 We're glad to know you're still there and watching us, it's the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa and it's time now to review some of the headlines or to take a look at some of the headlines that made it to the front pages of our newspapers. We're going to start with punch, then we'll move to nation and then the Guardian and finally the nature news if time will permit us. And we're glad to know that we're being joined this morning by the legal practitioner who is a regular on the show, Tunde Kolauli. Good morning and welcome to the program, Tunde. Good morning, Arbola. It's always a pleasure. We are beginning with punch newspaper this morning and the headline there, the boldest there is that Naira plunges to 1,025 Naira. To a dollar, job losses, factory shutdown, loom. The writers there are Forex Crisis, Hinders, Raw Materials, Procurement, Costs, Financial Problems, that is according to NECA. And SMEs decry in pending shutdown, Revs Group Airlines schools demanding dollars. Okay, so I'll just take all the headlines on the punch and then we begin commenting on them one after the other. The other one is Senate condemns 2.3 trillion Naira oil theft probe security agents. Inflation to slow Nigeria's growth to 2.9% says IMF and flood kills 45. This places 171,545 persons in 13 states, that's according to NEMA. Then we have 18 parties jostle for 5.4 million votes in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa. Army General Jail, 7 years order. Order to refund 3.7 billion Naira and NECA index 93 schools for cheating blacklist 52 supervisors. So let's begin with Naira, Forex Crisis, Naira plunges to above 1,000 Naira to a dollar. What is being said is that most of the companies, most of the factories, most of the manufacturers, who will require currency to be able to import raw materials and services will no longer be able to do so, because of the drilling forces of the Naira. In fact it's also reported in that paper that some factories have begun to close them and that people are already losing their jobs. The implication of this is that a single window forex policy of the present government is really not working. The implication is also that it would appear that the foreign exchange andu was better or more properly managed under Emefele. If there is no immediate turn around in the fortune of the Naira, chances are that the present government will turn Mr. Emefele into a hero. And removing from the black book of the learning. The implication is also that the economic policies of the present government was not well thought out before they embarked on those economic policies. And you want to see where you are running your money in the Muno economy. The solid depends on the petroleum structure and say the intellectual market and not manufacturing. It may not be advisable to begin to run the single forex window for the country. In the best interest of the government and the best interest of the average Nigerian person, whose life depends on massive, massive importation of different groups and services, the present government has better find solutions to this crumbling state of the Naira. In fact, it's reported in the paper India too that Naira is about the second worst performing currency or thereabouts in the whole of Africa. Which means that the CIA, France, and then the general cities and all the Rwandan, Robus and what have you are doing better than the Naira. The spectrum of spiral inflation or uncontrollable inflation, the problems of goods and services is apparently from the shares all over the country is carrying us in the face. I hope we will not in the shortest time begin to line up in front of shops to purchase things like sugar, baby mix, salt and the what have you. That's my take on that. Now, just following that as well, there is also this story that Senate has condemned 2.3 trillion Naira oil-tipped and probe security agents. Let's have your comment on that. Very simple. I was watching a documentary which focused on petroleum extraction, distribution and sales in Saudi Arabia. I do not believe it. What I saw in that documentary has candidly. Saudi Arabia does not appear to have the kind of technological Saudi that Nigeria do have as fully automated and computerized all these petroleum extraction, storage, distribution and sales internationally. So that you can fit in one control room and monitor the quantity of oil that is being drilled or pumped from the soil, the number of liters in total tank, what the shifts our tankers are taking, the markets in which those tankers are going and then the funds that are being paid by international marketer and purchasers. So let's begin to ask ourselves. If Nigeria has been producing petroleum products or crude oil since 1959 of the Arabi, why have we as a nation not been able to do the kind of thing that Saudi Arabia has been able to do? Why is it that option now? We don't know the quantity of petroleum or crude oil that is being pumped out of the market. Why is it that we cannot provide security? For the oil pipeline? Why is it that we don't even have the data on who is buying and how much is being bought and where is being sold? At the bottom of all this is what I would describe as corruption on the part of those who are managing the Nigerian economy, the Nigerian society. I would describe it as one of the tragedies of a nation because a situation where you cannot control, the soul put all that you have to say to be able to end that currency is to say the least tragic. And different government have devised different means to really secure the oil sector. I remember General Bassanjo made himself the particular minister. I think Jonathan also did the same. And President Bolatinovo will be doing the same thing. So if we are taking all this, why is it that the challenges in the oil sector have remained hydrated? The answers are quite simple. One of the answers is that we have refused to take care of the communities where the oil is in view. To pollute their environment will make their water unfeasible. They cannot farm. Every day we are firing gas and burning it thereby eating the environment. Imagine if we were able to take care of all the ecological challenges that they are facing in those areas. And we are also able to provide free schooling for their children, build houses for them and give to them as free and ensure that their roads are monitorable and waterable. Ensure that their children are able to get work when they graduate from the different schools, especially within the oil industry which is based in their communities and not. If we were able to do that, we will find out that the communities over there will be the ones protecting the oil pipelines because they know that they are well-being. It depends on those... We seem to have lost the audio from today Kola Wole there. We do hope that he will rectify the problem and he gets to rejoin us and talk to us. We are trying to review the headlines of the national dailies and we were on the punch. The story was on the Senate condemning 2.3 trillion Naira oil theft and probing of the security agencies. We've had this story all over and over and over again all the time we hear the story that the oil is being stolen and then we keep wondering why Nigeria is a country, a rich country at that because we are supposed to be rich. Rich enough. Cannot have a monitoring system that will monitor the progress of every drop of oil as it's being done somewhere else. At least we have a model in the UAE where they have everything monitored in one room even if it has to be in the bedroom of the president, let it be, but they need to be a process where our oil can be monitored from where it is drilled to where it is being produced and where it is being distributed to and everything. It's done somewhere else and is it that is too costly? Is it costlier than what we are losing daily to theft if we can answer that question? Like they say if you think education is expensive try ignorance. If you think also that putting that kind of a monitoring system is expensive are we not losing more than what we could have used to do just that same thing that we are saying that it is not possible in Nigeria. Everything is possible. People are using AI to move to greater heights. People are using technology to move to greater heights and we're still here grappling with trying to count one or two things and giving a figure. So Nigeria is losing out and the earlier things like this are done, the better. Things to monitor the progress or otherwise of anything that is a national asset. Now we don't even know how much oil we produce. We cannot say that for sure. We don't even know how many people really are in this country because the figures are estimated. We don't know how much gold is being mined in this country because there is no system put in place to make sure that this is done in a central way just like they are doing the oil and the money comes to the coffers of the federal government. We don't know how much cocoa goes out of this country. We don't know a lot of things. Let me not say we don't know anything. We don't know a lot of things because data is difficult to get. Tunde, are you able to rejoin us? Tunde, are you there? I'm back. So remember we are talking about the condemnation of the senate of the money that is being lost to oil theft. Maybe we should just move to another thing because you really did make your point there. Inflation, the IMF, the world body has reduced, has said that inflation will slow down Nigeria's growth to 2.9%. You know there was a higher figure for our growth but the inflation, according to IMF will slow down the economy to 2.9%. And we know that before this last story that we were trying to talk about we talked about Naira plunging to 1,025 Naira to a dollar. And one of the writers on that story said that the House of Rebs will prove House of Rebs will prove the costs, sorry Yeah, they will prove airlines and schools that are charging in dollars. So maybe because that is one of the reasons why the dollar is in such a high demand or something I don't even know. But right now, IMF is saying our growth rate will be reduced. Our growth rate will be slow and now it will be 2.9%. I wonder what your comment will be on that. Well, my important is that even without the IMF telling us what is being said is modern obvious now the manufacturers have no money to import raw materials and services that they will require to do production and of course those who are producing a few things in here will find it difficult to pay the shipping organization to take whatever they are producing out of the country. More importantly too very few countries in the world the central banks of very few countries in the world will now be many of the central banks of the different countries in the world will be very wary of doing business with Nigeria now, giving the parallel state of Kenya. So like I have always said if I were in this government I will focus on agriculture so that we can guarantee food security for the people. We can also look at the area of security and then maintain the infrastructure while we begin to strategize on how to get the Naira back on its feet but the Naira cannot be back on its feet until Nigeria begins to grow and to grow the food it eats manufacture what it requires to sustain the people and also of course ensure that the systems of socials are maintained it is not a rocket science it is just that we as a people now devote almost 90 to 75 to 80% of our time and resources of politics that does not have value in the society in general look at the billions or trillions of Naira that we conduct in all these kangaroo elections at the end of the day we neither know that look at the amount of money that is spent on litigation by the Nigerian people because at the end of the day all the money that the politicians are spending on litigation comes from the taxpayers money coming from the resources coming from the wallets coming from the government and what are they these are money that we could have deployed to more productive purposes so we need to review the expenditures on this democracy and also the quantum of money that is being used to sustain the politicians and the civil servants and governance without that the ship of the nation's economy might be heading towards the rock let us all pray that it really doesn't hit the rock because it is dust who has been very very serious crisis such as was witnessed in Ghana so many years ago and with the again economic collapse and all the people of Ghana started then migrating abroad in drugs massively they came to Nigeria that was where the Appalachian Ghana must go and came from they came to Nigeria with their facts all closed on their head and then began to do many jobs shoemakers cleaners, military cleaners and then you now imagine if Nigeria were to hit the bottom where will 200 million Nigerians go to it is a fighting spectrum there is no country in Africa that can accommodate the rich population that Nigeria has in fact it will lead to massive dislocation throughout the whole of West Africa if not the whole of Africa as a whole our children are migrating to Europe in rafts they travel on rickety vessels and on a daily basis they get there in the Atlantic Ocean all in the beach to get to Europe to get to America to get to Canada but you will admit that when the media interview some of these young people who are travelling by sea are meeting deaths in thousands or hundreds on the ice they will tell you that is it not better to be eaten by fishes than to stay at home and die of hunger and quasoko so no surprises me as the person that our leader seems not to be seeing this and if they are seeing it it will appear they are nonchalant but they don't care because most of them really are not Nigerian they are scattered governor they are scattered senators they are scattered as of red they are scattered ministers and war afloat they all have dual citizenship their family members have dual citizenship so as the Yoruba will say he did die here full all the branches are ripped off the bed will take to flight they are probably waiting for the economy to collapse and then they begin to relocate and leave all to be wallowing in abject poverty and to be at each other's truth we need to pray as a people that God will intervene I know people have to work before God will come to their aid but the average Nigerian leader seems to be heartened the more we pray the more we shout in the mass media in the social media the more nonchalant the more adamant they seem to appear with regards to our plight to see people the people we now find out that flood has killed 45 people displaced 171,545 persons in 13 states you know finally it has reached that point the government kept warning and warning and every year it keeps warning right now we have lost lives 45 people have died because of flood and more than 171 people have been displaced by flood your brief comment on that before we move to the nation newspaper all right I will quickly say that flooding is not peculiar to Nigeria alone it's all over the world I think it's happening because of climate change with people like both scenario and then Donald Trump have been denied all this flood is a reality that humanity will go out to see them and tackle for Nigeria I think our problem is more of a negligence like we have said on this program before we could build artificial dams to accommodate some of these flood waters when they come and use them during the dry season we could also dredge all the major rivers that we have in the country of course we can also expand most of the dams that are supposed to warehouse all these flood waters and water but no ambiguity that is happening in the other areas or places of our lives we wait for disaster to happen before we begin to cry out I mean that is neither here nor there I mean the tragedy of size or the noises that are we will go back to square one and then begin to wait for the next disaster the next flooding to happen before we remember that we ought to have done certain things which we neglected to do all these waters are very useful for irrigation for fishing and for transportation why we cannot channel it why we cannot make use of these abundant water it is a tragedy of monumental proportion on the banks of the country okay let's move to the nation news report and take a few headlines from there no return to petrol subsidy says NNPCL stakeholders have said that the fuel subsidy is still there the federal government is still paying and so many people are wondering if there is no fuel subsidy how it is that while on the one hand there is the complaint that landing cost for this fuel is more than the petrol pump price and the price is still what it is right now and federal government is still insisting that there is no fuel subsidy so I'd like your comment on that because NNPCL has come out to say that there is no fuel subsidy what are your comments I read what Mr Kiyali said in the paper and I've also read what some analysts like Ruben about the and others have said with regards to the fact that the government has also I think PENGASA has also made some infunctions in that respect but the federal government has again gone back to fuel the subsidy and not running a local society we are not running a local government at all in this country most times things like this will begin to happen rather than the government being honest with its people if it is pretending over it because they don't want to be seen to have taken economic steps which were never well thought out which is leading to the relation of the people and all that there is no shame correcting your mistakes if the party is taking it's not working well for you Kenya removed oil subsidy and when they knew that it was going to lead to uprising and massive social dislocation they quickly reverted back to the state of school there is nothing wrong if it is not working well for the government to go back to the regime of oil subsidy because as it were today with the 2014 of the Naira prices of petroleum products in the stations and all that we continue to ride as long as Naira continues to get its value as long as the value of Naira continues to dintu because we don't produce it here and the petroleum products is bought in the international market at the foreign exchange currency rate so we are in serious real quandary less hope that the government will be able to manage the petroleum sector and the crisis, the attendant crisis that could go with it because if that is not done we are most likely to see a kind of backlash in terms of uprising again there is little massive massive feeling in the public sector in the civil servants who have a car and who are used to comfort who have generators in their home also in the private sector people who have cars who have generators in their home and named NEPA or PSN has also not been doing well in the recent weeks we begin to find ways to amend in terms of stealing or is it investment or was the money running to be able to sustain the lifestyle that they are used into it's a very very serious thing I have already said it there is no country in the world that doesn't maintain one regime of subsidy or the other in some countries of the world and I am of the opinion that we already should be having that balance so that those people you see in the motor park sleeping under the bridges and know that who have no job and means of livelihood who go to some of these food banks get one square meal one good clean water in a day so that at least that will keep them going as much as in security all over the place and not as in security that you see as a quality derivation no effect on the inflation on the cost of living because the devil will always find a work for a hundred hands to do some will rather want to engage in the fires activities than to die under the bridge of the Quasoco and Nonga and towards in the situation we now having a number of ministers very very massive a big crisis is being built up by the present government we have never had this kind of number of ministers in the past and for every minister there is the advisers there is the personal assistants there is the quality gap there is the police or delays when you multiply the implications of all that the cost of maintaining all these people maintaining the national assembly the local government chairman the directors in the ministries and paracetas the picture becomes clearer there is just at the bottom of that front page of the nation newspaper an interesting headline the south east senate caucus renews push for additional ministerial slots we are already talking about 48 ministers that are being appointed now and the south east caucus is still asking for more probably other geopolitical zones could also come out and say they want more of ministerial slots your comments please would that be the result of the impoverished religion we look at the very few issues from very big gender perspective on the perspective of pride on the perspective of religion don't forget that some religious bodies have also come out that they don't have the same compliment of minister at the federal level and also the same compliment of a minister at the state level like some other religions do have and you ask yourself of what benefit will it be to these people when people are appointed ministers based on religion based on tries the man on bull opinion is not going to add any value to any tries or to any religion because most times when these people get into government what they fall to is take care of themselves take care of your nuclear families take care of extended families and thereafter begin to take care of village or town before they now remember maybe they came from one tribe or the other and by the time they take care of their immediate family immediate minister and daughter the four years of minister would have gone by they would have spent it look at the example he is the president of the vice-president in what way has that improved a lot of the people of Bahasa look at the other people he's been two time head of state in what way have the Yoruba people profited from his presidency that other tribes never benefited look at the Musa Yara Dua and all the rest of them and be told for some of these other people to take care of themselves and daughter they hardly had value to their community if they do the road in their community then what have you it's mostly know that would lead to their own personal or private houses and also to places they worship or road that would link their own houses to their family houses and some remote parts of the town of village or city those infrastructures are not provided to take care of or give some comfort or sook with the communities in which all of these people live do your own investigation most time when roads are in certain places when ball holes are built and what have you when schools are renovated and not they do this in merely for personal or political agrarism they are usually both catching or a kind of a figure of objects they try to remember that I was the one that constructed this overhead bridge or this pedestrian bridge or this bullwag that passes through the highway leading to the golf club leading to the polo club and what have you this is the issue infrastructures are never provided based on the need of the community schools are never provided or renovated based on the need of the community but usually to cut votes and to satisfy place and gas okay I'll just ask you two questions you take one of them if it is possible because we're running out of time one is from the guardian if you want to respond to that one go ahead the one from nature news the one from guardian is that federal governments beat for concrete roads to spike capital expenditure amid 10 trillion narrow old contractors and the one from nature news is Nigeria grapples with health and environmental impacts of firewood cooking 150 million Nigerians risk lung cancer that's according to the national bureau of statistics take your pick that's a final question the concrete roads are not my wishful thinking I don't know where we care and the president will find the money to begin to build concrete roads even though I do agree with Mr. Wike the vision of concrete roads is the most ideal with the gas of firewood and not with the price of gas now if it is difficult for the other Nigerians to be able to afford gas for their cooking without those gas and water all we might be seeing again is massive deforestation and very very serious ecological impact which will directly impact on the climate change that you and I have been talking about since morning okay well that is how we will draw the curtain on of the press this morning Mr. Tunde Kolawele thank you so much for coming on the program Mr. Kolawele we've been talking with Tunde Kolawele legal practitioner here in Lagos we've been reviewing the headlines of our national some of our national dailies we treated the punch the nation, the guardian and then nature news this morning we'll take a break and when we return we enter the discussion on our first topic stay with us