 On the show this morning, concrete roads to spiked capital expenditure are made 10 trillion Naira owed contractors. The Jai military rulers order UN official out within 72 hours. Of course there will also be off the press where we'll look at the headlines that made it to the front pages of our national dailies. Good morning and welcome to Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. My name is Nyam Gul Agadji. This morning we'll be looking at very interesting things and we start as usual with things that really caught our interest within the last 24 hours. First of them we are going to be talking about the Lagos government that has airlifted 310 pilgrims from Jerusalem after attack on Israel. In case you didn't find a story on any of the newspapers or blogs that carried it, no fewer than 310 Lagos state citizens who went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem have been airlifted home after Palestinian militant group Hamas Saturday morning surprise attack on Israel. Now sharing photos of the indigents at Baguette reclaimed Tuesday, presumably upon their arrival, Governor Babajideh Songolu posted on X and I quote what he said on that day. I'm happy to announce that we have successfully airlifted and returned all 310 citizens who went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Israel. End of quote. The governor also expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Home Affairs for its work in helping to bring home the pilgrims and prayed for peace in Israel and the world at large. Now Israel has been left reeling by Hamas on presidented ground air and sea assault likening it to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The debt toll rose to more than 900 in Israel, which has retaliated with a withering barrage of strikes on Gaza, raising the debt toll there to 687. The Nigerian government has since called for a ceasefire, saying the escalation between both countries would result in an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population, advising that both parties should exercise restraint and prioritize the safety of civilians. A lot of people are afraid that maybe it is getting very, very close to another world war. We do hope that it doesn't get to that Hamas and the people who provoked this are calling on the Arab world to come to their aid and world powers also are standing with Israel. Now world powers might be divided into two, those like the UK, the United States and the likes. And then you're looking at China and Russia on the other hand, maybe supporting Hamas or not. We don't know how this is going to play out. But the world is in agreement that the attack on Saturday was not supposed to be and whatever provoked that we do hope that there will be a solution and no more blood shed. Because it's the civilian population most of whom did not have anything to do with whatever happened in Israel that will suffer. So now from Israel there will be casualties, already more than 900 people who are gone. And then from the other side from Gaza we have more than 600 people already gone. And Israel is talking tough, Hamas is talking tough, everybody is talking tough. And who will be the fall guy, who will be the casualty, it's the citizens. And not only the citizens of Israel or Gaza or Palestine, but the citizens of the world who will suffer. For instance Nigerian pilgrims were supposed to go have fun, pray to their God and you know sight see and just be general tourists in a place where they haven't been. Some of them have never been there before. They have gone for a spiritual pilgrimage and that also is a way of networking with other people from all over the world. Now that journey has been cut short. So we're beginning to see signs how the world is going to lose out if two people are fighting, if two very great countries are fighting, countries that are our friends as it is. So we do hope that that conflict will not escalate to something greater than what we even are seeing right now. Now we also have an unfortunate event back here, or unfortunate happening here in Nigeria. The National Primary Health Care Department Agency that is NPHCDA has disclosed that about 20 people have died of diphtheria in Kaduna state. Diphtheria is the disease that is killing people now and not many people are really talking about it. NPHCDA also confirmed that 156 cases of the disease in the state and commanded the effort of the state government in combating the disease. Dr. Faisal Shuaibu, who is the executive director and chief executive officer of the agency and co-chair of the federal tax force team or tax team on diphtheria, told journalists after he visited the Kaduna Diphtheria treatment center that they were at the Barau deco teaching hospital to assess the situation of the diphtheria outbreak that affected parts of Kaduna state. And according to him, Kaduna is ranked among the seven states with the highest number of diphtheria. He said since March when the diphtheria outbreak was detected in Kaduna, 150 cases and about 200 deaths were or 20 deaths were recorded. He called on media to step up in creating awareness and providing useful information to the public about the existence of the disease. He said also that there was need for patients with the disease to be presented early together with their contacts for vaccination while also revealing that the outbreak was due to low population immunity which was created by low vaccination coverage with about 80% of those affected by the disease unvaccinated. Vaccines, I said, were the most powerful tools against diphtheria which is a preventable disease. And he commanded the efforts of the state government in combating the disease and that managed the people to wear no masks, especially when visiting health facilities. Dr. Faizal also commanded the chief medical director of the Barau deco teaching hospital and the Kaduna state primary health care board for their leadership and hoped that the outbreak would soon be contained. And I do agree that we have not been talking so much about this diphtheria as we should. If it were COVID, maybe because the world over was suffering COVID at the same time, the level of awareness was so high. I think we need to talk more about this. So far, we've heard that the cases have been detected in about 19 states and the figure that is estimated to have gone, that the people who have lost their lives to these are up to like 600, if I'm not mistaken, 600 people dying to a disease that is preventable is really, really unacceptable. The question is why is it that the vaccination was low in the areas that we're experiencing this? Because the information is that most of the people who are affected did not have vaccination or so. Was it because it was not available? Was it because of cultural beliefs that made people not to go for this vaccination? What was the reason why the vaccination didn't get to these people? These are critical questions that need to be answered. I think they answered the thing that should be addressed by the relevant authorities. If it needs to be a matter of talking to the people through their village heads and so many other people that they will listen to find, if it is because it was not available, then the vaccine should be made available to these places. And in fact, to every Nigerian so that we prevent these preventable diseases that come and claim the lives of our citizens. And then finally on the top trending, as we call it, led us to increase daily train trips from 12 to 54. That's a very, very, very lofty thing. Beginning Monday, 16th of October, which is the next week Monday, 2023, the Lagos state government will increase the train trips from 12 to 54. And ultimately, 74 trips before the end of November, 2023, on the Lagos rail mass transit, LRMT, Blue Line, Marina, 2 mile 12. In a statement on Wednesday, the consultant corporate communications, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, what we call LAMATA, Kolaulay or Jela B, said that it is expected that by next Monday, the tracks would have been energised, thus allowing for the deployment of additional trains set for daily passenger operations. However warned, there would be no service on Saturday afternoon and the entire day on Sunday, 15th of October, 2023, to allow the complete changeover to electricity. The managing director of LAMATA, engineer, Mrs. Abimbola Akinaju said, and I quote, we need to shut down train operations for passenger safety while the switch to electricity is on, as well as ensure that a test is carried out in a safe manner. According to him, it is projected that passenger movement between Marina and mile two in the coming months will surpass 150,000 passengers daily. And so if it is going to be changed to electricity, that means the population needs to know how this works, so that if it is a case of staying off the tracks, they should know the dangers. It's not just enough to say it once or twice in a press release, they should be a really aggressive campaign against people going on the rail tracks. Because we've seen that most of the markets, or some of the markets in Lagos, a lot of the markets in Lagos are somehow on the rail tracks. You go to Ikeja, you find them. You go everywhere that you find the rail tracks. You find markets on the rail tracks. And I wonder why people will want to use the rail tracks as places to display their wares. Is it because there's no space elsewhere, or because there is more market, as we call it, on the rail tracks, where I don't know what the reason is. But whatever the reason is, we should find out and then see how we can address it, so that people will stay off the rail tracks. There was information we got a long time ago that if the trains are operating with electricity, it means that anybody can be electrocuted on the rail tracks. How many people know this if it is true? But if it is not true, well, OK, maybe just a mild warning, but if it is true, then Nigerians need to or Legosians need to stay clear of this. And then I was also talking a few days ago, yesterday or day before yesterday, about the fact that we are happy that what happens in Lagos, in fact, I was talking to someone who stays in Abuja. And I told him about the transportation system in Lagos, how you have options. You can either go to a park to get a bus. You can hail a ride anywhere you are in Lagos. You can take a bus from a BRT bus that you use your cart to enter, or you take a train in Lagos. And I was saying all these things, and he was just laughing and saying, if all these things are existing in Lagos state, that means I am talking about UK or any other place that is not Nigeria. And it dawned on me that sometimes we just take things for granted, things that are happening here in Lagos we're not so grateful about, because we see them every day. We think that it's a normal thing. There are so many things that the government has done that we need to applaud them. But I also say that day that there's something that happens at the terminals, whether the bus terminal or I don't know about the train. I've not boarded the train. One day I will take a train to mile two, even if I don't need to go to mile two. It's not my access that I leave. But just experience that train ride to mile two and back. After all, it's affordable to everybody. So when you get to a bus terminal, sometimes you find out that the card, the card that you loaded is either not having the supposed amount of money that was supposed to be left there after your last ride, or you even have a minors. Just imagine you have loaded a card and you have maybe 215 error left, which is enough to carry you from one place to the other because of the new kind of fares that we are having in BRT, half of the prizes. Maybe it was a journey of 500 Naira. Now you're paying 250 Naira for that journey. So you have 250 Naira and you have no other money. It happens to even the best of us sometimes that you are in a situation where that card is your only salvation. And then you go to a BRT station and they're not only telling you that the money has finished, there's no money on your card. When you know there was supposed to be money, what you find out that you have minus 100 Naira, which means even if you have another money to load your card, your Kauri card, it will minus 100 Naira which you cannot account for. And you ask the people, how did this happen? There could be a logical explanation to these, but a lot of these people do not know what the explanation is and they just tell you that you must have entered this bus on credit sometimes. And you begin to wonder, you take your Kauri card, you place it on the machine, it rejects it if there is not enough money on your card. So at what point does anybody ever enter a bus on credit that you will find minus 50 Naira or minus 100 Naira or minus 200 Naira, it beats me hollow. So if there is an explanation, these people need to be educated on that so that they can relate with the people better because this is what brings tension. You do not know the frustration of anybody who is coming to take a BRT is passing through. We are passing through a lot as we are given to say in Nigeria now and a lot is passing through us. So you should not allow something like this bill tension at a bus station, tension that can just be explained away. How does your Kauri card enter a minus? Now, one of the explanations one person gave at some time was that if you enter a BRT bus and you don't tap out, there's a possibility it will bill you. So what happens when you go and tap on another BRT and then come to enter a BRT whose machine is faulty or something and when you get to your destination, there's no way to tap out. Is that your fault? What about entering a BRT when you have to tap on someone's phone which is connected to the machine and the person stays back at the bus terminal and you get to your destination, where do you tap out? So if this is the explanation, then the issues should be addressed. Otherwise, whatever the explanation is, the people who are operating at that place should know what to say and say it politely because, well, let's leave the rest to God. Well, we've been talking much, no matter what the complaints might be. The state government, you're doing your best. We are hoping that you'll do better and have more routes for the train. Maybe the red line will come up also and take people from other destinations around. So we do hope that the money will come, the willpower will come, and everything that needs to be done will be done. In the meantime, there's so much on the papers, so we are going to take a short break now and when we return, we'll be going to lift the headlines off the price and discuss them. Stay with us.