 The Nigerian authorities have finally given reasons for the perceived fuels scarcity in parts of the country. What are they saying and what should Nigerians make of it? Also university lecturers in Nigeria are threatening to go and strike again. As they say the federal government has refused to honor its agreement with them. We'll take a look at this situation with an education export. We also have analysis of the headlines in today's national dailies, D's and more head on the breakfast. Welcome to the breakfast and plus TV Africa. It's going to be a great, you know, beautiful morning right here. Two hours of amazing conversation. I am Messi Bopo. It's good to be here in your screen this morning. Yes indeed. Merci. Now Kofi Bartels is going to have you be beside you today. I always say it's never the same without you glowing. Merci. Wow, the rest of us are, you know, running around the place looking for petrol. You know that's not true. Fantastic. All right, we will be having a fantastic conversation this morning on the breakfast, but let's begin by placing our fingers on the pulse of a country. What are Nigerians talking about? What are they interested in? And we call this our trending segment right here on the breakfast. Let's start with the House of Representatives passing or going through a second reading of a bill to raise academic qualification of political aspirants. It's been a very, very touchy subject, especially with the presidency. Going back to the 2015 elections and we do know the history. Do I need to go into the, no. No, you, I mean, you have a... So anyway, the particular representative who is the sponsor of this bill is representative Adeumi Onanuga of the Upper Progressive Congress in Oregon State. Now this is a bill seeking the upward review of the required education and qualifications for elective officers in Nigeria, and of course passing second reading of the House of Representatives basically means that it's almost a done deal. She made a statement which was put out on Twitter yesterday and some persons were responding to this. She said, you know, why should, if Nigerian students graduates need to have the NYC qualification to be able to get jobs, to qualify to get jobs? Why should the highest of its in the land have YI certificate as a requirement? And, you know, the comments can pour in. Very valid argument if you ask me. Very, very valid. And you know that with all of that, because if you look at it at the end of the day, the office of the president has not, or the, you know, being a governor of a state is not a joke. As much as a lot of persons have argued that having a qualification, I mean, having a PhD, a BSE and all of that does not necessarily translate to becoming a good president, of having good policies and what have you. But I think that argument, I don't want to stay with that. Yes, it might, it is, but it also, let's look at it, because at the end of the day, you come from the standpoint of having to get a job. School set. No, no, no, I'm just saying, yeah, the school set. But we, you know, looking at the comparison that was actually put out, it is totally unfair. The comparison is unfair. Yeah, no, no, I'm saying that the comparison. But when I say unfair, I mean that. But the honorable member of the House of Representatives, I was talking about. When I say unfair, if you, if you look at the, the reality, the fact that those who were actually seeking for a job, I mean, if you need a job, you have to, you know, get that qualification. It's unfair. Put out the NYC. Now, what I'm saying is this, if you look at it. I want to be sure, on behalf of Nigeria, so you show what you're saying. No, so you wait for me to just get to the point. Now, my point is this. It is very, very, it's a valid point that has been raised. That's number one. Okay. And then if you look at the disparity in the comparison, because the comparison allows you to see, you know, the loop holes, it's totally unfair. That's what I mean. The comparison is unfair. No, I'm not saying that the comparison is unfair. I am saying that when you look at the disparity, the disparity in the comparison, which the comparison has, you know, brought to our know, it just shows you that it's totally unfair. That's what I mean. I get you. So I mean that. Sorry, Messi, you know, we always, always attack, attacking me. So I, I will naturally. So, so, so, so am you are saying that, that it's unfair, the situation? Yes, if you look at the reality, it's unfair that you have, you know, so you want to become a president and all you need is a school set and you're looking for a job. Do you need to have a lot of, you need to have 30 years experience in the job, you need to have 25. When did you graduate out of school? So yes, it's a valid argument. I like the fact that that has been put out number one. But you also know that some school of thoughts, the argument is already ongoing. And some people are saying that being having a BSE, I mean, opening the qualification does not necessarily mean that you would become a president. I mean, a good president or a policies that will be chunked out, would actually benefit Nigerians. But I think that that should not. Yes, I understand that it might not just be a requirement for you. It doesn't necessarily translate into you becoming a fantastic governor. We have seen several professors who we don't understand what they are professing, professors of education. So you have a governor who is a professor, you have a deputy governor who is a professor. And then you look at the state that they're governing, there's nothing to profess about. So you ask yourself, what exactly are you professing? So but if you want to go with that kind of logic and the argument, then we will constantly just allow. So this is what I think. I mean, you said that we've had and I'm just looking at some comments, how people have been reacting to what was said. Because some of the paper papers put out the accounts, the conversations, and I put out the quote of this representative saying if they graduate from Nigeria and young Nigerians have to have the NYC certificate as a requirement, but it is to being employed in the country. Why should the highest office in land just require school certificate? Don't you think so? But the thing about it is that yes, indeed, you've made a fantastic point that you have in some situations, people who are so called technocrats, who are elected into positions in the country, these political positions, and they do not deliver. We have people who've gone to school, who've read law, who've gone to law school, who've graduated from law school, our lawyers, some of our S.A.N.s, maybe become governors, and you don't see anything spectacular about it. You have people who are said to be professors, and they are becoming the worst governors in the state's history. Professors for what? Call them profs. They did more than you. Yours is going down. I'm not attacking anyone in particular. Don't look at me like that. But you know what I'm talking about. It's not given that if you have a doctorate, but I think the thing is that there should be a level playing ground for, I mean, the opportunities and demands that have been made by the job market on Nigerian youth is not the same thing. But this is what I'd like to see. That comparison is an emotional comparison. And when you bring emotions into argument, sometimes logic flies out the window. So it's saying that Nigerians, graduates are being on young Nigerians, job seekers are being asked to complete the NYC before they are given jobs. Why would the highest office in land? It's an emotional statement that can evoke the passion and reaction of Nigerians that we see online. But we need to realize that performing a job and applying for a job is different from running for office. Those are two different things. And it's also important to make sure that everyone has a fair shot at occupying political office. Even if you have not gone to university, but people say, we want you to lead us because we think that you are the right person for this local government area to be chairman. You know what they are going through. You can run for a position. So that's the idea I'm sure behind those who frame the constitution that no one should be left behind. You understand. And of course, if you are there as a school set holder, who says you can't have advisors with PhDs and those professorships and all that. So this is an emotional argument that may threaten to throw logic out the window. Let's move on. We have more training topics to look at. Thank you. Catholic art bishop or Catholic art bishop. This is quite a highly placed clergyman. Because if you look at the episcopacy of things, you look at the priests, the bishops and then the archbishop. It means that he is in charge of a large diocese. I think we need to make it clear. He is a priest in charge of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church somewhere in Icordu, Lagos. So the Catholic art bishop was the one who suspended him. So he is not a Catholic art bishop. But the Catholic art bishop is the one who suspended him. What did the priest do? He was said to have banned Igbo songs in his parish and something I've never heard of before. It's quite interesting because the southeastern part of the country is predominantly Catholic. If you go to the five Igbo states, the Catholic faith dominates the southeast. And most of the priests come from there naturally. So it was interesting for me when I saw that story. And a lot of people also reacted to it. Asking why. Reverend Father James Sanelu, he has been said to be known to chastise choruses who sing Igbo songs where he's officiating Mass. Let's hear from the name. He probably comes from that part of the country. So whenever he's officiating Mass, in any part of the south, south or southwest, he doesn't want to hear Igbo songs. The reason he gives, this is very important because before you throw anything at this one, you have to understand where it's coming from. The reason he gives at this Mass is according to the report says that Igbos are not the only one who attend Catholic churches. You understand? And the excesses of Igbos must be contained. So the predomination or the domination of the Catholic faith in Nigeria by those from southeastern states means that if you go to other Catholic churches around the country, you most likely will see them there. His thought is that we need to be careful because despite the fact that you are in the majority, we have people who are in this church in Yoruba land, in the Niger Delta, for instance, who are not Igbos. So seeing songs that they can understand. So usually when this actually happens, it's possible that his intentions were not, I mean, probably he had good intentions or he had a message of actually communicates, but quite very strange for a lot of people and at this time. And that's why we constantly say you hear the call that we are being governed in different, you know, in segments. The country as Niger, so you have different segments. And, you know, religion is big on us. Religion is very big on us. A lot of people have attributed a lot of the issues that we're facing in this country to the issue of religion. And one would want to say, so for whatever intentions that it was, whatever intention that it was, I'm sure that it wasn't communicated properly. So yes, if you want to agree with me, I have been in the church scene, you know, as much as yourself. So you're a Christian. So you probably say, yes, you've been in church scene for a while. So you're in church, you could be in the church. I mean, I go to church and then people are singing all sort of songs from different tribes. And no one has actually banned that. Usually because with technology, so people can actually be carried along, what you have is that you have people projecting the songs on the screen. And prior to this time, if you have the choir or the chorist or the lead singer, they come out to begin to teach the song. I mean, just before they get into the performance of the song in full. So they just have you, they take you through interpretation of the song. Understanding that you have different persons from different tribes. So we would also expect that because you cannot take out the fact that you have religious organization, be it, you know, the Muslim community, what I have the church Christian and what have you, the Buddhists and the Judaism traditionalist, all of these persons are very vital in, you know, the development nation building. And we need to be very sensitive. It's a sensitive time. A time where you have some quotas agitating and asking that we want to go away. And what's the essence of wanting to go the away. So you want to expect that every religious leader, every traditionalist, including the native doctor, should be very, very informed and aware of what the things that are going on. Because people are saying we're not carried out. No, I'm sorry. We have shown on the screen the statement put out by the Catholic Act of Lagos. It says disclaimer, this dated 7th February, by the way. It is important to notice that Reverend Father James Sanelo, the priest in charge of the Holy Trinity, Catholic Church, made some completely unacceptable comments about Igbo songs being sung in the church and on savory marks that do not represent the Catholic Church's patriotism on common brotherhood of peoples of all tribes and religions. For this reason he has been asked to proceed on indefinitely leave of absence to give an opportunity for a thorough investigation of all matters relating to his ministry in the parish. The leave of absence takes effect from Tuesday 8th February 2022, for the notice we therefore urge our Catholic faithful to hold onto the faith and continue our worship of God as one big family united in love and not separated by language, culture or race. So I just had to read that so people understand and sorry I interrupted you Macy. But I have a question for you, yeah? Do you think that this priest meant to meant to separate people by language, culture or race? Or he meant to make it more inclusive? So the thought I had was that it is his intentions probably might be very right, but we're saying that everybody needs to understand that when a very very sensitive parts, when a very sensitive time in the country, and so be it a religious leader, you need to also understand because we can't take out the fact that we're big on religion, there are different kind of practices and religious. So you're saying it's a sensitive time? What we're actually expecting is that everybody should be very sensitive. His intentions probably would have been right, but we're saying that like for me, and I'm sure that he probably might not just be you know ignorant of this fact that you have a lot of you know churches and things that don't differently, it didn't really come out right at this point in time where you have some persons feeling left out. Let's be very realistic, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying that you have at this point in time where you have some persons who feel that they have been marginalised over time, and if you look at it, so it would just be, it would just be... Is this a, okay so this is it here, a certain drop to mercy. You're saying some people are marginalised over time, right? Is this a situation of people being marginalised? No, so I'm actually, can you just allow me to learn from my thoughts? My point here is this, it is a sensitive time. Intentions might just be right, but you also need to understand before you involve. Now if you look at a lot of churches like I was trying to mention, that you have churches who have, you know, devised means to carry everybody along. So you have screens where you can project the songs and you also have the fact that the chorus... They have screens in that church. Yeah, what I'm saying is we need to find a way to understand it is a sensitive time and for you as a priest to come out to say, for whatever reason, the intentions might be right, but at time you need to understand. You also need to find a way to communicate. So we do not get to a point where we actually get the country, you know, distorted and you know, constantly put all of that confusion in. Yes, you said it's a sensitive, sensitive time. I don't know if that sensitivity comes to play in the church. It does, because like I mentioned, the sensitivity actually comes in, you know, in playing church because you cannot take out we're big on religion and you can't take that out from us. And we're saying that in developing the nation, religion has a place. So you have different religion. You also have the traditionalists. They cannot be left out. They have a lot of followings. And so we need to be very, very sensitive with all of this. Like I mentioned, his intentions might probably be right. But he needs to also understand, like I'm saying, so people go to churches and learn and emulate. You see what is going on. A lot of things that happen in different churches is not because they actually originated. They started with all of those thoughts. Okay, so they probably would have gone to see it from another parish and actually imbibe it and then they practice it. So if you feel that, oh, the ebos cannot constantly have a song because you have all the tribes, why don't you have a situation where because I've been to churches where they sing different songs from Delta, from a quibone from different parts, minority, majority and all of that. So you have all of that. So why don't you find the way where people can actually have a balance? And like I say, it happens in different churches that I have seen, which has not become a problem. So you have the songs being projected on the screen. And then you have the choir, whatever, take them through some kind of schooling. And then they understand before it's been done. So the single kind of song. So for me, his intentions might just be right. He doesn't mean any harm. But you know, because we're in a very sensitive time where some people, especially the ebos, the southeastern parts of the country feels marginalized. They haven't been taken along in a very long. They feel like, oh, we have been left out. We haven't been given. We don't feel belong. They feel, and then, you know, you put out that statement, it will be taken out of context. And that's why it's important that everybody understands that we have a role to play in nation building. Fantastic. Yesterday, we had a guest on the program, and she, Christine Umuakereka, who said that she tried to get her books. You know, she's an author of a book on decadence in Nigerian society, try to get the books into the country. And she said she also attached two phones to copies of the book she was sending to Nigeria from Canada. And she claimed that the National Drug Reinforcement Agency had confiscated the phones, and she tried to get to find out why the phones were confiscated. And the claims, or the claim was that they were trying to use that to get money from her. And of course, that's a responsible and progressive, proactive media organization plus TV Africa went to, you know, to the NDELE to find out what happened. But we'll play a clip and just watch this or when we come back, we'll talk some more. Right to the NDELE office today by the DHS. This can be cross check. This thing, I mean, I mean, it's, in this age and time of technology, she should be able to track where her consignment is. And unfortunately, what she was saying on here, which is also very ridiculous and unfortunate, she was making an allegation that she herself has no, I mean, has not been able to establish. She was saying that they said that even in your broadcast, you also said that NDELE planted drugs in her, in her business. That did not come up. That is never part of the entire transaction. We're just having the first contact with that particular consignment today. And that has been processed and released since because I know the process and not quite as I spoke, I mean, as I told them, like I told one of your producer before, quite the number of people when they don't get their consignments released within 28 hours, I mean, within 24 hours or 48 hours, they start putting pressure on NDELE, not even knowing that the agency is here to have, to see the particular consignment. I have treated a number of cases like this. So people should learn to actually find out information, cross check before they come on here to make sure those allegations. OK, so in this particular case, there is no truth in it at all. Process is this thing came through a courier service. The courier service works with the NDELE, especially for consignments that they don't know the contents. They provide, they present this into the agency and the agency goes through its carnage. And when they are sure that there is nothing incriminating or no drug in it, then they return it back to the courier service for delivery to the owners. So like I said, that particular consignment has the first contact with NDELE today. So whoever she had spoken with in DxL has nothing to do with the NDELE. So she couldn't have been making allegations based on her conversation with anybody in DxL. And like I said, in this age and time, she has a responsibility to check the track through the tracking number, where the tracking number will show where her consignment is at any particular point in time. Quite interesting. Of course, we listen to the reaction of a spokesman for the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Mr. Femi, Baba Femihi, earlier spoke to Plus TV News. And mercy, this is quite interesting. And both of us were here yesterday and listened to the lady who expressed some concern about her items. And if it is a situation that or it is a situation that she did not the items were not with the NDELE. How did she know it was with the NDELE? If at the time she was talking the items were not with the NDELE, then how did she know it was with the NDELE? You know, there were some issues. The truth is, usually when you have an accusation or an allegation being made, there will always be a response. And I haven't you know, since I was born, I'm getting old. I haven't really seen any agents in Nigeria, including the government that has actually said, yes, these happen owning up to it and saying, oh, yes, this is what the case is. So usually it's the case of having, you know, a public image, a public relations. I mean, that's what you're talking about. So you have to put a good image. I'm not saying that that's the case, but there's a possibility. I mean, so we're looking at the fact that yes, an accusation was made. Should there be a response? Yes, there should be a response. What should be it? So anything can actually happen, especially when you're not there to verify all of the issues that were raised from both parties. So yes, it's a good thing that the NDELE has actually responded. And we know what it is. One of the things that was mentioned is the fact that there are processes. Now, don't forget the time that was also mentioned in the course of all of this. She mentioned, you know, a time saying, yes, I send this out at a particular time and I've been told that is in the court study of the NDELE. That's because I've been also told that I need to sort them out before it can be given out. So, you know, it is what it is. You have to have a response. You have to have a case and somebody has to respond. Whether or not the truth now depends on who finds out exactly what the truth is. Interesting. I mean, the agency is simply doing this job. You know, if it's the case of the phones or the items, the consignment going to Nigeria and they've been here for maybe 48 hours, you know, if there's nothing to be concerned about or there's nothing incriminating in them and I think Mrs. Mora Kereka doesn't have anything to fear. The agencies of government must be allowed to do their job. We know that people import vehicles into this country. You've had reports, you know, it's on record. People import vehicles into this country and in those vehicles are concealed drugs, hard drugs, cocaine and stuff. People import vehicles into this country and in those vehicles are concealed weapons, high caliber weapons. It's on record. So if the agency has to do its job by saying, take a look at the items that are important to Nigeria, I don't think they will be able to look at everything, but just to be sure that there is nothing illegal here, there's no problem. They should just do their job. And I don't think they need to start telling us stories about this job. So we're doing our job. We're going to release a thing to the woman and then I think that's it. That's it basically. Well, that's it on top trending. We take a break right now and we'll return. We will be looking at the papers at national delis as always would have a guest join the conversation. Please stick around.