 A federal high court in Lagos rules that married certificates issued by Iqoyi Registry were worthless. A federal government says otherwise, will seek to find answers. Niger's debt profile rises to 38.005 trillion between July 1st and September 30th, 2021. Just how do we stay afloat? The National University's commission ranks University of Ibarra on as force in its latest 2021 ranking. And we'll be taking a look at the dailies with an analyst to review them. Many thanks for joining us on the breakfast and plus TV Africa. I am Justin Akadone. And I am Massey Bopo. It's good to have you join us this beautiful morning. Alright then, as always, we'll start off with what's trending across our social media spaces and the world of Nigerian and indeed also maybe the world in a re-talking about. And the first one we will focus on this morning is the Omicron variant and of course the red list and fortunately, as it were, Niger and other countries have been removed from that list which was put by the United Kingdom. Osama said it is some chairing news but over time we have had to discuss on the show here and it was out of them all the talks or the conversation or the negotiations and of course an outcry that eventually the UK government took Nigeria off the red list. Massey. Well, it's a very good one that we have been taking off the red list but it doesn't also stop the fact that there are still some issues and some consents that we need to address and if you actually look at it, it feels like the spin of war doesn't feel like the spin of war and I'm thinking that for us to get to that point, you know, we need to begin to put our acts together for political power equals economic power. So if we sought our economy, if we have some economic might and strength and we're able to put our house together and fix ourselves, I'm not sure that, you know, in the future we'll probably have a reputation of all of this. So well, it's a good one. It's a very good one. I mean, a lot of people for once have actually supported this government for that particular action of reciprocating the gesture that was done by the United Kingdom. If you look at it in all ramification, it's not fair, you know, it's so unjust. If you're saying you're putting this country and all of these countries, especially, you know, in Africa, on that red list, you want to begin to also look at the other countries and find out why are we on the red list and why are they not on the red list because they seem to have more cases, you know, than some of the countries in the continent. So scientifically, it is not, you know, correct. And in all fairness, it is not correct. So it's a good one that we have been taking out, but the issues, you know, that probably will lead to all of this needs to be addressed. We need to begin to put our arcs together. We can constantly be very dependent, you know, on the West for everything that we want. And, you know, COVID-19 should be, I'm hoping that it should have been, or should be, an eye-opener for everyone. Well, it is an eye-opener for everyone. And we should, or Africans, that is not the blimp because we were the ones who discovered the variant here. I mean, we just felt as though we're being punished for, you know, trying to save the world as it were. In South Africa, they were really forthcoming. They were not in denial. When they found that particular or discovered the Omicron variant, they announced it to the world. I didn't even say any reason why we should be, you know, punished as it were. But some other issues actually came out of all of this. And, you know, there was this issue between an airpiece and, of course, and, you know, Emirate airline, there's this bilateral service agreement popularly called AMBASA. Before now, it was a Nigerian gave the UAE, the United Emirates, rather, about 21 spots, and we heard that we did not even get commensurate, you know, slots, you know, to fly within that particular space. But from what we understand right now, our slots to airpiece has actually increased to about seven. And the issue of diplomacy, you know, came to the front burner in all of this. You know, yesterday, you know, it was almost like a heated argument between both some guests that we had that, you know, one of them was saying that we should avoid using some words. We, which connotes that countries are actually at war when they talk about diplomacy. So we should not retaliate, you know, in other words. But the good thing is that right now, we are particularly off that list and, you know, Nigerians can, you know, actually fly, you know, into the United Kingdom. Another story trending right now is that then Nations and Premier University, that's at the University of Ibadan. And from the latest ranking released by the Nigerian University Commission, the University of Ibadan, you know, came talks out of all the universities in Nigeria. Mercy, did you graduate from UI? No, I did not. But, you know, UI is a very permanent university. And from 2016, UI has actually been, you know, topping 100, you know, in the world, if I'm not mistaken. Now, under a lot of factors, there are a lot of things that are actually working out for them. For the fact that, yes, they are actually, you know, if you look at the time that we're actually established, we're looking at 1932, or regionally established. And of course, they gained full independence in 1962. That's also one thing that is working for them. Another factor also, because, you know, with all of this ranking, there would be some criteria that would be used. But, you know, generally speaking, I feel that the UI is such a great university with 13 faculties, best in medicine, best in economies. And you want to go on, the least is endless. So I think they do deserve it. And I'm hoping that all other universities in Nigeria, you know, would actually look at what UI is doing and see how they can replicate. Well, it is a good thing that the University of Ibadan has actually ranked them first out of all the universities in Nigeria. But then again, we should move away from just, you know, being the first in Nigeria, you know, because the last time I saw such rankings across the world, Nigeria was nowhere to be found amongst the top 100. It is really not something that we should be, you know, talking about, because if we're not in the first one... I think it was 1,000. You know, from 2016, UI would always represent Nigeria in the 1,000. So what we need to... I'm just being first, 1,100. 1,000 is way far and massive. All universities were 1,000. But the fact that we even made it to 1,000 is something to appreciate. We can do better. So basically, to the point that we need to, you know, step up educational standards and for structural development in our investor systems so that Nigerians can actually, you know, reach ahead in pride and say that whatever I can get from the University of California, you know, can be gotten here in Nigeria. So we don't really need to, you know, all travel out to get the better education as we try. Because before now, back in the day, we used to have exchange students come to Nigeria, you know, to learn from our universities. And we also do some sort of exchange programs with other investors. But lately, I mean... I don't even want to talk about... I don't want to talk about, you know, the curriculum. I don't want to talk about the curriculum. I would like to stay with the learning environment because the environment on its own has a lot to impact. The environment on its own would tell. I mean, that's why you would hear a lot of people say, traveling is such an adventure. When you travel, it's important that you take out time to travel, you know, within the country, outside of the country because by traveling, you are educated. So, first of all, let's look at our learning environment. I'm hoping that we can do better. I really do not know, but the couple of universities that I've actually visited, it is really horrible. I mean, talking about the infrastructure, you look at the classrooms or the lecture rooms, as you want to put it, some of them do not... Some people, you would be shocked that a lot of people still sit, students still sit on the floor, these days, you know, to take lectures when we're in the 21st century. I don't want to go, you know, through the entire... I mean, the nine years of how the infrastructure of our, you know, higher institutions are in, you know, the part of the country. I mean, in some part of the country, if not all. Really, really bad. And sometimes you hear, we have labs. How many of these labs are functional? The chemical... I don't want to say it, but probably saying this might just, you know, put everyone. I remember a time where I had to be told to imagine that there was a computer. Imagine you've been in a computer class and you've been told to imagine that there was a computer in front of you. Imagine that there was a monitor. Now, the good thing, I was privileged... I used to work privileged. I was privileged to have seen, you know, a computer, a laptop, or see a monitor prior to this time. So imagine someone who was not seen or doesn't have access to a laptop or computer, and then you tell them to imagine. How do you imagine what you don't even know? You have to have a very vivid imagination to be able to achieve that. You know, back in the day, mercy for all that you said, it just brought me back. I don't know how it is right now. Back in the day when I left, when I left school, we did a course in management information system, MIS. You know, basically, that was like, you know, the peak of when the internet and then people going to the cafes to browse and all that, you know, was becoming popular. This was like in 2000, 2001, you know. So we did a course in management information system. So we're being told about the computer parts and everything. The only thing I got to see mercy was a diskette. You know, so I heard the students at the computer science, you know, department, they had to go to do practicals outside this. It was that bad, you know. I want to believe that things have changed, though, but I'm not going to change. Oh, my darling, I would be sorry to say that things would not change. Maybe it will not change. I want to believe that each student should have a computer. If you're studying computer science without a computer or a laptop, I don't know what you do. I'm just saying that if you look at what we're just talking about basic infrastructure now and the learning environment, you go to some of these universities. They don't even have power supply. I mean, the lecturers are just, you know, somewhere and they have a lot of work to do. But you don't have power supply. They don't have power supply. They're just there and you're expecting them to assess students in that condition. They could be very aggressive. Everywhere is very hot. The whole learning place, you go to the lecture rooms. There are really nothing to write to them about. I remember the time where I was still schooling, you know, I was still in Nigeria here and then I had a friend who was in Ghana and then he would say, I'm still in school. And I'm like, what are you doing in school? He said, everywhere is lit because there's light. There's power. That would be the word. Everywhere is lit. So how many of the universities can we say that, you know, the learning environment is very conducive and we can compete with our contemporaries not outside of the world entirely but within, you know, West African region. Let's even say for Ghana. Let's even talk about access to internet. Let's even talk about a lot of issues and not to even talk about the curriculum. So there's a lot to go. But if you also look at it, you will look at our budget. It just shows you that we don't even pay attention. It is not even necessary for us. And because wherever you put your money, wherever your hat is, your money would definitely go. So money's not going there. It just shows that our hat is not even there. I want to give almost a big congratulations to the University of Ibar for actually achieving that particular fit. Being the first ranked among some other investors in Nigeria. This is a call to the entire Nigeria University assistant to opt your game. So aside from getting UI top, other investors too would be upgraded. And of course our children and our students would have a very conducive atmosphere to learn and they can actually compete favorably amongst their peers across the world. It is the breakfast on the plus TV Africa. We'll take a quick break and I call it kola wali or tsundi kola wali be joining us without the press, off the press in a moment, be joining us again.