 Inflation drops for 5th straight month. It's now 17.01% for the month of August. Adult state goes top on unvaccinated civil servants, bars them from entering the offices. The papers are in today and we'll be having an analyst join us to review the headlines. Welcome to the Breakfast and Plot TV Africa. It's a very, very beautiful first day morning, the 16th of September 2021. We're excited that you've decided to join us this morning for an analysis of the current affairs in Nigeria. I am Annette Felix. And I am Usagi Obong. Good morning and welcome to Plot TV Africa's The Breakfast. Thank you for joining us. Okay, so our first top trending story this morning takes us to a state like our first. It took us to a state yesterday talking about University of Benin and how the school was indefinitely shut down over students' protests. In Ados State this time around, it's over vaccination cards. The Ados State government had announced that it would deny entry to workers who had not received COVID-19 vaccination and of course had a COVID-19 vaccination card to prove it. Maybe the state civil servants did not think the government was taking that very seriously until they showed up at their places of work yesterday and were locked out. And we have videos of civil servants in Ados State just loitering around the entrance to their offices, just sitting on the pavement there, denied entry into their offices. There are signboards. There are banners hanging outside the gates of those buildings saying no vaccination card, no entry. And it's really cost quite a stir on social media. People have been asking, is the COVID-19 vaccination compulsory? What exactly does the government seek to achieve? And this really is interesting to note. I mean, take a look at the Secretariat buildings there in Ados State. People just standing outside unable to get access into their offices. Let's recall, like I mentioned, that the Ados State government had said this, that if you don't have your vaccination card, you won't be able to enter the government office. And also, a former special advisor on media and communications to Governor Godin Obaseke, the state governor also forgot his own vaccination card. I mean, he mentioned when he was interviewed that the governor's directives had just taken effect just yesterday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and that he came into the office where he forgot his vaccination card, he was refused entry, and that he would have to go home to get his card to access the government house. I think we have videos of residents of Ados State and civil servants just speaking their minds regarding this matter. Take a listen. First of all, I thank him for trying to protect us from this coronavirus. I wanted to know also, is that vaccination is not mandatory, it's not compulsory, it's something you take out of your free way. Understand, you should not try to make this state to look like there is no law. I learned that there's a court of competent judicial restricting from buying people from entering their office or taking the vaccine. But now I want to let him know that he's allowed to take it out of our free way. For example, even me, I don't did this COVID-19 in this state. He has come to see this in Nigeria due to the level of our sanitation. Last few people died like flies on the streets. Wow, that really was the thoughts and minds of Ados Civil Servants talking about the COVID-19 vaccination. Refusing to take the vaccination to say it's not compulsory. And really, this is quite a debate. Is the COVID-19 vaccination compulsory? Some people say that it should be their decision. That man there said he's not sick, he doesn't feel unwell. So why should he get vaccinated? But actually, the COVID-19 vaccination is not compulsory. The federal government does not mandate people to take the COVID-19 vaccination. They have been encouraging people to do so. We understand that there's a vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria and people have just been encouraged. But I think that if the government really wants to ramp up the numbers for people to begin to take the vaccination, it is steps like this that they resort to, saying if you want to get access into certain buildings, then you have to present a vaccination card. The conversation on vaccine hesitancy has existed in Nigeria for a long time, not just with COVID-19, including even child vaccination. There's times when there's been chaos, even in the southeast, because of Roma's concerning vaccination. And so it has always been a very huge role of the government to ensure that proper information is shared with regards to vaccination and its benefits. We've a few times here stated that the Nigerian government hasn't done well enough with regards to the information and publicity with regards to vaccination and COVID-19. And we've repeatedly said that the Ministry of Information and the National Orientation Agency and some of all those bodies haven't done well enough with that regard. And one reason that's important to point out is one of the things that the last guy who was interviewed said, that he doesn't believe that there is even COVID-19, that if there was, you would see people dying like flies. Those are the words that he used on the streets, which I'm not shocked to hear from a person in Nigeria, because that's what they expect. That's the narrative that they probably have with regards to COVID-19 and how deadly it is. And since you're not seeing that, even not just in those states across the country, I'm sure there's millions of people that you would ask that they would have the same thoughts, that they don't believe that there is COVID-19 because they haven't seen anyone die, they haven't seen anything like that happen around them. So it's very, very important that the government does what is necessary to educate people better on COVID-19 and the need to take the vaccine. I'm due for my second vaccination today, so I'm going to be taking it right after work. But another thing is the anti-vaxxers, as they're popularly called across the world. In the United States and France, in France, there was a huge riot. In the U.S., there is huge numbers of people who are called anti-vaxxers who don't believe that they should take a vaccine. They should be forced to take a vaccine. But in those societies, there's more rights. And the government respects some of all those rights. They would try to encourage you and tell you that, yes, you may not be able to enter certain places, or you started wearing a mask. You can enter certain buildings without wearing a mask. I've seen a lot of people getting arrested in the airport. I've seen people receive ice cream for getting vaccinated. So the conversation might be a little calmer in other climbs and the approach that the government has might be a little different. The state governor may also be trying to use his own methods of trying to encourage people to take the vaccine and make them understand how important it is. But for people who don't believe that they should be forced to take the vaccine, you also cannot force them. You have to find ways to convince them that the vaccine is not dangerous and it's not in any way going to be harmful to your health. And that's what the state government needs to do. I don't also think that it is ripe at this time for the state government to enforce such laws. If you look at the numbers of vaccines that are available in Edo state, I remember that they had, I think they received about 40,000 sometime last week. And the number of available vaccines compared to the number of workers that they have in the state, state government workers, the federal government workers, I don't think it's also fair that he can do that. Except he has given a timeframe and he knows that there have been vaccines available for many, many months and people don't seem to be taking them. Then maybe you can do that. But the public enlightenment and the education concerning vaccination is where the government should start from. And that's where they should, you know... Exactly. That's one of the concerns that I've seen people raise online. Some people said they just went to work and saw that they were locked out, that they had no clue, they had no idea that there was such a directive in place. So really the government needs to do a lot regarding information, you know, putting out circulars, engaging the mass media to let people know that, you know, this is what's going to happen. And you need to give them enough time to, you know, go ahead and register. Because sometimes you open the website, I've heard people say, it doesn't load, it doesn't come up. So you need to give people time, not just say from tomorrow. That's one of the challenges we've had with government, with your caravan, with so many things. You need to, you know, inform people ahead of time, give them time to make the adjustment to their lives and not just say from tomorrow, here's the new law. And also make up vaccines available. You know, the state has, you know, population in millions. You can't have 40,000 vaccines and expect that everyone would suddenly, you know, get vaccinated. Both my parents have been vaccinated, but that was months ago, during the first vaccination wave. So there has to be more time and more, you know, public enlightenment with regards to vaccination before you start to take such steps. Yes. And talking about steps, the Aquai Bomb State government has taken a big one. And it's one that southern governors decided to take by a September 1st deadline. And it's that the Aquai Bomb State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed the bill on the prohibition of open grazing into law. Now it started a bill for a law to prohibit open grazing of livestock and provide for the establishment of ranches and livestock administration, regulation and control. It was passed after it was read the third time on the floor of the house during the plenary in Aquai Bomb. Basically, this is the news. This is the news of the season. States are passing the anti-open grazing bill into law. The ban is already in place in states like Eboni, Abia, Bayosa, Reavers, Oyo, Eki Siondo and Lagos. You know, when we talk about the grazing situation, the cattle, farmers, herders, clashes, it's been one of the most controversial issues. And people even say, why should cattle, including yourself, why should cattle be such a big deal? Why should cattle cause such a controversy in Nigeria? But we know that it's because of the security issues that have followed the fact that cattle can just seem to graze and roam freely across the country. So states are taking this very seriously. And one thing I really want to pick from this is it's good to see that state governors could come together to say, let's do something about this. They said a deadline. Even though most states did not meet the September 1st deadline, but we've seen lots of states begin to sign this anti-open grazing bill into law. But it makes me realize that when there's a will, there's a way. There are lots of bills on the floor of the house regarding child protection acts. You know, acts to protect women, acts for... You understand what I'm trying to say? Like bills that can move the country forward. Legislature that can take us to the next level where we need to be. But you would see that those bills will stall for years and years and years. And you wonder why. But you see this anti-open grazing bill, it seems people are speaking with one mind. They seem to have resolved that one of the ways they end these security issues is to stop open grazing. And in just a few days, in just a few weeks, the states passed it into law. Let's use and drive that same energy for other bills that can better the lives of citizens in Nigeria. Yeah, so the thing with politics is... It's a game of numbers. It's also a game of convincing and cajoling and, you know, discussions here and there. The reason certain bills might stall is maybe because they haven't been able to get as many people interested in that bill or get as many people to see the value in that bill. The conversations are not loud enough in that regard. For this one, the conversation has been loud enough for years. And for state governors who have always complained that they're not in charge or not in control of the security architecture in their states. Yes, they receive security votes every month, but they're still not in charge of security architecture. They can't order the GOCs or order the state commissioners of police. They can't, you know, give such orders to protect their people. The Motecmo also and Ibubeagu, or is it Ibubeagu here? ESN as well? Yes. Oh, not ESN. ESN is not a government controlled. Some of all those groups aren't fully armed or financed well enough to be state security architectures. So until they get there, they don't have full control. But what they have is their state house of assembly and they have laws. They have the power to make laws and to, you know, at least enforce them of all those laws at a particular level. And that's what the state governors are trying to do. So since we cannot by ourselves protect our people with the security agencies that currently exist in, then we will be able to make certain laws to at least make a difference. Everyone expected that by September 1st, you know, all the state governors in the South who had been at that meeting and had that agreement would have passed those bills by now, but there's still some states that are lacking. Integral state, I think, passes yesterday. Ogun state, I think also, I think they did the same thing and then acquired them. So it is simply just governors doing what they think is necessary. It may not be 100% the answer to the challenge with regard to security, but it's a step. And they've seen where the challenge has been, you know, through cattle grazing. And so they will take that step. As we move further, I'm sure that they would also open up other conversations and see what more laws that they can put in place to ensure that the people are protected. And, you know, they would be able to save more lives because this whole conversation, you know, the whole cattle grazing conversation has been going on for many, many, many years. But in the last six years has been at its peak. We've never seen it on this level before. The death, the murder, the atrocities that have been committed in the name of cattle grazing have been way more than Nigeria has ever experienced. And so it's important that they do what they think is necessary to protect their people. You can't hold it against them. Not at all. And beyond the passage of these views into law, I want us to begin to hear conversations regarding implementation because most times you get these views passed into law and they just die on paper. Let's begin to see what steps the state government are doing, what steps they're taking, and what mechanisms they're putting in place. Are they having more border control around their states? Are they, you know, communicating with the locals to say, if you see a, you know, cattle, you know, in your area, walking through your streets, this is a helpline you can call. You know, are police stations or are policemen going to be stationed around certain areas? So let's begin to see the ways you can enforce that, the ways you can implement that, and not just say, oh, pass it into law, and that's that. Our next up-trending story is something that has cost, is about someone that has given us so much joy as an Nigerian and as Africans as a whole. And it's the person of Ongozi Okunja Iwerlap, who all celebrated when she became the director general of the World Trade Organization, WTO. And she's now been named Time Magazines one of the most hundred influential people for 2021. Now that Time Magazines annual list of 100 influential people gives recognition to people who, whose ideas, whose example, their talent, or their discoveries transform the world that we live in. The list was released yesterday on Wednesday, and it placed, you know, these people into five categories, Titans, pioneers, artists, leaders, and icon, you know, in March 2021, Ongozi Okunja Iwerlap became the first woman, first African to lead the WTO. And she was included in the leaders' category, alongside President of the United States Joe Biden, alongside Kamala Harris, U.S. Vice President, alongside President of China, Xi Jinping, and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. You know, we've seen people respond to this. We've seen Prince Harry, Meghan Merkel, Duke and Duchess of Sussex saying that, you know, this Nigeria's foreign minister of finance knows how to get things done. They praise her work, you know, for everything she's been doing at the helm of affairs, at the WTO. You know, they also talk about, you know, how she's been trying to galvanize support for African countries regarding finance, and of course regarding vaccination and world unity. So congratulations to Ongozi Okunja Iwerlap one more time. Keep making us proud. Three points. The first one is that this is the same person that a group of people a few years ago were asking that her degree or, you know, honorary degree or something like that be withdrawn, you know, from a certain university outside the country because of politics. Those same people today, you know, will celebrate her, you know, and, you know, I had to mention that because of how dangerous, you know, sometimes we play politics in Nigeria because of personal issues, you know, that we have, or because, you know, we simply, why not we, some people have, you know, completely psychophans who would do anything whatsoever to pull a person down simply, you know, just because they're not in the same political party as they are. So Okunja Iwerlap has continued to excel. Another two points that I will make, first of all, is the conversation that I had with a person a few days ago about the quality of the Nigerian, the Nigerian person. He had argued that the reason we continue to have terrible leadership in, you know, at different levels is because the Nigerian himself, you know, doesn't have the qualities for leadership, but the Nigerian himself is karate, you know, some of all of that. And I had to say absolutely not. I disagree. Because there's a lot of people who have exceptional qualities as Nigerians that excel here in Nigeria and outside the country. Nigeria is blessed with the human resources that a lot of countries envy, even in the West. Envy, the amount of human resources that Nigeria has, the brilliant minds that Nigeria has. And our population. Okunja Iwerlap. Yeah, besides population. The quality. The Okunja Iwerlap is an example of, you know, those kind of people. There's a few people that you can point to in the world today that you would say, these are exceptional human beings and they are Nigerians and they would excel in any field that you place them. She is that person and she has continued to be that person for the length of her career. And, you know, she's not in any way going to, you know, go down. The third one is the importance, you know, and she has continued, you know, to make me love the conversation concerning women in leadership and how we, Nigeria, has some of, you know, the best female leaders that we, that the world has seen. But we still are failing to allow for a wider space for women in leadership. Angela Merkel is one person who I think she's stepping down. Yeah, she's stepping down pretty soon. And, you know, she's, I've seen online, you know, the amount of praise that she has also received. There are people who criticize and say, oh, what is the huge thing that she did? But simply being able to hold one of the world's biggest countries for that long and hold, you know, it together without any crisis, without any major challenges and continue to put Germany where it is in the world map is a huge deal that she was able to achieve. And she has continued to be that person. She was the first example sometime this week that I pointed out to say, okay, I would, I'm still hungry to see more women in leadership roles in Nigeria and across the world. Chimamanda Madici. There's many, many names that you can point out that have done so well that we pray and we wish that we can put these people in positions of leadership. Okonjuwala has been in a leadership position before, but we need to have more of those conversations across Nigeria and encourage more women to get into the electoral positions, get voted for and, you know, fill out those positions and would, I'm very, very 100 percent sure that we'll see huge difference. Indeed. Let's take a break here with our top trending. Let's now see what's trending across our national newspapers after the break. Stay with us.