 Welcome back and now to our discussion for the day. In April 2015, a month before Buhari assumed the headline inflation median was 8.7%. The following year it spiked into the double digit range and remained in the range since then. Niger's inflation rate rose 22.04% for the month of March 2023, higher than the 21.91% reported for the month of February. That's according to the recent Consumer Price Index report released by the NBS. Last year, Niger's inflation rate for the month of March was 15.90% for Central Bank to commence monetary policy tightening. Meanwhile, on a month-in-month basis, the inflation rate for March rose by 1.86% up from 1.71% recorded for the month of February this year. I have joined in me right now, journalist and social commentator Ayodhiji Ake. Many thanks for joining me on Business Insight and Plus TV Africa. Good morning. Good morning to all of you. Let's start this way. The level of inflation continues to rise despite the Central Bank's monetary policy tightening over the last year. In February, Niger's Central Bank increased its benchmark monetary policy rates to 18%. In all of this, how have we not been able to tighten this issue of inflation? We do MPC almost every other month and at the end of the day, inflation keeps spiking. What have we failed to see, Ayodhiji? Once again, I want to say thank you for having me on the program. Like I said, the region of inflation I'm mentioning before now, that is just like an elephant in the house, but in a wing rather. And people failed to not talk about it, probably because we have other things we want to agree with. These things, what we just need to talk about and see how we can address them. Now, you just mentioned about the Central Bank's monetary policy and how they've been able to increase to about 18%. But over time, they have an argument. We keep asking ourselves. This administration over time said they are the best ever since. They've invested too much in agriculture to ensure that we have enough food to eat and, you know, we produce our own food and we start to impartial. But it's quite unfortunate. Now, recently, I don't know if you get to see the reports from the presidency. What they were saying, they were having the issues of middlemen, they were having the issues of COVID-19. And I ask, what is the problem? If you have the issue of middlemen, why have you not been able to, you know, to, to, to set it, you know, to address it before it gets out of hand? And usually I talk to you about COVID-19. I didn't think, you guys understand that not only Nigerians, you guys, if you go to the Kingdom, if you go to the U.S., they are also facing this crisis. But they are trying their best to see how they can, they can give their citizens some sort of quality, you know, to help them maneuver this crisis. But it's just quite unfortunate. Now, there is no way we want to talk about this inflation that won't go back to the business. There is no way we want to have agricultural produce without talking about insecurity. The middlemen they've said, like COVID-19, I was part of a journalist in 2018-19 that we had a media training in Abuja. And we were pitching ideas, reading a lot of stories, urging the government to set up an epidemic emergency unit. But if she, you know, preparing the government for epidemics, you're talking about epidemic, we do know that in 2020, Nigeria will be eased with pandemic. See how it works. So if Nigeria had, I mean, prepared for epidemics, then maybe we would have just had one or two to probably back with the pandemic. But thank God we are, we're out of return. We are still trying to do one or two. But the most important thing is the insecurity. You see the major issue that we need to be addressed. If you go to the North, you see some local government, the main local government, you know, the insecurities are taking over bandits and everywhere. They can't even go to their farm freely. And some that are forced to go to their farm, you don't expect them to, you know, to manage to get farm produce and sell it at normal price. The demand has hit there, but we have to shut it in supply. So I still don't know. Maybe all these CBM policy, government interventions are just media hives or media routine or foreign policies. But we need to see what exactly we are going to see in results. Look at what you just said down. Inflation eats about 22.2%. Food price inflation is about 24 plus, over 24%. And contrary to what we have in 2015 before this administration took over, in general in 2015 we have about 9.2%. So I don't think, I don't think this administration have done well. If you think you have the issue of insecurity, okay, before, yes, we've had the insecurity, we have the issue of the admin issue, we are the region everywhere. These people could not go to their farm now. And even since we do, we're still there. So it's quite unfortunate. So for me, well, the CBN may have said they've done well, but yes, you may have done well coming to TV, coming to radio, reading reporters, you know, applaud yourself for doing well, but we are not seeing anything. And generals are not seeing the effects of what you are doing. That's what I don't see enough. All right, there's been several issues of plaguing our monetary policy, even the fiscal policy with a high cost of debt and debt services. We've not been able to address all of that now. So there's a new administration coming up in less than two weeks. Now, what should the major food cost be on? Because we had a single digit inflation before this present administration. How can we get back to where we were and ensure that Nigerians can actually have food in their stomach, not that they go to the market today and the next day, the price of food has actually doubled by over 100 percent. Okay, I will start by saying, why is region, I think the major, for me, I think the major problem was, because it came in and said, we want to produce our food locally. Very fantastic idea. I feel that is fine and we can do that if we have things in place. We shut the border, we want us to stop importation, but only a building new mechanism. That is not the best way to go about it. There should be checknotes. We do want, we want us to stop importation, fine. We want us to produce locally. Fantastic. But why not close the border for a few months, send us back to the farm? If the issue of, the issue of insecurity and everything we just mentioned, try to work on them, open the border for under a few months, and see how it constructs the balance. But you know, those things just destruct all the, all the, all the money. That's fine. Pay God is not as bad as it is bad. From nine to 20, from nine to 1922, is nothing we can bring. Now, if you're seeing the new administration is coming and dept. Yes. Well, I don't know. Tuning is not a magic shop. It's just a poetry shop. And I feel a lot of people are crazy over the years that they have the capacity to turn legal state into a wealth state. And we are believing and we are hoping that we are going to do so many things for us in Nigeria, at least to dig us out of the poverty pit. But like I said, it's not a magic shop. We don't need to look into so many things. Now, first, when money was campaigned, I think it mentioned the issue of insecurity, which I just mentioned was also affecting us. Now, don't forget, if you look at this issue of insecurity and this food crisis you are talking about, inflation you are talking about, food. Well, there is one particular report from the food and agriculture organization that says that if we are not careful, about 25 million Nigerians are two surfacing under between June and August this year. So that means, to those administration and media want to hear it, if we are not careful. So what I would suggest, since he said he wants to tackle insecurity, like he has said, when he was answering the question during the interview or during this campaign, he said he's going to recruit more paramilitary to ensure that our people can go to their farm fields. And also, they should be able to, in terms of motor vehicles, for them to go to the farm and do a distance. Now, there's no magic to debts. There's no magic to toiling. Are you listening? I'm listening to you. Are you? Go ahead, yes. There's no magic to one dollar to one era overnight. I keep saying it. It has to do with balance of trade. You can't be depending on another country and wake up one day and expect one government to come and expect that with that government to just make one dollar to the one era. It's impossible. We don't need to produce. What are we producing in Nigeria? It's as bad that we so much depend on other countries because we import from them. We import on these, we import our toothpicks, we import almost everything. And for those that are even manufacturing in Nigeria, they're even ashamed to market their power that you produce something in Nigeria and you write it in China. It's quite unfortunate. But we don't need to go into that. What I would just want to tell you, I don't know where you want to get money. But if you look at what has happened over time, this first subsidy remover, how Nigeria got to know from the world bank about this already billion dollar, I add the finance minister said they want to meet about 50 million Nigerians have to come but they don't. According to me, a very post-track started saying they want to distribute about 5,000 era today. And I keep asking, what can 5,000 era do in Nigeria today? How will it actually lead people out of poverty? I can call you for free. I use it. Yes, I'll just start going with you. I was wondering how the 5,000 are actually leading mother to father. It's funny. I don't know what 5,000 era can do in Nigeria today. So I don't know. With the 800 billion dollars that a lot you can do, instead of distributing the money, no. You don't need to distribute it. What you need to do is let the... You need to invest in the private sectors. The private sectors are there to help us. These farmers, like you said, they are middlemen. The money the central bank has claimed, the presidency of Bari Admission has claimed, that given to these people are not getting to them. All right. Are you... I'll be direct contact with them. Are you with me? Yes, I'll just... I'll be direct contact with them. I'll be direct contact with them. Let them know, let them tell you what the problems are. Then with these 800 billion dollars, they have association, meet with them one-on-one and give the money directly to them. Let them make more food available for Nigerians. Let them be able to meet their demands. Now, for his security, I just believe the incoming administration can do better, like he has promised. Probably he's going to increase the permission of the military sector more equipment than everything. Maybe that will actually solve the issue of insecurity because once his security is out of its den, we can go to our farm failure and these present farmers can stop producing and reproducing. But if not that, there's nothing we can do. That's for you. I wish that we had much time to talk more about the issues of transportation and subsidy removal, but I would have to bring you again to look at all of these and salient points because we need to tackle this head on. Ayodeji Ake is a journalist and a social commentator. Many thanks for being... Ayodeji Ake is a journalist. Thanks for being a part of the show. Do appreciate your time. Thank you. All right. As we go on the show, we'll be looking at something that is also very, very, very important. Now, there is the need for professionals in the built environment to form strong advocacy against quackery and sharp practices. If the type of incessant building collapse in the country must be stemmed. This formed part of submission of stakeholders at the 13th edition of the Lagos Architect Forum. Now, the forum brought together architect and other professionals to share thoughts on the theme, the city of Lagos. What is Lagos? I'll leave you with details of that. I'll return again tomorrow. My name is Justin Akadone. Bye for now. Lagos is the fourth capital of Nigeria and known for its uniqueness as an economic hub, high-flying business hub, and a city that has long captivated people from all over the world. However, these architects have converged to share ideas and critical insights to effectively midwife a livable and sustainable Lagos state. We try to analyze the physical development within the city of Lagos and see how we can get government to key into some of the suggestions that as professionals we think they should key into. When we talk of the thriving city in the world, these are cities that never sleep. What it is all about is to synergize, to interact with the private sector, the public sector, the manufacturers, the suppliers of building materials. In recent times, incidences of building collapses have become recurred even with a CTS commercial as Lagos. As one wonders how these tide can be stemmed, government is advised to ensure monitoring as enforcement does not stop when approval is given. The professionals believe that state governments should domesticate a national building code as well as show political will to stop the menace. The building code actually has some compliance forms built into the document such that at various stages of the development of the building, you have relevant professionals signing off at different stages. Are we shining away from our responsibilities? Are we ready to take up our responsibilities? And to be honest with you, please be ready for more collapses because if we are not ready to do the right thing, then be sure that these tragedies will continue to occur. Until we can have a proper governance structure on the construction process, where we start to track who designed, who supervises, what are the stages of construction, what are the stages of certification, and it's available on a digital platform. This is why this is Lagos. The NIS shows that it will continue in its advocacy role as watchdogs to promote best practices in the building procurement process to avert ugly consequences of building failures and collapses. Justin Acadonia, Plastivenius Lagos.