 back on breakfast. It's a beautiful, beautiful Tuesday morning reaching life from our students in Victoria Island. My name is Kofi Bartels. And I am Messier Bopu. It's good to have you back. Yeah, mercy indeed. Like they say in our local parlance. We enjoyed divine help. It's great to be back. You're looking fantastic as always. I can see the new hair. That's fine. That's okay, but I think you're a bit late, but that's fine. My name is Messier Bopu. And as always, we set up our conversation with our top trending. So I'm sure that you saw the video that made the round. There's a video, not necessarily a video, but a picture talking about the Navy destroying a legal, banquering vessel. And that has been, you know, generating a lot of reaction. All thanks to the new sheriff that's in town. So at some point down, I'm sure that the conversation would be whether or not, should we be angry that we have a new sheriff that's not, you know, that's a private sector, you know, sheriff or whatever it is. But at the end of the day, it feels like at this point, a lot of persons are very excited, you know, with the development and the result. But quick one, the operatives of the Nigerian Navy in Delta State had destroyed an illegal oil banquering vessel arrested with stolen crude oil on board that happened on Monday. And you can see the pictures like I rightly mentioned, you have a new sheriff in town, the oil pipeline surveillance company led by Tom Polo affected the arrests of that vessel alongside seven member crew. That's on October the 6th, 2022, while the crude oil was being loaded illegally into the ship. But long and short of all of this is that they had laid ambush for this particular, you know, vessel, as you can see it, according to, you know, the consultant that was available, his reports, his testimony was that this particular vessel has been transporting. It's not the first time it's a Dutch vessel that's registered, that belongs to certain Nigeria. But of course, that has not been disclosed to Nigeria. And so we really don't know who owns this vessel. And so on this certain day, they actually, you know, we laid them in street palace, that would be the word, laid an ambush and they were caught. But surprisingly, that's gotten too many persons angry at the time when we're thinking that, hey, first of all, we have to grapple with the fact that how did we get to this point where you have pipes or, you know, different spots where people are tampering with the pipeline and then taking this vessel. However, this vessel was headed towards Ghana. That's also another conversation. Somebody said we have brought our Ghana brothers into all of this. That was the case. But what has gotten a lot of people, like I mentioned, Nigerians have been reacting in and out is that the Navy destroyed this vessel, you know, they just set fire on it. And so there are a lot of questions. So setting fire on this vessel, we know that this is illegal. Someone is actually stealing from us. Why do you have to put fire on it? Did you set fire on it while you still have, you know, the crude oil in this vessel with the crude oil taken out? You know, you have members of the crude, of course, said they were arrested. Should we have acted differently? Why exactly did this happen? Now, what will happen with the investigation and evidence at the end of the day? Who does this vessel belong to? These are some of the questions that are begging for answers. And we're hoping that, you know, the government would actually provide answers. However, we also have, you know, a chief team of the region. Edwin Clark has come out to say that the government needs to set an investigative panel, the panel of inquiry. Some people think that that's not brilliant. But it's a lot, you know, it's a lot to grapple with. It's quite saddening this one, especially when we turn 62. Yes, indeed. Merci. You've actually said, you know, said it all, especially the wonderful background you've given there, this seabed going or seabaring badge, a seagoing badge that was intercepted. You know, we've had a lot of reaction to the federal government giving this pipeline surveillance contract to government Equimupolo, aka Tompolo. Let me say chief government Equimupolo. I mean, some people ask why is it called government? That's his name. And General Tompolo has since swung into action with his company, Tantina Security Services. And one of the initial casualties being this seagoing badge, which, you know, was intercepted. What he's saying is that, see, the people, well, the company is basically just an intelligence gathering company. And what they do is they gather intelligence, and then they hand everything over to the security agencies. And of course, like you said, Nigerians coming out to ask, you know, questions about the methods of the armed forces, you know, in terms of the burning of this vessel. It's quite interesting to see people asking questions, you know, okay, someone told me yesterday this is evidence that it shouldn't be tampered with. It's like burning the evidence, you know, the economic and financial crime should have been called in to take that vessel as evidence and to investigate, because according to them, it's an economic crime to steal crude oil. We also hear there's an allegation that 25 million Naira was offered to those who intercepted this particular badge, which they promptly rejected. 25 million Naira was offered to them as a bribe to allow the badge to proceed on its activity. Unfortunately, or let me say fortunately for Nigeria, unfortunately for the operators of this bar, the bribe was rejected. Tumpula said a lot. In recent times, you know, the fact that he's out to prove a point, the fact that, you know, he's out to and show that, you know, he supports government with the country of crude oil theft, the fact that Nigeria is losing a lot of money to crude oil theft. He also said in one interview I watched that the government may not survive 2023, if nothing, he's done to nip this in the butt. But he also went on to say that those within the Niger Delta who may have been involved in artisan refining are not really the main guys. The main guys are the ones who come with the big money, with the U.S. dollars, to come with their equipment and everything, you know, to the place. The people you see from the Niger Delta are basically food soldiers. I've also seen, you know, some interviews with artisan refiners, you know, saying, you see, we're just doing the little one. For one of them said in Delta State, said, or by outside state I think, said that he's just doing, was doing small, you know, the connect pipes, you know, from the main pipelines in the, the crude oil, what you call po-fire in parts of Nigeria Delta, you know, to get diesel, to get kerosene, to get sometimes kerosene, a petrol, PMS. He's saying that what he do is just a little fraction of what the main guys do. It seems what Tom Polo and his company are doing with this contract is to see how they can buy, get a buy, you know, for the communities, you know, host communities. And I think also that's a government strategy, get a buy in of the host communities to say, okay, instead of doing this little one, take this contract, what the pipelines for us and help us catch the big players who have been engaging in this. Nobody question always remains, can such a vessel right all the way into the waters of Nigeria, okay, I mean, this vessel is a batch, can it take the crude oil, steal it, and, and ride out into the high sea to load it off to a tank, a petrol tanker, if you are a crude oil tanker, just like that, without being seen by the scurry agencies. We have the navy on the waters, you have the army around there, you know, even the air force, the scurry, without being seen by any of these guys, JTF are not aware, nobody's aware. That is the question, you know, people are asking. I mean, I've listened to the likes of Femi Fallon Messi, you know, in the switch and switch and speech he gave at the Labor Party retreat, where he really made some quite, quite deep issues, some deep thoughts and ideas as to completely of government in saying it's really impossible for the government of Nigeria not to be aware that this is going on. So, so the question is, can such a badge or any other vessel for that, but be involved in crude oil theft without the authorities knowing? But I think that the follow-up to that is that the NNPC, limited NNPCL's group CEO, Marlon Mellicherry, led other officials of the NNPC, and the chief of army staff, of defense staff, General Lucky Rubble, into the creeks, the pictures were everywhere, yesterday, where they went to inspect a site on a portion of the trans-Escravers pipeline where crude oil was being tapped. In fact, according to the managing director of the Temporal Security Agency, who's of the press, when he said that they identified at least 16 tapping points on the trans-Escravers pipeline. And in general, they found more than 50 in sessions. So what they do is you have the pipeline, and these people get, have pipes that are drilled into the main pipeline to suck oil out. Now some would say, okay, that's really dangerous because, you know, before you embark on such an activity, an exercise to drill, all right, holes into an intercept oil, you know, from the main pipeline. So you have to be careful because when there's pressure in there, if you try that, it could lead to an explosion. So now this raises concerns of a collusion from people within the oil and gas community from companies, for instance, SPDC or what we call Shell. In fact, what they found out was that this particular tapping point, you have two pipes that were placed on the trans-Escravers pipeline and were sucking the crude oil from there, all the way over four kilometers, over four kilometers into the high sea, all right, messy. And you have a platform, a loading platform on the water. You have to get into a speedboat to get there. That was, it's operated by Shell. And they, they, they pump this, this, this pipe, this, this crude oil over four kilometers to the pipeline that is on the high waters. A platform where you have a helipad to access there. You have to be on a speedboat, you know, ride for some time to get to that platform or use a helicopter and you see that it's a high, it's the high sea. So, so, so, so, what they discovered mercy was that, that, that this, this pipeline has been operating for nine years. Now the question people are asking is how can such a pipeline, all right, that is, is sucking and stealing oil from the trans-Escravers pipeline. How can such a pipeline exist within the country for nine years and nobody knows about it. And, and not just that, it actually goes all the way to the high sea and they're using a Shell platform, you know, to, to load into vessels. So the questions are quite enormous. So I think that that's, you know, if you look at the movie production in Nigeria, the songs they say this is part one or season one, that's like the beginning of the conversation. And this is also, you know, the second part of the conversation where you say, okay, yes, this is what's going on. There's an illegal pipeline that has existed for nine years. And it feels like we just woke up to discover all of that. But another one that's pressing is the issue of having the, the vessel that was set ablaze, you know, they just want the vessel by the Navy. And that also is where the conversation lies. So it's like we're having the conversation in parts and, you know, bits and pieces or in parts. So parts one or series one, and this is another season at the time where one would think that should he be, because if, if, I mean, if you have crewed here, I'm just asking if the vessel had crewed in it, was it really rational? Was it a wise thing to do, you know, to set it on fire and just spun it? We're not also talking about the implication that that would have, you know, around the environment. Let's not forget that this region is a region due to activities of, you know, the international community. I mean, international companies suffered a lot of environmental degradation. And now that's happened. Let's also not even think about, is it not possible that we could have made money from it, sell it, you know, take out the crew and restore it? But this is, this is the question. The reason I raised the pipeline, because that's really like really very, very latest, which is just a discovery for, for the vessel. I mean, it's, it's unfortunate, like you said. Some have talked about, you know, burning the evidence. And for me, the, the, my greatest concern was the impact on the environment. You know, you have people who can swear on their parents' grave. I'm sorry to say that, that the, in fact, Tom Polo said it in an interview with one of the two stations. He said that, you know, the military and the Navy, the Army and Navy, they're really involved in this. And that time, if you see an Army boat, JTF, you see a Navy boat on the high waters, you will know that there's something going on behind there, you know. So, so the allegation from him is that, oh, when they, they, they get their monies, all right, the, you know, the, the bribe, then they paid off. They look for one old vessel to burn and they'll send a report. So, so that's, that's like a center. Yes, you know, but, but for this, this is, is a flash in the pan because, because, you know, how do these things go on without, without being, being noticed? It's, Medicare is going to the creeks. He, the war raincoats, you know, they took pictures. Lucky rubber was with him and they expressed surprise that this was going to surprise. Nine years to be able to drill. Kofi, we need to move on. You know, I feel like this conversation is something that we would have to, you know, talk about. Let's see how it goes. It might never be endless. Let's see how it goes. So, over to you. But I do hope that that SBDC or the shell, whichever of the shells it is, you know, because I have different shells will come out and tell us how the platform, you know, that they have is being used, you know, that's an offshore platform is being used to, to load the stolen crude into the ships, you know, vessels, we've been waiting for them to come and tell us. But anyway, moving on very quickly. There's a, there's a, there's a trending, you know, hashtag on, on Twitter that has to do with education. And this is Save Ma Poli, Ma Poli. For those who are wondering, Ma Poli is the acronym for the Moshe Rabiola Polytechnic. What we're seeing is the students are taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to express their displeasure at what they call illegal increment of tuition fees. You know, they're seeing that they've been suffering this. And as if it's not enough, the school came up with another 20,000 Naira, tagged as registration fee asking who does that. This is a school located in Ogun State, where Governor Dacoab Yonu holds sway. And you know, students are not taking it lightly at all. In fact, they say at the acceptance fee. I don't know if you've heard of acceptance fee message before. Acceptance fee, what is acceptance fee was raised from 25,000, 35,500 Naira to 35,000 Naira. As if that wasn't not enough. They added another 20,000 Naira to it. And a group known as Fund Education Coalition, they're kicking against the hiking fees by the Moshe Rabiola Polytechnic. It's a students group. They're saying that the action of the management of that school was insensitive and ill-conceived. They're saying that Governor Dacoab Yonu of Ogun State in southwestern Nigeria should be asked some hard and serious questions as regards the funding of the institution. Have you heard of acceptance fees before? So, acceptance fee is that fee, when you're given an admission, I mean, for instance, you apply, you know, to, I know you know what this is, what I would just explain, because you you're asking like you don't know. And so for you to accept the admission, you have to pay a fee like saying, hey, you know, this admission has been granted. You pay a certain fee to say, I have accepted this. What exactly is this, is that meant to do? I don't understand, but that's what it is. So you pay a certain fee. You've gotten an admission and for you to proceed with every other thing, you need to, you know, put down a certain fee. That's usually a fee. I remember at the time where, you know, University of Kalabata, but precisely, even that particular system even creeped into those who were interested in having their masters. I really don't know where that came from. There's a lot that happens at the University at the federal and at the state level. But like I would say, I know that you're I mean, in my time, the acceptance fee there was anything like that may have been so insignificant that we didn't even notice. I didn't even notice. So times are changing. We're in 2022 and you're talking about your time. We need to go back in time to understand. Excuse me. You're making me feel old like Elizabeth. You do have a bit of gray hair on and that's not so what's that supposed to be. But to be to be very honest, then, you know, to look at the issue is that financing has been has always been an issue, especially with our education. And if you look at the educational system in Nigeria, it's on the fund that it's not properly financed, whether the federal or, you know, the state educational system or institution, have I want to look at it? But it's just that the structure itself originally allows that, you know, basic education in Nigeria is financed through the concurrent finance and structure. And so you have three chairs of government, the federal government, the state government and the local government. And at the end of the day, there's supposed to be a percentage. So you have a federal government committing, you know, 50%. And then you have a the state and local government committing 30 and 20% respectively. And that's what it is. But let's even get back to the issue of, you know, how state governors, because I remember sometime last year that asked who had raised a serious concern about, you know, not funding for, you know, state governors not funding state institutions or state universities. It was a serious concern that has been raised. Some universities were actually, you know, highlighted or pointed to the fact that they were not leaving off to expectation. And we're talking about universities in this course. And so it's just a lot. But the argument that's been put out, you see students complaining, especially for the mushuda biola, polytechnic right there. If you look at the times, one would ask, should the management of the university not be very realistic? I mean, be in the system to understand exactly what's going on with the times. We're talking about inflation. We're talking about the states, you know, at a time where civil servants almost in that system of them are talking about salaries not being paid. And then you have their kids in that school. So how do you then explain it? So I have a word. I work in that particular state, salaries are being owed. How do I then pay for it? And if you look at the cost of leaving and everything, it's on the high. So one would think that the government should be sensitive. But however, there's no statement from, you know, the management of the school at the time to, you know, debunk all of the issues that are really going on. But funding is an issue. And I know a lot of persons have said, oh, let's, you know, get into a system where we have the private sector, we need to privatize or we need to handle government cannot continue. We talk about the fact that we don't have funds and funding. Let's look at the budget every other time at the state and at the federal level. Let's look at what we keep, you know, where we're locating monies to and resources. What are we spending monies on? It's important that we look in what's and begin to cut the excesses. You find, you know, in a state, you find a governor running a convoy. It's not a joke. So you have about 19 sudden brown up, you know, I was going to mention a brand, but you have a certain, you know, cars, fleet of cars, which would actually constitute the convoy for, you know, a governor of a state. What are you doing with all of that? That's it. And for all of these vehicles, these vehicles will not drive themselves. So you're going to have, you know, people who are driving these vehicles, you're going to be feeling and maintaining these vehicles. All of this. Why are you laughing? But it's true now, because we can't, you know, so the government, the governors will say, we don't have monies to fund the system, right? You're watching a lot of TV. Basically, we don't have too much time. Of course. Yes. Let's get to the last time. So very, the last on us for us this morning is that the army has actually intercepted, you know, cannabis worth 4.9 trillion Naira in your best state. And it feels like we're the point where the fight against drug is on the high. And this is really good. I mean, we're approaching the election period. Please, I hope you're not going to say that this is political. No, no, no. I was just going to say I put out a tweet a couple of weeks ago when there was a fight in Yannuba in Lagos state. Is it Yannuba? Yeah. Where I said, okay, maybe NDLEA should lend or should they just maybe put the way you put in this part where she borrows and my route to Lagos state for just one month, you know, and all these things to lend. But I'll just analyze this, looking at what people are saying. And the average man on the street out there is saying just a few months to election, they are finding cocaine everywhere and they're finding pipelines. So in other words, you're saying this is political? I will not say it. I don't think it's political. I think the man is doing a good job. I don't think it's political. We have to go, man. Well, that's it. That's the much we can take this morning. Well, we will return some more with more interesting conversation. We take a break now. And when we return, there will be time for us to go through the front pages of a national release. We'll call it after press. Please stay with us.