to turn I didn't want to stop or you're telling us is that also people are holding the money I don't the same narrative that we're told before you've been doing the free election You'll say that those are going out in this money to use it to buy votes and rest of that Which was the reason why the federal government is excited for the color already designed in my life But what is the problem now? How come that you have money in the bank and you go to the bank and you cannot assess more than 20,000 million within the period like this during the hillside period I don't know what have been through a period of festivity and we are short when the When the time was getting closer I will some of us were raising the Raising this question that when would the central bank come out to be able to speak on the 31st December deadline On the face of the old Naira notes so that we can be able to have enough into Tata Bank a long time and it was just about three weeks or two weeks to Christmas I've Kept what you say. Oh, no problem based on since that's the Old Naira know to remain a little tender then the Supreme Court final is also But nobody is telling us why we cannot get the money I don't know Don't want the banks I don't know a bit of the but and the highest I've been paid to in this place is just 200,000 So I won't even give it a thousand and you go to the years we cannot be making me Now what they are doing now is not telling us to go to the POS I will not go to the PS want to do 10,000 and I charge it with 100 And you continue to ask yourself. What kind of a country is this which other part of the world use the cannot situation What are the economic team of the current government? What are they doing? It baffles me and it's Go through this route over and over and over again and nobody seems to be saying anything and to me This is our unassetable. It is really really unassetable I can imagine those if you ever talking about those of us in town What are the new villages my village in the state your village and the other villages Go in the east the south and you know who cannot be able to assess money at this point in time This may lead to a lot of problems So But people argue that if you pump more money into the system then inflation goes up and Right now we're looking at inflation at about 23% So I think that's even something we haven't touched on here because that's also here It says devaluation inflation and others dominated economy How is inflation right now and I mean what's the impact and do we even see a better 2024? Now we are trying to The government has been trying to bring their money to the bank to save Nigeria don't have this Was it not I don't know This page has to save money The problem has already been passed. Nigeria will have their money. Keep it in the house. Keep it under them. If you remember this I don't know why I know what you are talking about I don't know what you are talking about If you remember, I was one of the people that helped me understand Sometimes you didn't dig the ground to bury your money I think it was a very rich man in the world The man was keeping the money in his millions and millions Because there was a problem in the bank You know those banks were failing and the bank has failed The bank has failed So people decide to keep money in their houses And that in this way became a journey So the government has tried to regime the architecture to give confidence to people to take their money to the bank Knowing fully that whenever they want it But what is happening now An average trader, an average trader that has said come An average trader that sells tomatoes or whatever We don't want to take his or her money to the bank And that in this way is a problem So that is why he said that so much money is a creation Yes, so much money is a creation But for those who have their money in the bank How come they cannot be able to assess it? It's a contract that you have It's a contract I have with the bank A various contract as we say is a contract that is signed, seen and delivered So if you have a contract that I should bring my money to the bank Anytime I want it, I get it I now come to your bank and tell you that I want to go at 100,000 I tell you that I can only go at 20,000 There is a breach of the contract And I have a right to sue you To sue your bank for holding on to my money that I cannot assess And before, you know the problem we have with this contract We will take this for granted If it's not the advanced countries, other countries Most of this bank will be sued In fact, there will be billions of dollars and nilas in fine For what they are doing, you can't do that And they have to keep people's money And say they cannot withdraw it Then what you are trying to do is not to stiffen them From assessing their cash flow If you remember some months back In countries like in India And I think you like one of those two countries So people have to take on to the banks And force the managers in fact Take over the bank and say Except if you give me my money, I will not leave this bank And it was that bank I don't think that's something you should get to that point Which may break out with some other policies But the most important thing is that The minister of finance is not telling us anything The minister of economy is not telling us anything The central bank is not telling us anything Neither is the bank telling us Telling the engineers why they cannot assess their bank And their money at this point in time It's quite unbelievable The annoying thing is that While we are talking about money being in Or out of circulation Nobody is even addressing the fact that We could use e-banking And the only way to use e-banking Is if it is friendly Now I was sitting on a bus with somebody Who had just like one thousand three In his account Entire account And he was like Okay, when I get down I'll go to the ATM To withdraw the one thousand But now I need to load my Subscribe A daily subscription So he subscribed three hundred Naira And at the end of the day The first alert he saw Was the removal of fifteen Naira So before even they showed him their alert That they have removed the three hundred Naira The bank charges were fifteen Naira removed Which basically cannot collect the one thousand Anymore When he gets to wherever he's going to So the charges that are coming With the electronic transfers and all that If it goes at all Because sometimes it fails The charges are so high That some people do not want to Go to the bank to do this You might say thirteen Naira here Fifteen Naira there But it adds up But it adds up You know If you're going to the market For instance as a woman You want to buy condiments for your house You're not buying in bulk Because not everybody has the ability To buy in bulk You go there You buy tomatoes five hundred You buy this And you're doing transfers And you're given For each and every one of them You're paying fifteen Naira At the end of the day You leave that market You spend ten thousand on the goods And then you spend three thousand On charges So it doesn't make sense We're not even talking about this But let's leave the inflation thing Let's go to another thing That the minister of aviation Was talking about So a few weeks ago Or a few days ago As the case may be He was talking about the fact that Nigerian airlines will be compelled From now on Or in the nearest future To make refunds Or to be fined For flight cancellations And give them compensation Now this headline is saying Flight delays, cancellations Wasn't as NCAA pleads with passengers Now we're still pleading Only pleading But you think we'll get to that point Where the customers will have a say The customers will have rights That they can fight for The customers will be treated Better than they are treated now Even with the pronouncement Of the minister This is still happening Do you think we'll get there Mr. Wando Well, if we have the police Who will do what we need to do To get there Who is not there Not who we have And that is what we'll talk about Community and protocol But for us to be able to do that There's certain agencies Of the way that they'll Settle into responsibility Of making sure that The customers' interest Is put better up in their job And in Nigeria Consumer protection agency Yes, I don't know They are coming now But we have a Consumer protection agency And they are doing to mention that Not just the airline In other parts of the world If you go through The store Is for market Buy something And you find out that That store in Portugal Is not the best interest Of what you so desire You return it And you get your money What is it Is it good for You get your money back That is not just where A travel country In the United States Canada UK Is this world That has both Satisfaction Even that is Good material Shared And I take it to my And I find that This one doesn't size me up I would just go back To that store In Canada I just went to I just went back Two months ago And I told you What the label is on that That same label Is on that bank Taking from me And I ask You want that one Or you want a report And you say you want a report And you pay back your money But in this country So why these airlines You are even talking about airlines My brother During our days Of entry buses And bus repossess You're either emerging Bus from Lagos Going to go away Let me say go away My state I from here This vehicle You get to already This vehicle's price Or have the blow for it Do you know that That vehicle Will not That transport company Will not pay back your money Or let us say come down Go and take another one So if you say What on my mind We have left it Taking it back So those are the kind of impunity So if we continue to Go to the airlines And other agencies Accountable And they continue to pay The necessary money Let's get this clear There's no part of the world Where you don't have Flight delay Even in the United States Even in other parts of the world Yes, there's the flight delay But the fact is that What is the time frame Especially where you're going to You want to travel to You go to the You're told that your flight is 7 a.m. You get to the Lagos airport And they continue to delay your flight They move you from 7 to 10 From 10 to 12 From 12 to 4 From 4 They are being started Where I was supposed to fly From Abuja back to Lagos And I spent 9 hours At the Abuja airport Before I could come back to Lagos And when you go to them And say give me my money They will not be able to give you So that I can enter on that flight So Israel just I would rather think that The aviation minister should Walk the talk Rather than just all this Blanket talk If it had to take us To enact a law Making the composite that Airlines are not Be able to fulfill their obligations When you are When they delay the flight When they delay your flight There's no Apology There's no composition But go and miss your flight When they say You get there About 2 minutes 3 minutes At their check point They say Oh we have closed Our counter They will not allow you to By day that we delay your flight For 7 hours So Israel I just think that It's just meritory It's better Except we start testing it I remember there's a time That somebody Had to shoot One of the airlines And the airline was asked To pay him Certain amount For the flight delay Disruption Applied delay And it has also been said That somebody will That if you apply To delay more than An hour or so Within this country I remember people I can't remember Which of the Agency or government Said that You can ask for a reform But the question you ask yourself Is this people reforming? So it is Our regional Industry As it were Currently Does not stand In test of time This is not What a cow Stated In its laws About air travel Our own style Of doing things Is something All you just say Oh, due to Because that does Along with the money You have forgotten now Whatever circumstances Beyond our control Or delay flight Or something Something that we have to And they continue Delay this life Especially at this period Even if it is What are related Of course There's nothing About it Because if the weather Is bad A plane cannot fly Because that is A person has to Realize that There is no Human nature Any part in this Then this issue Of flight To just be It should not be Accurate at all And something is to be About it I've had experience Once when I got to the airport Before I was told That It's like that flight But along here Okay When will it go Will it go tomorrow Will it go today Later or We will get back to you Almost everything Till date I didn't hear anything From them I had to make Alternative arrangements They just Yeah And there's no consequence So they can As well move Even if there are consequences You can spend more Than what you want to get So you're spending 200,000 on a flight And then when you want To get your money back Because it was delayed Or it was cancelled You end up spending 500,000 You'll be looking at it Like What's the point It's the 100,000 What's the point So I think maybe Sometimes that's the trick They don't want you To fight for that They don't want you to come They want to get your money That's not difficult For you to come back It's because our courts Are not the people That you can go to And know that you'll Have suit judgment Right now That brings us To the next thing The threat to Democracy So to speak Let me put Two unrelated matters Together Mr. Andu But they are both saying Something about our democracy And our judiciary Kwankwa so holds Special prayer in Kano Ahead of Supreme Court judgment It has come to a point Where you have to pray Before you can get pregnant Special prayer And up there Still on daily trust We are saying We saw the headline Implementation of Chinabu's resolution Not a detriment Or a detriment Of my freedom That's according to Fubara A lot of us were here Shouting that The president Didn't have constitutional Right to go there And do whatever he did Whatever resolutions Were in favor Of one camp And not the other But now The governor himself Is defending it I That's what I'm saying Is this not a threat To democracy Where our judiciary You will have to Resort to prayer And then Where the person That you're trying to defend Is now coming To defend the Indefensible I think We need to start On the human I thought that's where We'll start from We'll have to start On the human And I want to look At the main headline Of the daily trust And that should be A kind of Consent to me More than any other news As in any newspaper But this month The headline The main Major They were 45, right? Yes That should be We'll get to that We'll get to that Yes I know we'll get to that My heart bleeds And I don't think I can talk about Anyone that said That I did not They said back up About that issue That we have Over 150 people Killed In the last few days In the next few days Is something That should be A kind of Consent to us Because Even countries That are through You don't see If you look at the Ukraine What you call it Ukraine-Russia war You don't get to see Where they say 150 people Killed Where you only see That is the Hamas Israeli war We don't want this Understanding But on conventional Why that happens Between Hamas And Israelis Because It is a once-sided war The Hamas Don't have the Ammunition They don't have the Power To be able to Fight back And rest of them So that is Never here In Ukraine Where you see people They say Oh Three people Were killed in Ukraine Five people Were killed in Kiev Seven people Were killed But in the last few days Over 170 people And these are human beings And you Want you to ask yourself How do we Why do this Happen Over and over again And we don't seem To have a solution How do we Lose human lives And we Blood Asynotes Some of these Called me From the United Kingdom Somebody A friend of mine That She lost her Uncle The daughter No The wife And three kids In that In this particular Instance Electricity And this is not The first time And you Ask yourself What are security Agencies doing Yeah The defense The defense Chief is telling Nigerians To take Ownership Of security I wonder Maybe we should disband the army And let all of us Start buying AK-47 And keep To defend ourselves That's what it's trying to say Really saying that The whole team of defense Who is in charge of The Navy In charge of the Air Force In charge of the army And to some extent Also have some Spammer Street On the police To some extent Even though We have an NSA Then What are you saying That they are saying That you are On your own That is Everybody to himself God for us So In which country Will you have A defense chief Or a security chief Saying that And I ask the question What is the essence Of The essence of Governance The primary essence Of Governance Is the security Of life And property Of its people Any government That's not Be able to guarantee That there is Not a company So This is happening In that two states And nobody Is saying And let me Take it So They say No way To Go into state Policing The Governance We hijack it And use it But as yourself Even the police force Is present Majority of The pointing Of the police force Is by the state government Go and check it out My brother You realize That every state You see Every government Every time You see They are launching The 1950 Vehicles The 1900 Even Even though They have decided To have The vigilante group You can have They have gone And use it To face Something that Has happened In K-47 And I thought That this Civilian Military Could have Come up with Something like that So that most Of this Even they Be on that Supervision Of the Major police Of every Community But To attack me And you know That I'm having An AK-47 Or something Higher than you You think twice Before jumping To my company But when Most of these Killers Know that These guys Are just They don't Have any Miss of Defending Theirself That in itself Becoming A problem And our Securities Are telling us They are doing So much They are not So With those Those that lost their life We are going to Look into it And all the perpetrators Will be There to be arrested And as you said How many have been Arrested And there to That to me Is Is very disheartening That Only Things like this That will be Celebrating Christmas So many People are Crying Just because They lost their loved ones And that to me Is very And we will do To I am No surprise By What I say So Because This man Is self I don't know The lack of All doesn't Know what Is being Probably That is Me Who I believe That That This one Can be Manipulated They cannot Be a man of Himself Because If There is What they have done I know that You are just Working on a So If the man That is In the heart of the Problem He has no problem I think Those of us That have been Fighting This is not Realism We will just Keep on Unless With That is For me For Because That is Another threat To democracy Another threat Tomorrow Are you here with me? Yes We can hear you Yes My brother Who gave him In this Who is going to Get him Is he not The government Am I giving anything If Reversed Is secured In what sense We as Nigerians We as Journalists Have come to us To say that This is Unconstitutional This is Not right But the man Do you do that Some Elders As senior Elders In Reversed I have gone to court To challenge That agreement I am a Six of them I have gone to court I don't know That Is Taking that Case I got In To Challenge That Agreement But the Government With What Is What Is Possible That is Not Slavery That Is Going to do Everything Is Possible Then Let me say it again I think I am The Who Ries On the Back Most of Them As of This If you Feel It Is I wish him the best of luck. But tomorrow, let him not come and shout and again, I think I care about that. Oh, I'll be persecuted and rest of them because we're not listening to you. So, come because it's praying for a favorable judgment. Yeah. Yeah, we pray a lot in this country. We pray. My dear sister, you know now. Yes. Every thing, we fire prayer. Every thing pray here, pray here. We pray more than other. Where other countries are working? During the work. During the work. Our own wisdom. Even though that gave us the religion, those in Mecca, those in Israel, and it gave us Israel. Right. They do more work than pray. By our own everything. Right. Pray than do the work. Yeah, we're praying. Even the federal workers are giving Christmas. And now they capitalise on it. Yes. There are two things that trade their work on. Religion, ethnicity. Yes. Those they use it effectively. Which is why we not see that. Once in anything, we just say, leave it to God. Somebody's coming to you, say leave it to God. Somebody has done something, you say leave it to God. Our country, leave it to God. If we leave everything to God, then what is the place of man? Why do God give us this sense? It's free will. Why do they give us the free will to do something? So I'm not the true religious. I'm a Christian, but there's a limit to which I do things. I leave everything to God. Certain things God has given me with the brain. So I cannot leave it to God. There are certain things that I should be able to do. But if some people believe that leave everything to God, that's all well and good. I have no problem with them. But for every action, there's always a reaction as it were. All right. Let's move over to the next paper. Let's look at the nation. And I think this would interest quite a number of people because it did interest me. Federal government extends the 50% rebate to non-luxury buses, bus passengers in Abuja. So last week, the federal government had talked about slashing the prices for people who want to travel to go see their family, their friends, their loved ones. And then the people on the trains is at zero cost. So they can go on the trains and they don't have to pay anything for their travels. But they mentioned about five companies saying that these five companies are to cater for the people that they're looking for. They're looking at, which is about 5 million Nigerians to be able to travel. And they give them 50% off. Now, Yamgo said it's a scam. Right? He's all about that. I said, let's be hopeful. I go to my stylist. My stylist said he knows people who went without this 50%. They traveled at the same time, and they did not get the 50% off. Now, the federal government is extending the 50% rebate to non-luxury buses as well. But what do you think of all of this? And is this just maybe a way for them to add more money to what they're already taking out? The first question he asked yourself, where is the money coming from? We asked that last week. That is the question we asked. He asked himself, where is the money coming from? It was not budgeted. You're right. It was not part of the budget. So where is it coming from? Is it from Central Bank? It's somewhere down there. Is it from the Ministry of Material Affairs or what? All these things personally I just think that is a scam for me. That's why I'm cutting. I don't know how they're going about it. But the first thing remains that if you go and check out how much is being used for this, and you ask yourself because and also how much you are using for palliatives, when you put all this together, compare it to the money they removed from subsidy and you come to realize that it may be more than what you removed from subsidy and for goodness sake. Then at the end of it, what is the essence of removing the material subsidy? And this is something that will benefit just less than 1% of the Nigerian people or like the petroleum subsidy that everybody benefits from. So to me, this is more like, yes, to me this is more like a policy somersault. It does not make any sense. I believe we are going to travel for this period and okay, let us even stay. Okay, after the travel and come back, what happens? Would your problem be solved? After the 50% are very good. Now, I added some of it and some of the people have already complained that when they get to the bus station there is limited number of people that they can carry. So if their location was given a profit, so if you have about 100 people, I'm talking of those that I don't, you are not going to be using the buses. For those that were in the cities, some of them cannot be able to access that. But I believe this is not the way to go about it. Let us have a right policy that can benefit every Nigerian. And I have said at the time my turn number that the issue of the removal of petroleum is the greatest problem in the problem. Yes, that is what we do. Look at the Chenane gas and the corruption around it. If we are able to cope with it, there is no country in the world that doesn't have, in Germany, power is subsidized. Germany, power, I mean electricity is subsidized. In the United States, they subsidize agriculture products and some other things. The same thing we told them, even the United Kingdom and the rest of them. So you ask yourself, you as a Nigerian, what do you gain from your government? And they want you to increase taxes every day. And you don't want to do it with taxes. So for me, all well and good, if that is just a populist listening by the government, all well and good, but for me, it's not that I am not there. Come and see what is happening. We said it when this issue was going on, when they were doing this. Go and see the scam that is going on in the ministry of material affairs. The last ministry as it were was funded the most of the thing they were doing. A ministry that was telling that they were feeding our children right away at home. How do you, is it possible? Now we have seen, talked about 30 billion Naira fraud. We've talked about 157 billion Naira fraud and everything and now it's coming to light. That is just one, out of so many other things that you talked about. And we talk of corruption. The biggest element in the house for us in this country is corruption. Right. We have to handle every other thing. But for me, back to this issue of politics, I don't believe in it. I hope it works for some people. Well, we only hope it works and we hope the federal government starts to rule out initiative that could cut across everyone and not just some celebs. The politics that they promise we are not gay. We are not going to sit down from this. Those are questions to be asked. Apart from bonus state, have you said this state here in Nepal? Apart from bonus state? I haven't. Personally, I haven't. Personally, I haven't. But anyways, like I say, we just hope that they start to rule out these initiatives that would work for everybody. And I mean, everybody can benefit from the country because one of the questions you asked was what do we benefit from this country? So hopefully we start to benefit. But this is where we have to wrap up this segment. Thank you so much for joining us and reviewing the papers with us this morning. Thank you, Mr. Chris. No. Hopefully it's that same prayer that we were talking about. Well, good for you. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right, we'll be speaking with Chris Cain, who is a member of the Chatterd Institute of Obitrators in the UK. And he was joining us from here, from Lagos State here. We'll take a quick break and when we return, we'll be talking to another guest in our hot topic. Please stay with us.