 You're welcome back. It's still the break fast and what are the papers saying this morning? So off the press is what we're going to take now. So let's look at what Punch is saying to begin this off the press today. Remember, we'll be joined by August later on to x-ray some of these things that we're talking about or we're mentioning from the newspaper. So we begin with Punch newspaper. I'm not taking it according to how big the story is. I'm just starting from top to bottom. Okay. The very first story that does reminds me of that phrase top to bottom. Buhari hands over 974 billion Naira uncompleted road projects. You'll find out on the Punch page 9. We also have this course backtrack on tariff hike await Naira approval. World Bank okays fresh 500 million dollar loan for federal government. Those are headlines there on top of the punch newspaper, but the biggest headline there on Punch is Senate Minority Leader PDP Atiku set to clash with 5G governors or 5G yeah the 5G governors over Tambuwal. Atiku a party man will back PDP choice says 8 as Minority Leader emerges July 4. G5 backing Jarigwe autumn 8 insist lawmakers won PDP on Sokoto ex governor. Okay. We also have custom CG decorated promises technology driven operations and Salla federal government declares holidays Wednesday and Thursday public holiday. We do hope that you are going to have fun. We will not go on that. Okay. Federal government declares holidays Oshoon cancels free train ride. Oshoon state cancels free train ride and seven passengers or car rider die in or your clashes. And finally Tinobu returns today may present ministerial list after Salla. Watch our way at least. Okay. We'll move from punch to yet another newspaper and this time it will be the nation. The nation newspaper is carrying the headline 7 pilgrims died of psychological challenges says Nakon or pilgrim 7 of them died of psychological challenges. Then we also have remember that is on the nation. We also have another headline here. I'm trying to figure it out. X8 why Buhari didn't remove petrol subsidy and float denier. You will find that story on page 5 of the nation about us kick maker remanded in prison automatic job for lasso's best graduate. Good news and bad news together at the same time. The biggest story on this the nation and the biggest headline there is discourse await next node to increase electricity tariffs. Distribution firms backtrack on hike notification review not justified said Yusuf. Okay. And then Rebado CDS IG will secure Nigeria. That's what they're promising us. That is a national security advisor. Rebado assumes office. A better coon raises special squad. We do hope it's not a return to end source. Floating of Naira in order says IDK Kalu. Remember Kalu IDK Kalu. Petrol subsidy no longer desirable. Those are headlines that we're ready to take. Okay. Before we go work halted on Lagos Ibadon road and then government appeals. Five billion Naira Ararumai judgment. Okay. Those are the headlines from the nation newspaper. We'll move now to another newspaper and this time it will be the Guardian newspaper. The Guardian newspaper leads with Muslim faithful grown as subsidy removal squeezes family budget. That's on page six. Blick festival is how the team did. And then I delayed removal of petrol subsidy for Tinnabu APC to win election says Buhari. Confusion in power sector as discourse hint at 300 Naira per kilo or kilowatt rather of electricity tariff. 300 Naira per kilowatt of electricity. Okay. Good. Now group decries prevailing hardship in Nigeria. Rebado takes over as NSA vows to deepen security and stability. And despite Mba Mba's order Monday sit at home. Okay. Despite Mba's order Monday sit at home persists in Enugu. Remember the governor said there was no more sit at home in Enugu but it continues even with his order. Okay. Now a final thing there from the Guardian is a very small line below and it says Nigeria developing countries at risk of de-globalization. If you want to know more about that you can read up on the Guardian. Then the final news before we're taking this morning is business day. Business day leads with businesses grown as checkpoints illegal tolls on road inflate costs. Poor subsidy removal interventions can worsen inflation that's according to experts. And finally how weaker Naira could affect multinational finance input costs. Those are the headlines from business day that we're ready to take this morning. And okay. So we're being joined by Chris Kaende Wando member of the Chattat Institute of arbitrators in the UK here in Lagos state. Good morning Chris. I'm fine this morning. Very fine this morning. I hope you are as well. I am. Okay. Very good. Yes. Yes. I'm looking for where to go and eat the salamit. The salamit is out of the roof. I wonder how many people are going to buy salamit around this time around. It is well. Well in the scripture at least the Bible I know that there was a time God commanded them to eat this kind of thing. And he said if they cannot afford it they should join hands. So maybe families will come together and do what they need to do. But Chris. Yeah. Yeah. Well let's just take a short break and breathe out and we'll be back to dissect the headlines that we heard this morning Chris. You welcome back. Remember Chris Kaende Wando member of the Chattat Institute of arbitrators in the UK is here with us to talk on the headlines that we have seen this morning of the press. This is what we're doing right now. Chris once again welcome to the program. Thank you very much for having me. Yeah. So let's begin with maybe a major headline on the punch but it's somewhere there. Every almost every newspaper carried it this morning. And that was the fact that the president the former president Muhammad Abu Hari said he delayed the removal of fuel subsidy and some other things because he wanted APC to win election. So he knew that if he had removed fuel subsidy they wouldn't have won the election but he kept it deliberately so that after the winning of the election then all hell can let loose. What did you feel when you heard that headline when you saw that headline breaking? You know you look up and ask the world health story and say he tried well well he tried he tried. So let's leave it at he tried very tried. But the paramedic that even the election is still being disputed. So and many still believe that that election was flawed irrespective of the outcome of the election. I know I can't declare the winner of the president and the losers are in calls and it is now there for the tribunals and the call to determine whether president Bola Tumigu actually won the election or not. But that is not true. Don't forget also that there are so many issues that arose before that election. The issue of the redesigning of the new Naira was also a major problem by the former or suspended governor of Central Bank Mephili, Godwin Mephili that in itself was a major factor. But the president coming on to say that he waited for the election. That's no news because there have been consistently there have been stories and news about the removal of sorts. Don't forget that it was supposed to be removed sometime in the past. He delayed it. After that he delayed it again and until the end and it wasn't the phone that it was removed. Yes, he said that there was going to be a removal. I bet it was supposed to end at the end of June. He left on May 29th. So it wasn't like if he said he removed it. It wasn't removed during his time. He waited. It was supposed to be removed. It was the president elected that announced, formally announced the removal during his innovation in May 29th and that was when everything went to lose. That was when everything, as you say in the local parliament, everything caused scatter, scatter. We knew that it was going to be inevitable. Everybody knew and most practically everybody supported the removal of Petrosov City. But the way and manner it was removed was what we had challenges because if the subsidy was supposed to have been weighted to last June outcome that from May 29th, when that announcement was made, it was removed immediately and that has so many problems associated with it. Now, question has been asked as to what happened to the one month that was paid for subsidy. Was it that June was not paid? If it was paid, who was it paid for? Then how come that the Petro stations, including NNPC, you passed or changed the pump price of fuel immediately when this supposed to last? Those are some of the questions being asked. But it has been removed and that is what it is for now. The NLCC negotiating with the federal government that it seems that this has come to stay just as we are having here that in the next few days, 40 percent increase on the electricity tariff that we are going to pay almost as much as 300 Naira per kilowatt. The Naira also has been, the Naira is also hitting the roof. It is almost about 800 to one dollar now. And the question has always asked how come that we are having all this at the same rate? Couldn't we find a way of trying to spread this so that the average Nigeria can be able to, the federal government can push the effects of this. Don't forget that with all this increment, over 300, almost 300 percent increase in price of fuel, almost 40 percent increase in electricity, not a single Naira has been added to the salary of the average Nigerian. Even the 30,000 Naira that's supposed to be minimum wage being paid by various organizational states. So many states have not been able to pay the 30,000 Naira that you can ask yourself, where are we Nigerians able to survive this one slot? For me, I don't think this is the right time for all this. Can we be able to find a way of accommodating without pushing Nigerians to the cliff? Yeah, you just mentioned something that salaries have not gone up and in spite of everything that is happening. And I keep wondering to myself, yes, subsidy is gone. And one of the things that tell us is that when subsidy was going on, we were buying fuel as it were and also furnishing the needs of other countries. So that's the reason Aptite has been removed. They found out that instead of maybe 60 million liters used a day, it is now about 15 million. So now is the only time in my thinking that they have had data concerning the consumption of fuel in Nigeria, which means if they were spending, let's say 100 billion to buy petrol, now it might just be like 1 billion or 5 billion to buy this petrol to subsidize for the Nigerian populace. So why can't that kind of a thing not be considered even though we are clapping that subsidy has been removed? I can tell you without mentioning words that the palliatives, the so-called palliatives that will be given for the removal of subsidy will cost more than the subsidy. Will cost more than, even not the old subsidy, it will cost more than if they had thought about continuing it with a better data than they have. So like I said, I've been wondering aloud, why is that not even on the table at all? First and foremost, that data that they've always been writing is false. It's not true. 60 million, 63 million is not true. Don't forget that the former general of the customs immediately questioned that data. That there is no way that we have been, because in about 63 million hours we say... Yeah, but that is the data that we're using to siphon the money. Now they know that it's wrong data. Yes, I understand you. I'm hiding somewhere. So what it says is that that is what they are using. It's part of the corruption within this system. Some people have just siphoned that money using that data to be able to vary and to steal as much as they could. It's a part. Let me give you a classical example. The same you remember during the COVID, where there was restriction of moving for close to about three weeks to four weeks in a day. That's when we were not moving. The same data was what they've been writing. Even when the vehicles are not on the road, they still tell you that we are consuming about 63 million rest of it. It was all those things we are just processing by those in government and within them. We were using that to be able to steal or dry. And, well, it has been removed, something that we removed now. They say that it has come down to, our construction has come down to about 22 million by day. And I totally agree with you that the difference would have been used as a right bet. Come to think of you. So what happened during the COVID period and some of the measures taken by the former government, when the Minister of Ministerial, what do they call them now? Military, whatever they call it. We are giving up pallets, running into trillions and trillions of Naira. And you also saw the trade and money that the vice president was fishing at and rest of them. All those we are just using for the money. And at the end of it all, how many Nigerians got those money? How many people that they don't even have the clear data on the number of these? That list was questioned by the National Assembly. It's totally, it got to the National Assembly. It has to represent it. And the Senate question has said most of these names that we are just writing that we are fictitious names with no address and rest of them. So the pallets, so-called pallets, which we have not even seen, which is still under discussion, they have not told us, they said, I would tell you what normally happened. They go into negotiations with Naira, they will now say they are going to buy 100 buses. That is what they normally do. They say they will buy 100 buses and they will not give 100 buses to Naira. Ask me how many 100 buses, how many people will be able to ferry? They will drop about 30 or 20 in Abuja, send 20 to Lagos and distribute many of them or two to various states in the federation. That is what they call pallets. States, they have not touched salary because they know that most states will still not be able to pay those salary. That's why they find that there is 30,000 Naira minimum wage that has been agreed over how many years now. Most, they still can't be able to pay that. The way you talk about minimum wage, most often you have to realise that that's why it matters that both the federal and state are not paid. If what will happen to the private sector, the private sector is facing serious challenges now. Most companies are closing down, many people are being laid off. And I just remembered, VVD, I just used the other voice that manufacturer association of Nigeria came out to cry that this 40% increase in electricity and also the increase in price of fuel that is affecting the various manufacturing and various companies in Nigeria and most of them are closing down because they cannot be able to cope. So what we are trying to win with the right, we are also losing with the left. There is so much poverty within the country now, people cannot afford to eat. People are not trekking. If you go to the bus stop, I'm sure my brother, you see what's happening legally. When you are going home, you will see the number of people that are in the bus stop and also see the number of people that trek. In fact, most organisations now have advice in these, where they say their staff should come to work just about two times in a week because they cannot be able to afford the luxury of taking transportation to come to work. That is where we are now. And I'm representing the travel that is coming back today. I hope that we just sit and be able to analyse it and be able to come out with a solution as quickly as possible. Nigeria's are being moved. This is not the best country in Nigeria, across the board side. Well, a lot of us are very askings about this palliative. A lot of people are not comfortable about it. Just do the needful. If fuel is affordable now that we know a data so, so low, maybe you should reconsider this removal and do the needful based on the data that you have and try to monitor it well. Because this is not the best country in Nigeria. Have you also realised that in this discussion, nobody is talking about either reviving our existing refineries or using new ones. Nobody is talking about it. This whole disease is now based on importation. Even Dangutee's refinery that was commissioned a few weeks ago, he has been given a license to import fuel. He has been given a license to import a petroleum product. We will move from there. But Nigeria is struggling and always complaining about education. Now the worrisome thing is in a dosed state, workers were asked to stay home for two days, at least in the week, and come to work three days. That included teachers as well. So schools will now be opening for three days when we need more time to study. Schools now will be opening three days in a week. Let them just tell us to have homeschooling so that if parents stay home more nowadays, they should teach their children as best they could. Okay, let's move to another thing. We see that the discourse are backtracking on paper at least that they are not going to do the price hike, the tariff hike, because they need some approvals here and there and the announcements were not there. But it seems as if this tariff has been hiked without our knowing, the announcement was just a formality. So backtracking, where are they backtracking to? Do you think they are being honest with us? In the past three or four years now, I would tell you that we had over 186% hike in electricity tariff, about 118% hike. That is what a manufacturer's association of it. And these hikes are being done without you and I knowing. They treat on a monthly basis. The only way you know is that if you have been recharging, if you have been recharging your electricity and you go and buy 10,000 Naira and you get less than 120 units last month, if you go back this month and pay the same 10,000, if you look at the units, you will see that it has reduced, you must have reduced to about 80 or 87. That is where you get to know that the increase have been, because they have this systematic way of increasing the price. They said that they are going to increase it on a monthly basis. And they have not informed me in Nigeria. So all this noise about 40% of it, there is a way that they can remove it without you knowing, or you need to put it in just go and buy it and you just realize that you haven't been recharging it. And the government is not even helping at all. The government is not helping matters. It is like we are just on a freefall. The Naira and the RSI have not come out to fully tell us what this is all about. They have already said, this cost they are going to increase. But now, because of the shout and the noise being made by Nigeria, they say, okay, we are waiting for, I saw a release by the Babuja Electricity Distribution Company that, okay, we are going to wait on Naira. I can tell you briefly that that increase is going to take effect from the first of the line, whether they got NEC approval or no NEC approval. That is what is going to happen. The percentage is what I cannot say or talk about. It may be 10%, it may be 15%, it may be 20%, or it may even be the same 40% they are talking about. But what I don't see now, nobody is talking about improving the surface. You know, nobody is telling us about increasing the capacity to be able to distribute. We are still, we are still between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatt of electricity, a country with over 200 million people. When some states in South Africa, just one state is doing about 10 or 20,000 megawatt, just in South Africa here, we are talking about 5,000 for a population of 200 million people. No single, the last government promised that on a yearly basis that they were going to increase to about 10,000 megawatt. Remember that promise? There was no single megawatt that was added to the national grid by the past administration. What they met is what they left for 80 years. Just like the way they did in the petroleum circle, where we had promised that they were going to build refineries, no refinery was built, even the one that they met, they could have met it. And we placed and we pushed some premium to spend it about 11 trillion Naira to be able to turn around the refineries and not a single petroleum has been refined. So the same thing is the, we are talking now, we are talking about increasing, you know, I said this time with the number. The problem, in as much as I don't base government on the land, I am going to blame the Good Lord Jonathan government that privatized the electricity sector and hand over this electricity company to incompetent individuals, to people that have no capacity to be able to do what they're supposed to do. And just, and apart from that, even after selling it to them, we were also subsidizing some of this electricity. But billions and billions of Naira were even paid to them for them to be able to maintain the services. Our money was paid to people that fought over the discos and jacos. Where is that done? So that is what we're having now. On a daily basis, they will tell you that, oh, the tariff, Nigeria's tariff is the lowest in the world. And they start comparing to what is paid in South Africa, what is paid in United States. And it goes on abolished as what is the capital income of a Nigerian compared to somebody in the U.S., tell me. The minimum wage in Nigeria is 30,000 Naira. My brother, that is less than $50 in the U.S., $50. That is the minimum wage of a Niger. $50 is what some people make in an hour in the U.S. So when you start making those comparisons, it does not make sense to me. Okay. Well, our time is running out just briefly now. I would have loved to talk about a PDP and a TIKU clashing over with the 5G governors over Tamboal as minority leader. But if you can touch it, fine. But now what I want to say or ask is we're expecting back the president today. And people are saying, ministerial list may, may follow after Salah. Salah has, two days have been declared, maybe so Friday or by Monday, we should have ministerial list. If the rumors are true, that could happen. What are you expecting in that ministerial list? We can wrap all about this story in one minute. One is the fact that airports have been, about 10 airports have been renamed. And I'm sure you are aware of that. More than that, yeah. More than that. Yes. Yes. You saw it. More than that. Yes. We are renamed. Yes. That is, that probably confirmed. Two is also the issue of the PDP and that TIKU and the district. The fact remains that Tamboal is a ranking member of the national assembly. And he was the former speaker of the House of Representatives. If the few finance is capable to be the minority that are all well and good, PDP should be able to put his ass together. There's always a lot of selection, which ordinary problem to have gone, that for the big crisis within the parties and the G5 and so forth, G5 and the Miki and rest of them. I think this is just the time for them to shift and find a way coming together and put their ass together and see themselves as a formidable opposition. What we need in Nigeria is a formidable opposition that can give the APC government a round for their money and speak for the people. We don't want all these big rings between G5 or G7 or G22 or whatever they call themselves. We want a formidable opposition in Nigeria and that can be able to fight and speak for Nigerians. Then the president coming back, yes, is coming back today after a trip to Paris and London. And we hear that the ministerial list will come out. Don't forget that that's a time frame put to that, unlike before. Unlike the former president that took almost six months to be able to come up. This president has about 60 days to be able to put his ministerial list and send it to the national assembly, the senior statistics and the national assembly. We are looking at for what we can have, take no class, people that can deliver, not just a yes man in politicians who just come and don't know. We are in a critical period and anybody that is appointed the minister and should be able to hit the ground running. There are a lot of things happening that we don't even know what to do. The health sector, the education sector, the energy sector, even those tools that are speaking for the government. So I hope that the president will be able to come out. We've seen what he did with the service team. Everybody's happy. Well, happy is more like a national spread and we put the right people in the right place. I hope that that will also happen with the list. We started hearing something, but you know in 90 minutes, so many lists will be branded onto a single list. Let us see what is in the list. Okay. Well, that would be all for this segment of the show. Chris Wando, we'd like to thank you so much for coming to the show and being a part of it and helping us dissect these headlines. Thank you very much for having us. We've been talking with Chris Kehinde Wando, member of the Chattat Institute of Administrators in the UK. He spoke to us from Lagos State here. And the show still continues, but we'll take a break now. When we return, we'll begin our first hot topic and we hope that you'll still be there. Stay with us.