 ahead of the 2023 presidential elections, presidential candidates face hard choices to choose their running mate. So look at this on the programme this morning. Also on the breakfast groups including the Christian Association of Niger and Catholic Society of Niger have won political parties against filing a Muslim-Muslim ticket in the 2023 presidential elections. We also have newspaper analysis on the press. Very good morning to you. Welcome to the programme right here on Plastivia Africa. The breakfast is what we call it. My name is Kofi Bartels. I am Mr Boko. Beautiful morning to you. All right, we have interesting conversations for you lined up as we early advertise and of course we usually would start off with a trending segment on the programme. It was a sort of chase last night on Twitter to try and find out the location and whereabout of a young woman who had raised the alarm that she had been kidnapped. And Twitter was, I wouldn't say a gog, but quite busy because at the time people were trying to inform the police and the authorities that a young woman had been kidnapped. She put up the information and shared it on Twitter. So people were given some sort of a live location to try and get where she is so that they could at least get the authorities to find her. You know, it was quite a sight to behold. Indeed, the authorities had to put out something, but the name is Amira Soufian. And this is the tweet she put out. Please, whosoever has my WhatsApp number, I sent a broadcast message of my location. We were abducted at gunpoint by people with police uniforms and a van from our houses from different parts of Abuja. We're 17, including three pregnant women and two little kids they didn't see my phone. It was all over Twitter. People were trying to get a location of friends and all that put it out. And not long after that the FCT police commandeer out on Twitter, they replied to her tweet that investigation is in progress. We thank everyone for the many helpful information. They put it coming from all quarters and I urge all to exercise calm and patience as we get to the root of this. Kindly check your DM, Amira Soufian. This is what the police said. Kindly check your DM. Thank you. First, it's very commendable of Nigerians. I mean, the fact that everyone should consent trying to come to the aid of the young lady and every other person according to the information. And as much as we would say that social media has ills, it also has, you know, it's important. Well, it's also very saddening that we have to talk about this every other time. The issue of kidnapping and we constantly ask ourselves, do we have a government? That's the question. What is the responsibility of a government, you know, and any civil crime among other issues? Now, the fact that, you know, among some of the issues that were raised is that these kidnappers were confidently telling their victims of how they will be transported from one point to the other. It brings us back to the question of, on our roads, we ought to have, you know, security checkpoints. I mean, all of that confidence, all of that, you know, effondry. I mean, whatever word you want to use to describe that, it calls for a lot of concern. But as much as we would say that security is, you know, government's responsibility, it's also important that we stay very alert and we are very vigilant in the cost of our transaction and going about our businesses because it feels like we're living in, doesn't feel like, we do really living in a very difficult time as a people. Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed. As a matter of fact, it's also a concern that this is happening in the FCT, you know, people are raised that concern as well, that this is happening in the federal capital territory and that if you're having location, kidnapping locations in the FCT within Abuja, it calls for concern. Is this one of those kidnappings that you have with banditry, you know, is terrorism? Or is it a regular, you know, it's no more kidnapped for ransom by people who are not terrorists? We don't know. But I mean, people also concern that the authorities could not, you know, give a better response than telling her to check her DM. I mean, how does that sound? You're telling the victim to check your DM. It's not, you know, an encouraging sign from the police. But it's good that at least a lady was able to message across and tweet holding her phone. But some people are also doubting the whole story. You know, asking, you know, from the tweet, how are you able to tell us that you were kidnapped from various locations? Why can't you mention where you were picked from? You know, it's what some people are saying. You didn't tell us exactly where you picked from. Were you telling us they picked from different locations? And people are doubting the tweet saying, hey, you should have at least given us the exact location where you picked from so that we can at least know. You know, he said we picked from different locations. It sounds fishy. But yeah, that's what some people are saying. I really, but I also don't know if we also remember the incident that happened, the Abuja train kidnapped or attack that happened where someone had also tweeted at the time that she was dying. And there was also a response on Twitter. I mean, Twitter can be just be a place where you have different kind of energy all around. And so someone was like, when are you dying at the time? Because most times we don't understand. Now you don't want to be in a situation where you are in danger. You can't really tell. Sometimes you find people and you ask them, why didn't you do XYZ at the time? It is not a time where there's a lot of logic or reasoning, because at some point, the medical practitioners would say that your body would be responding differently. You would just have a lot of hormones being secreted into your system because of the situation that you're faced with. And so you don't expect someone who is facing danger, whose life is under threat to begin to act very rational and be very detailed. That is really a lot of bravery to even tweet. So I think that that might just be a lot because if you've never faced, if you've never been in a situation where your life is under threat, then I'm not sure you would understand what it is. You don't expect that time to begin to say, oh, you know exactly, and you're very detailed about the situation. So I understand that for some reason, a lot of people have used the social media platform as a means of causing or generating, attracting attention to themselves, but might not also be in some cases. I think it's important that we call some of this persons slack and see if it's a situation because people have found out that Twitter and social media has helped a lot. And so if you have your phone and you think you're in danger, that one of the things you would do is just to put it out there, just in case someone can stumble and help can come. So yes, that's it. And moving away from that, another on the top trending list is the fact that according to statistics, 42% of Nigerian or young people are unemployed and it's something we talk about every other time. I really don't know how true this data is because it's also another thing. What census was conducted? You're doubting the data. I'm not doubting the data. I'm not, but I'm saying- Typical African woman. No, I'm not doubting the data. I'm just saying that it's possible that it can be more if you look at it, if you were talking about 42% and all of that. But before you arrive at all of these statistics, you have seen it fully employed 37% undi-employed 21% and unemployed 42%. So we're looking at 100%. That's not a pass mark. If you were a lecturer, you would not say, that's good. But I'm thinking that this 42% might just be a little bit above. Well, it's very sadding that we have to talk about this, especially in a country of us where, I mean, there's a lot that's going on where we have what it takes. And so you find out that unemployment seem to be topping the chart because that 42% is not a good thing at all to your recon with. And how do you now describe the rate of crime and criminality? There's a correlation according to those who would be speaking. It's quite an interesting one, the Twitter handle of the company StatiSense put out this piece of information. It's raised some concern because it is data from the year 2020 that they put out because they were asked by some people on their Twitter handle, what is the source of your information? And then they said that people should check the 2020, I don't know if it's a mistake, but Labour Force reports, Labour Force statistics report 2020. So reply they gave to a young person, I don't know someone, I don't know age because we assume already he's into this young. By the name, I.B. Kenney, I.B. Kenney actually says what's the source and StatiSense, that Twitter account put out the information said it's the National Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force statistics report 2020. So people said it, some said you know what? Some are asking if this is some 2020, could it be worse or better by now? Why don't you give us a fresh report? But they put out state by state. I mean it's not a new story or news that you know, unemployment is a problem in the country. And of course, we advise coming in as president to have to grapple with this issue of unemployment. It's not just a national issue. You go across states, it differs, you know, state by state. It's not the same in Lagos as it is in maybe River State. And I think it shows that it's not just the job of the president to solve issues of unemployment. The fact that they also reminded us of the state by state statistic, you know, some states have over 50% unemployment rate. They are national of AGC. You saw there's 42%. But some states have 50%, 51%, 55%. So it shows that the state governments also have a role to play in ensuring that unemployment isn't even about it's not just a federal issue. And citizens need to also hold their governance to account, you know, for issues like this. And these are the questions that Nigerians should ask when people come to say a word for me, make a job president, you understand. What are you going to do about unemployment? You see it happen in American elections. People ask what they would do when they become president of the United States. They are judged, they approve our ratings rise and fall on unemployment statistics, you know, unemployment data, unemployment data. But we don't ask these questions. We don't take it important. Important. So I think that it's generic, you know. However, it is that we want to look at it. And however, it is that government would want to say, hey, yes, we know that the statistics vary like you have put it out there. It varies from, you know, the various states that we have. Well, it's a generic thing. It's just basic that there are certain things that government need to do. These theories have been propounded a long time. And if you look at some of the developed climes that we have or some of the countries that were always in temptation to compare ourselves with, as you find out that these countries have been running and been pushing this particular, you know, theory, that it is government's responsibility to provide the basic. In some climes, you find out that the private sector drives every sector, the educational sector, the medical sector. And that can happen if the, you know, the environment, the ease of doing business is nothing to write them about. You have to look at the environment. How friendly is it? We're talking in terms of security because it would discourage. It should, you know, the level of security would attract, you know, foreign investors and local, you know, investors who wants to chunk in their money, who's, I mean, what investor would want to come in and invest in an economy where, or in a country where security is a major issue. So that's on the one hand. So I think before we begin to say yes, it is, you know, the responsibility of individuals as much as government. Government needs to take care of the primary thing of ensuring that, you know, they provide an enabling environment so that the private sector can actually thrive. You also need to begin to look at the taxes as well. There are some states where, because they haven't been able to think outside of the box, then you find out that taxes become, you know, top on the front bonnet. So they begin to tax the people. Who are you taxing? I mean, you're taxing the same civil servants. What is the, you know, the purchasing power in the state and all of that? But so it still brings back to issue that even if we have, you know, the 42% as the entire, and then all the state, it varies. It just shows you that there's a lot of problems. Some states will begin to argue that, oh, we don't have, I mean, the level of sufficiency. We're unable to begin to generate revenue. It brings us back to the system of government that we're operating. Some people say, let's get back to, you know, a true federal system where we're able to harness the resources that we have and control our resources so that we can, we're able to do X, Y. So it's a lot. It's a generic situation. And I'm hoping that, you know, governments at different levels would understand the basic of government or the reason why government actually exists. All right, all right. I mean, I've been scouring the NBS website and accounts that I haven't seen much. I do hope that with the National Bureau of Statistics that the fact that they have a new man at the helm of affairs, Amy Callie, would not mean that the work, sorry, Amy Adinero would not mean that the work that the other man who was there did is going to stop. Because the guy who was there before now at the National Bureau of Statistics did a yeoman's job, did a great job, you know, because they're putting out statistics every now and then. We hope that the NBS will continue to be as vibrant as it was, even more vibrant under the new head of the organization. We don't want to be seeing news and pictures on their Twitter accounts. I'll be looking at it, trying to see whether that information by statistics is recent. And what I see on the NBS is news. You know, I see news on their page. We don't want news. National Statistics, please give Nigerians data. We don't want to see pictures of your meetings around the world. We don't want that. Give us data. Do your work. You know, don't give us news. Give us stats. You were doing a lot before now. I do hope that the NBS is still doing more. Now, since some interesting stats, but I'm not keen about the news they put up on their Twitter account, you know, the head of the organization going for conferences and stuff, that's not what we want. Please give us stats, more stats. You've been doing a great job. Please continue and even do more. Let's believe that with the new man at the helm of affairs that is not so new anymore of the NBS National Bureau of Statistics that we will see better from the organization. But I'm noticing a difference, which is I'm seeing more of news. The head went for a pro-conference. He had a courtesy call from the staff pictures and put there. We want data. More of that than those things. Let's move on. Some of the hazards of the trade, you know, business. You hope to get continuity in government. Someone comes in as governor, does a good job. The next person that comes in should continue. Someone on the side of a ministry panel agency leaves. The person comes and should continue. So let's hope that that's what we'll see with the NBS. I sincerely hope. I sincerely hope. You've done a lot of good work in the past. Abakari has been in the news and of course he's always a fertile ground for people to comment on. It's been an interesting story. The fellow high court sitting in Abuja yesterday sentenced to drug traffic as connected to him. Chibuna Patrick and Emeka Ezenwane who were linked to the suspended rather deputy commissioner of police, Abakari. Debate six years, mercy imprisonment. Six whole good. Yes. I think you remember the video. I remember the secret recording done by NDLEA and then the story that came out and the police response and the press conference called and the NDLEA NDLEA to respond to them as well. You know, so the trial judge justice Emeka Anita convicted the two gentlemen of on counts five, six and seven of the NDLEA charges, so charge, preferred against them. So I think remember that two of them were arrested at Akanobe and International Airport in Inugu while attempting to smuggle cocaine into the country and they were arraigned on March 7th before that court alongside DCP, Abakari and also importantly for other police officers who were handed over by the police to NDLEA. ACP Sunday Ubiya Inspector Simon Agirikba, Inspector John Nuhu and ASP Bawa James. Let's see what happens at the end of the day. But it's important to note that both Umebe and Ezenwane had appointed a remand pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking charge against them. I mean everyone is saying that this should actually, this particular case should serve as a deterrent to those who are in this kind of practice. I'm sure that you probably would have other persons who are involved and I indulge in and so Nigerians are asking that this should actually serve as a deterrent. They're also hoping that Abakari gets a sentence as well and everyone involved gets it just to send a message. I don't know, we can't continue like this. It's quite unfortunate if you ask me. Once upon a time a superhero star all of a sudden this is what's going on. Well I think that's the much we can take at this point in time on our top trending conversation. We'll take a breakdown when we return. We'll be looking at the front pages of the National Dailys. Please stay with us.