 Good morning once again and thanks for joining us on the breakfast here on PLOS TV Africa. It's time for Off The Press where we have a quick review of the major stories making headlines across Nigeria today and we're joined this morning by Tunde Kolaouale who's going to be our analyst. Good morning, thanks for joining us sir. Good morning sir. It was fantastic. Thanks for joining us once again. We're starting with the punch newspapers this morning. Let's see what stories that we can find over there. It's going to be on your screen in a few seconds. There it is. The punch says, remove petrol subsidy. Economic Council tells Buhari warns states. Also it says subsidy makes investment in Nigeria's downstream sector unattractive. States may go bankrupt again and capacity to serve as debt very weak says LCCI. Also on the punch, government agencies didn't remit two trillion Naira alleges Senate panel. Forex COVID-19 forced 415 firms out of production says MAN, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and Buhari plans Salah celebration in Villa stops home age again. Trade deficit widens to $2.15 billion after border reopening. We can also find on the punch this morning the fire got Legos church or shum market. Chairs, freezers, sewing machines destroyed. More Nigerians set to trade crypto despite CBN ban. And also strength or strength in forest ranges by drones choppers. Southwest speakers tell governors. We can also find on the punch this morning church collapse. A couple of years ago TB Joshua should have been charged with carelessness says where it's showing her. Don't take COVID-19 vaccination. Yedipo tells winners worshipers. A Niger village is sacked by bandits among 15 victims of both accidents. Those are the big stories on the punch. This morning on the daily independent subsidy payments were since state's solvency insolvency. That's according to presidential advisers. Above the headlines, it's madness destroying police stations in southeast. That's according to the president. Two corpse killed as gunmen burn aqua bomb and abyss stations. Alleged coup. Nigerians may not believe Buhari's government again. 127 Seattle's ask Buhari to stop killings. Warn of mass action. Panic as army arrests 13 Bokooram tourists in Kano. Death toll in Niger boat mishap rises to 31. Senate says MDA's yet to remit over 3 trillion Naira. Federal government loses 4.7 billion Naira annually to illegal jet charter operators. Five killed, one missing in Kaduna. And the apostate church is telling the president to be serious about fighting insecurity. All right, moving on to the Nigerian Tribune this morning. Quarter one, 400 Nigerians murdered by Bokooram bandits, headsman says a report. Food crisis looms as farming activities decline. Bandit skill 11 in Katsina. Security forces skill 11 terrorist. Foyle fresh attack on emo police area command. 127 rights groups ask Nigerians to begin mass action. May 26 claim 2000 killed in three months. Also this morning, Nigeria needs at least 100,000 megawatts to power economy says Tonya Lumilu. And preference to foreign currency, low forex inflow, heightened pressure on Naira. Ibadon rise seizure. Don't start a war you can't win. Senator Warn's customs says Nigerian custom service ignorant of powers of lawmakers. And we can also find on the Nigerian Tribune this morning. 28 die. 65 rescued. Seven missing as both comprises in Niger. At Awala was 34th memorial anniversary. Politicians should not lie or make promises they won't fulfill. Okay. And the LAA bust drug or online drunk a drug trafficking cartel arrest five in Abuja. And this one is pretty shocking panic in Onisha as a truck load of live bullets falls and spills contents. Idelfitri Buhari to observe low key celebration mourns victims of madness. Those are the stories on the Nigerian Tribune. On the nation newspaper gone men kill policemen 19 others in a very important on the Nigerian, the Guardian week consumer protection keeps cement prices high. Cement producers declare 121 billion Naira first quarter profits. FCCPC keeps mum despite consumer complaints. And LCCI blames impute cost on inflation and Forex. 127 CSO cell Buhari stop the bleeding, canage or resign. You don't need foreign help to solve insecurity. South Korea advices Nigeria. 60 federal government agencies failed to remit three trillion Naira revenue in six years. Also on the Guardian bandits strange disease killed 20 in Katsina and Canada state. Also gone men kill monarch wife and in law in Kaduna. Those are the stories on the Guardian newspaper. All right. Good morning. Once again, today color. Let's bring you in here with these stories. Just like it has always been. There is hardly any carry news. On the front pages of most of the newspapers that you have decided to review this model. But I would like to start with the issue of subsidy payments. Honest, let's begin. I'm one of those who believe that there is no justification whatsoever for the ruling and likes for the people in power for the money and complaining about subsidy payments. It has always been the excuse they have been having over the ages for their poor performance in government. But if we take a look at the issue of subsidy payments in this country and what we have seen in that regard, we will all attempt to conclude that this issue of subsidy payment is a sham. You will remember not too long ago when the House of Representatives decided to look at the books of the NNPC with regards to this subsidy payment. What came to light was very, very ugly indeed. It was discovered that when some of these suppliers supply just one cargo load of petroleum products, they will go to the NNPC and claim subsidy for supplying five cargoes. Some did not even supply at all and they still go to the NNPC and claim the subsidy. You remember Lawan, the legislator I think from McConnell State. He is still being prosecuted as of today for allegedly trying to extort right from family of $3 over this subsidy issue. So I doubt it, whether any Nigerian will be convinced that we have a prudent regime of subsidy payment in this country. The second issue is if you have veterinary refineries and those refineries will be put to work. Why has it become so critical to put them to work such that in possession of petroleum products will become the theme of the past? The truth is that the Nigerian allies, the ruling class, the people in power are not interested in ensuring that the refineries that we have in this country become self-functional. They will rather keep on importing products and paints of city and laundering the money they have got to buy houses, to stash in street banks, and to send their children to every school. Furthermore, licenses were issued to certain private individuals to build refineries in this country. It is only Dan Gote and the Guagu that have shown and that have made some move in building two refineries. If the others have refused or declined or have been like Jessica, in fact reaching the license they were given, what steps have the government taken to ensure that the license that they were given was not cosmetic, was not merely obtained to be sold to some other persons so as to make rainbow profits at the most opportune time. So the government is to blame for this subsidy regime, but with that as it may, I would still want to say some of the things have emphasized in the past. Let the government remove this subsidy. After they have removed it, let's see what other excuses they will have for their poor performance in government. So each time you take the federal government to task, about poor performance in government, each time you take the state to task with regards to poor performance in government, they will say it's because we are paying subsidy, we have no more money to run government. So let them remove it once and for all so that we now will have, Nigerian people who now have reasons to hold them by the pause to perform and not continue to view the subsidy thing as an excuse. Okay, well I was just going to add that it's also important to know if Nigerians will be able to afford petrol at that price if subsidy is completely taken out. These are some of the issues that are always spoken about with regards completely taken away subsidy payments. But go ahead, I would like us to move quickly to the southeast and talk about the truckload of live bullets that spilled over in Onitsha. It doesn't say if those bullets were headed for anywhere in the southeast or even beyond the southeast, but maybe if we read further in the story, but what does that mean to you? Well, the truth of the matter is that there has been arms and arms penetration all over the country and that also tells you about the average mentality of the... All right, Simza, we'll ask Mr. Tinde Kalawali there. We'll get him back in just a minute to finish up his thoughts on insecurity in the south-south and southeast in part of the country. And while that's still a very big debate, we've seen statistics compiling just how much debts have been recorded in the past two months, at least over 50-something police officers who have died. We're not the one taking into account of just the ordinary everyday Nigerians trying to get by. These are police officers who are attacked at their police posts, checkpoints, police stations. You see patrol vans, set ablaze, weapons stolen from the police station. Just atrocities now targeted at police officers. Men of the armed forces also killed, men of customs also killed. It's just terrible, I think, the direction of insecurity. Compound that to the reports we've seen on the Nigerian Tribune that about 150 persons have been kidnapped just in the first quarter of the year and about 400 Nigerians murdered by Burko Ram, Bandit Herzman, add that up to give you just a picture of what security in Nigeria looks like. The figures are not, we're not even sure exactly what the figures are. Some are saying there are 2,000 things on the Tribune also that say not to 2,000 past couple of months that the report there also says 400. And this is across the country. There's a conversation, of course, for the Southeast that I hope that we can have. And I must have said here that we need to be very, very sure what exactly is going on in the Southeast if there is an intentional move being made by certain elements to weaken the security architecture in the Southeast for their own personal reasons or it's just vendor taking police. Nobody really knows. So Nicola, will you welcome back? So as I was saying, the truth of the matter is that there has been harms for the relation all over the country. You and I will be wondering that the Burko Ram, who are in a landlocked area, how are they getting their weapons? You and I will also remember, there was a time a cargo plane was apprehended in a future, fully loaded with arms and ammunition. It was initially seized by the authorities. But at the end of the day, that cargo plane of arms and ammunition was released. We didn't know where that cargo eventually ended. So you'll find out the arms and ammunition that has spilled in the Southeast shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. In fact, when you go all over the Nigerian ICs and all that, arms and ammunition have been openly traded on the ICs. That is where the bandit and all these insurgents could go and shop for the arms and ammunition. The airlines are not bothered about their security. They are not bothered whether their own mother, their own father, their own cousin, their own nieces or brothers are killed in this insecurity that has been able to come to all that they are entrusted in is making profit, collecting rents, levies and charges. And then most of them are buried in their relations, especially their children are brought. Most of them also owe to a situation so that when the entire roof collapses over our heads, they just take their private heads or sleep through their yachts and then abandon the rest of us in Nigeria and then fly abroad. So it must be some merchants of theft that have imported that arms and ammunition with the intention to either sell them to the bandits or whoever so as to be able to make profit. Because the impression it could mean some people who want to just conclude that it is probably being shipped or moved or been taken to the airport people. But from the revelation, from the some of the comment we have gotten from airport, they have said they have not been importing most of their weapons that they are manufacturing them themselves. So the security people require to make a total investigation with regards to the sources of these arms and ammunition and the destinations in which it is going. And this is never difficult to make. Most arms and ammunition that you get, that you see, they have serial numbers, they have countries that make them inscribed on them and they also have a bill of lading as regards where they are coming from. Look at what happened on the large end source. The Nigerian authorities denied that they never shot anybody. But low and low, a media organization like the CNN went and traced the origin of the weaponry of the bullets that was used to shoot the end source protesters at the Lekitogi. They traced this to one of the countries close to Russia. The year it was made, the time it was purchased, the countries that at the time that Nigeria bought those arms and ammunition. So those things can really be investigated and then we get on top of this. But we should not jump into the conclusion that the weapons are destined to be taken to the high-poor people. In fact, sometimes it will be meant for the pokohara. Because when people do this in arms and ammunition, they have a very tortuous way of moving those weapons around so as to deceive the security people. So that it becomes very difficult to be able to catch up with them. The story says the truck was on its way out of Onitsha when it fell into Agata, lost control and fell into Agata. So it's yet to be a certain location it was headed. Yes, indeed. Still talking about security, Mr. Kourowali, I want to bring a report to your notice. It's here on the Nigerian Tribune that 400 Nigerians were murdered by pokohara bandits and headsmen in the first quarter of 2021 and that about 115 Nigerians have been kidnapped. I mean coming out of COVID-19, I mean the height of it in 2020, was this really what we saw coming in the new year 2021? Let me quickly say that the figures that have been given by those organizations are probably those that were published or made in the electronic media. There are so many killings that have gone in this country that never get reported. But with that as it may, I think the intervention of these organizations is a welcome development. I shouldn't be the first one. You and I will remember that Mrs. Anene has organized demonstrations in the southeast and in Pene against the killings that are going on. Some other organizations are also in Pekasina, in Apuja and Nauda, women groups organizing rallies and protests against the killing that are going on. So if these other human rights organizations are now ready and willing to team up with some of the organizations that have been crime against the killing that are going on in the country, I think it is a welcome development. It will have to put this government on its toes as regard the duty and responsibilities that it holds in Nigerian people with regards to protecting lives and property. Because it doesn't appear to me that this government is on top of this game with regards to security, that they are even concerned at all or that they even know what is going on. Look at your transit that is coming from Mr. President this morning, that what is happening in the southeast is madness. He never said that with regard to the banditry in the middle world. He never said that with regard to the killing, maiming and burning of public properties, that the Pekoran has been perpetrated for the past 10 years. Now that it is the southeast, you are saying it is madness. If it is madness, then why don't you reign in the mad people so that we could have peace in this country? The truth of the matter is that that also is not the right approach to it. The government of the day required to sit down with the people of the southeast and find a solution to this problem. Threats, deploying the ammo tanks and name Nata helicopters is never likely to solve the problem. Go and read human history wherever people are determined, wherever they insist that they want their freedom. There is no arms and ammunition that can quell or that can destroy them that can stop them from arriving at their destinations. The high-time Nigerian government sit down and negotiate with the people of the southeast and properly conduct a referendum all over the country as regards which tribal, which nation, albeit with people, won't serve determination and allow them to go the better for all of us. This government has proven capable of uniting the country of ensuring peace and security and allowing our children to go to school without having to look at their back, whether somebody is hiding behind the corners to kidnap them. Okay. Mr. Kolawale, about coronavirus, there's a story we saw here on the punch newspaper. It's Bishop David Oedipo. He says, don't take COVID-19 vaccination. He's telling worshipers in this church and he's been saying, if the government wants to really cure COVID-19, they can come to him for a solution and that he also condemned religious leaders who have been advocating for the COVID-19 vaccine and saying the church is an anti-coronavirus zone. Saying these things basically dissuading Nigerians from taking the coronavirus vaccine. What do you think about this, the influence of religious leaders when they make statements such as this? The statement coming from Bishop Oedipo is very shocking to me. Shocking in so many respects. Bishop Oedipo is a scientist. He graduated as an architect and he had a practice architecture for some time before he became a pastor. As a scientist, he wants to know better what is the justification for him asking people not to take the coronavirus vaccine? Is it that it damages people's health? Is it that it is made with contaminated materials? Is it that it is against people's religions? The answer is no. It's a call on people not to take the COVID-19 vaccine can be likened to the call of certain Muslims not to take polio vaccines for their children. Most times you'll find out these religious leaders are enlightened in other parts of the country are Muslims who are telling the ordinary person not to take the polio vaccine. Always go behind to go and vaccinate their own children so that their own children don't become crippled. You will be shocked that some of these religious leaders don't take the COVID-19 vaccine. They would have gone behind outside the country or somewhere so fascinate them and fascinate their families. According to what we heard from Oedipo, he said that when COVID-19 did not kill Africans as was expected then the COVID-19 vaccine was fabricated and that all that was needed to kill coronavirus is a shot of anointing oil. I don't know what you think about that as well. No, I don't think so. I really don't think so. To say that the church and all that is no COVID-19 soon doesn't in honesty make any sense to me. So many pastors have lost their lives because of the nonchalant attitude of this COVID-19 thing. Look at the president of Tanzania. He was nonchalant of COVID-19 thing but what eventually killed him? It is the COVID thing just like I'm emphasizing as a scientist. Oedipo will require to have a broader attitude to some of these things. If he can give us convincing evidence for why we should not take COVID-19, at least for example the Muslim people who say don't take a polyobacin who say it is made from pig products and the Muslims are not expected to take anything that has to do with pigs but in his own case I have not seen anything really genuine, material, sincere or convincing to say that people should not take COVID-19 other than to say that divine protection is sufficient for people who go to churches or call themselves a Christians not to take the COVID-19. When you and I do know that the Bible and the Quran I have never spoken against people having access to product of science. When you read the Bible and the Quran some of the foundations of the sciences that you have are to be cut from both the Quran and the Bible. So when they interpret the Bible or the Quran the way they interpret it or not it becomes very shocking to me. It is what I describe as the kind of iron kind of truth in which some of these things were written so many years ago and in which societies have changed and which new discoveries are the major you see and see that that is the gospel truth and that people should not change for whatever reasons and modernizing. These same people jet around in Bombardia again who use to write answers and order who see and see that when medicine comes out with inventions that has the capacity to improve woman health people should not take them when they use the best of modern scientific finding in terms of communication gadgets. Absolutely. Thank you very much for your time this morning thanks for speaking with us looking forward to another conversation with you. You have a lovely teacher. You too sir. All right still is the breakfast here in plus to be Africa. Our Monday morning has started and of course we're right into in the middle of these conversations still have a lot to share with you but before that today in history what happened on this day the 10th of May many many years ago we'll be back.