 BBC Africa Eye investigates Black Axe, one of the most feared and powerful organized crime groups in Nigeria. For years, Nigerians have wondered if this court group is linked to politicians. The Independent National Electoral Commission on it, Professor Mahmoud Yocobu says, the commission requires 305 billionaires to prepare for the 2023 election and purchase materials needed to cover several by-elections across the country. Does this make economic sense? And as always, we will be reviewing the dailies with an analyst. And thank you for joining us on the Breakfast here on PLOS TV Africa. I am Osao Gie, of Bon Bon. And I am Messi Boko. I mean, it's good to have you back. Yes, great to be back. You know, pretty exciting. It's a build-up to Christmas Day. So the first already, I'm hoping that this year is going to be, you know, a lot better than last year's Christmas. COVID-19 basically was, you know, most of the conversation last year. And so it was a little different. Well, it's not quite different from what we're expecting. I mean, we're just hoping that we don't have another lockdown because already it's been stated that we're in the fall term. We're experiencing the fall wave of COVID-19 with the Omicron variant right here. Of course for a lot of caution in the season and in the period where we're making merry and, you know, having a lot of great time. Yeah, just to quickly remind everyone, because I see a lot of people moving around Lagos and across the country, you know, like there's no pandemic anymore. But just to remind you that there still is COVID-19 everywhere. And, you know, these little symptoms of cough and sore throat and, you know, a bit of weakness in here everywhere. And people say, you know, it's because my genotype is AA, you know. You just might be COVID-19 positive. So go get tested. You know, of course, remember to stay safe as much as you can. Let's start with our top trending stories this morning. First of all, say congratulations to a young Nigerian, a 17-year-old Jamaima Marcus who became Lagos State Governor for one day yesterday. Of course, she won the Spelling Bee Competition across the state and that, of course, earns her the position as governor of Lagos State for one day. She's a student of Angus Memorial Secondary School in Shomolu, Lagos East. And, you know, so congratulations to her. And, you know, it's pretty interesting because this has gone on for a very, very long time. This had it in 2001 by Uluru M. E. Tinubu and has continued to be a tradition. Every year there is a Lagos State governor for one year. And it's a great thing. We've seen, you know, a couple of times it's been a male, sometimes female. But, you know, I'm excited, you know, for her. I'm not sure how much, you know, you will be able to achieve in one day as governor. If I was governor for one day, I would, you know, very likely assign some contracts. You know, well, usually, so I think to myself, I mean, because I haven't been in the sport, but usually I just think to myself, with one becoming a governor for one day, are they allowed to, apart from the fact that, yes, they observe all of the protocols, like yesterday she presided over, you know, the meeting and all of that. I mean, are they allowed to make, like, very real decisions? You know, like, a governor for one day. Are they allowed the powers, are they willed the powers, you know, to make policies? No, I don't think the state constitution or the, you know, national constitution did, my joint constitution, you know, empowers them on that level, you know. So, yes. So it's just a ceremonial function. It's a ceremonial thing, yes, absolutely. But I'm hoping that there are some perks, you know, to being governor for one day of a state as big as Lagos. Hopefully you can make some changes. I heard that she made some demands, you know, with regards funding for schools, secondary schools across Lagos, across the country and some of all of that. So I'm also also thinking that it's also a very good compensating because over time you hear the comparison where people begin to compare and say, when you have beauty pageants and all of the beauty contests across, and then you have the fact that people win a lot of cash with all of the reality TV shows and nothing has been, you know, given to those who are doing very well academically. And I think that this is a great one. I mean, it just goes, it would be in history that you were governor for one day even though it's a ceremonial function. I think it would go a long way, you know, in boosting the morale of those kids. Absolutely. And of course, you know, with the spelling bee competition also, you know, it also then tells you that there's still some interest in that competition which has been on for, what, about 20 years now and is still continuing to produce very, very brilliant minds. So let's see where, you know, some of these people who have won that competition eventually turn out, you know, later in life. Well, congratulations to her. We'll move away from there now and move to talk in the electricity matters where the Nigerian government has stated that three neighboring countries, Niger, Togo and Benet Republic, didn't pay a dime for the electricity they consumed from Nigeria for 2020. They were given a bill of 770 million Naira by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and Nigerian Balk, sorry, Nigerian Balk Electricity Trading Company, 770 million Naira, but they didn't get to pay anything. And of course, this is blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic wars that it caused for those countries. So that's, you know, pretty interesting, you know, as Nigerians themselves, you know, also struggle with paying for electricity consumed, neighboring countries also having the same, you know, challenge. And it caused a lot of concern because one would rather think that, first of all, I really do not know why we're, if we're actually supposed to make money from it because at the end of the day, I mean, that's a lot of money, no sentiment whatsoever as business. And if you are engaged in business majorly, a lot of people want to make profits. So I'm just thinking, how do we as a country, we're not even able to, you know, produce the cater for the needs and the entire population as it is. I mean, the past situation is very epileptic. You want to talk about generation. And some people would say, yes, we are talking about privatization, but, you know, how privatize we, or how privatize is the private sector, I mean, the past sector, being that you still have, you know, the government on the other side. So before we get to the fact that we're also giving neighboring countries power and not even collecting, how did we even get to that point that we're not able to cater for our own need before we're now selling or, you know, giving power to neighboring countries? It is really, really bad. I think that we should just come back and find a way to see how we're able to mop up all of that cash. That's a lot of money. And it doesn't make sense. So for me, I would rather say discontinue. What's the essence of supply and power, and then you're not getting? And then we're making all of the excuses. And then we don't even have, because, you know, the past sector or the energy sector is very critical to economic development. Well, I mean, so I think, you know, it can be described as one of the things Nigeria has exported, you know, electricity, because we're able to generate some level of electricity here. Yes, you know, it's also, you know, good to place that argument in that, well, Nigerians themselves don't have enough electricity. Nigerians are seeking electricity for business. And, you know, it will improve greatly on the economy of the country if we can have a generating of electricity, 10,000, 20,000, 40,000, 50,000 megawatts for Nigeria's current population. There's, you know, there's a fair argument there. You know, but if we have enough, you know, that we can also export and generate income for the country, then I present the same thing wrong with it. What are the excuse, basically, that this is where I have a challenge, the excuse that, well, the economies of these countries have suffered so much in the last one or two years because of the pandemic, and that's the reason they've not been able to pay. That may not, you know, really, really sit well, you know, 100% with me, but I'm sure Nigerian government knows what it's doing. I'm sure that the Nigerian electricity, Nigerian bulk electricity trading company also, you know, understands what it's doing and will get their funds from these countries. Businesses, business sometimes is bad, you know, and I'm sure this happens to everybody. Well, I totally understand, you know, that particular path that, you know, business is business and sometimes is bad, but you also want to agree with me that within-debtedness and, you know, with the way the economy is going, we have cash, we have, okay, we have funds. People are all in this country, and it's time that we begin to get all of this money from wherever it is. So we're able, you know, to push them into infrastructure or development. Let's not even forget that the government is saying all in 2022, just in a few days to come, we will be introducing new taxes, not maybe in January, but maybe after the first quarter of 2022 and then you have new, you know, tax regime and all of that, which is not necessary rather than, you know, introduce new tax regime. I'm thinking that we have, you know, there are resources everywhere where we can just look at and then, you know, begin to see how we can retrieve all of that. That's not very fair for everyone. I totally understand that, you know, COVID-19 has a huge impact on every, you know, the entire world. But we also need to understand that if you are in business, profits is actually what it is. And we should find a way, you know, to get all of these resources back. So what are we going to do? Well, they need to come and talk to me. Anyway, away from Togo and DJ and, of course, by the Republic of Nigeria, 770 million are for electricity in 2020. Let's now, of course, talk about more of the effects of COVID-19, but something on a positive note. Of course, NAVDAC has given the Afebaba Lola University at Doiketi the license and the go-ahead to produce a herbal medicine, as it is, you know, popularly called, against COVID-19. They, of course, had done some trials in the past and eventually have given them the license to go ahead and produce it. This is not a vaccine now. This is instead a drug, an herbal drug, you know, that will help fight against the effects of COVID-19. You know, for, I think, for the last couple of months, we've continuously said that we've still not been able to understand exactly the peculiarities in Nigeria's COVID-19 story. You know, why we've, you know, seemingly been able to have better indices, better figures, very low death rates with regards to COVID-19. We've not been able to understand that. And so I believe that it's important that they continue to do whatever research is necessary, that they continue to understand exactly how the Nigerian society has been able to deal with COVID-19. And so it helps us to also produce our own medication if possible, because I know a lot of people have used herbal medicines in the past. There's still using herbal medicines today to fight COVID-19. There's still some concoctions that they mixed together, you know, to create some, you know, type of drug that will fight it. And these are happening in households across the country. A lot of people don't even bother, you know, going to the hospital or bother going to, you know, seek medical advice, you know, to get proper medication. They have some mango that they drink that helps. I mean, if it has been, if it has actually been helped. I'm thinking that it's just limited to, you know, COVID here now, because COVID is new. What's your trying to understand? Prior to this time, you know that there are a lot of traditional herbal stuff that people get to take, and then it works for them. Now, cherry is the word, you know. I'm really, I must say that this is good news for us because we have constantly talked about the fact that, you know, and I'm just very dependent on the Western world. So over time, when Omicron, you know, broke out again, of course, we started talking about Omicron, and then it got to me, it got me thinking, and I started asking questions. Why is it that we just have to follow everything? Because if you look at it, it's like you have the situation and then they say, okay, you have to do this. This is what it is. And then we say, okay, yes, it is what it is. It feels like we don't even go back to also do our research. It's like you constantly, I would want to cite an example where we're like going to church and then the pastor says, XYZ, you have to go back to your Bible and verify, or you go back to the Quran and find out if, you know, really that is what it is. So it's a good thing that we're, you know, taking, you know, going back to the drawing board, whatever it is, and we're trying to find a way, we're also trying to, you know, solve the problem. Whether or not we get it right, it's not even the solution. I mean, it's not even the point. The point is we're making an effort, we're trying, and it's commendable what is traditional because we need to find things that works for us. We need to find, you know, what works for us as a people because we're very unique. I completely agree. And that's why I said that it's important that we as a country understand exactly, you know, what the peculiarities are with our COVID-19 situation. We cannot continue to follow. And I totally agree with you. We can't continue to follow the trends across the world. They say, oh, there's a third wave. Nigeria says, oh, we're in a third wave. There's a fourth wave. We say, oh, we're in a fourth wave also. We're looking down. We're looking down. Exactly. We're looking down because every other place is looking down. But, you know, sadly we don't, and in my opinion, we don't even know exactly what the figures are, you know, to the letter, the exact figures with regards to COVID-19 in Nigeria. I don't think we're testing as much as we were testing in 2020 anymore. I don't think that we are, you know, doing as much research as we were doing before if we were doing any research. And so if we don't understand once again, South Africa has worse, you know, casualty figures with regards to COVID-19 and other African countries. But Nigeria somehow, it's either we do not know or we've somehow just been lucky or the government just needs to figure out what exactly is with the Nigerian system. So I'll constantly just make reference to, you know, that statement by Tony Blair at the time where he, there were concerns that, you know, in the entire continent, the entire continent at some point had recorded about 3,000 cases of COVID-19, if I'm not mistaken. And then when you begin to make the comparison, you juxtapose that with the number of deaths in the entire continent, it wasn't commensurate. So, you know, several arguments that are coming through, like maybe tacky, we're just been very tacky with data, you know, we're not being, there's something that couldn't really place it because if you look at the number of persons who have contracted the virus and then the number of deaths recorded, you know, there's a discrepancy and then you can't understand why you should not have because you're supposed to have more deaths. So at the time we're recording just 100 persons who have died in the entire continent. So yes, I'm thinking that it's time that the African Union, I said it before, because apart from, you know, COVID-19 as a health concern, I'm thinking that it's time that, you know, Africa as a continent come back, you know, look inward. If we're different, you know, look back and find out what is, you know, very peculiar with us. And let's just find a way to solve it and understand what it is because there's still a novel virus as long as we're concerned and we're still trying to understand how it will preach and we'll never, you know, it's not like we'll have a grab over it. And why we've been able to survive it. That's my own, you know. Exactly. Because, I mean, we had, you know, an expert health expert, a commissioner for health sometimes speaking on this platform some weeks back and she said something. If you look at, you know, what we have been doing, like you have mentioned, we, is it that we're, you know, keeping up with the protocols? You go out, you find out that out of 10% you probably just find like two who are probably, you know, observing the protocols wearing their nose masks and trying to observe, you know, social distancing and what have you. So what is, what is it about us? Is it that we're keeping to the protocols? I mean, you want to talk about vaccination only 2% of the entire population. So we need to sit back. It's a good one. It's brilliant one. Like I always say, I don't care what the end result is. I don't know what it is, but I just think that this is an effort and it's commendable. I care what the end result is. No, what I'm saying is, you know, at the end of the day, the fact that you're making an effort is commendable. So whether or not we get to that point that we're saying, oh, it's going to work or, you know, we're going to get, it's going to cure or it's going to solve any problem. But the fact that we have actually made an effort we're trying to understand we're trying to solve a problem is very commendable. I should give license to a bull sellers if that's what it is. I mean, if we're able to do enough research and we say that it is a way to or it is, you know... It sounds like you're very hungry this morning. You're just making... It's true that they sell across Lagos. It might be anything. It could really just be anything. But until we do enough research and then we're just going to continue, you know, doing trial and error with our healthcare system. Anyway, that's for top trending this morning. We'll take a short break. When we come back, we're going through the major newspapers across Nigeria this morning. Let's share with you what stories have made the headlines. We'll be back.