 Welcome to the breakfast once again on plus TV Africa's beautiful morning right here and as always will look through the pages of a national deal is Chris came in one do was a legal practitioner and the trouble lies Niger as coffee would always address him is here coffee also messy messy messy you have to pay for that for that description of Chris came they want to make some good morning to you thank you very much for your time. Okay. Yes. Good to have you Chris. Let's take a look at the punch now. The punch seems very interesting. It talks about 2023 presidency. Tunubu or be unfold economic restructuring agenda to not a PC label candidates speak on restructuring corruption, agricultural power. I supported a tickle it pays its payback time now let him endorse me. Ex Legos Governor. It's a lot of unfolding we're not even talking about the flooding situation. A tickle Sarah key party members fume as thugs attack PDP Coduna Zamfra rallies. And there's a ride is underneath the board caption. Inflation heats 20.77% as food supply affects crisis worsen. Feels like we're getting close to the end. Nigers debt risky unstable or unsustainable. Nigers debt risky and unsustainable. That's what the report is saying. And Edwin Clark acts Buhari to release Namdi Kano knocks the Athoni General of the Federation Malami. And just before we move away from the punch another talks about ministerial retreat Buhari backs Niger air or see by Joe. Lament for its walls. Please arrest Legos businessman over wife's dead. I mean, if you have been on the social media space and show you're aware of the IVD and bimbo saga that's led to her death according to the report. But we're hoping that, you know, the police would step into all of this and justice will be met it. Tushan Hike protesting Ogun police students disrupt exams and demand reversal. Kogi gunman kill worshipers during church service. So much going on in the country. And another talks about 31 policemen dismiss for misconduct in 18 months. That's the much we can take this morning on the punch. All right, let's go straight to this day. So the nation, I think we'll go to the nation first or next rather with the following headlines on the nation newspaper. We'll have to apologize what you've seen before. I think the punch is a bit different from what you talked about mercy. It happens sometimes at the nation newspaper. My plans for prosperous united Nigeria by Bola McTeen. The Kadoona state is the bride right now. Everybody throwing a Kadoona state. And they've been having speeches at our forum, you know, events hosting the major candidates. So my plans for prosperity united Nigeria by Tinnable ruling parties standard bear unfolds blueprint for out of school children, which is a big problem up north. Why North should vote APC candidate by aero fire? Aero fire has also been spitting fire as well as far as PTOB is concerned. Very interesting seeds of events in Kadoona there. 2023, I like chair not under pressure to quit. Be vast to be deployed. WKPDP should apologize for a TIKU comment. WKPDP should apologize for a TIKU comment. I will unlock Nigeria's greatness says will be 5.8 billion dollar Mambilapa. ICC declines to stop firms case. My administration scorecard by Buhari and NLNGs force measure may push up gas prices. So the headlines on front page of a nation. Away from the nation, we have the leadership on the leadership almost similar with the punch 2023 presidency. ATIKU, Tinnable or B begin real battle for nothing votes. That's how the leadership caption said. APC labor flag bearers lay agenda before Arawaka meeting. I will ensure indivisible Nigeria. That's what Bola Ahmad is quoted to say. And OB promises to unlock Nigeria's greatness. Stame corruption. ATIKU pledges to reposition restructuring sector and tackle terrorism. And MPP intervenes in southwest crisis. It's a lot. But the question Nigerians should not fail to ask. And we will not stop asking is how. This are the board caption on the leadership this morning. We have met the yearnings of Nigerians in seven years. That's what President Mohammed Buhari is quoted to say on the leadership. Three oil farmers pay 100 million ransom to regain freedom. Baja Bia Miller made foreign airlines of a trapped funds. I thought we moved past this. And amid 20.77% inflation, Vice President Six synergy between fiscal monetary policy. NGE, IPI, others condemned shutdown of broadcast stations in Zamfara. PDP crisis. We care false BOT's resolution on IU. And two killed orders injured as gunmen attack Kogi church. Very, very saddening. That's it on the leadership newspaper this morning. And finally on the Guardian we have the following leads to top stories. Inflation speaks mildly as flood or peaks mildly as flood sounds full crisis alarm bell. Inflation peaks mildly as flood sounds full crisis alarm bell. And we can see talking about flood and nations. It seems to be the Guardian. Sorry. Seems to be the only paper we have this morning that is putting the flood situation around the country. Front and center. And I think kudos should go to them. Tinnabua Tico B test strength in Kaduna. Yes, indeed. It's been a time to sell themselves in the northern part of the country. Fresh oil spill occurs in Bodo community. Really sad right there in River State. Kogi gunmen invade church. Kill three injured others. Shut down of four broadcast stations in Zamfara threat to democracy. Says Guild of Editors. Hurywa alleges complicity in oil theft as FCT club urges compact solution. LP wants Iyaloja general prosecuted for allegedly forcing traders to back Tinnabu. And a sad one here. Five die three injured in Kogi auto crash. Some headlines are on the front page of the Guardian. We're bringing Chris Kennedy Wando at this point. Mr. Wando, let's start off looking at the unfolding situation in Kaduna State with the major candidates, the three major candidates for now. But public perception. Trying to sell themselves to northern Nigeria. Controversial statements and actions have been recorded. First, let's start off with Atiku Waka who said that the northern candidate should vote not for an Igbo candidate or a Yoruba candidate, but for a Pan-Nigerian candidate. I think that Atiku is being grossly misrepresented and being misunderstood. We take the statement in context, you know, of whether he should. He said that northern Nigeria should not vote for Igbo or Yoruba. That's number one. Number two, Bola Mithilma has also been selling himself. Some said he wasn't strong enough to stand to answer questions at Arewa House, at the Amadobello University. And then he made some controversial statements including saying that Atiku should step down for him. And it was a payback time as he had helped Atiku in the past with his political platform. Then thirdly, Peter Obe could not stay out of the headlines for the wrong reasons according to some with his visit to Shegumi and his supporters online especially having to swallow their words and eat their humble pie because they had criticized Shetima, criticized Atiku for taking a picture with Shegumi. So these three candidates painted a picture. I wanted to give us your thoughts on that. Thanks. The fact remains that when it comes to politics, the northern are more politically serving than the south. And as a fact, irrespective of whatever anybody say, the politicians, the politics in the north is a more united kind of force compared to what we see in the south where we are so divided. In the north, irrespective of your political parties, the fact is that when it's time for them to come together to speak with one voice, they will do that online. The south also that is totally divided between the south, south, south, east and south west. None of them trust themselves. Then the fact also remains that Kaduna is the political headquarters of the north over the years. It has always remained so. So it has always been a convergence of political activities in the north, right from independence in the 1960s. So when you see the politicians going to Kaduna, it is not just for the one of it. That is where they come back to take decisions and also align themselves politically. Don't forget in the 70s and 80s, we used to have what was called the Kaduna mafia within the military in those days. So Kaduna is out. So everybody going to Kaduna, you know that it's here with their children. That is one. Two, it's the fact that they're not already setting agenda for 2023, asking the presidential candidate to come and tell them what they have for the region in 2023. The south have not gotten their ass together. And I don't know whether they will still come together as a unit to also ask these candidates to come and tell them what they have for the south. I don't know what they are going to do it. But now talking about what the candidates said, you rightly mentioned what I think you said. You are saying that his statement was taken out of context. I don't think it was just a gas on his part. He calls himself a unifier. And the unifier is burning him in that huge bridge. Now he's using his match to bond bridges. All those, what he said was unnecessary irrespective of the context. Don't vote for Obama. Don't vote for Igbo Man. That already, you're already splitting certain people as coming from one particular point. And that in itself does not speak well of you. So that is the, that is that. Then the issue as regards the statement by the Shinobu Asen article to support him. Well, he's expected in politics, but don't forget that you saw them in pictures yesterday where they met at the airport. And they were, you see them with the apanthas and the rest of them. They are very, very good friends. Now the issue that bothers me is the level of insecurity that is a part of coming up, especially within the North. He started from Zamparas. But we are the governor of Zamparas. He tries to stop media houses from doing their job by shutting down the various media houses. Therefore trying to, for going to cover the, the rally of an opposition party PDB. Before that, the Zamparas state governor have also issued a statement that no political rally must be held in Zamparas state. That is the tendency of an authoritarian. What it means is that this man is a danger to democracy in Nigeria and he wants to stop immediately. Or else we're going to have serious issues moving forward. How can you shut down media houses just before they went to cover the political rallies of a political party? Not only the states media, even NTA, that he has no power over. That is authoritarianism. That shows the depth of insecurity when it comes to political, how will I put it, political tolerance. And if this man is not stopped, there is a possibility that he's going to truncate this democracy. And I like the way the media and everybody is fighting him. The MBC have issued a statement, AG have issued a statement, NUG have issued a statement. Even the Pentebrocata's Association of Nigeria have also issued a statement. This man must be stopped. Then, where we move also, we go back to Kaduna. And we saw the attack on PDB members that were attended the presidential campaign rally in Kaduna yesterday. That also is totally condemnable because it is a breach of the peace accord that was signed by the political parties in Abuja just few days ago. That is in breach. And the federal government and the secretaries have made sure that this stops. You ask of PDB, well, nothing to talk about PDB. You have said it all. You met Gumi. These were some of his supporters. We are already castigating the other presidential candidate that met Gumi. But now PDB has gone to meet him. But I know if you see the statement issued yesterday, he said he was just asking some fundamental questions. How are you going to do that? First of all, I personally don't see any problem with him visiting Gumi. Other presidential candidates have done that. And if they believe there is any for him to do, then there is no problem. I don't have any problem. The only problem I have also the statement created to the governor of Kaduna State where he said he would, like once upon a time when he went to Anambra during one of the election, that he could have stopped Ubi from coming to Kaduna, that statement is also not, is very much becoming a governor of that status. That is there for that. Okay. Chris, let's take a look at the leadership now. Yesterday, President Mohammed Buhari declared, you know, open the last ministerial performance retreats. So there was really like that retreat where he talked about the review. And that's where he made the statement that he's met the needs or the yearnings of the people in seven years. And in that retreat, he talked about high impact projects that have been implemented across the country, meeting the needs and aspiration of Nigerians. And it's a nine-parity agenda of his administration. The president highlighted remarkable progress made in the areas of agriculture, economy, infrastructure, security, health, anti-corruption, among others. I'd like you, you know, to look at this and share your thoughts. What do you think? Do you think that, you know, the nine-point priority that the president had mentioned, you think he's met the yearnings of the people in seven years plus? It is not for the president to mark his script. Nigerians will mark his script after his tenure in 2023. So he shouldn't be in a hurry to mark his script. He cannot set a question for yourself and still mark the script and score yourself. It's not possible. But back to your question as to the nine-point agenda he set that he set in 2015. For me, I don't know anyone that has met the area of insecurity. There is no more security. In terms of corruption, we have seen what is going on even within the system. We are losing practically about 400,000 parrots of crooks every day. We have seen the situation where those in government and appointees are building billions and billions of Nigerian people. For example, it's the AGL, the Auditor General and so many other crap that is going on. The level of corruption within this government is in the economy. How much was it in 2015? Now the dollar as of yesterday is between 7.30 and 7.40. And he inherited it. So I don't know in which area he is. Yes, there are some tips here and there in the area of infrastructure. When you talk, the first in the world is the second Niger bridge. It's going to bring to the table of Nigerians. It is what they are supposed to do. As a government, that is what they are supposed to do. The educational sector is totally at total loss. We have seen that should be on strike for over 8 months. They just resume after the court gave that order. Then look at the life of Nigerians. You will see the rate at which Nigerians do japa now. Let's see, you know what I am talking about. Nigerians are japaing at the rate that we can't even at the rate at which we are japaing now. If you go to the airport and go to the way and see the rate at which Nigeria that is because of the economy of Nigeria. This was what we saw in the 80s when the Ghanaians came to Nigeria because of the situation. Very serious economic situation. They are ready to even japa to go and then instead of I am not talking about those going to UK US address that even UK recently issued they are going to take a second look at Nigerians coming into UK because of the number of people they bring along with them. Are you talking of employment? What is the level of employment? Are you talking of children out of school? It has really talked about the last time. So in what area would this government say that it has fully achieved? So as I said the president has the right to mark his script but he cannot mark his script. We will do that so it shouldn't be in a hurry. In 2023 by time he leaves in May May 29, 2022. We will see that and mask his script and compare him with all those people. Then he will get his score as to what he was able to perform. Based on the promises he made to Nigerians. Electricity, we are not there. He is talking about a petroleum refineries that are going to be refineries. They are not going to be the single ones since he came into office. So what are we even talking about? Let's go back to the Guardian and the paper focuses on the flood situation connecting with the economic situation in the country and the picture there displays people of Okutukutu being ferry to their destination in Yenogua yesterday. It seems the entire Bialsa state is under flood as we speak. People are raising questions as to the trillions of Naira being received by the state in terms of federal allocation since the days of Alamesia, Silva, Diri, Jonathan and the state does not have the requisite infrastructure. So I want to talk about you give us your thoughts on the flood situation in the country as we speak and of course the nexus between this flood and the economic 14s of Nigerians. Yes, one of the papers we are reporting this morning about floating corpses across those areas young missing corpses now floating everywhere. That is how bad the situation is in most of these states. The live reports we got are journalists that 33 out of the 36 states of the petition have been affected by this flood and mostly those within the Niger people in the Niger bank Kugi, Nassarawa, Anambara in Nibudu and so many other states in that region have been fully affected in ways as well. And this is going on this is happening. Yes, we know that the problem of climate change has been expressed in some of the most part of the world including Florida and the US in Pakistan and Bangladesh and the rest of them. But the issue is the fact that as much as we have the problem of climate change here in Nigeria, we also have the challenge of not doing what we are supposed to do because if we have done what we ought to do maybe it will have been reduced. And with that number, Cameroon have told us that they are going to release their dam the water in their dam and they've asked Nigerians to be able to handle their own side of this thing but I've built it channels through which this water can be channelled out so that it can flow. Nigeria never did that for years. Cameroon wants to release this water. They've pulled off the most part of Nigeria with Florida. And we have people in government. So it's a misfortune for two. Several every year you find it difficult to bury yourself between Abuja to Lokoja to other parts of the country because Lokoja and Bukis, they will be totally flooded. You are also talking about Biasa. Most parts of Biasa have been flooded even to the legislative quarters because it's not three days ago to say that even its own house is affected. Then you can ask yourself what is the better government with ecological bonds that it releases every time. And the state will also be asked what have been done with the money being given to them through the ecological funds. So it's a myriad of problem that we could have inherited most of this problem if we have done what we ought to do but we would not be doing that. The economic part of it is that come 2023 we are going to have serious shortage. The government has just released I think 12,000 tons of gray federal government just three days ago to be able to solve this problem. But that is not going to be enough. A particular company lost a rice farm of over $100 million. That is just one company. You cannot imagine what has happened in so many other parties which are within the food basket area of Inui and Gombe and the rest of them. The prices of goods are rising. The pack of rice is moving to about 40,000 to 45,000 Naira. Now you cannot imagine what will happen with the federal product which is why we are having serious fuel queue in Abuja which I asked Abuja the season of now because most of those tankers cannot pass through the local general. Those of them will try to try to more borrow this now. So those are the issues but I say as I repeat we do what we ought to do we continue to be faced with this problem. Those are the commitments of those that lost their lives. About 2 million engineers have been seized by this problem. So quickly, I mean it's very interesting to always note that always we would want to begin to say, hey, for instance I mean on the tweet of Okunjewela on her twitter handle she talked about she expressed concern about the situation of the flooding and she also made reference to climate change and the need for adaptation. But however, we understand exactly what we're dealing with and I don't know if it's always fair that we would say. It's not like we're not in denial of climate change we already know that because Naimet had talked about the rain which will be unusual and that's because of climate change but this is not the case and so it's always saddening or quite worrisome when we always have to make reference to the fact that oh it's a global situation and so we're experiencing it. It's the case in Nigeria a global, I mean really a natural disaster or it's a man made. However, we need to move away from that Chris, there's another one that's quite interesting and it talks about the president, you know, throwing his support and talking about the Nigerian air that will probably take off before the end of this year. I mean this is 2022, that's in the retreat and the vice president is complaining about Forex. This is almost a total of what I think we're trying to get this right. That's on the punch by the way. Yes, don't forget the jamboree that they had in using clues to how many millions of man had to just lodge a dope in London a few years ago and after that nothing happened. I know that there was an attempt to help with Nigerian carrier in collaboration with Virgin Atlantic from years back and which a person was ready to make that possible. A Niger businessman later bought up the airline and he was giving some phone and that was it and it disappeared. Now we are, the Tokyo airline is coming in and the Tokyo line is having I think about 49%, I think about 49% of Nigeria is still called Nigeria Air and the other opportunities would be in the hands of Nigerians that the first remains that how Bible would this be? I don't know. I totally feel that there is need for us to have a national airline if not for anything that for the price it brings. Probably Nigeria is the only country in the world that has a national airline like other but the first is that let's not be the same thing that we have been seeing. We are government is going to be called. Now since last year, the Tokyo airline is the best airline in Africa present and I believe that if they put a lot running the way they want they have been doing theirs it will be successful but the Nigerian factor I can assure you all this comes today but that is talking of running Nigeria. Our own domestic airlines are also having serious issues surviving. We can see the cost of aviation rising as much as about 900 900 to a liter of aviation. That in itself is killing the industry. Most airlines are already shutting down in Nigeria and it is not going to abate. We continue to do what we supposed not to do. As of in the 70s we have Nigeria has the best airline in the whole of Africa. Nigeria was the best compared to Nigeria as well as other countries in Africa to set up their own airlines. If all we say we are going to have a national and all well and good I hope we will stick to the agreement because in the past we have signed this agreement and I hope it will end up becoming a problem in the future. We are talking about the dollar some people promise us that it is going to be one dollar to one Naira although they denied it after now a dollar is about 730 to Naira to one dollar and we cannot accept what we need to do. One, we are not exporting as much as we can to end for exchange. Two, our crew we are not exporting as much even the people that are located to us by opaque we cannot meet. We are losing about 400,000 pairs of food they know what that is. Other areas where we can be able to foreign we are supposed to be exporting certain things in the mineral industry we are not doing that. We are borrowing to service our debt so those are the issues those are the problems no matter what and the economic team of Nigeria they don't know what to do the government we tell you today that it is a Bokeh FS that is a problem Bokeh SM they shut it down it is continuing to rise. From there it is IBDCs we are having issues people are sitting with that number we have to collapse the two exchanges the parallel market and the official market. Because what they do what happens is that the businesses of government sell these dollars to certain individuals especially from a certain part of the country and make so much money from it and that is what happens. You go to the bank you cannot even get it. Use your card not to try to make a transaction of 100 dollars you cannot be able to do that. That is the financial problem we have to find ourselves. We have to move an interesting analysis from you and we will wait to see how these funds are but I mean you've been to the picture although it doesn't seem as an encouraging prospect for the next couple of years you talked about the Nigerian factor let's hope that things will change for the better as soon as possible. We want to thank you so much for your time this morning. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you Chris and we have of course a look at what happened in Transparta today in history today being the 18th of October 2022 we will be right back and we will dive into our first major conversation stay with us.