 Today on the breakfast, despite assurance and campaign to end fuel subsidy, organized labor and cis-federal government should provide both as an alternative to removal of work. It's that a way forward. Also on the breakfast, amid security concerns and other bottlenecks, INEC says preparation for the 2023 general elections are largely being concluded, assisted through a picture. And like always, we'll also be reviewing all of the biggest stories making the headlines across major or dailies. It's a beautiful Wednesday morning. Welcome to The Breakfast in Plos TV Africa. I am Messia Popo and the lineup is quite interesting this morning. Ask that you sit back and be part of the conversation. As we proceed as always, we set off with a top trending conversation. But it's also important to note that the queues have not disappeared. The queues are still very much around, especially in Lagos, and I can only imagine what the people and what you have to go through just to get to work and also get to your different place of business. That's just very difficult. However, our top trending this morning, we start with the issue of defection. Now, one more thing that just few days before the 2023 elections that we have anticipated. The issue of defection would be a different story, but that's not the case. As we have Baba Ayur Liman, the North East Zonal Secretary of NNPP, announcing his resignation as the Zonal Secretary of the North East, as well as member and coordinator of the Presidential Campaign Council of the NPPP. That's presidential candidate Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso. Now, Liman claimed that the reason he detached or ditched the NNPP for the PDP alongside many of his supporters was due to lack of structure needed to win the elections in Nigeria. He also explained that his decision to defect stemmed from the internal crisis and the total disregard for the rule of law and lack of unity among members due to poor leadership of the party. Now, according to him, he said the NNPP's leadership poorly managed his affairs resulting in the emergence of various factions and he therefore can vast, you know, votes for the PDP and his candidate at all levels in the vote coming election. It might also interest you to know that the chairman of the party had purportedly suspended Liman on the 13th of July, that's of last year, 2022 without the consent and approval of the party's Zonal Chairman and the National Working Committee. That's the NWC and some have described that act as, you know, a total disregard and violation of the NPP's constitution and that's because every party has their constitution and word of view. Don't forget that Rabiu Kwankwaso is in the race contesting that race come the 25th of February 2023 to become the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So we're still talking about defection. Well, however, the reason for political defections have not changed, you can be attributed and has always been attributed to political interests, the pursuit of political ambition, internal party, you know, this division lack of transparency in the party process, lack of political ideology and political agenda and this is it and it's not surprising because since democracy started in Nigeria, we have actually faced series of problems from conflict between parties to literacy, corruption, you know, political defections as the challenges affecting the country. A function of political system is what everybody prays for. But I'm also interested to know that the first known and recognized political defection in Nigeria happened in 1951 when the members of the National Council for Nigerian Cameroon, that's the NCNC, defected and joined the Action Group, the AJ, in order to deny Nambia Zikawe then the power of the majority making a bathroom is Awolowo, becoming the prime minister of, you know, the Western region and other major defections have also taken place during the course of our democracy. And so including, you know, the current president, including the likes of Pitao be defected from the PDP, the likes of, you know, Atikua Buboka once upon a time was, you know, in the APC. I mean, there's been a lot of defection back and forth from what our senators and what have you, but it's totally and really, really saddening that this is the kind of politics that we have been practicing. And the question would be, is there any legal restraint or restriction, I mean, or restraint from, for political defections or defections, if you like to say, do we have any law, you know, stopping anyone from defecting? How can we, you know, move away from such kind of practice and politics? Because at the end of the day, in whose interest are you, you know, moving from one party to another? I mean, just how many more days before the election, one would think that you have seen all, but that's not the end of it here. I'm sure that even just the day before the election, you still have a lot of persons who would defect. But that's the kind of politics that we have found ourselves and that's the kind of politics that's playing. Next is that there's a video that made the rounds. It got a lot of Nigerians talking, especially at an era where we're asking for a lot of Nigerians are saying, hey, we want those who have the capacity, the ability, you know, to run the affairs of the nation. And so former president, Oluca Gunobassandro, was seen, you know, playing the role of a prefect, a senior prefect during a reunion with secondary school mates. And can we run the tape now? Do we have a video? It would make sense if you see, you know, what I'm talking about. But I mean, there's a former military, you know, personnel. And so it's within him. But it's quite interesting. I love the fact that he lives his life. Okay. I think we've been told that we have the video. So we'll quickly just run that track and then we'll come back and talk some more. And that's the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Oluca Gunobassandro, right there in the video that got a lot of Nigerians talking about how fit he is. I mean, to some it was quite comical, but some have described that particular act as a role, you know, acting like a senior school prefect. You remember if you were in school and then you were a prefect, you know how it is. I mean, there's this power you are in charge of everyone. But I think that, you know, looking at that video, you want to see someone who's disciplined. That hasn't left him. I'm sure the military training in him, see how it remains there. And it's always good to see him, you know, having a great time with his life. That's a great one. But let's quickly move away from that. Another one, it's really saddening. It's a complaint. But I think that almost the entire country might be complaining every agency of government. The NDLEA officials have lamented poor welfare and salaries. And so the officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency are saying that they cannot survive with the 44,000-hour salary. They cannot take care of their families and take care of their life. But to be very honest, I mean, think about it. What can 44,000-hour do today? They also expressed their frustration over poor, you know, premoneration and lack of promotion, nonpayment of medical and order allowances and lack of befitting bags for them to stay. So they say that the workers they are calling on the president, Mohammad Buhari, and Nigerian leaders to focus on the agency and save it from collapse. Now, some of the officers when, you know, they had to speak with men of the press, agreed to the fact that they take bribe. They say, hey, we take bribe just to meet our financial needs. And officers of these agencies are no happy. And they are complaining about it. Tolerary structure is not good. No single allowance. Some officers barely feed their family. No house rent, you know, no single allowance. No hazard allowance, no transfer allowance. I mean, too many issues. But it's not even the case with almost every agency. I mean, just of recent time, we hear reports of saying that, you know, the police might just be backing a protest right here in Lagos, even though we have a police personnel saying that's not true. And they can't do that. But just, you know, conversation I had with my colleague just before coming in there. It feels like every other agency. You hear the military as well. You know, the Nigerian army, to be very precise. You hear different government agencies complaining of poor salary, poor, you know, structures, no allowance and what have you, poor condition of living, no provision and all of that. And so we ask ourselves, how do we fight corruption when we're not taking care of the brother of corruption with his poverty? Because they're like cousins. So poverty and corruption work hand in hand. And so if we are ever sincere with the fight against corruption, then we should be sincere in ensuring that we improve, you know, the standard of living of the people. Now, this is not to say it's an excuse. It's, you know, an excuse for corrupt practice or corrupt behavior or behaving in a certain way. But I'm just saying that if we want to be very honest with this, then we need to pay attention. You know, to this particular factor that we need to ensure that, you know, the working environment is conducive, not just salary increase and what have you. You need to look at the allowance and what have you, the condition of living of the people. So the list is almost endless and we can continue to act like everything is normal. I think that the entire system requires an overhaul. We need to look at it, reject the system from the police to the military to every, you know, agency of government. Because when we're talking about double digit inflation, what is 44,000 are going to, you know, do? How can you, you know, survive with that when you have rents to pay? And if you live in a city as Lagos, then it becomes, you know, almost impossible for you to leave among the living, right? And you want to talk about the cost of transportation when people are buying petrol for 250 naira per liter, almost 300 naira in some areas. I mean, depending on where you're buying from. So when you juxtapose all of that, how do they survive? And some of these persons, you need to put yourself in their shoes. And that's what we talk about empathy. So imagine that you, a man has a family. He is himself. He has a wife and then he probably has to pay rent and then he has kids in an era where a lot of people believe that it's okay to have children as much as you want. You can have five and six and saying, hey, God would take care of them. And so imagine that a man has himself to take care of his wife and then he has like six children. And you're going to be looking at 44,000 naira as salary to cater for the audience. How do you even explain that? You have school fees, you have issue of feeding, clothing, what have you and that's too much. But we can do better. And I don't think it's impossible. It's very possible. It's not rocket science. It's possible to achieve, you know, system because we are naturally endowed. We have all that it takes. We have the resources as a country. But then we need to find a way to fix it. Manage it properly. We have no business being poor as a nation. That's what I think. And people have no business suffering. And so, yes, I'll say this again. If we're very honest in, we were honest with the fight against corruption. If you say we want to fight corruption as a country, then we need to pay attention to the issue of poverty. That's the size of our conversation on the top trending. We take a break when we return. It'll be time for us to go through our papers this morning. We call it off the press. Please stay with us.