 Welcome back to the breakfast here on PLOS TV Africa. It's now time for Off The Press, where we have, of course, our review of the major stories making headlines across the country this morning. We will be speaking with our analyst, Mr. Ambrose Buke, who's joining us of our Zoom. Good morning. Thanks for joining us, sir. Good morning. Thanks for having me today. Let's kick off with stories from the Daily Independent this morning. It should be on your screen in just a few seconds. As you have it, it says here, Nigeria heading for bankruptcy, PDP governors raise the alarm, reject federal government's reason for Twitter ban. Also 2023, no vacancy in Lagos government house, APC leaders tell Badabia Mila, Hamzat and others. Customers dump POS, return to banks, ATM and other channels. La Long charges community and surveillance as government killed 12 in Joss. South-South leaders berate Buhari over a dot-in-circle remark against Southeast. End terrorism in Yoruba land, pan-Yoruba groups tell federal government. And also how my successor will emerge, that's from the kind of state governor, Ganduji. Wale Shoynka, beg your pardon, says that Buhari should start talking like a leader. And of course, moving to the South, it says here, open grazing is buried in southern Nigeria, that's from Clark. Condemns federal government's northern elders silence over Jihadists automate them to Delta. Robo-youth leaders vow to enforce open grazing ban, give her as 48 hours to quit Delta. And also a lead diversion of 61.1 billion naira, Senate probes, NSITF. Those are the stories on the daily independent. And moving on now to the next newspaper, we're looking at the punch. The headline reads, Buhari regime borrows $2.02 billion from China. $719.61 million used to service Chinese loans since inception in 2015. BDP governor's Lampoon-Buhari over huge debt profile, CBN's operations. Terminal operators to join planned Aparaport reconstruction, that's according to the federal government. Naira tumbles by 51.95% despite CBN defense measures. 12 states battle IDP crisis, communities, firms, deserted. Bandits going round design for our farms to prevent planting. And 113 towns deserted. Also 1 million displaced in Benway, 8th local governments face humanitarian crisis in camps. NSITF chiefs appear in Senate today, over alleged 61 billion naira diversion. Telecom services face disruption as workers threaten strike. Also on the punch newspaper, two more suspects arrested over Oshun female teenager killed by a ritualist. Pandef and Men says will respond appropriately to a full attack on Delta. How monarchs, elites, aides, herdsmen, atrocities, Iqiti farmers. Outrage as federal government demolishes 12 Lagos churches on alleged illegal plots. Okoji attacks Buhari regime, says Anaki looms in Nigeria. And lastly on the punch newspaper, Umahi defends Buhari's appointments, says South is governor's youth meet on Sunday. The Nigerian Tribune comes up next. Food prizes soar, push more Nigerians into poverty. Democracy Day Buhari's speech exposed him as one not serving Nigeria's interests. Ok, I think we're going to skip the Tribune. Let's move over to the Daily Sun instead. Of course, once again talking about Professor Waleh showing how the Daily Sun is showing how wands of lumen break up recommends decentralization as remedy kicks against open grazing. One killed, six abducted as headsmen attack integral community. Headsmen kill 13, injure others in platoon, acquire them. PDP governors raise alarm over federal government's rise in debt. And a boy has no land to give headers for ranching, says Governor Umahi. Democracy Day, nothing to celebrate, says Norton Khan. Men, SMDLF and Clark promise full Anijihadists fire for fire, vow to protect zone from attack by killer headsmen. And also, second, the Syracuse Udom Others Dom Calabar issue Ayadeh quit notice. Those are the stories on the Daily Sun. And lastly, I'd like to capture the headlines on the Guardian newspaper. Nigeria on suicide slide may not see another June 12 showing cow wands. Urges presidents to stop excluding false, exuding false confidence, listen to citizens restructure the country. Many governors decry FG's excessive borrowing, NNPC's opera operations, once Twitter banned reviewed in nation's interest. Also on the Guardian, inflation devaluation pushed millennials away from 20 trillion Naira stock market. Panyurba Group's Sikh end to terrorism supports self-determination. Senate's probes NSICF were alleged 61.1 billion Naira diversion. COVID-19 shot in Africa's blood banks by 17%. 17 people killed in fresh plateau attack. Outrage as 600 NNPC applicants lament exclusion two years after exercise. I think those are the stories we're looking at this morning. A warm welcome again to you. Let me say it will create public affairs analyst. Yeah, thank you very much. It will be, please. Yes, it will be. On the different newspapers have seen this morning, there's a warning here by Srinagar saying that Nigeria may not see another June 12th and that the country is on a suicide slide. Do you agree with this perspective? Yeah, to deliver the Nobel laureates, we have had this kind of warnings too many times, and at the end of the day, it doesn't come to fruition. I remember that in 2014 when Nigeria's amalgamation was 100 years old, we are being told between 2012 and 2013 that the contract for amalgamation of Nigeria was 100 years and that by January 1st, 2014, it could be 100 years and that Nigeria would cease and each nationality can go their way. We are still here, almost seven years later. So what is happening now is that, I would add that to the line of Bishop Hassan Fuka in his book, one of his books, he said that the unity of Nigeria is like a Catholic marriage. It may not be happy, but it doesn't break up. That is what we have been experiencing over the years. It's just a policy shift of the government. One policy shift of the government is to make things come back to normal. If we go the right path, for example, the latest incident that is hitting the polity hard is the headers killer activities, burning farmland, destroying crops, looting, raping women, killing belief, sucking the hope that ladies are modern people. If that policy, and that is because they are being allowed to do it freely, if they are confronted and decimated by the military, then Nigeria will go back to peace and prosperity. So just one policy shift that will make Nigeria better. But Nigerians have a way of coming back and bouncing back after all the crisis. Imagine 1993, between 1993 and 1994, it was a very big crisis in Nigeria. The universities were shut down. Nadeco was there. June 12 crisis, everything. I remember that the universities missed one year. It was a very rough period. Yes, we came out of that. So I'm not enthusiastic about that comment. We have said so many times before and nothing happened. Alright. I was supposed to get your thoughts on the southern leaders. And of course, Edwin Clark, mostly in the papers this morning, saying that the president's call for grazing roots would not be accepted by southern Nigeria. And the ban on open grazing stands has also been some groups in the Niger Delta making similar stands. So let's get your views on the president still pushing for grazing roots across the country and the reaction from southern leaders. I think Nigeria has gone beyond that. I mean a law of 1964, a gazette of 1964 cannot apply anything to one. It's not possible. Even some I've argued that the land use act that was enacted in 1976 or 1978 has also in a way advocated that gazette and that other acts of parliament over the years, I mean we had the 1979 Democratic rule. We have the 1991 to 1993 experiment. Then we, since 1999 to now, we have had acts and other things. So that it doesn't apply anymore in the modern realities of Nigeria. People are going to ranch now. So it is very clear that it's not going to work. Whose land are you going to take for grazing roots? When they were talking about grazing roots, both Nigeria's population were just restricted and the access was just there. I mean, this was almost, we are talking about more than 60 years ago. So it doesn't apply in modern era. The modern era of capillary is ranching. So that Jikaemon gained from the ancillary and offshoot services that come with ranching. For example, the dairy part of it, the mix processing part of it. And the way you have ranching, you can properly plan along the value chain and the offshoots of capillary. The manure that you get from the mix processing, the packaging, the standardization. You are talking about the dairy aspects and all the things that come from dairy. So we have to look forward to ranching as a very serious business. Ranching is not cultural. It is a business. So we should stop painting it as if it is a culture of a particular group of people. Anybody can go into cultural land. So it's pure business. And in 2021, it's not a time to reactivate grazing roots. But why do you think the president is still pushing for grazing roots? Even, of course, seeing the crisis this is causing across the country. What I think is that there are some people around the president who are not being fair to the president, who are giving him ill advice and who don't mean well for the president and the country. Because from the statements that emanate from his lieutenants, you'll find out that that is their mindset. And these are the kind of things that feed the president with. So we have to look critically also at those who are, for example, the attorney general. I mean, for him to be comparing, look at the comparison, indeed, with the spare parts sellers the other time. And so these are the kind of political advice the president gets. And it is unfortunate that the people around him are not doing him any good. Okay, I want us to turn to the punch newspaper now to see a review that he put of the past six years to say, Buhari regime borrows $2.02 billion from China. And when we compare this to the Zambian experience where, you know, the international airports of the country, their broadcasting cooperation, their power cooperation as well, you know, had to be used to settle debts to China. How can we use that to make comments about Nigeria's status, you know, and how it borrows huge sums in the billions of dollars from China? Well, first of all, there are two issues raised here. One is borrowing and the other one is borrowing from China. Now we have been borrowing over the years. We have been borrowing from the Paris Club. We have been borrowing from different IMF, different award bank and different agencies. And now as particular conditions. Now, China is pushing to take over Africa in terms of investment, in terms of loans. From my little research, I found out that China offers very little interest in its loan, very, very little interest. And so that is why a lot of people are going for it. Now, what are the terms? The terms in Zambia may not be the same terms in Nigeria. I have not seen the Nigerian terms of the loans. But if Zambia is taking its national assets for the loan as collateral, that is Zambia's own issue. But for Nigeria, I have not heard that we speak to a national asset to debt the loan. For example, the... Mr Eroke, are you still there? Okay, we hope we get back to him soon because I think that's even the major challenge here. The agreements between Nigeria and China to borrow, it's not in public domain. So because we don't even know what the agreement stipulated, it's even hard for us to begin to say what exactly is at stake. Are we putting our national assets at stake like was done in Zambia? So these issues really need to be dissected to find out what Nigeria stands to lose all gain from borrowing so much from China as a stand. Mr Ambrose Eroke, are you still there? I will say that on the other parts, on the loan parts, on the loan part itself, that I remember the presentation of a passenger, which is called Jewala, wiped out our debts from the Paris Club and a lot of agencies and were on clean slate. Over the years, we went back to borrowing. And now the debt that was hanging on us is so fast that I think we are in serious economic trouble. Remember that the governor of those states, Governor Vasekeli, told us last time that we have started printing money. And that is to show you that that is why the inflation is so, it's very big. Then the agricultural revolution that we are thinking that will help us as a point is being threatened by insecurity. People cannot longer go to their farms and a lot is happening. So how do we pay back this loan? Is there any caveat that you say we cannot pay that we start mortgaging our national assets? So it is time for, I think, the media, the journalists and the rest to start doing investigative reporting to find out what are the terms, what are the conditions, what are the things. Investigative journalism is almost very Nigeria. It's a sad commentary on what the media has become in the first last few years, they have become just events, reportage going on everywhere, press releases and all those kind of things. What has happened to scoop? What has happened to all those kind of things? So the public should not be grappling for information. I mean, there should be exclusive investigative reporting. And that is what the press holds in Nigeria society. And unless we do that, we'll continue to be in the dark because we don't know what is happening. So all these things we group, we ask for, these things can be found out. So I challenge the press, which is our own forte, to do more. Especially the people in journalism, to do more than what we are currently doing. Because right now, the press itself, I would rather say it's not performing to standard in trying to unravel all this kind of mysteries that declared our economy and all that aspects of our national life. Yes, Mr Ebuke, we can definitely do better. And still talking about insecurity all across the papers. We're seeing a Headsman Q13 in Plateau in Aqai Bomb. And we're seeing here in the Ponchi newspaper, 12 states battle IDP crisis about towns that are also deserted, local governments deserted. You turn to the Guardian newspaper, still stories about insecurity on the daily independence as well. Gondmen Q12 in Joss. Really, what's your commentary regarding the state of our security and how it seems like routine now to see stories about deaths and killings in every part of the country? Just a couple of years ago, we read stories about what happened in Afghanistan. We read stories about what happened to Yemen. Stories about what happened to Syria and sometimes in Pakistan and Palestine. We never thought that Nigeria would suffer from this. And now it has become a daily occurrence for us. It's become part of our lives where people are being killed and what's the value of human life in Nigeria. Even the President is tired of wishing statements. If I wanted to talk about the issue statement, those days of Jonathan, the issue statement given the current presidency issue statement. Now, we don't even hear statements anymore. So that becomes a part of our lives. It's just like somebody saying the issue statement when you eat. So this is where we have actually died. I mean, we have descended. We are killing of our fellow citizens, killing of our people have become a normal thing. That is the sad reality of our current existence in Nigeria. Alright, finally. I think you could just quickly speak on the story on the Daily Independent. It says South-South leaders berate Buhari over dots in circle remark against the Southeast. Do you think that might also be taken out of context or their rights to say what they are saying? Well, sometimes when I see reactions between groups and the presidency and the rest, I start wondering what has happened to back-end channels in diplomacy and the governmental relations. Is that missing? Are the people in the presidency restricting or obstructing people from having access to the president? What is really happening? Because some of the things you see in the newspaper are some of the things that you could group as, you know, elite groups like that or statesmen like that could actually go up to the president or have a chat with the president and say, look at this, look at this, sit behind closed doors, come out with policies and then, you know, implement. If that is not happening, then there's a problem between the communication between the presidency and the citizens. And when citizens resort to this kind of rhetoric, then that means there is a problem. Therefore, the handlers of the presidency should be able to open up communication channels between, you know, civil groups like this, between cultural groups like this, between religious organizations or between every stakeholder that has something to say to be able to have access at least to communicate with the president and discuss issues. Because some of these issues are not issues that I would support within the newspaper. A lot of also conflicts and crises happen in other countries. But there's the way that, you know, they're both behind the channel. There are lobby groups, there are pressure groups that are discussed and there are representatives of groups that we go and, you know, have discussions behind closed doors and they're sorted out. So as a public relations consultant myself, I find it very, very worrisome that little things that could have been discussed behind closed doors and they've ironed out between the presidency and the citizens are left to be bandied around the newspapers and being given press conferences, left, right and center. So if it is the handlers of the presidency that are actually blocking people from having access to the president, they are not doing the president any good. They should open up their channel so that if he's our president, it's not their president. So he's our president. So when they want to take ownership of the president, it's not fair on Nigeria. We voted for him. He's our president. So we should have access to him. And so those groups, you don't have access to him. And in that way, some of these things that you hear that is closely within this paper can actually be ironed out easily and then diplomatically and then solutions can be brought so that we all can see his actions that will lead to a peaceful Nigeria that will ultimately put prosperity for the country and the citizens. Alright. I'm Rossi Bokeh. Thank you so much for your time. Thanks for speaking with us this morning. And we wish you a great Tuesday ahead. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Okay. Stay with us. Short break when we come back. What happened on this day many, many years ago. I'm going back to the year 2012 to tell you about a really, really risky feat that, of course, broke world records. And a very sad incident in the history of our country in 2014.