 All right, welcome back. It's still the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. When we introduced the show, we told you that today is April the first and the Lagos State Government actually has appealed for understanding, you know, let me just give you a bit of an intro. The Lagos State Government has judged the people of the state, especially the residents of Lecky and Ikoi to show understanding over the proposed reopening of the Lecky Ikoi Linn Bridge Toe Plaza by the Lecky Concession Company Limited. The appeal was made by Lagos State Commissioner for Reinformation and Strategy, Bingo Motosho and his counterpart in transport, as well as home affairs, that is Dr. Fredericks Oladende and Prince Anofi Aligushi, respectively, during a stakeholders meeting on Wednesday. Now, they have showed the residents of Lagos that the government would look into all the requests and recommendations made by the stakeholders and would respond adequately. Now, the stakeholders meeting was held to engage key residents on the plan of the LCC to open the Lecky Ikoi Linn Bridge that is today, and it was attended by key stakeholders, including the President of the Lecky Estates Resident Association, Uluru Gwon James Emadwe, human rights activist, journalist and resident. Now, some of the speakers had expressed their views about the plan to reopen the Toe Plaza and the state government to halt the process for now. We're now being joined by our correspondent, and Paul George, who is live at the Toe Plaza to bring us up to speed as regards what's going on as we speak. Good morning to you, Paul. Thanks for joining us on the breakfast. Good morning, Japanese. All right, can you tell us exactly what is going on around you concerning the reopening of the Toe Plaza? So far, has it been reopened? Okay, right now, we are at the Lecky M2 Bridge. Do you want to leave to Ikoi? I'm actually on the Ikoi Bridge. And when it looks like April 4th is actually real, it's not April 4th. Now that we've got here, when we started filming, then Emad came out and he said he's the MD of Lecky Concentration Company Limited. I spoke to him, and he said, we shouldn't go clear over the space. That's the reason we're building that odd duty that we have. We are mandated by the constitution to report that we are not thinking of anybody's right. We can't, but we can't better ask them to go to the place. Then we have to let them know that this is our job, judging their own duties. The security men are here. The police and the robberies and their men are here. So when we move and the instructions to the police to turn on the camera, we're shooting. So they all think the camera is dirty, but that is as we've seen and in fact that has been corrected from here. And that's the situation right now. Hello, Philip. Okay, fine. Hello, the camera. Hello, Phillips. Okay, fine. So verbally you're telling us that they are not allowing journalists to do their constitutional job at the token, but have you been able to speak to a resident along that corridor? What's the pose that you're feeling at this particular time? I can hear you clearly, please, can you repeat that? Have you been able to speak to some of the residents around them, the like, equally, access? What are the feedbacks you're getting from residents around that area? No, no, we've not been able to speak to anyone. That's what they're doing, basically it's just running on the streets or on the tracks that it says everybody must get because it can pass through this building. And that's the situation right now. I've got my thing here. All right. So Paul, George, are you saying that the tolling has actually started? They're collecting fees as we speak right now? Well, if the fees that they're collecting is electronic fees, you know, I guess they have to move away fees. So they are doing that now, you get a speaker and that speaker, you get that, you're subscribing, then you stop paying. There's two, if you don't have that speaker, you can't pass through this building, actually, please. Would it be fair to say that this is a test run for the reopening? Would it be fair to say that this is a test run for the reopening? Please, I can't hear you, can you hear me? One message asked, what's going on right now? Is it like a test run for the reopening of the toll gate? Paul, if you can hear us, you said that they are not doing cash hand-to-hand collection, they are doing it electronically. So message is asking if it is a test run, if so to speak. Even though I'm telling you, but let me just tell you something, one we met with the one demand call that we wanted to address it, and he said that they are doing it as funding that they are not starting collecting fees. But I've learned from you that it is an electronic fee collection, that's what they're doing. OK. So prior to this time, we had feelers and reports that some residents of Leckie would actually be out protesting. Do you have a group of peasants out there protesting the reopening of the toll gate? Right now, there are no more protesters around. We are the only peasants here. And some other generally, some other people out there. So that's the situation. All right. Thank you so much, Paul, Georgia, for that particular report. Just try and stay safe or we'll be getting back to you in the course of the show. And then, of course, subsequent bulletins to find out exactly what's going on at the field. I do appreciate your time. All right. Thank you so much. All right, Messe, it is actually very interesting what's going on there. I don't know why they are giving or pushing out staff measures for journalists who just want to ordinarily just do their job. Why are they not allowing us work? Well, it's a practice that's been going on for a lot of time, for well-known. If you look at it every time you want to have a protest, you have people, Nigerians coming out to the street to protest against a certain policy, government policy or action. And then they have been greeted by this obstacle where you have the instrument of government also used against them. At this point, we're talking about the police and the brutality. And so in the course of this job, we've gotten several reports where journalists had been manhandled and all of that. I remember we speaking with him off camera just before we got on air. He talked about the fact that he's not very settled. And that's the reason we're unable to even have a virtual interaction at this point in time. Well, it's really, really saddening because if we still talk about our democracy and we are saying that we need to move forward as a country, then you want to talk about free press and the freedom of the press. But how free is the press in Nigeria? We constantly see all of this. We're unable to have the major reason. Yeah, the major reason we're able to have that face-to-face interaction via Zoom, it's because of the situation on ground. And all we're asking, it just becomes very difficult and it becomes very, very saddening. But it is what it is. We can only pray, as always, and hope that one day we will get it right. We are staying with the development at the Leci Toget, who just spoke with our correspondent, Paul George, who said that a lot is going on there and the press is not being allowed to do their job. And a whole lot is actually happening on Twitter. Nigerians are reacting to lots of people airing their views concerning that even the police has come out to say that breakdown of law and all that will not be tolerated. The Leci Langlotz Association, they've actually given their position concerning that they are saying that the Leci Toget should actually be abolished. Specifically, the Leci Estate, Restaurant and Stakeholders Association Chairman announced the decision of our restaurant, which is no to polling. It is really quite very funny. Most Nigerians are saying that this is one of the first things that they are doing as opening the Toget when there were major concerns raised during the NSAS and protest, the talk of police brutality, which is still ongoing, even after the NSAS protest has died down, year after Nigerians are still being harassed on the streets. So why are they so quick to want to open the Leci Toget and Nigerians up? Tweeter is just a boss with the Leci Toget and hashtag. So, apart from the hashtag answers, I mean, justice for the victims of the NSAS, we already understand the position of the government around that, the fact that people are one of the requests that there has to be justice for the victim of NSAS. But there are a lot of issues that these justice for victim of hashtag answers has actually opened us back to the issue of the legality, the fact that GD Johnson talked about it. GD Johnson also talked about why we have a Toget, you know, in the state. And some people are talking, why do you have to tow people who are still in legal state and then you're totally lucky to equal your, those who have to get from. So you leave in this axis, getting out to, going to Ikeja, you'll probably have to pay a toll when you're in the same state. Now, if you remember, the federal high court in Lagos at the time had recently, there was a judgment that was recently put out that time questioning and talking about the fact that, you know, the toll link bridge, the Ike'i and Lakitu link bridges are unconstitutional. At some point, there was some securing of state of execution to that state of execution. That's to say that, you know, it should be made clear. So there are a lot of issues, the legality of the toll itself. The argument that some people have put out is that, oh, where were the residents? Where were some of these persons when, you know, the government came up with the idea of, you know, I mean, making the roads motorable because the roads were really bad. But let's even go back to the idea of government and governance and so what's the essence? So the people get into a contract. It's a social contract. Government is a social contract. People will pay their taxes in a ton, and then you provide, you know, basic infrastructure and road is one of them. So that's number one. There's a lot of questioning going on as regards the rationale behind having a toll in the city of Lagos, that's on the one hand. Another question again is also the issue of ownership. People have constantly questioned who owns because there's no transparency who owns the LCC. And, you know, it's also another issue that's your ongoing. Well, really, really sad. You have some quarters saying that there's been some settlement has gone on. But like I mentioned, it has really gone beyond justice for the victim of SARS, the hashtag answers protest as it were. It goes beyond that a lot of issues have been, you know, raised as regards. This is actually, you know, like an opener to all these other concerns. Like we mentioned earlier on the pending court matters, you have the issue of ownership and transparency. You also want to look at the issue of development. Some persons have questioned what development the Lagos state government has brought to this part, you know, of Lagos state. There are no general hospitals. You don't have primary schools. You don't have, you know, markets. And so why are the people having to pay extra tax? Because that's what it means. Tolling the people, I mean the tollgate will mean the people are paying extra, apart from the tax that they are paying. So people are already asking, and this is what government and governance is about. We're talking about the social contract, yeah. Where government says, we will do X, Y, Z. In turn, you expect us to do X, Y, Z. So we'll provide basic amenities and infrastructure. You will give us your rights. So the people who have submitted their will and say, hey, government, take a group of persons we submit our will to, you will pay our taxes. And in turn, we're expected to do X, Y, Z. So this is a very valid issue. And in a democratic dispensatory, one would expect that the government should not use, you know, the sticker approach, but you know, this is a form where people need to sit back. It's almost an election year. It's time that those who are calling the shots, those who are, you know, leading, those who are governors and president, and what have you, sit down and have negotiation, listen to the cry of the people. But most times, it feels like we're always very, you know, forceful. We want to have our way against others. I'm hoping that the Lagos State government will pay attention to the cries of, you know, Nigerians, Lagosians here, to some of the concerns that they have raised. And then let's look at it. So what's really the answer? If the government has, you know, an answer to some of these issues that have been raised, let them. So it goes beyond saying, we're asking for justice for, you know, the victims of the leaky incident that happened in 2020. So that's what it is. And we're hoping that as a responsive government, they will pay attention. It's not a time for us to begin to, you know, get into that conflict and war. And then the police coming out to see people should not protest. But from the reports that we're getting is, this feels like it's a test run, you know, to the actual thing that would definitely happen, maybe trying to see, you know, what it is. But the people are asking, why do we even have to pay extra when we're already paying our taxes? And what do we get in turn for paying this extra? Who even owns this, you know, the fees that we're generating from the toll? And all of that. Let's also look at the issue. You also look at the fact that productive time is also being wasted at that point. You talk about the traffic, the traffic. Now, if you live around this axis, you want to agree with me that when you get to the agile axis, that's the VGC point around that road. So there's a construction that's going on. And that also causes a lot of traffic. Coupled with the fact that when these petrol stations, the queue return from time to time, you'll find this queue returning. It causes a lot of traffic. And productive time has also been reduced. When you have an economy that is not productive, I mean, for instance, you're supposed to be somewhere and you can't get to work where you're supposed to be. You're already losing productive hours. And an economy that's losing productivity, productive time, you know, will become less productive. So it costs for a lot. We're already wasting money via wasting time and wasting manpower. And that's not really good for us. So let's come to a table and have this dialogue and understand the conscience of the people. And that's what government is. If you talk about the policy cycle, you know, in the policy cycle, the people would actually make, you know, this impute into the policy cycle. It comes out as outputs. Government should pay attention to it. But most times, if one of the policies do not reflect the interests of the people, and whose interests do we have all of these tools for? It's a question. So the toll is it for the interests of the people? And would government begin to say, because if you look at the roads that we already have, let's not even forget, these were roads that were constructed during the military, you know, era of the government. How come they did not? These are federal roads. How come we don't have, you know, tolls on these roads? I don't know if you're getting the point. So it's really, really sad. We need to understand that our policies and our actions and actions should be reflecting the interests of the people. There should be no disconnect at this point in time. Nigerians are going through a lot. I always say that I feel like being a Nigerian, you should be, there should be some or some of allowance and salaries that should be set aside just because you're a Nigerian. Not to even talk about legals. A special consideration should be given to a Nigerian. All right, that's all we can take on all of that. That's as much as we can take because the more we talk about it, it gets very, very emotional because at the end of the day, Nigerians are, you know, I feel we are being exploited. We pay for taxes. The commensurated infrastructure will similarly not really get in and we are even asked to pay more. Or leave it at that or leave this question at that, but let's just continue to make reasonable conversation across the very social media platform. Let's make our voices and our intentions, of course, known. So the government will know that we know what is right and we will keep on demanding for justice and ensure that we get what is due to us as Nigerians as a resident. More to come on the breakfast this time around. We will be looking at what is next for the Nigerian Football Federation. Nigeria out here is not going to Qatar. What's happening? Eguavon has stepped aside as the coach of the super egos. So just what is next for Nigeria Football Federation? In the moment, we'll be getting some, you know, answers to all of these questions. Stay with us.