 We're glad to know you're still there. It's time now to go to the press and see what we can lift off the press That means the headlines for today on some of our national deals We're glad to have joining us. Mr. Tunde Kolaulay a legal practitioner here in Lagos State. Good morning and welcome to the program Mr. Kolaulay Okay, it's another wonderful day There may not be money, but there is and there is Happiness which we can choose to get or not to get because let's let's say happiness is a choice wherever you find yourself Okay, so We're starting this morning with a Guardian newspaper And then the first headline here slow e-payment channels wassen cash You look tight troubles That's the first headline here the the Christmas was celebrated in a very Very low key to a lot of people especially some workers in the federal civil service that were That celebrated Christmas without salaries. A lot of people said that they were not paid for December as the celebrated eulogite and now cash payment e-payment and all other things Wasn't the situation. What was your what is your perspective about? What happened during the eulogite especially as regards the cash crunch we're fighting Can you hear me? Okay, but I can hear you loud and clear without any hindrances Yes Let me just say I did my Christmas in Lagos and I did a little bit of the moving around I can say that Your account is What a moment We're talking to tundekolawole and we're looking at the headlines We will return to tundekolawole to have his comments on all the headlines in the meantime what we're going to be doing is Just to give you a rundown of all the headlines and when he comes we'll be taking them one after the other We'll begin with the guardian newspaper The one he was answering when we went off like that was slow e-payment channels wassen cash eulogite troubles that's The biggest headlines on the guardian newspaper and then we have smaller headlines over 50,000 soldiers in counterterrorism separatist operations nationwide says see chief of army staff saboteurs hoarding naira dollars now on federal government's watch list Okay That is also on the guardian newspaper. So if you're hoarding naira or Dollars you are now on the federal government's watch list. That is if they know you Senator lament rise in taraba killings calls for emergency We have responsibility. Okay. Now you can find that on page 28 With responsibility to ensure Nigeria's stability tinobu tells governors That's on news page three on the guardian newspaper Boxing day how harsh economy spoiled fund for many Nigerians. That's metro page eight You can find that story apc alleges plot to pilfer eight billionaire from kanu coffers That's on news page 28 on the guardian newspaper Two months after versity teachers insist they're being denied four-month salary News page three guardian newspaper. That's where you'll find that Another headline says fast-tracking justice dispensation through alternative dispute resolution It's an editorial on page 12 middle belt to threaten self-help as debt toll in plato killing hit 155 that is on news page six on the guardian newspaper So those are the headlines on the front pages of the guardian newspaper. We move now to nature news nature news has the leading headlines on nature news as Green Nigeria initiative federal government to plant 25 million trees in 2024 the riders are budget Budgets are 100 billion for green bond allocates 15 billion naira for great great green wall I think color will it has joined rejoined us Welcome back to today Can't get in there. Okay, so you were saying that you went around Legos a little bit for Christmas. Okay, let's continue with that I mean I have been spending Christmas in Legos over a long time now and I haven't witnessed the kind of Christmas that I saw that this life last time around everywhere was tried people were looking for long the kind of festivities and saying they're dancing musicians playing in different places and all that wasn't working there and just like the papers in the pocket getting the two cars to really do some of the transactions and people but not even would do the Christmas in terms of buying food, groceries and water and drinks for family members relations and now that we're all on very very low key which tells us the reality that this scarcity time is a real and that the government would require to do something about it rather than start telling stories and saying people are holding the currency and water if no people are holding the currency must you announce it that they are on your work list all the currencies are the economic sabotage all the government's relation too is to go after such persons and raise them and prosecute them in a court of incompetence and jurisdiction but rather than face realities you find that coming without pushing out the propaganda of the government against the people my suspicion is that the government is mopping up cash the cash in the system so as to bring down inflation the inflation of the NIPA over 20% and it can continue like that since my spirit of control so I would rather not say that there is a monetary policy that the government is implementing that is at the bottom of this capital of currency that we have in all over Nigeria and as to the performances of the NIPA made and all that it has never been top notch even when currency was in the cash you and I will know that the performance of the NIPA is dependent on the service providers that we have in the country that is the telecommunication company and the performance of the telecommunication company that I know that just like I have said hasn't always been excellent why is it not excellent it is not excellent because the technology that we have in that area is a little technology in some other parts of the world and all that most of the telecommunication company operate through satellite look at the most facilities now it does require to put a antenna somewhere anywhere in the world you are able to see simply because they are operating through satellite the telecom providers in Nigeria should be looking at the possibility that they are made of really joining the counterparts in the other parts of the world where satellites now controls and help them to regulate disseminate and get messages across the people they are all the telecommunication platform that we have in the country the comment here I want to say to find some other ways that may come through inflation my advice here has only been that the cost of contracts in the country in terms of trust and this is another contract is too high there is no justification for it they are now in the movement satellites and all that of the politicians is also way out of of reasonability so furthermore I am not even sure that we have a list here that the CBA has the accurate data as regards the amount of money in circulation so they need to look at some of these areas they require to know the amount of money in circulation to be able to implement some of the monetary policies that they are presently implementing while we are talking about trying to mop up the cash from the in circulation nobody is talking about what happens when you use e-transactions the kind of charges that come with the e-transactions and the kind of failed transactions that you find because you are talking about the service providers being the ones that are responsible for whatever happens but nobody is talking about this to address these issues because a lot of people who should ordinarily go to the banks are very reluctant nowadays they intend to keep their money at home because they can spend it you go to the bank to collect your own money they are not giving you the money just because they want to mop up the cash how do you survive if you need this money to do whatever you are doing for instance if you are a farmer the farming season is about to kick off and then you are going to get your money to go and hire people to do declaring or anything that you need to do in the farm you cannot access this money so people are resorting to keeping this money at home yet you want to mop up the cash that is in the economy how practical is this is it going to work at all because I don't see it working I don't know if you have a better insight to that you are correct but my take is that who even has good money to keep at home now almost all of us are living on a huge train because of the hyperinflation in town no matter what money you get now by the time you go to the market you find out you can't buy most of the things that you used to buy with the money you require to take huge sums of money now to buy just a basket of tomato a basket of onion and then a bag of rice and water you know so these are challenges the monetary policies of the government not just this government's look all the civilian government that we have had have not been working especially with regard to the government before this war the government before this war was reckless in the money that it was borrowing the money that it was spending you don't start spending what you don't earn but that was what we saw in the last administration those are some of the things that lead to oil inflation where you have very low productivity not just in the area of agriculture but also in manufacturing and then your oil is no longer available to sell in the international market you are likely to face the kind of challenges that we are facing now and I'm sorry to say even though this may sound non-palate but it appears to me that the situation may even get worse in the coming days, in the coming months and in the coming years except the government in the system and be honest with the people of Nigeria I will advocate let the government begin to focus its attention on full security let's go back to agriculture if we can provide food for our people the problem will be have and of course we also require to do something decisive with regards to security the security situation in the country has totally broken down Nigeria has become like a broken head that is the almost impossible to limit fix or put together but we must find a way around it if we want to continue to lead as a nation, as a united country as a one people that I mean I don't like the capital of this set the president I mean the presidential spirit of the liberal party look at the number of people that were killed in Plateau State even in one situation that is further going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians that kind of number of people are not killed in one single day unlike what we are seeing in the Kominah or Intertribal what we are seeing all over the country well talking about security we will just take these two headlines to get at the senator Lamence Rice in Taraba killings calls for emergency and then this other one on page 6 of the Guardian says middle belt threatened self-help as debt toll in Plateau killings hit 155 in fact from inside information that we got from the calls they said that it is possible that is more than 160 people killed in one day now the worrisome thing is that yesterday on Daily Trust newspaper we had when the story was that 145 were killed the defense chief was telling Nigerians take ownership of security and it worries me at what point legally can we as a nation say we are declaring a state of emergency on security because for me I think we have reached that point where a state of emergency should be declared are there incumbrances that will meditate against this kind of pronouncement are there conditions that will make this impossible that is still keeping us here and we are not declaring a state of emergency in security well when we have people say we need to declare a state of emergency with regards to security I laugh why do I laugh in this killing that we seen that we are seeing all over the country has been going on for more than 12 years or they are about we started with the Bukwara misogyny and then it got ready to pan the tree and lawlessness and then we also have to separate this movement in the fountains and all that one of the primary responsibilities of government is to provide security for its people if there are any government that cannot guarantee security has no business being in power so when government begin to say that they now require to declare a state of emergency before they can guarantee security it means that the government is not serious at all that is something you should do as a matter of security that is something that you should do without giving any excuses and war as you and then you must be seen to be making very serious effort in that collection I was pointed out the one we have in our hand is a classical gorilla a wolfia that is being weighed by the bandits in the different parts of the country when you look at this plateau killing and all that it took place on the myth of chris class that is a place in which the community they wanted to attack will be relaxed will be in sensitivity will not be expecting that anybody will come attack on a very auspicious time to attack them the people will just be to a sedentary to be able to put up a defense and then the people coming to attack on them that is a classic gorilla activity so and that is what has been happening in most of the community in which this kind of killing has taken place what this tells me is that the Nigerian security people the army, the police the PSS and war have the civil defense and then the local vigilantes will require to really think to spread their own strategy the public will also have to adopt a gorilla approach to fighting this security that we have in our hands when we begin to use the classical warfare methodology we might not be getting the result that is very required and then we might be making a very terrible message but as we saw in Kathmandu and Kathmandu and not too long ago in which the trolls have leashed on the community who are celebrating Ibel Maloud so the soldiers the army, the security chiefs will require to really fountain the strategy and tactics for committing this security and bandaging all over the country and more importantly it will also appear that the struggle to have access to mineral resources and then to Rosu Casus and Lola is also behind some of these bandages and war have so we require to do something with regards to access to the mineral resources of the country in the different parts of the country this phase is way way beyond the mayor inter-communal classes economic activities will appear to be behind some of these security challenges that we have in our hands people want to go and steal other people's cows and other animals they want to take over the aggracing land people's aggracing land they also want to have access to mineral in the different communities and then be able to take them without paying royalties and taxes to government so it's a very serious situation and except we need to put more attention to these areas and less attention to politics we pay too much attention to politics we should not take more than 10 percent of our time but almost 90 percent of our time is spent on politics and also non-economic activities that we have in our hands it's possible to rein in this insecurity but in this they have to be a kind of strategy they have to be more commitment and then the local communities too will have to will have to take things into their hands because I'm sorry to say self defense is a fundamental right under the Nigerian constitution where the state has not been able to guarantee citizen security then the citizen will have the right to find ways of me to really defend them defend themselves if you don't sit by you don't start watching when people just open you and begin to kill massacre into a menu on the daily basis such as we have seen in the last 12 years of the Arab world and more importantly like I said we must blame the politician for all this thing because they are secured they are not thinking about providing security to all citizens well let's move on to other matters we are taking some stories from nature news the federal green initiative that's the leading headline federal government to plant 25 million trees in 2024 budgets 100 billion Naira for green bond and then allocates 50 billion Naira for great green wall your comments please here it will be it will be a good development if they are able to do it if they are not if they are not merely paying lip service to the insecurity that we have I mean to this green revolution thing that they are talking about but don't forget that in the return to DC we have only has very active budget that's in here mark to fight the certification and then to also the green Nigeria in the different parts of the country but what has always happened to those budgets have we always had results for those budgets the answer is no in fact what has always happened is that those budgets or those monies are putting the budget for the politicians and the civil servants and their friends who gave it to have access to state resources at the end of the day no green initiative will be seen all over the country and the countries they have it from the north to the south west to east on a year made basis and because this climate change is a reality the fact that the security we are talking about has part of its roots in the challenges that we have in the area of the climate in the certification that we have on about the country the cultural area for the cultural others are moving more and more than south to find the great places for the animals they are having more frequent classroom with the farmers because the farmers want to keep this land and then the animal areas will also want to provide places for the animals so if we have been able to fight the desert encroachment the desert encroachment in Kamei, Kadimei, Tikiawa in Meduguri in Boronuna and Warapo some of the challenges that we have in some of these local communities would have been reduced I would want to see a situation in which we have a commission that we may be able to monitor some of the things that are said to be here in Yarmat to be done in the area of the certification and improving the environment in which we live too many times Monizia Yarmat is not a fancy a safe place in terms of the planting the trees and cleaning all the pollution in the Niger Delta area but thanks to that number the final end of the day this is a mere propaganda in the matter of positions they are not committed to executing at all and except we begin to pay attention to our environment we will be merely cutting our own losses in order to spite ourselves because when the environment is gone we will all be in trouble very serious trouble as the people and in security we will fall down right in the country there is this story also on nature news two stories actually Lagos pledges enforcement of environmental impact assessment that's on the one hand and then Lagos state government urges residents to stay away from distressed buildings those two stories are coming from Lagos state I'm more interested in stay away from distressed buildings I don't know it doesn't seem like a deliberate policy for housing that will accommodate the people that are in Lagos and so people resort to a lot of a lot of practices some of them very harmful to make sure that they just have a roof over their heads if you are not resorting to going to Lagos state to be coming from Lagos state to work in Lagos state and pay taxes in Lagos state and all that it doesn't seem as if they have a deliberate policy on housing that they have or something that has given you the hope that something will be done about housing in Lagos state In fairness to the Lagos state authority since that is how we live in Kui they are building an environmental efficient has been very active in ensuring that people who are building houses comply with building regulations in ensuring that the houses that are distressed are marked and the citizens are asked to evacuate those buildings but the truth of the matter is that our people are very stubborn people in houses are distressed and the government or the country agencies ask the people to evacuate those houses our people will usually refuse to evacuate those buildings consider a force to do so but if you have the ability for them to comply and if people have the ability to comply with the regulatory authorities with their instruction with the order that are given I am sure we will have the total environment let me just say this Mr. Kui the environment even in places where we have baskets where cans are provided we will find out that our people will still not use those facilities they will throw dialysis into the drainage they will throw it on the road and then they mess up the environment but just a moment Mr. Kui if you are flying over Lagos and you look at Lagos from the air you will find that as one of the most beautiful cities in Africa but when you are on the ground the kind of pollution the kind of lit up the kind of abuses that you will see will rather be put off the government or the respective agencies will also be to see that both cases it's not just about providing facilities we really need to educate the people on the need to comply with making the environment pollution free lit up free and then they need to stay away from the safe building where you don't stay away from the safe building what you really do is risk in your life as the buildings will collapse anytime and then the people will be killed another name for life but in addition to enforcing implementing activities and decisions we also need to look for ways to provide cheap housing for our people I am not sure any citizen will want to live in a decent house if they really have alternatives and where they could stay in their safety guarantee building a house is not a tea party renting a house in a place like this is not a tea party it's not very expensive especially in the urban areas so all this is must go together in as much as want to enforce regulations and water you know in as much as want to keep our environment clean we must also be able to provide cheap houses for our people in such a manner that they will not be adamant in continuing to live and stay in a house that has been set up to be destroyed and watered the mudgate institutions are not working and when the developers build houses they are very very expensive not to stop us if they come in within the building houses to make facilities available to make finances available at about between 2 and 5 percent interest so that the developers will be able to build cheaper houses we can also have the developer with cheap material will be able to build houses for the people I think we are able to do that all the preaches all the samples and water with regard to the need to stay away from the safe houses will come to north they lead to the pollution the messing of the environment that we also see also has a relationship with the conditions that we have in most of our cities especially in the legal area you find an environment where not more than 5 10 or 15 20 people should live the process of people that are living in those areas live in two conditions and water them so where an environment is contested we are too many people occupying a small space of land the consequences you always see that it is difficult to keep what an environment is hygienic and then people will draw out a manner of thinking you also need to lay their head on something I have some sleep ok see and then provision of cheap houses provision of cheap materials for people to be able to buy houses granting of loans to civil servants every point of security the army, the police and all that to be able to build their own houses will help a great deal and then we should also be able to prepare the land in the rural and the outskirts of the city make clothes water light availability developing areas these days people have access to to energy to water to goods and all that and they can access their workplaces from those little places very easily and cheaply I am sure some of the challenges that we have in some of these areas will be a thing of the past or at least if not totally eliminated I am just wondering I have two concerns some of the people who live in distressed buildings live in those buildings because they are the ones that are a bit affordable they don't seem to be deliberate efforts to monitor what goes on in tenancy I don't know if it is covered by law but landlords in Lagos state seem to do as they like if I may say that and they just wake up one morning then tell you that the rents have gone up maybe 300% or 200% as the case may be no regulatory body that will hold them will rein them in and say no this cannot be done it happens like that and like I always said a lot of people maybe up to 70% maybe are living outside Lagos and coming to work in Lagos and they pay tax here so that's one reason why people stay in distressed buildings secondly it doesn't seem as if they also give this warning and orientation at the onset they will leave you to build they will give you a land somewhere that you should not build because the integrity of that place you are building on is not even good enough don't they do land integrity check before they allow you to build there but they will give you a place to build you build they leave you from foundation before they come and mark X with a red paint and then what happens from there is that you go to the office and talk to them and then they let you continue till you roof the house before you know what is happening the house has tilted and maybe twin houses close to where I live there are twin houses that are touching each other at the roof and you are telling that person after spending all that money to leave that house because you are going to demolish it or something or something if you need to do this shouldn't you start from the beginning why sell land to people when that land cannot hold a building in the first place and then why let the landlords to do whatever they like just because they built their own houses is it not covered by law that these things should be done and to protect the tenants and everything it is let me quickly say this that certain land cannot hold houses there is no land that you cannot build a house look at the so called banana island these are some three lands that people are building houses with the function of money the function of your resources if you have the means to do the kind of foundation that you do you should be able to build as anywhere in most of the places that some of these houses that have challenges are being built when a poor man now wants to go and build his own house in an empty area he is planning to face a lot of challenges because he will not be able to do the proper foundation that he is required to do as you guys know there are two laws that takes care of something for example you are not supposed to start building your house without a building plan and part of the building plan that the country uses to do is ask you to do soil tests and the soil tests will tell you the kind of foundation that you require to do to do before you begin to build the kind of material that you require to use in certain places if you are building in a swampy place the material you use is different from what you are likely to use in the dry land all those places are empty but because processing building plans and getting some of these tests done are very very expensive come back home and take a long time not about people it will just say if I cut those things and just go ahead to build your house because if you have about 10 million to build your house and you are going to be spending about 8 million to do soil tests to build your house for example you are told you need to have a certificate of occupancy before you can get a building to build your house I find that very strange a deed of assignment is as good as a certificate of occupancy why would I say that people must have a certificate of occupancy before they can get it's not too late for me as a person a cause to process a certificate of occupancy and some of these other integrated things that I have talked about could be very challenging and could be very very expensive so if we are able to reduce the cost of these things I will confirm the processes and also educate the citizens on the importance of compliance with all the building regulations and what are they I am sure we will begin to have improvement in that area but with my experience in the area of property in the area of property the challenges people have always faced is the cost of compliance it is a time that we wasted and also the resources in some other areas that are needed in some other areas okay, well let's move to the punch newspaper federal government plans fresh regulations for OP, money points, others these are small banks small microfinance banks that have come into Nigeria and they are doing a lot of things the regulation will come and I am sure they will be tighter taxing and so many other things that will clip their hands a lot and Nigerians are asking the questions the regular banks what kind of regulation is in that sector to hold the regular banks because they do things that a lot of people have lost confidence in the banks to transfer some of these mushroom banks are the ones that give loans to a lot of Nigerians without even any collateral they are the same ones that you do transactions on their app and you are not charged a cover but the regular banks are doing charging people and doing a lot of things that people are not comfortable with and regulations are coming is it not just partial to bring more regulations to this type of banks and leave the regular banks to just go scot free as Nigerians are perceiving with due respect my solution is that each time the government have always said they want to bring in some regulations in certain areas you will be surprised at the end of the day what they want to do is to easier taxing or increase the taxes that they already get it from such a person and when they do that it leads to increasing cost of living that will mean more taxation for the people for me most of these so called low pay people they are agents of the bank in a way they are working for the bank and they are a bank themselves all we need to do the regulations that are applied to the bank in a way so to say if it is working you really don't need to start to think about imposing more budget on these people because whom do you find in those areas now? some of the people that have been retrieved from the banks some of the people some of the young graduates some artisans who have learnt a trade and all that and have been able to find jobs most of the one that you now find who are operating some of these money points and making money available to the people in the different street corners imposing more budget on them in terms of taxes in terms of rules and regulations and modus operandi might be detrimental to their survival because our bread somewhere in which people are facing some of these activities or these services in the south east have cried out that they come in the south east have started imposing more budget on taxes from them and because of that they will also increase whatever commissions that they are getting from those who come to use their facilities and water for God's sake these particular trade activities are not the fundamental issues the fundamental issues to address in my humble opinion is the course of governance in this country it is the course of contract it is for us to be able to address what is happening in the different local governments all over the country and with the local governments are now parallel to each other and some of these securities that are finding in the different parts of the country is as a consequence of the paralysis that we have in the local government level in the past the local government used to be the first line of defense when it comes to security but because the government has refused to allow the local government to operate on function that line of defense has collapsed it has broken down so now the common face the common eyes of the economy and lead the petty traders the petty people the ordinary people are trying to earn the living in the government that's when they give you a thousand naira I mean five thousand naira or whatever the family will take a hundred naira from your money because those are the people who want to start to regulate what is the level of profit that they are making that is not the need to focus due attention on them of course the government should consider it on something more important like I have said the cost of governing the cost of contract the common face the situation of the local government needs for food security and of course we need to fight the challenges that we have in the area of country which I think the fight the struggle for the control of many a fight may be responsible for and not the petty traders it's not a time to earn the living okay let's just take a final one before we wrap up it's related to what we are just talking about now federal government will go after economic saboteurs next year that's according to the senate leader he insists national assembly will pass 2024 appropriation bill December 30 now saboteurs they say some people are hoarding the naira some people are hoarding the dollar and then they will wait till next year to go after these people that's my concern they say they will go after these people next year and we are already suffering from that hoarding right now whether it's being hoarded by the banks or it's being hoarded by individuals and all that so if you are going to go after them my question is why not go after them right now that's what the federal government says next year people know who the economic saboteurs are and they are not going after them even at the religion of duty what is the responsibility of government is it not to ensure that nobody does anything adverse that will affect the economy the economy is the life wire of any nation that is the juggler of the nation you don't stand by and allow anybody to destroy the juggler of the nation so you ask yourself why are the ESCC established what about the ICPC what about the special profile you live in the Nigerian police what about the civil defense what about those who go after the drug violence and war what are their responsibilities you don't need to start an organization but from the root of the case if you know who the saboteurs in the economy you as a government you have to coerce apparatus so you may be able to deal with the people without telling us that you have identified certain persons who are sabotaging the economy and all that no matter what time this kind of thing the very right to talk the key of the matter is that because certain persons lack ideas and they really don't know what is happening that is why they are talking this way if they have ideas that they know what is happening they wouldn't be telling us that they know certain persons sabotaging the economy and that is the year 2024 that they begin to go after them for that moment you look at the topic books whether the ANCCR the ICPCR this activity of the special fraud dealing the last some of these other control agencies or security agencies and what have you they all established to deal with these things and then even the criminal code the criminal code the constitution and all that all the standards of the land have provisions within them to deal with the economy to deal with the stealing to deal with the fraud to deal with the misapplication misappropriation and investments of public funds and all forms of economy to deal with that that even if you take the ICPCR you take the ASPCR the other node that we have in this country is enough to deal with all the criminal activities all the criminal agencies that we continue to see all over the country so the government should this is from this ID talk they talk to us and say you are people who cannot who cannot think who cannot see what is going on who cannot who cannot that they continue to teach rather than engage in a very serious act of governance okay well this is where we have to draw the curtain for today Mr. Kolawele thank you so much for lending your voice to what's going on in the country thanks for having me happy new year in advance wish you a happy new year too and a lovely day we were talking to Mr. Tunde Kolawele a legal practitioner here in Degos we will take a short break and when we return we will look at our fresh hot topic stay with us