 You're welcome back. It's time now to go and see what we can lift off the press by looking at what made it to the front pages of some of our national dailies this morning. And to do that with us, we have standing by Mr. Tunde Kolaoli, a legal practitioner, who will be talking with us from Lagos State here. Good morning and welcome to the program, Mr. Kolaoli. Good morning, Mr. Tunde Kolaoli. Okay, it's a wonderful day. On one hand, the transportation of Lagosians will be caught in half by the pronouncement of the governor. And on the other hand, labor is insisting they are going on strike. Let's begin with that, which is not even on the press. So, now let's go to Pointe newspaper. Since it's the first newspaper before us this morning, Pointe newspaper has that story that I just alluded to now. Subsidy talks, labor shows federal government begins protests as oil workers downstool. They protest will happen. I hear that the federal government had a meeting with labor leaders and all that. I expected that there would be a pronouncement this morning that, okay, the strike has been called off because we have reached an agreement and XYZ is going to be done. But the strike is going on. Let me have your comments on what you feel about this. You know, the riders are half federal government, NLC meeting, ended in debt log, labor, PDP, the rates, TINUBU's proposal of proposed pay rise. That's one of the things. And IG, others, AIGC, peace to maintain order, prevent violence, federal NLC's protest is lawful. Remember that the inspector general said no violent protest is allowed in Nigeria. But the NLC is not talking about a violent protest. They are talking about a peaceful protest and all that. So let me just have your comments on that headline. Let me quickly say that all over the world, protest has become an animal rights. It is the right of a citizen. When you also go into the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, you and I will see the protest is allowed. Furthermore, it is also the right of workers to withdraw their services. When the trees are split, with either the working conditions or the policies of government and the working institutions in which they work. The other alternative is to go to courts and civilize people to vet your anger and seek a redress. Of course, people can also write about the petition and let us, so people are in charge of their care to seek a redress. So in the Nigerian Labour Congress, having had a series of meetings with the federal government, with Labour at the state level, have had meetings with the state government, but has not yielded any productive results. I should think the not-ledicast steps to take is to embark on a strike to vent their anger. So what the Labour is doing today is supported by law, is supported by International Convention and it is unable to write. And you see why this strike is very, very important. You will see that even though the president said that since they removed the express subsidy, they needed to save about 1 trillion Naira, which is good for the president and good for the country. But on the other hand, we also find that the National Assembly, in the middle of the region, the first thing they did was to allocate 70 billion to them. So the indication of this is this. This car is not taking. Whatever monies are safe from this petroleum subsidy, we still go, like it happens, running a passenger's era, in which money we are safe, and then the politicians have preferred it. Furthermore, it would have been better for the new government to put the palliative in place before embarking on the removal of express subsidy. The removal of subsidy without the palliative in place is by putting the car before the house, which doesn't go away for anybody. We have also seen the implication. Prices are skyrocketed. Inflation is way, way up here. Cost of transportation is very high now. In fact, the economy could be set to have been shut down with the removal of this express subsidy. So if I were the president, I would begin to work hard on the redeem of palliatives that they said they want to put in place in the area of agriculture, in the area of transportation, in the area of increases in wages, remuneration, and allowances, and also look at ways are made to ensure that the Naira gets stronger. This is the Naira remains at the human level in which it is today. It is difficult to bring down inflation. It is also difficult to cut down on prices of goods and services. Because we don't put this anything here. 90% of what we consume is imported from abroad. Even including agricultural products, rice, beans, palm oil, vegetable oil and whatever they do make in Syria, they are all imported from abroad. What if the Naira is not performing well against other foreign currency? It will be difficult to cut down the prices of goods and services in the sector. Then the number of vehicles that the government that they will put on the road to alleviate the transportation problem of sick use is neither Naira or Naira. I think they are talking about maybe 30,000 vehicles or Naira about. In the country of 200 million people, with these very large spans of land, that is like a drop in the ocean. It will not meet the requirements of alleviating the suffering of our people in the country. Okay. My worry, two things that are giving me some worry is that we still have the no work, no pay thing that I don't see really as a good thing. But there's the no work, no pay even though in the constitution it is a right for people to protest. And if you're protesting, you can't be in the office and protest. You'll be on the streets. There is that. And the second thing worrying me is the fact that in Nigeria, when you have a protest, the correct thing to do is meet the police and say, okay, we want to protest, give us protection. But the first thing that comes out of the police is a warning. We do not tolerate protest, whether you're calling it a violent protest or anything. We do not tolerate protest. We are against it and all that. And so the people who are going to protest already know that they are on their own. So even if you finally give them one or two police officers that will go and be with them while they're protesting, everybody knows that your heart is not in it. So there may not be no pay on the one hand, the fact that you may not even be protected as a protestor is on the other hand. And I'm sure that some people that will go for the protest may even carry some things to protect themselves should any problem break out during this protest. So how do we have a constitution granting protest to people and then still have a no work, no pay? And then how do we also have the right of the people which should be protected by the police and having the police always warn us against protest? I don't understand. Let me quickly say that I have participated in so many protests and rallies in my life right from Secondary School to University and to when I became a worker in Nigeria. In my experience, most of the time when we go for example, I meet with the students who are protesting, they don't engage in any violence, they only do that. What usually happens is that the Nigerian state, the government, most times will send the hoodlums to attack the workers who are protesting, they will send the hoodlums to attack the students who are protesting, they will send the regime provocateur including security men to attack those who are protesting so as to be able to break the posters and give it a bad name. Simply because most governments all over the world are never compatible with the posters. Cast your mind back to what happens during the uprising against the Nigerian police which has been done as a kind of empath. The children, our children were very peaceful. The context of it is a very civilized manner in all the places that is protesting. They wake up in the morning, clean up the protest ground, organize food, bring in the decisions they have to play and then bring in the people to come and talk to them when they are dead. They even wake up, government officials who are eager to talk to them. I remember the government went to the Lucky Toe Gate to address the protesters and whatever. It was the Nigerian state that introduced violence or who run into this violence into some of these things. And what is coming from the matter of the IG is very unfortunate, totally unfortunate. The police are supposed to provide protection for whoever is protesting in Nigeria and to make sure that the protest is never attacked by either hoodlums or whoever they want to take advantage. And why do people want to take advantage? A lot of people are jobless, a lot of people are hungry, a lot of people are very angry with the Nigerian state. So when there is any disturbance, when there is an opportunity of protest, they want to use to fence their anger on the state, on the Nigerian government, on the politicians, on the people in the city that they think are responsible for the applied. To avoid this kind of visitation, the police, the DSR, the civil defense, they go out in the neighborhood to carry things, last night, migrations are not a civil defense call. They provide adequate protection to whoever they want to protest and even guide them. Follow them to whatever challenges they want to pass through and make sure that the protest is never attacked. Nigeria should behave like a whole civilized society. We have protested in France recently, just a few weeks ago. Nobody was killed, nobody was attacked, even those charges were used. But not a single person lost their life and not the protestors that have taken place in France in the last six months. And there were many, many protests. That is the direction in which we should go. And now for the idea of the police to start threatening protestors that people will be dealt with, even if they have to protest. Okay, we may need to come back to the point because there are some headlines there that we might need to treat as well. But let's go to the Guardian right now, the Guardian newspaper. There are some headlines there that we would want to just look at. From the southeast, sit at home and force has killed 250 people in two years. That is what the Ohanezen Dibo is saying. This sit as home thing. The other time, just a few days ago, the leader of the prescribed Indigenous people of Biafra, Namdi Kanu, wrote a letter to the supposed disciple, his supposed disciple staying elsewhere, not in Africa even. Simon Ekpa said that the sit at home should stop because it is rather killing the people of the southeast. It is killing their businesses and it is not doing any good to that section of our country. And Simon Ekpa said he doesn't believe that letter comes from Namdi Kanu and he will continue. In fact, he was talking about declaring one month sit at home for the southeast. Let me have your comments on what is really happening in the southeast. Some people are sympathizing with him as it is or empathizing. I don't know the word to use, but they are in support. There may be few, but others are calling Simon Ekpa, for instance, who is now saying that he is stepping into the shoes of Namdi Kanu, a terrorist. What do you think about the actions of someone who is a Nigerian staying somewhere and inciting the people to fight and kill? By law, how should he be treated and what should happen in the southeast? What is happening in the southeast is a very, very unfortunate and so many aspects. And I have always said that too long don't make it right. The way of manner, I thought is going about his campaign is not the right way to go. The way of manner, the federal government and the state government in the southeast are handling this matter is also not the right way to go. And what Ekpa, if it is your neighbor or do they call his name? Who is Ekpa? And what do you think? To stay at home and probably or allegedly get the people to afford the seat at home or at home, is only unfortunate and totally uncomfortable. I have said it. It is only in Nigeria that I have seen the so-called freedom fighters like Simon Ekpa, like the one who is in detention now who is in DSSA, and another who stay abroad and start to throw stones to their fatherland. Go and read the history of the racial struggles around the world. Whether it be that of Mandela, whether it be that of Ithikastu, whether it be that of Nigeria and what have you. They stay within their communities to meet their agitation for independence, for freedom, for good governance. So to say they put the boot on the ground but for us here Simon Ekpa and his brother in detention will still have brothers that all dream people to stay at home to go and kill them all where as in the comfort because their homes are brought it is unfortunate and it's totally uncalled for. What do you think of America? I'm trying to understand. I showed us a pathway to go to collective freedom to achieve independence. You could get good governance through protest without embarking on a struggle. Let me just... I'm worried about, I want to know what law calls what Simon Ekpa or Simon Ekpa is doing. If he's staying there he's inciting people to kill as it is now we know people are being killed whether he sent them directly or not but it's because of what he's doing that these people have the opportunity to do this. Is that strong enough to call it terrorism by law or any other name that can be called by law? I think that is the case. Why is it difficult for Nigeria to have him brought back to the country? Is it that Finland can do what they like? Well, if you... I will take you back to history of the racial struggles around the world and order. Most times when people are dictating for freedom they fight it for independence. It's never when they are bad and the political and criticism because they are those who are dictating for the effort they have had. For any countries or the western world I don't want to release them to their own countries because they fear that they might be persecuted because they fear that they might not get their share doesn't mean fair trial and so they want to shield them from persecution. When Iran was agitated for change of government in Iran it lived in France. It stayed in France all the way through. If the custom went for one Latin America to its country to begin to wage the war of independence in Cuba you also remember that most of the southern African the British fighters who were not in prison with Nelson Mandela were scattered all over the world and the western world and African countries didn't want to release them to their party regime in South Africa. The reason why this is the case like I said is that they fear that they might not get their fair trial if they get back to their country that they might be persecuted and that they may even be executed and in some of these countries that penalty has to be a form of punishment administered by the state. For the Nigerian government in my humble opinion we owe some responsibility for what is happening in the southeast. The problem in the southeast can be easily resolved by organizing a referendum as regards the direction in which the people of the southeast want to go if the problem has persisted for more than 40, 50 years and an hour and it has refused to go the ethical thing for us to do as the people is to organize a referendum in the southeast and then those who want the southeast to receive a campaign for the decision the federal government will also campaign for the southeast to remain in Nigeria and whether wins at the referendum that will settle the issue in the southeast but the problem that we see in the southeast the blockchains that we are seeing from both sides either initiated by HIPOP or being treated by the federal government will also have this problem the fire of freedom has been created just a moment just a moment and the best way to resolve it is through dialogue and referendum let me just ask your opinion reached a point of referendum because there are things on the table that have been listed the same marginalization that is one of them and they are giving reasons why they are saying they want to leave I'm not seeing it as they just want to leave whatever it is but I think they want to leave if these things cannot be addressed do you think we have reached that point where we cannot still go to the round table and say okay what are these things that you have tabled before us how can we address it are we not at that point are we at the point of referendum already there is two ways dialogue cannot be ruled out but it doesn't appear that the Nigeria state will want to do dialogue on this matter if they were supposed to dialogue they would probably have released Namekano since different courts have given another for its release in fact the bill that has given it to Namekano and the other for its release by the different courts is a window of opportunity to begin to negotiate with AIPO and negotiate with the IBO people as you got the direction to go but we are not accessing that corridor of dialogue furthermore with regards to referendum like I said earlier on the agitation for civilian the southeast in fact the southeast went to war with Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 a very bloody civil war where there was no victory but ever since that time that's why there was no victory the agitation, the replacement the desire to pull the southeast out of Nigeria and make it an independent state has never died down it may sometimes be low in tempo but other times again it broke hard but what do you talk about it's not a new problem the other is my thing it's not a new problem this problem has lasted this long I should thank just a moment the thing is how do you assess the efforts by the Nigerian state to even address the problems no victory, no vanquish like you have said but as Nigeria deliberately brought out a policy or made the move to address these issues because the healing has not been done and it's this healing that we need so describe for me what you think about the effort of the Nigerian state to bring about this healing to the southeast you saw what happened in the last election how the way branded you saw what happens everywhere some people feel that they are not people to be trusted and we just need orientation but has Nigeria really done something deliberate enough to address this issue has Nigeria how do you assess the effort of Nigeria as a country to address the problems that have lingered like you said for over 40 years for an independent country out of the southeast do you rate it high or low the Nigerian state is not addressing that problem the thing that they can use force to stamp out the effort to stop the agitation in the southeast so if you stop the civil war and the upper the civil war the agitation refuse to die down and there is no a proliferation of organizations and military groups mass of high power and movement for some state of the Afro the Afro Zionist movement and what have you that should tell us that the use of violence is never likely to address that problem but like most states like most governments all over the world they hardly want to hear a situation they hardly want to see a situation in which any part of the country will want to secede or break away look at what has happened in Ethiopia Ethiopia went to war because the Tigray region or whatever were clamoring and agitating for independence they want to secede remember when Eritrea also wanted to secede from Ethiopia the people went to war at the end of the day they ended up on the dialogue table and Eritrea good care and independence it is in the nature of most governments most states around the world not want to concede independence to any units of this territory wanted to be independent but the reality is that when people are determined when people have results when people want to get their independence there is hardly any way you can stop them sooner than later they will get their independence it may be costly it may be bloody it may be very expensive but the reality is that you cannot suffocate a people to be independent you can stop them from nothing to an independent state so Nigeria should learn from history and then they do the right thing for let me say this when you look at the body language of most people from the southeast it is not impossible that if Nigeria goes into a referendum the majority of people in the southeast might want to remain in Nigeria because Nigeria is a bigger state in which their talents will be better displayed in which the people of the southeast can easily realize their ambition either in the area of business in the area of commerce either in the area of writing check around the world most of the tiny states most of the small states around the world they are not making impact globally it is the big country around the world like China like USA like Russia and what have you that can go to the moon that can explore the depth of the ocean that can come back on gigantic scientific research and get good results from it so if the southeast take cognizance of that I am sure most of the people among them from the southeast would like to remain in Nigeria so let the Nigerians come and do the right thing organize a referendum in the southeast and wherever we should get whatever it is but if the referendum is done and Nigeria wins and the problems continue that will just be another extension of the problems of Biafra coming to play but let's move to another thing before time finally finishes on this segment what is happening in the national assembly especially as regards the screening of ministerial screening of the nominees that is the word we have seen what has been happening we hear today on the point there is a story that today there is going to be another list to the national assembly remember that the president sent a list to beat the deadline and because he beat the deadline any other list that comes behind he is still safe so he is going to send another list but what is happening in the national assembly is what beats a lot of Nigerians although we don't understand what is happening the Senate has shielded aerofi from partition over insecurity in Kaduna so to speak are being shielded some of them are just taking a bow even though we know that in their states they have done very very badly but that would be my own measuring rod my own ruler my own yardstick to measure their performance or the Nigerian yardstick to measure their performance I don't know if the performance is measured differently by those in political power but now there is the thing the list is coming we've seen what is happening somebody went to the Senate with some papers and he didn't even qualify to be there but before he got nominated to be a minister he must have served in so many capacities in Nigeria doing one thing or the other and nobody ever ever thought about it now it is coming out people who are not qualified are being nominated from ministers to superintend over activities that will impact on our lives and then people who have maybe questionable characters are being shielded by the same Senate that is supposed to screen them so let me hear your thoughts of what is happening in the National Assembly or what has just happened in the screening of the ministerial nominees what is happening in the National Assembly is very very unfortunate let me begin first and foremost to say that with the two lists and all that but with all the people that might be getting appointed as ministers we might still be having a very very big government the Dumbura Namada of ministers and if you have been talking about the cost of governance and the need to reduce the cost of government one of the things we should do is to reduce the number of ministers that are most of the ministries that we presently have but that cannot be done because of the contents of the provisions of the constitution which prescribes that at least ministers must come from each of the states of the federation that we have certain number of ministries that must be manned by ministers so without that it's me the second area I want to address is that the way a man at the senate is conducting the screening is very very unfortunate it is not determined from what we used to have or what we had in the past and we people just wanted the senate to take a bow and then they get appointed I mean they get confirmed as a minister if you have worked screening in the US senate you will agree with me that what is that name in the senate is a caricature a kind of charade a charade of the screening process in a place like the US the legislator would have done his own work getting your data, your biography your history right from the day you were born the places you have lived the schools you have attended the work that you have done the number of girlfriends you have the number of male friends indictments if they are well triumph and successes and they will put this on the tables they will agree with you when they are conducting the screening nobody does ask you to take a bow and go away they will also agree with you as regards what improvement you might want to bring into governance we haven't seen all these things happening in the senate which regards to the present screening that is going on over there when you have somebody to take a bow you are assuming that it is perfect but it is not acceptable that it could do the job where are the minorities in case none of the people who are doing the screening today have had one political office of their own either as governors, either as ministers either as German ambassadors and corporations and norah if they have been running successes even all these people have been running successes Nigeria will not be in the final stage and we wish it is today the country is virtually bankrupt the economy is down agriculture is down security is nothing to write home about transportation is com at us and these are people who have been sharing their responsibility of ensuring that the Nigerians the Nigerians are coming the Nigerians people have good residents of democracy so once the people come to the national assembly or to the senate and you don't greet them as you get their performances in the other sectors in which they have been in which they have been heads in which they have been responsible as governors, ministers and what have been then you are not helping Nigeria as its fighter for them they are not assigning portfolios to people when they are planning before the senate is also not the best at all because the senate would have been able to ask these people questions based on the portfolio they are fine if a man is going to head the health ministry he might be able to ask him how is he going to improve improvement into the comatose sector in Nigeria how many number of hospitals he want to build how is he going to stop the brain drain of the medical staff inside him how is he going to bring an improvement to all the medical schools and what have you that drugs are put into Nigeria instead of being imported from China instead of being imported from Malaysia instead of being imported from Pakistan and India but because portfolios are not assigned because the people are telling before the senate you have to ask them very sensible questions as regards the value they will be bringing to the ministry which they will be heading eventually when the president assigns them their portfolios so the senate as it is today is not the entire national assembly might just be another of a staff like we have heard since the return to democracy in 1999 and that is going to be a tragedy if you think the business as you know with the problem that we have in our hands they walk out a president on the street and want to continue to conduct government business they will have been doing it in 1999 when they walk out on the street when the economy is short-term when schools are being increased from one university to the second school as well for God's sake this is not the direction in which to go it's not the direction we want to go at all but we do hope that something good will come up in the following days because let me leave it at that before I let you go in nature news we have this I'm not asking you to respond anyway but let me just let the people know research says heat waves pose threat to women globally in nature news that's what we have so you might want to read up on that if you're watching us right now how does it pose a threat to women globally federal government has launched a bull initiative to support 60,000 farmers to boost agricultural productivity and then electricity commission shares energy tips to help consumers reduce bills there are so many other headlines also on nature news that you might want to read them up because they are very important to you energy you want to reduce it how are you going to be part of this 60,000 farmers that will be given some support and then how does the heat wave pose a threat to women globally we've been talking about farmers and bandits allow farmers to operate that's another thing anyway we've been talking with Tunde Kolaulay thank you so much for being a part of this show thanks for having me my brother have a lovely day you too as we wrapped up with Tunde he asked a question will the bandits and kidnappers allow the farmers to even go to the farms while the federal government is thinking about giving money to farmers to go to the farms even if it is in billions if there is no security it will only mean that this money will go back to the kidnappers and bandits who will now capture them, get this money and then will still be in the kind of crisis that we are right now we'll take a short break and when we return we'll be talking with another guest