 Welcome back to plus TV Africa time for us to check out the front pages of a national dailies as we have Femi Lawson was a public affairs analyst join in the conversation as we proceed it's good to have you join us Femi Lawson. Good morning All right, so I started with the leadership newspaper this morning And let's find out what big stories are making it on the front pages of a national dealers now on the leadership newspaper You have six days to Anambra poll residents flee over rising Insecurity and that's on page four Six days to Anambra poll residents flee over rising in security It's a boat caption Sporadic gunfire frightens residents too killed and called clash. It's a rider because you have three riders That's a first rider. You have please assure resident of adequate security call for calm Traditional religious leaders one I pop against hampering conduct of election That's underneath the boat caption of the leadership newspaper security consent Tanker explosion kills three in Niger state And that's also another caption you find on page six of the leadership newspaper Post cried a motecum northern youths tell federal government. Oh That's also interesting You also have CBN releases criteria for Companies participation in 100 for 100 PPP. That's on page seven I'm sure you want to find out. What's that? What's that about? You get all of the information. You're about once voluntary retirement for 19 victimized generals and Another interest in caption on the leadership newspaper this morning But that's the much we can take on the leadership newspaper would definitely turn our attention to the daily Independent newspaper now the daily independent newspaper is reporting quite different from what you have on the leadership in terms of the boat caption you have food prices heat rooftop despite declining headline inflation Food prices heat top rooftop that's by declining headline inflation That's on page two If I'm not mistaken now firms worry over Erosion of profit margins you have dropping sales Declining turnover weak manufacturing capacity Utilization this is some of the us caption on the daily independent newspaper this morning now looking at another caption you find CBN kicks off initiative to support 100 companies in 100 days That was also captured in the leadership newspaper as well. You have reps Pandaf condemn siege on justice odd elise residents reps pandaf condemn siege on justice odd elise residents Invasion ploy to plant incriminating materials opposition party as quoted now we can ask federal government to unmax those behind invasion in 48 hours this is also what's generating conversation as well this morning and Just before we move away from the daily independent newspaper you find Tunnel boom it's Buhari at Assarok and lords his exceptional leadership and that's on page 25 National Convention PDP lets off battle cry for Assarok in 2023 just as they say Success of convention is a quick notice to the APC Party governors exhibit and for state of 2022 primary elections This is some of the riders you find this morning on the daily independent newspaper I'm sure you like to pick up a copy to Read all of the information Now let's move away from that and check out the daily trust newspaper this morning on the board caption You find how poor state of abuja Kaduna road aids accident and kidnapings now this is a very strong argument and Angle that has been pushed over times for every time that we have You know a situation of you have accidents on our roads and the issue of kidnapings Some Nigerians have said that yes, it is a state of the road that is majorly a concern Many lives lost to accident is a first rider you find commuters grown and call for speedy work Payment issues and rain responsible for delay. Oh, yes, all of that excuse You find the federal government quoted on that how informants and all others collaborators fuel banditry It's also another caption you find this morning on the front page of the daily trust newspaper this morning and And still looking at it just before we move away you also find Domestic airfares skyrocket despite new airlines entry Domestic airfares skyrocket despite new airlines entry That's also another board caption on the daily independent newspaper now. You have in security others caught Niger's foreign investment to 875 million dollars lowest in five years that's on page 27 if I'm not mistaken mixed reaction Trail fascia la and sure lose monthly rent our product proposal That's also another caption on page 22 of the daily independent newspaper now on CBN on veils Criterion for supporting 100 local firms in hundred days Dominating all of the pages this morning and you have kidnappers abduct chief Imam and two sons in a bulger now the issue of kidnapping seems to be thriving every day and That's it on the daily trust newspaper moving away from that Let's check out the punch newspaper this morning on the front page of the punch newspaper You find Nigeria lost 898.93 billion narrow to pipeline vandalism theft in nine months, it's a bold caption and all of them Lose thousand of barrels of crude oil to pipeline damage That's what you also find vandalism dangerous crippling revenue generation You find expert quoted on that and talking about an umbrella elections You have this caption saying Anambra decides 2021 76,104 voters in five local governments may not vote Says who find out who's quoted on that one use Anambra a kitty polls to boost Your image Bishop tells INEC Justice we anticipate the election calm the 6th of November just five days to that election You find that on page 22 of the punch newspaper this morning And you find Bangs begin deduction of loans from chronic debtors and accounts I Like to take that again bangs begin deduction of loans from chronic debtors accounts. That's on page 33 of the punch newspaper this morning and the issue fraud you have 11 million Dollar fraud caught others in term for feature of Obese house and cars That's on page three of the punch newspaper this morning We just check out one or two headlines just before we have Femi loss and join the conversation this morning Now in man arrested for defying 10 year old left behind by murder in on-dose state It's really really sad the issue of pedophiles in our country That's on page five away from that. You also have a more tech who arrest teenager with 50 kgs sack of Indian hem in our shunt state and vendors failed to embrace in error as download stall at 220,000 Nothing modern bail for attempting or for attempted drug smuggling Rearrested for trafficking That's also another one on page four and five of the punch newspaper You also find PDP governors move against Mac to reduce military influence where that's also on page two pick up a copy of The punch newspaper as well as others. I'm sure you get all of the information that you desire We head straight to sharing the thoughts of Femi Lawson who's on standby once again Thank you for joining us and good morning Femi Lawson Okay, so let's start with The leadership newspaper six days to a number of elections residents are already fleeing due to the rising Insecurity concern in the state. What are your thoughts on this? This is such an example One of the major test will follow are democracy and the future of elections in Nigeria particularly as we approach the next one And of course the church on the plane general election It is unfortunate that those caracal behind the rising state of insecurity in a number used to be women and They have greatly, you know, impacted negatively on the resolve of the people of another state in less than a new government as of today It's very unfortunate that the security Seems to remain a place that spices of effort being made It's very sad that almost on the daily basis you still find these people no refactors or no government attacking one's own mission or the other intimidating people which is they are all in the game of presenting the people to freely elect their next government comes out today But I think the time available between now and the election should be used by state owners What does the security agencies including the political parties and the government leadership to build the confidence of the people and assure them that going out to vote on Saturday does not become a tentative It is very important but very sad that these criminal enemies are already achieving their aim of assuring that the people do not come out to participate in the election Shouldn't we have some level of peace and some level of assurance that everything is going to go well with the fact that we have that number of security personnel deployed to that particular region because that should guarantee some kind of peace So why is the opposite happening The assurance we have to go beyond their ways in the circumstance that even with the presence of every security personnel just as we witnessed three days ago these criminal enemies are still perpetrating their evil In actual fact there was a class some of these criminal enemies had a cover of security agencies Remember that just three days ago these criminal enemies had also attacked the team of department of security personnel who are also a patrol for this election It is now beyond giving me assurances in ways but people, especially the stakeholders must come out and collectively deny violence and collectively assure that the people are assured that coming out will not lead an attack to their life or police car parties should collectively come out the criminal domain should come out and other stakeholders including the transmission should come out and the truth is that why it looks like these attackers are ghosts it's something that should also worry us I'm really concerned for people to begin to argue there is this kind of discrimination who are perpetrating this in all kinds against humanity in a number of states so if all these are done the people can't be rest assured but it's not going to be enough for people to be assured at the base of the person left on the internet or from the police what's happening in a number of states is now beyond that that's a good new sweep of this morning another interesting headline is that the chief of defence staff Lockheed Rabo is asking that there should be voluntary retirement for 19 victimised generals what do you make of this well it is it is fair especially when we have it you know I'm not sure any women to really absorb back into the service it is to say that they are allowed to exit the service in the ceremonial manner demanded for the military personnel of their ranks it is very enough for people to have attained the rank of generals in the army and it is very much in such an out ceremonial manner so it is a very considerate step on the part of the chief of defence staff and it is believed that the general army leadership would work in line with you and they showed that these people were paid not a good number of their young to serve the country and not just in such an out ceremonial manner in the way it has been done I think the army authority must work in line with you to hold that by the chief of defence in our army and allow all the beautiful to their career away from the leadership newspaper another interesting caption says food prices heat rooftop despite declining headline inflation I'm sure that if you also patronise the market that's on daily independent newspaper the food prices seem to be going up despite the fact that we hear that inflation is declining and what can we do what can the government do what can the people do at this point in time in such a way it looks at the time we are living in the country and beyond the piece of policies and factors that have become responsible for the general inflation being in the country the particular you know astronomical increments of the price of food cannot also be disconnected from the right state of insecurity that has practically you know a huge number of our farmers away from the funds and our rooftop production capacity becoming decreasing almost on the daily basis so beyond the series of economic policies that is headed inflation of course every sector of the economy the issue of food security is important it is crucial and the rising cost of food prices cannot be disconnected from the right state of insecurity that seems to have become uncontrollable as we speak the farmers have been set away in droves from their funds in being they implacable to can be the other part of the country where a lot of local consumed foods are brought from so it is a frightening dimension and I think the government must begin to look at how to address the question of insecurity as a national emergency because if this goes beyond what we are currently witnessing we may be approaching a moment where even with money in our hands the food will not be available in the markets to buy which is going to be a very dangerous type of uncertainty but shouldn't we have some yes I understand that you have mentioned some factors that could be responsible or that is really responsible for the inflation that we might just be experiencing talking about the prices of food among others now shouldn't we have some pricing mechanism because sometimes where you just find the prices of goods just unnecessary the increase you cannot explain it now should we not have some price mechanism some control mechanism maybe by government or agencies just to help ensure that the rights of citizens are protected there ordinarily should be a price control mechanism especially at times like we are currently witnessing but the truth is that what has been even the role of government in ensuring productivity what has been the role of government in supporting small scale importance of some of these food items that are consumed locally government will only have inflation as be morally responsible to control citizens including private if it is involved in production if it is involved in proper regulation of import export if it is involved in also financing of some of the productivity behind food supply in the country the truth is that in the government are finally considered to be responsible for any of these so for people who go out with to make purchases or to produce food it becomes difficult for some people to see somewhere and begin to determine prices for them it is very difficult and that is why government must begin to look as hard as possible to positively get involved in supporting genuine entrepreneurs who are the food production those who have been bringing some of those foreign products that are consumed in Nigeria rather than just fitting down in the name of some foreign policies giving funds to politicians in the name of entrepreneurs and all those manner of financing that are the witnesses that are the impacts directly on productivity in the country especially in the cultural sector if we don't do this it will be difficult for us to expect government to sit down somewhere and decide how much I will sell the sugar of yam and taking the risk of kidnapping and whatever we will bring from the north to live on it will be very difficult let's move away from that now looking at the national convention ahead of the 2023 elections PDP is saying that the success of the convention is a quick notice to the APC do you think it's a quick notice to the APC ahead of 2023 looking at Aso Rock it feels like that's the goal it is a progressive term that the party conducted its conversion of course that ended in a peaceful manner but PDP must understand that training the APC out of power in 2023 is definitely beyond the success of the national convention of the party to elect officers for the party the more fundamental term that I think the party must look forward to taking to preventing candidates that are credible marketable and acceptable to Nigeria for the 2023 elections if that is not done it will become a majory to assume that that convention will serve as a quick notice for the ruling APC PDP must position itself to offer Nigeria what we will see has been better than what it is currently offering Nigeria without that I don't think it is automatic for any political party to assume that Nigeria are going to use it to replace the other without any credible clarity another interesting headline here says reps and they have condemned siege on justice and of course we know that the governor of river state has issued an ultimatum to the federal government in 48 hours probe those behind us bring them to book what are your thoughts first of all what do you think about this siege and secondly you have the fact that the attorney general of the federation is saying he is not in the know denying involvement not to bring the know and the question is who raided who ordered the raid it has become the norm for government what we are going to do is think that to perpetuate this kind of abnormal actions to deny it but we must record that there is so many media coverage of that incident we have seen table evidences of photographs identity cards of people who participated in that illegal raid the bearing addresses of the office of the attorney general of the federation but I think we should be sober and seriously worried that this is happening again this is nothing but a mere attempt not to investigate the judiciary if anybody think this was intended to attack the personality of the superior of the supreme court we may not be getting it right the truth is that those behind this terrible act are house the game for the judiciary just like they have done in the past and they have become instruments that threaten our democracy because if the judiciary as an institution can be so desecrated in the manner these people are grieving then what is the hope of the ordinary Nigerian working on the seat because the judiciary the supreme court should be the most respected and sacred institution of our democracy but today it has become an object of all sorts but people who are not really have no business trying to investigate how the judiciary runs different what is being done is targeted at this woman just to harass and intimidate her just like they have done in the past to other justices including the forceful requirement of former CJW and I think Nigerians must not sit back and see this as another drama this is not a drama this is what I mean and we must see this as a threat to democracy and it will not be taken lightly okay I like the fact that you also mentioned the fact that yes it feels like it's a semblance of what happened particularly with justice Wildtown Norgan his removal and some Nigerians some courters are saying this is just it because prior to the 2019 elections you also have this happening which led way to you having a tanko and now this is also the same thing do you think that this is the same ploy 2023 which is just in front of us and this also might just be a ploy to remove her and have another justice it is not impossible and you cannot really disconnet this assault from the political desperation of people who are in power to be because even when there are issues of the stress or even if a crime is perpetrated by a judge in Nigeria there is a law that is a collated procedure there is an institution empowered to investigate and deal with judges in Nigeria that is the LGSF so it is not within the power of the attorney general or whichever office or whoever to begin to raise the arrest and begin to under the the guise of wanting to enforce one discipline or probe one action or the other this is an assault and these people are deliberately attacking this institution of democracy the attempt by the executive to put the judiciary in its pocket just like they achieved with the removal of the former CJA is condemnable and will continue to speak against it because the judiciary is an independent act created by the law just like the executive itself so it is not a business of one to not begin to pretend over the one that it has not been given the power to do our law does not give any power to the attorney general not to go to the president without some procedure to deal with any judge in Nigeria so why should they continue this culture of harassment not because they want to impose maybe another person at the end of the judiciary in Nigeria it is wrong and that is primarily why this assault is taking place ok but what what can the judiciary do at this point in time the hope of the common man is there anything that can be done how can they pursue that this does not occur in the future when the greatest defense for any social democracy in the people power resides in the hands of the people the sovereignty of this country belongs to us as Nigerians not to any president or chief justice or governor or whoever so the owners of the sovereignty in Niger people most informals see the need to rise and continue to defend democracy especially when there are assaults from some of these oppressive of government like a witness the judiciary also must reaffirm its stand and its independent in the face of all this harassment by now one would have expected that national judicial council and all the institutions of the judiciary begin to stick out to conduct this harassment it is good that the Nigerian association has risen against it but it must go beyond that so ultimately it sees the Nigerian people that have the most important responsibility of defending the institutions of our democracy which the judiciary is very precious okay let's move away from the talk on the judiciary and look at the daily trust newspaper now the state of accident and kidnappings in Abuja Kaduna are attributed to the poor state of the roads they are saying that the roads are really bad and this is aiding accident and kidnappings and we know that constantly we've heard that several resources funds have been released and all of that roads are still horrible for regular travelers like us the truth is that the terrible state of roads is not just limited to Abuja Kaduna as a matter of fact some other roads linking other parts of the country to Abuja are also in more terrible conditions and people have been taking on the daily business almost on the daily business on these roads kidnappings are closed almost every time you know on every part of the roads to travel from Abuja through Niger state to Abuja it's a very terrible road to pass through the moment you leave Abuja so travel from Abuja to Niger state travel from Abuja to the southeast travel from Abuja to from part of Nassar al-Assad so it's a call for collective action for the part of Abuja year in year we receive budget through allocation made for these roads there is no year that allocations are not made for the administration and reconstruction why are these roads in this perpetual state of the city it is terrible and it should be worried so that when you leave the roads in this township not only causing an accident but now exposing our people to this criminal element would not pick them or whenever they travel it is very sad and practical action must be seen to be taken both in the repair of these infrastructures and improvement of security on our roads ok, still staying with the daily trust let's all share our thoughts on this particular headline that says insecurity others caught Niger's foreign investment to 875 million dollars it's the lowest in five years and you also have this I want you to also react on this as well how informants and others collaborators feel banditry this are some of the reports that we have here this morning on the daily trust usually the reason that we have continued to code name as banditry it's really disturbing to me in particular and I think this is a major issue of worry for Nigeria our borders in some particular part of the country in the north the truth is that in every system even when there is no high change in situation like we have in Nigeria there are always sabotage there is always a tendency for criminal elements to have people within the population who provide information to them and who encourages their actions but what matters is the ability of the authority of government to meet this in the board if we have invested enough in intelligence gathering and of course working with the citizens who are sending this challenges of insecurity I think there has been a great reduction in the capacity of informant to supply information to this criminal thereby forcing the effort of our security agencies it is worrisome that the government is not working enough with the people and that is why the criminal seems to have more more informant among the people than the government so the government must do more to work with the people but not in the local communities it is a major way of tackling insecurity we cannot sit down in Abu Dhabi or the state capitals and control our mountains just to move into communities and they have no knowledge of what is happening here other than what the year or where reports are made we must be able to work with the people locally these are the people who have first time knowledge and that is the only way to know what progress has been made in the war against the terrorism and the culture okay and let's quickly see if we can take this for the want of time the punch newspaper saying Nigeria lost 898.98 for 93 I beg your pardon billionaires to pipeline vandalism theft in nine months so I mean that's a lot of money right there and if the issue of theft and pipeline vandalism has been ongoing why haven't we been able to put an end to it stop it or control the extent at which that happened the business of oil theft control pipeline vandalism is not a business of the young of the children of the of the ordinary citizens it is such a sophisticated business agent by agents of the state particularly the security agents deployed to monitor the pipeline and other oil producing regions so beyond the lamentation of nearly one trillion as the record has put it now that the country is using to the activities of this criminal I think we are at the point where the government itself was the sincere if it is interested in fighting pipeline vandalism and now it turns to the country this is not the perpetrator that I quote to burn the source toilet with sugericam and nine month political ban this is a sophisticated business this is a the system that involves a lot of people through the chain but it causes to assist the perpetrators and ghosts they are not ghosts so the government must be sincere with itself rather than lamenting and telling Nigeria what is being lost to the activities of criminal elements called pipeline vandalism but it is willing to now come out and fight this manner that is now depleting the economic prospects of the country without doing that I don't see any sense of seriousness in this lamentation that the government is taking us to thank you so much Femi Lossin for being part of the newspaper review this morning and helping us to understand the caption or the headlines on the front pages of our national dailies we do appreciate your time and we look forward to having you on a different occasion thank you so much we'll stop on the brakes right now when we return we will be taking you back in history to what happened sometime today 2012 where parents actually killed their daughter with acid stick around we'll be right back