 The labor unions have said that since the president's subsidy has gone forever speech, the peace of mind of Nigerians has gone as well, so the threatened nationwide strike demand reversal of petrol price. We'll also be looking at the role of education in Nigeria's economic development on the program today, and we'll be finding out what made it to the front pages of the national daily's on off the press. Very good morning to you and thanks for joining us on the breakfast. My name is Nyam Gul Agadji. It's always a pleasure having you to join us, and today we like to prepare your minds to think business, so whatever we do, even if we talk about things that are not related, think about business, have a business angle to it, and in Nigeria today, when people are talking about having multiple streams of incomes, it is only natural that you think of a kind of business that you can do that will bring food to your table and extra income to you. As it stands today, no matter how much you earn, you still are almost like a poor person. There's either a rich man or a poor man. If you belong to the rich category, good for you. If you belong to the other category, which a lot of Nigerians belong to, then you have to hustle. But as you hustle, as we use the word in Nigeria, very generously, when you want to hustle, better be sure that it is a very wholesome thing that you will not be breaking the law. And all your terms and conditions that you have accepted with whoever is your employer if you are working for someone are not broken. Well, it's another wonderful day, and the month is almost ending. After this weekend, we'll be talking about something else. Maybe we'll be entering August, and a lot of people will be fretting thinking about what they have achieved this year. You have achieved your life. It's something good to be thankful for, to be grateful for, that you are still alive till this moment. And you're witnessing a lot of things. Things may be difficult now, but, well, God knows why whatever happens and whatever kind of leadership we have is probably what we deserve at any point in time. So when we deserve better, we'll get better. When we deserve worse, we'll get worse. And so many times, we are the ones who choose for ourselves. Well the policies might be very biting, as some people would put it, but there's always an opportunity for better life. Well, today we're going to be looking at some of the trending topics that we have. We're going to be seeing some things, and what would like you to remember that success begins with education. And whether it is traditional, classroom education, homeschooling, or just personal research, one cannot take on the word with ignorance. There is nothing that you should do with ignorance. You must arm yourself before every battle, and in order to climb that steep hill to success or steep mountain to success, you require the right weapon, and the weapon is education. There's no better weapon on that journey than education. So when you check the best entrepreneurs, CEOs are always learning and doing research before their first step in any business undertaking. And when we talk about learning, it doesn't have to be on the four walls of an institution. Some of the greatest men we have found are dropouts, as it were. School was not able to contain them, as we know. But you keep learning and learning, reading on your own, improving yourself, no matter how much you think you know, you don't know what you don't know. That is all. Educating yourself is how you begin to know the right questions to ask. You know, it's not always about getting answers. Sometimes it's just about getting the right questions, and if you have the right questions, you will definitely get the right answer. Okay, so some of the things that are trending are the fact that Senate has condemned southeast seat at home and has asked the federal government to extradite Simon Eqba. Remember that Simon Eqba is somewhere in, is it Canada or so, and doling out instructions to people in the southeast and to enforce a law of seat at home. You know, he's not here to experience what is happening. So the Senate on Wednesday condemned the Monday seat at home in the southeast geopolitical zone and asked the federal government to collaborate with the Finnish government and extradite a probe Biafran agitator, Simon Eqba, for prosecution. The upper chamber also resolved to invite the minister of foreign affairs when appointed and relevant stakeholders to carry out thorough investigation, as well as bring other sponsors of the act to book. The Senate also rejected a recommendation for IPOP leader Namdi Kanu's release, saying it would amount to subjudice rather as the matter of his release was still in court. The illegal seat at home order is said to be enforced by a faction of the prescribed indigenous people of Biafra, IPOP, in five southeastern states, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, and Eboni. The unconstitutional order was declared in 2021 to press home demands for the release of IPOP leader Namdi Kanu who is being detained by the Department of State Services DSS and prosecuted for terrorism related charges. The governor of Enugu State, Pitamba, in July 2023, said a seat at home is making his state lose over 10 billion Naira every Monday. The question is, how is the seat at home order illegal and can the government force people to work? Okay, we'll be asking ourselves these questions, but we also will be asking ourselves the question of whether it is really right for someone to stay in another country and incite people to do what he's asking them to do. Is he really a patriot or is just being a terrorist? Because we saw some videos on the internet the other time circulating where people dressed in a special way were going about with cars and anybody they saw trying to make a living, they shot. How is that going to affect the federal government that is maybe holding Namdi Kanu or maybe not declaring the state of Biafra? How is it going to affect them when people of the Southeast are killing the Southeast Nairas as well? How is that a patriotic act? I just wonder all the time, how will I ask my brothers to kill my fellow brothers in order to press home my demands? I still seem not to understand what is going on and what Sam Onipa is really doing is he a patriot or is he a terrorist? That's a question we have to answer for ourselves. And when we see all the things that are on the table then we judge for ourselves. He is, according to himself, asking that Biafra be an independent place. And where is Biafra? He's talking about the five eastern states and parts of Cross River state, if not all, parts of South-South, if not all, that they should be declared Biafra and independent. And to press home that demand, he is asking for Southeast Nairas to be killed. So you be the judge whether that is patriotism or that is terrorism that he's doing and he's not back home here. That's the worst part of it. So what is Sam Onipa? Who are the people who are really doing this? Are they South-Easterners or they have been paid to do what they're doing? Is that an act of terrorism or that is what you will call patriotism? Now there's another thing, the federal universities remain tuition-free, say presidency, you know, that has been described that the tuition fees or the fees generally in institutions of higher learning have skyrocketed and the federal government is saying it is not true. But whether true or not, whether the pronouncement has been made by the federal government or not, the truth is that the fees have gone up. So if the federal government has no hand in it, maybe they should start doing something about investigating to see what is really happening in these institutions of higher learning. They are, as we speak, people who have dropped out, children who have dropped out because they cannot pay those fees, their parents cannot pay or if they've been trying hard to send themselves to school, they cannot pay anymore and they're dropping out. I know a few of them because of the kind of fees that are in the schools. We've heard also that state institutions hiking their fees. We've heard something about Unilag and some other institutions and all that. So if the government has no hand in it, they should investigate and see what is going on. The presidential spokesman, Delia Lackey, actually came out in a statement on Wednesday to say that some universities only recently announced discretionary charges, that's what he's calling them, for hostel accommodation, registration, laboratory amongst others and others are a whole lot. He emphasized that those are not tuition fees. Last week, some tertiary institutions, including the University of Lagos Unilag, hiked their fees for new and returning undergraduate students. Unilag especially hinged the move on what it described as the prevailing economic realities. See, there is an excuse for that and that comes from the policies of the federal government. So whether the federal government says they're having no hand in it or not, it stems from the policies that are coming from them. So economic realities will make some people hike their fees to such an extent that maybe fees that were like, let's say, 20,000 or 40,000 are now 100,000 and the salaries have not increased. And the states that are talking about palliative because of subsidy removal are talking about 10,000 naira added to the salaries of the workers, just the workers, not the traders on the street, not anybody else, just the workers, 10,000 naira every month for six months after that. Or you, as we say, you are on your own. So the school explained, that is Unilag now, that the adjustment in fees will take effect from the first semester of 2023-2024 academic session expressing a need for the university to be able to meet its obligation to its students, staff and municipal service providers, among others. Now, Unilag noted that the university had not increased its obligatory fees in recent years. So it's just like someone telling you that he has forfeited his salary, like a political office, all who are telling you that they have forfeited their salary and then everything else they are collecting, all the allowances they are collecting. So let's say you're earning a salary of 400,000 or 500,000 as a politician because the salaries are not that much. Then you are having allowances that will be like 12,000,000 naira. You forfeit your salary and then you take the allowances. That's what is happening right now. So well, whatever it is, the government needs to see, to eat, that policies are made in such a way that every other thing will not be affected negatively. Like I said, I know a few people who have dropped out already because of the kind of fees that are in schools. If you even go to primary schools that are supposed to be free, for instance, you find out that the kind of fees that they ask them to bring, fee for these, fee for that small thing, that small thing there. At the end of the day, some of these schools charge more money than even the private institutions that we find around. Before you pay the 2,000 here, levy here, the 3,000 here, the 5,000 here, the 1,5 here, you find out that you're paying fees of about 30,000 without actually paying official fees. So monitoring is very key in every government, in every society. And if the government fails to do this, people will get away with a lot, a lot of things that they should not get away with. Okay, well, but we're still here and it is the break fast. We're hoping that you're having a wonderful time. The traffic was not that bad while I was coming to work and we do hope that when you will be ready to go to work, you won't find obstructions on the road and traffic hindering your movement to wherever you need to go to make sure you have your daily bread. We'll take a short break when we return. We'll be looking at the papers and see what we can lift off the price. Stay with us.