 We're glad to know you're still there and watching us on the breakfast on plus TV Africa. Today is Thursday and Thursday we talk a lot of business but right now let's see what is on the papers. So off the press, what are we taking off the press today? We'll begin with the leadership newspaper. Leadership newspaper leads with a story. Federal government labor talks debt locked as marketers raise fuel pump price. Federal government labor talks debt log as marketers raise fuel pump price. We also have another headline the tackle insecurity poverty northern elders tell president troops kill troops kill 51 55 I swap top commanders terrorist in Borno Nigeria's tax to GDP ratio rises to 10.8 6% okay we'll take those are okay 10th National Assembly intrigues in Senate threaten a pub use endorsement which means they they they the choice of the party and the president may find it difficult in getting elected as the Senate president. Tinibu Ainec APC asked tried to dismiss Atticus documents APC governor speak Uzodima as PGF chairman okay those were the headlines from the leadership newspaper you can see photographs there when under the headlines of federal government and labor talks deadlock people are lying down in filling stations vehicles are queuing and all that so we'll move from there to the nation where we are going to see their own headlines the nation leads with NNPCL fixes 488 Naira to 557 Naira per liter of petrol as a price template from 4488 to 557 Naira NNPC 200 reps backing me says Abbas okay that's story also on the National Assembly is there and you can read it up on the nation we have other smaller headlines national honours or what is to wait you know we had a story that they cannot collect the certificate yet hearing in LP OB petition stalled PDP forges ahead that's also a story there on page 8 of the nation newspaper or rather page 6 of the nation newspaper Senate NPA and pay tribute to media magnet Dr. C PDP Senators Oroghe the Akinia Lulu Akinia Loure dump party they have moved to another party okay and then we'll have this tent tent Senate support the progressives that's what someone is saying about the tent assembly when they are trying to make their choice they should for support the progressives okay we'll move to another newspaper this time it's going to be the Guardian Guardian newspaper it leads with posers about 800 million dollars palliative labor's next move as Nigerians braced for higher inflation that story is there that's the one leading in the Guardian Guardian no work no pay follow no Sue's federal government over alleged unfair treatment of our Sue members we have not heard the last of that story panic in Lagos community over fuel leakage broken pipeline I do hope the government will do something about that as fast as possible 26% of Nigerians financially literate as Botswana leads Africa we also have OT suspense levies on transport operators in Abia resetting Nigeria's foreign policy to be giant of Africa again all these are stories that you find on the Guardian newspaper this morning we will take the final newspaper this morning which is business day Thursday is our business day so is only a natural that would take business day today they lead with petrol to sell between 478 narrow and 600 naira per liter as subsidy goes the riders there are commuters lament as transporters hike fares NNPC says federal government owes 2.8 trillion Naira for subsidy payments okay that are stories on business day we have smaller headlines one of them is 27 Nigerian companies defy odds to shine in FT ranking that's good news Euro bonds stocks Naira jump as Tinibu heats ground running rising mental health it fails to offset government shortfalls those are stories on business day and that's the much we can take from of the press okay that's the much we can take from the newspapers right now just the reading that's how far we can go but we are glad to be joined by our analyst for today that will be talking on the headlines is the killer I took a public affairs analyst joining us from Aquivom good morning and welcome to the program sir this time is abuja did you go for the inauguration yes I did but not of mr. president actually it's a very interesting story I should have been in the studio this morning I went to Canno where my friend is the current governor and my friend big friend is the boss they don't that you know and I was to come to Lagos straight from there to be with you in the studio today but unfortunately my flight was moved till around 11 12 midnight and I didn't like that so I decided to take the abuja rather come house and guess what the flight did not leave till 3 30 so I actually got home about 4 4 30 this morning and I hope I will not be sleeping while I'm talking to you I hope to the the fairs the airfares have not gone up as well but what actually upset me was when I landed in abuja because I said there was no need for them to come for me I would I would find a way so I booked the boat which came to 5600 but when I call the guy he said 20,000 Naira last wow and I was really upset because this is really the thing that that that pains me about Nigerians I mean have we what's the level of increase that makes it such that even before your profit do you understand me was not even if you say you're using 5000 Naira well okay to drop me and all that are you gonna make 15,000 Naira profit in one trip it's not possible we all know that but we always take advantage of every situation how can you jump from 5600 to 20,000 Naira because of well has moved from many of us we're not even buying for 1000 for 9195 Naira to start with a lot of people were buying at around at 200 to 250 so it's more like to a lot of people is like double in fact to some of us that we're in a quibble means a little less and double okay but why would you now move from 5,500 600 to 20,000 Naira and you see this way and and we talked to that that driver in a language that he will not forget for a long time okay but now they're the meeting between the federal government and labor and that in deadlock and solutions are not found meanwhile the people are suffering would like your comments on what is going on right now well the government has been proactive and they have listened to labor they have had a meeting immediately with labor but still there is no solution what are your comments on what the labor people are fighting for and what the federal government is saying yes this is an extremely sensitive topic to handle at this time and a lot of commentators are playing to the gallery they want to say what the people want to hear and be popular but the responsibility of leadership if you realize I'm still living in a tribunal because I want to be or wanted to be I want to be whichever is the case the governor of acquirable state now that is a very big leadership responsibility so when it comes to the topic of the 12 subsidy removal and everything there is a lot of emotion there's a lot of sentiment there's a lot of trauma so we must approach it with cautious optimism with level of sincerity and inform the people about the pros and the cons and then while we locate the the problems and the the faults where they are we look more at what the possible solutions are I think number one fault came from Mr. President and he has to be very mindful of what he says you now speak not as Jagaban you way you can afford the luxury of saying my guy doesn't matter man so you know we are now speaking precedentially as the president of the federal republic of Nigeria leading over 200 million people where was the problem the first subsidy is gone that was not true first subsidy was not gone because what he meant was that after June there is no more provision so it is going so if I don't know if that was part of the script if I was the one that wrote it I would have come through the backdoor considering that there is no more provision for subsidy it means that we must be very proactive to come up with palliatives and measures that will cushion the effect of its eventual removal from the common man in particular to that end I will work as seriously in concert with labor to ensure that there is a smooth transition in a phase and in a manner that will not leave Nigerians the worst for it if he had said that the reaction would have become completely different now you are coming to tell labor let's talk you've already taken a decision after taking a decision you say labor let's talk are we talking that that decision you took your major first major decision should be reversed how will that work on you oh are we talking to say what do we do going forward so I think that we must realize that we've come to run government and that government and governance is an extremely serious matter where you cannot afford the luxury of of joking or being casual or like a daisical or whimsical you must be it's like within diplomatic circles every word that a president orders is is put on the crucible is is dissected is analyzed is synthesized so you cannot afford the luxury of speaking casually to that extent I hope it's a president responsible but I believe that this is just the beginning so Nigerians should forgive and then come to the table and say what do we do you know in the last administration during president Jonathan's administration I think the beginning when he talked of removing swell subsidy a body the shop he was set up and one of the things that we did see of that shop he was a lot of brand new bosses that were bought and brought in and things like that so those were to cushion the effect of on the transporters while while while I was at the airport the hours that I had I had to do a lot of reflecting on issues and one of the issues I reflected on was my workers some of them and as little as 30 000 and I'm just asking myself two things are going to happen one is that you're not going to use about 60 to 65 percent of their income of your salary on transportation if that happens it means I should brace up myself for a lot of short cuts you know corner cutting and pilfering and things like that because they must survive and they are going to survive from somewhere the second is that they are going to do a lot of tracking if they are going to do a lot of tracking to come to work I must brace myself to the fact that in the morning we are going to have people who have worn out and they are going to take time out from eight o'clock maybe till about 10 o'clock before they can come to themselves to recover from the very long trip because they must have woken up very early and started tracking long distances so the bus ride has to be like minimal and from two o'clock they are starting to have a mindset of oh my god I'm walking back oh my god I'm walking back okay and I probably try to sneak out and leave a little earlier to be able to walk back home so productivity is going to be largely reduced on the alternative I've got to come up with a palliative of some sort which could mean increase in the salary in their salary but how am I going to do that when my overheads are going to increase across board petrol is going to be difficult transportation the generators are going to be a problem so I'm just asking myself god what do I do and the sort of business I do you can do virtually I mean to real estate I mean you can't you can't be laying blocks of the house online you've got to be on site so we have to like restructure or reject our business you know model and maybe do think in terms of providing certain accommodation for setting quality of the setting level of staff and things like that but it's something that that's a national concern from the fuel and only revisited if there is a need for that there's this ongoing thing about ASU and the federal government we're still taking this from from the guardian the guardian has a headline saying no work no pay follow no sues federal government over alleged unfair treatment of ASU members okay so that judgment was given that no work no pay so for the eight months that ASU was on strike they're not going to pay some people have said that it's it goes against labor laws and everything human rights and all that but right now the the human rights lawyer has gone to court over what he feels is his injustice to the lecturers what are your comments okay now what constitutes work because again we must bring out a very delicate balancing if I pay you for what working what is the incentive for you to work it means that at all times you can always look for a reason for maybe you have some things you want to do somewhere and all that you just say we don't agree with this bubble black for you know there's a strike that is one end of that discussion or argument there is a second hand my my my my eldest sister we're five she's the first time the last my eldest sister happens to be a professor in in the university and during that period she was busy working that I knew and you know by time you you come back to school you've got to catch up with whatever way the aspects you could not do so as to ensure that that set of people they are graduated and they make room for a new set of people to come in so within that context because of what she was doing she has justification to say I was working now how are you going to treat her and you are fair to her and how are you going to treat those who probably did not have such a schedule of work to do and they went about doing other businesses and probably making money and you know and at the end of the day they want to get their money's back it is something that has to need to be reasonable I would say and it's something that government should not consider as being cast in stone again when we come to negotiation and discussion there's so much distrust amongst the people there's so much insincerity amongst the people we really look forward to a situation when or a time when our leaders can just have a little more of the fear of God and be a little more of leaders than politicians. Politicians couldn't care less but politics is what you can get from what you don't deserve as much as possible speaking loud and saying nothing that's politics you know being deceitful as a matter of fact if you say something it's ah man you're talking politics what that means is that you're lying okay so I think that ASU and the government really need to come and reconcile between the two and come up with to say it against the laws of labor laws of labor has to be flexible has to be dynamic and that's what laws are all about so I am thinking that because I'm involved and I saw my sister I've seen her I know the work she's doing I know she deserves a pay so on behalf of the lecturers I believe that there's a point but if there's a certain administrative section that you say okay it has to be I know it's something that you really need to to sit down on them and iron out if we are sincere with ourselves well let's stay with the guy and if you look let me just hint this if you look at the national assembly members how many of them you know go to work so to speak how many and then also be on sittings if they are not on sittings there should be other schedules that they are doing either oversight or they are doing representation may you realize that some of them are just absent they are just absent they are not in the in the in the chambers either the green or the red and they are not in their constituencies some of them actually take up and they are brought for a long time and they come back and who is making noise about it and they call it their pay not just their regular pay all the entitlements all the emulliments everything they get off why is nobody talking about that the other day there was fracker between the speaker of the house of reps and the deputy speaker because the speaker suggested imagine this speaker at a time like this I watched it speaker at a time like this for for reasons I would speculate as being personal because you know in the absence if the speaker is to go for a function in his absence you know the deputy speaker sits okay and you know there's this one halal between the two of them and then the speaker wants to go for a commissioning ceremony and be things that the national assembly or the the house of reps or the the green chambers should be shut down to go for commissioning of a project the deputy speaker actually did have a point he was being smart okay he said those who want to go can go but we cannot shut down the business of the house just go for for for for commissioning of project he got he got the speaker there and then it just shows how our prioritization is and how our personal interest will almost always override what I would call national interest okay also we've seen a story here resetting Nigeria's foreign policy to be giant of Africa again on the Guardian page four foreign policy is something of interest the giant of Africa was a name we really really loved and we can still be the giant of Africa I don't know what really changed what does this present administration need to concentrate on when forming this for fashioning out this foreign policy what are the critical ingredients of the foreign policy that we need that can reposition Nigeria to become to continue to be the giant of Africa because we've not relinquished that name for anyone even though countries have overtaken us and all that okay there are two things if not three in this issue the very first thing is giant of Africa is not we are an architect I'm not a foreign policy expert but even understand certain simple English giant of Africa cannot be cannot be a foreign policy you know but trust it cannot be it sounds it sounds off in my ears do you understand me you can say you want to be afrocentric okay in which case is going to be Africa first you're going to like Africa as a center of your foreign policy thrust or you can come like from try to say look America stop being the you know the ruler of the world America first so you can choose to say look the way things are my own policy is Nigeria first okay and when I have achieved that you can move that to Africa first now for you to be the giant of Africa is for you to have built yourself to a point where you have a kind of overriding influence on account of how much you are together at home your your your democracy is working very well your economy is working well your economy has been rebased you have the largest economy you already have the human I don't know whether I don't want to use the word the human capital because I don't know to what extent our own human is capital if we understand what capital is okay we have human beings I don't know if you have human capital that's a discussion for another day so but you have the numbers with respect to persons if you're able to put yourself together the first thing is that you earn respect the second thing is that out of the respect you become the big brother there is a problem in Ghana they look for you there's a problem in Nairobi Kenya they look for you there's a problem in South Africa the way we wear you know look at the days of appetite it was Nigeria look at the days of a kumbh it was Nigeria look at the days everybody looked up to Nigeria because we had the capacity we had the respect we had the capability we had the potentials that is what makes you a giant and not you giving yourself a name as a giant no people will be the ones to call you wow this is Africa's big brother this is Africa's giant this is Africa's defender this is Africa's it's others that will give you that title and not that we want a foreign policy trust is to be the giant of Africa that doesn't sound them yeah but that that is the issue giant of Africa is the kind of respect that people give you that will make you giant of Africa and the question was really to get to find out why where do you think that we got it wrong where the respect that we used to have is no longer there we don't have that kind of respect anymore we don't whether in on the african continent or elsewhere we don't have that kind of respect anymore so where did you get it wrong what are some of the things that should be put in place for that respect to return that was the question the very first thing is how you organize yourself look at the very last election i mean the whole world literally said this was a sham it was an opportunity for people to say wow did you see the election of nigeria it was first class it was so transparent it was so well organized that's where you start number one number two is good governance where this is a component of have you gone to do business in nigeria they are also they are so organized their policies are in place the rule of law you don't mess in nigeria you know those are the indices that make for you talk of rule of law look at we are being rated at a stage we had the third worst terrorist organization in the whole world president in nigeria i mean how will people respect you for all such indices so i believe that mr president obon tinu if he means well like i hope he would because i always tell people i'll come to this who are we having as our president as are today who do we have do are we having this consummate politician who knows how to play the game who is a master and a don so we now know what to expect because from today or from the day was one in it's about 2027 and it's got to play the politics not about or are we having the technocrat leader who was once the governor of lego state and people respected lego state he had square pegs in square holds he was target driven he grew up professionals he was he was he was a leader he made sure things were done right so who are we having today as the swan in president of the federal republic of nigeria is it that professional politician or the leader technocrat whichever one we have will determine which direction we are going either to the right or to the left or are we having one that is just a hybrid that we really don't can't even tell and then we now start to bring in the word clueless my prayer is that that tinu book that we had that was once the shining star in nigeria and brought a lot of innovations and policies into lego that are still being used today that technocrat that leader that god will help us and make him fast long as he's on the seat whether you know the tribunal is still ongoing it's a long process probably in the next four months we may not really know who is going to be a president for the next four years but while you are there even if you are there for one day just hit the ground running and keep going until the final whistle is blown i always say that osho state you know that it's only some days back or about two weeks back that adelike could now sit well on that seat of power and say yes i am the governor for the next four years you know there's a tribunal after the tribunal there is the appeal after the appeal there's a supreme court and it could take us another four months before we can say this is the president of the federal republic of nigeria for the next four years but while you are there even for one day please be that leader technocrat and help nigeria okay i wish we had more time but we're out of time we would like to thank you mr yeah please let me explain my condolences to mr dockwessy you know family of mr dockwessy okay yes thank you so much we missed a um media mogul day so we hope that he rests in peace and the family has the fortitude to bear the loss thank you mr nyok it okay thank you we've been talking with mr ezekiel nyok um public affairs analyst uh he usually joins us from acquirom today but today he joined us from abuja and we're very uh we're going to take a short break and when we return we're going to be talking with our first guest