 Okay, it's time for off the press. We have four dailies to look at this morning. We have the punch, we have the garden, we have the nation, and we have the leadership newspaper Nick Agoule joining us this morning as our analyst. Nick, good morning to you. Good morning to Nigerians. Yes, I see your colour. Where are you joining us from? Abuja or India Broad? I'm joining you from Abuja, Nigeria. Very good. Probably representing our colours. Very proud of you Nick. I'm sure the Federal Republic is also proud of you. Thank you. Let's start with the punch newspaper. The punch leads along with FGNLC meeting deadlocked. Workers insist on demand. The writers there, government workers must agree on concrete resolutions within remaining days of ultimatum. That's NLC. Minister appeals to labour unions to embrace dialogue. Sean strike as deadline ends on Friday. Now that matchly anticipated meeting took place yesterday but ended up in a deadlock. NLC's demands have not yet been met Nick. What's your assessment of the negotiation so far? My assessment of the, I don't think the government is putting anything for the labour unions. I think the government either is buying time or just pushing the can down the road. Because in all of this, as I can see today, since this current labour comes in, the government do one concrete thing. The labour unions are alleviating the pains that have been brought upon Nigerians. I have heard the government make promises. But I haven't seen the CNG bosses. Is it the palliatives are here that government sent five billion to hydration. But you see, five billion to a state is not enough. If you give people five billion today and they go to the market, it doesn't mean that tomorrow the price come down in the market. So they are number one. The food inflation is cause farmers have been driven away from their farm lands. And as this government has come into into office in May for the chiefs, we are still hearing of insecurity all over the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. In their hands, doing something differently from the previous government. Some from the president to say, I will die basically. But you see, food security is guaranteed. If you look at the petrol, the government is not talking about what they can do to quick them. By now we should be talking about a community with their money to fix their salaries. So we are not seeing anything concrete that will give hope that they want to address the matters on the table. And the matters on the table are simple. The objective is the welfare and security of the people. And under this government, the wealth and the security is not guaranteed. So I think the government should do more. Do you think that Mr. Simon Lalong is doing a Yoma's job? Do you think that Mr. Simon Lalong is talking to the labor unions? Yeah. So what I'm saying is that as regards the Minister of Labor and Productivity, Mr. Simon Lalong. In terms of his performance in the labor unions, that is what he needs to do. But whether those talks are effective is the next question that we are going to address. We're having a bit of network challenge. You know what happens sometimes when network connectivity is challenged. So it appears to be very, very shaky this morning. I hope we're able to reconnect with him. Hello Nick, can you hear me? I can hear you. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. It's just that we're having some sort of cracks when you speak. I'm sure anyone watching would understand that that happens sometimes. But go ahead with your thoughts. Alright, it looks like it's frozen again. Yes, in that room. Okay, I'll just go ahead and read out the headlines. And then the other headlines on the front page of the punch newspaper. And then hopefully when I'm done reading them out, you would have started hearing you again. So above the mast said you have Nigeria serving 108, servicing 108 world bank loans worth $14 billion. That's a special report. And then right beside that you have no easy solution to Nigeria's economic problems. Says the U.S. That must have been said at the on-going right now in the U.S., in New York precisely. President is there right now. And he'll be having a meeting on the sidelines with U.S. President Joe Biden. And then beside that you have all companies, agencies or FG, $9.8 billion in revenue. That's according to Nate. And looking down you have drama as Obaseki locks out in battled deputy governor from government house. Details of that is on page 18 of the punch newspaper. I imagine all the newspapers this morning are carrying that story. Tension has eight killed in Ogun community called clashes. Details of that you can find on pages four and five of the punch newspaper. And then you have Obasek joins list on stand up order to Monax. Page seven is where you have details of that. Nick, do we have you back? Can you hear me? Okay. We are not yet back with Nick. So we'll go to the next newspaper, which is the nation. The nation leads with article of appeals raised concern over Supreme Court cases. Panel of seven will deplete number of justices to four. And then right on top of that you have picture of president Ahmed Tanubu and the picture of the South African president there, Thiru Ramaphosa taken yesterday at the ongoing Anga meeting in New York. You have, okay. I understand that Nick is back. Nick, are you back? I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. I'm not enjoying this at all. But we have to push through. The network today is not completing at all. Okay. So I've moved from the punch to the nation newspaper. And the nation leads with article of appeals raised concerns over Supreme Court cases. You want to touch on that before we move forward? So I can understand the school of thought that thinks that the Supreme Court has some questions to answer because this Supreme Court has in the past delivered judgments that even the DC Supreme Court have had a hard time trying to explain. So now the cases, the electoral cases have now moved over to the Supreme Court. And we have to focus on the Supreme Court. And when we say we want to have eyes on the judiciary, the government doesn't seem to like that. For reasons that is best known to them. We now judge the truth of the matter that we have all eyes on the judiciary. They say it's intimidating to the judiciary to be saying such stuff. It's just like that is denying reality. That is absolutely denying reality because now as we speak today the world have their eyes on the United Nations General Assembly holding in New York to say that the world has their eyes on the UNGA. It's a right statement to me because that is the happening thing now. So except the government or those who are against having eyes on the judiciary have their own agenda. Otherwise I cannot see how the justice of the Supreme Court. Somebody who has been a judge for probably no less than 40 years or less in their own lifetime will feel pressured because people are saying eyes are on the judiciary. It doesn't make sense to me. So we have eyes on them. Whether they like it or not, that is just the truth now. Yes, Nigeria have eyes on the Supreme Court. And we have just acted in the Supreme Court to do the right thing. If their peers come and they don't find their peers to be competent let them dismiss it. If they find their peers to be competent they will encourage us to deliver justice as is needed. That is what we ask for them for the sake of Nigeria, of today and of our children to come. Indeed. Well under that headline you have the picture of the deputy governor of Edo state, Shaivo, locked out of his office. He is there with his vehicle, right in front of his vehicle in front of the gate locked against him. What do you make of the drama going on in Edo state? It's really beginning to look ridiculous. How do you lock out a deputy governor in a democracy outside of his office? He says he has not been officially notified of any kind of relocation of office. So how do you see this? So I went to school in Benin. I studied in Uni-Benz. My first job was in Benin as well. So I went back to teach at my department at the university. So altogether I spent ten years in Benin. I consider Edo state to be my state because if it was elsewhere I could claim the citizenship of Edo state. So Edo is a state I hold close to my heart. There are two views here. My personal view here is that I don't like what the governor is doing to the deputy because you see this deputy has been with him in the trenches. They fought themselves out of the APC into the PDP and they have been together. And this deputy has been loyal and this outwardly from what we can see as public affairs watchers. And now it has come to the point where the deputy also wants to contest for the seat of governor and the governor doesn't want that. And the only reason I hear that they say the governor doesn't want that is because the governor says that the deputy comes from the North Senatorial District of Edo state and Adam Sushomole was also from that Senatorial District. So the governor believes that after Adam Sushomole then himself the thing shouldn't go back to the North. He should go to another geographic zone. But I don't think that is enough reason. He should also look at the competence. If he believes that his deputy is competent enough in the Edo state we have had several cases across the country where the same Senatorial District can produce a governor in consecutive times. It depends on all the policies. So that's my own personal view. On the other hand, you can see that this is politics playing out. This is the grand stage of politics. So when it comes to politics, there are, as they say in politics, there's a maximum of politics that says there are no permanent friends. It's only interest that is permanent. So as you can see now, the friendship, the ostensible friendship that existed between governor and deputy has been thrown into the gutters. And it is about interest now. And the interest of the deputy is that he wants to become governor. The interest of the governor is that this thing should go to another Senatorial District and there is a clash. And what we can see here is the fallout of the clash. And I think, given it to the governor, I think he is also minding about the friendship because there are other states where the governor by now would have instigated the House of Assembly to impeach the deputy so that he would just leave the scene. But I think the Edo state House of Assembly itself is in crisis. You know there are some members that were never integrated and all of that. All those kind of shenanigans that were allowed these politicians to play out in Nigeria and we see those are doing nothing about it at the end where the ones that suffer for it. So I think time has come for Nigerians to become educated about politics. Nigerians to take their future into their hands. I keep saying this thing. Those places we are Japan too, it is the people there, young, old and the elderly that are pushing the politicians and putting their feet on fire and making them to deliver good governance. Good governance doesn't come on the plateau of good. So if Nigerians really want good governance we need to learn what is happening in the UK, in the US, in France, in Germany where the citizens don't give politicians an inch to misbehave like this. But if we do that, it's not going to happen for us. We are saying the same thing yesterday Nyam Gulen and I as we were discussing these similar issues especially as it concerns Serap, some Nigerians, especially the youth make fun of Serap saying they are always going to court. How many cases have they won? And we are saying we need more of Serap. We need more Nigerians to be actively involved in social discourse and discourses that have to do with our development. And issues, what's going on in Edo state I am not particularly interested in whatever personal matters is going on between the two. What I am concerned about is the office. The office has been disrespected and the democracy. Is it democratic? Is it legal for him to do this to the deputy governor? And unfortunately you said that the house the state house of assembly is not particularly put together at the moment because one will be wondering what is the best way out to clean things out? Is it impeachment? Is it what should they be doing to tidy things up so that democracy is not being mocked in that state? So basically this is a situation where every state in Nigeria is expected to have a death statement and also even if they are not from Edo state in Nigeria, you know Nigeria we have former president I think if I count where we have more than five living former president traditional rulers we have all sorts of people of influence we can't just sit down and be looking at things like this play out and there is no intervention from anybody to say let it just play out the way it wants to play out if they want to kill themselves we are not going to build a nation on this kind of foundation so I think this deputy governor could have been impeached but I think the situation in the house of assembly is such that there are no basic things that are not going to say through so he is actually engaging in impunity, disrespecting the office of the deputy governor like you have rarely said he started by totally demobilizing the media team of the deputy governor all sorts of attackations and all of that it's not good for democracy even the youth who are watching us it's not good for them because we are teaching them partly we are making them to see that oh this is normal but this kind of thing is not normal so a revered traditional institution in two states and that is the Obama opinion these are the times when he should step in as a father and call his two sons or children together and say look guys for the sake of the states and for the future of our democracy and for the future of our children yet unborn you guys are just on stage now tomorrow you will not be here please calm down and then do this thing in the way it should be if the deputy governor wants to try his popularity at the polls then in the PDP let the governor allow him to go to the primaries if he wins the primaries then let him stand but if he doesn't win the primaries then he will know that he is not accepted by his own party to be their candidate what kind of a just allowed democracy to play out the way it's supposed to be without this how can we enjoy the benefits of democracy where will be the dividends if we don't allow the democracy itself to function exactly in the words as we are talking politics let's look at this topic here on top of the master you have petrol importers power firms behind anti-ababu plot what do you know about this anti-ababu plot I heard about it yesterday you are in a budja tell us give us the full chest if you have it hello Nick I am not there hello Nick it's frozen again Nick Agule hello Nick okay so there is this drama playing out with regards to senate president akbabu we understand, well I understand I heard some just that there are plots against him and he is saying from his people are saying that it's petrol importers power firms that are behind the plot against him I don't know the dynamics and I was hoping that Nick Agule who is in a budja at the moment will be able to give us the full chest of that because our ears are itching to find out what's going on with regards to that Nick are you back hello Nick oh wow okay so I'll give you the other headlines here FRS recovers 4 trillion narrow tax liabilities from NNPC Abbasanjo justifies public rebuke of traditional rulers if you follow that story you know that some woman has come out a woman known as Tywa Abbasanjo who says Abbasanjo's wife has tendered a public apology on his behalf but his handlers have come out to this own him to this own her saying she's an imposter and she does not speak for former president Olushego Abbasanjo alright so from there we'll move to the Guardian newspaper the Guardian newspaper leads with Nigerians bear 1 trillion narrow metering burden a CBN World Bank backpedal this is a special report on the front page of the Guardian newspaper and there's a summary here you have increases in meter prices between 2013 and 2023 if you bought meter this electric meters I'm sure you would identify with this report it says here that in November 2023 the single phase meters was sold for 24,000 while the three phase was sold for 53 and it jumped in 2016 June 2016 to 44,000 for the single phase and then 82,000 for the three phase in 2021 the single phase jumped to 58,000 while the three phase and 9,000 and then September 2023 this year the single phase is now being sold at 81,975 while the three phase is at 143,836 that's what they call quantum leak hello Nick are you back something I'm back can you hear me yes okay so now I am on the Guardian the Guardian is at the front pages where we are at and we are talking about Nigerians bearing 1 trillion error meter in burden at CBN and the World Bank backpedal the Guardian has done a very beautiful breakdown of some of the issues from 2013 to 2023 the different rates at which the meters were sold the single phase and the three phase and then of course talk to us about this Nick if we still have you yes so why the network was fluctuating I did hear one story about the national assembly to quickly make a statement on that is that the senate president because we are Fabio knows that he is sitting on a hot seat the reason is that the election of the president of the senate was a close call very close call he himself knows that an assembly that denoted unanimously stand behind him so I guess he has been watching his back all this while and he will keep watching in due course you know there is a school of thought that says there is a school of thought there is a school of thought that says the head of the south west and the head of the the judicial arm of government and I think south west again and then the head of the legislative arm of government is also from the south people that are saying that the three heads of governments the three heads of the arms of government the three arms of government that at least one of the arms of government should be headed by a northern and so of course Fabio knows very well that his position is very shaky so if we go to the electricity electricity team is what we have been singing about all along this is the kind of problem we had in the night days there were issues with food government can spend money on food but the price of food keep jumping up and there are people that have sold my wife 50,000 more than 20 years ago here in Abuja what government needs to do and these are the things that I expect the president to be doing we should be talking about total privatization of the electricity sector total once you do that all this here now they will vanish it's just like the same problem that night day used to put on the table for us making all sorts of movement we know movement or vanish when the MTS came in president in Abu should just sit back he should just sit back and look the structural issues that are impeding the growth of Nigeria's economy and the biggest of them is electricity the guys the meters it doesn't make sense that someone is billing you and it's asking you to pay for the cost of the instrument it's using to be you doesn't make sense because the discos don't have they are not capitalized enough to have the money to do these things and president in Abu technical partners or I'm going to take away these licenses from you and offer them to global operators who will come in and solve Nigeria's electricity meters used to be free at some point right the meters used to be free at some point sorry the meters used to be free at some point actually okay let us say that there is no free lodge so the city company spends money on meters or meters they are going to recoup that money from the billing gradually it will be smaller than the consumer we don't even notice because these prices are just damn too high and then this report also shows that only 50% till date only four discos have successfully met at least 50% and it summarizes by saying that this implies that over 7 million consumers are being billed habitually okay this electricity yes I have shown about with that that that Nigeria electricity consumers are even paying higher what we pay for electricity in Nigeria that is not even 247 is far more than what we are paying for 247 electricity if you look at the income levels I mean minimum wage in Nigeria is 30,000 naira which in today's world is 30 pounds that means we pay people 1 pound per day in Nigeria's minimum wage whereas in the UK the minimum wage is 1,250 say 1.2 million naira so imagine somebody who is earning 30,000 naira is paying higher for electricity than someone who is earning 1.2 million it doesn't make sense and the only reason why we are paying this high for electricity is because this sector has not been totally so we are paying for the inefficient assets in the sector that's all we are paying for if this thing is handed over the same way we handed over telecoms we will start paying prices for electricity that will be there 247 for us president even needs to take immediate action on privatization of the electricity sector so let's take a look at this headline before we leave the guardian newspaper twenty-five dead seven arrested in shagamu cult war this is a large number of people to die in one day from cult war what do we know about this shagamu crisis the cult thing going on over there I don't know much about the shagamu cult wars that are taking place in different ways they are manifesting banditry kidnapping in cult wars in in a chain terror of farmers it comes up and it should not matter by who or by what anybody who stands opposes a risk to Nigerians should be dealt with by the authorities so you see this is one of the areas that president even needs to work upon it was in G20 in India the other day as we speak it's in New York meeting investors are going to come to Nigeria avoid Nigeria like president even needs to come to look at the entire security fundamental things you president the entire security architecture and the security architecture as we have it today protect Nigerians and investors who are coming if the answer is no it should reshape it and then it should now appoint competent people to man the reject or the retro and then it should put their feet on fire I caught what has happened now in in Shagamu Nigerians in August he has not abis Shagamu is on the state now Shagamu is not be heard to account investors in that state who should have with intelligence known about this scope be heard to account if we don't have people to account how do we expect them to perform Shagamu is in a good state let's move forward to the leadership newspaper and it leads with Amid national assembly probe NETI uncovers $9.85 billion that owed FG by oil firms others the writers there plot to stop probe thickens reps insist on appearance of agencies to expose complicit parties and then we will take necessary action SGF this is big Nick yes $9.8 billion owed the FG when I saw this report it the CEO of NMPC limited who immediately after he increased $5.5 billion $537 I think one of the reasons he kept saying in interviews that he granted was that the federal government was only the NMPC for a few that were that justified the hike in the price of petrol I recall the federal government was only and then this report comes after this $9 billion $6 billion is said to be owed by the NMPC itself to the federal government so imagine somebody who is only such a humorous sum of money is not going to increase in petrol prices on the excuse that the federal government is owing them but at the end of the day you know this is what we are saying President Chinubu he is in the saddle now if you know what the big ticket items are the big ticket items are that in Nigeria today government revenue okay so I read out the other headlines on the leadership newspaper above the masthead you have no regret over my utterance to Oya Mornax that's for my president Ulusha Gorbasenjo there and then right beside that you have governorship tribunal of firms Laval's election in Zamfara decides on Kano tomorrow details of that you find on pitch 10 of the leadership newspaper and then right there you have strike FG labor talks and in deadlock to meet again we don't know when they will meet again but NLC says they are open to further discussions but whatever discussions they are having should end fix this within the next four days or they are going for a total shutdown so we are hoping that something is done drastically to fix that I am not sure I don't know what Nigeria is thinking do they want the shutdown do they not want the shutdown I don't know Chinubu addresses 78th on climate change others today he assumes office promises 18% tax to GDP ratio artisan gets life jail for defiling his daughters details of that you find on page 16 of the guardian newspaper and Chinubu appoints Hakim Baba Ahmed 17 others as Shatima's aides that's the older brother of the vice presidential candidate of the party Ahmed Dati Baba Ahmed his older brother has been appointed as an advisor especially to the vice president Shatima Kashim and many Nigerians are saying aha there you have it and he accepted hello Nick are you still there you hear me yes I can hear you right now the network today has not given me any joy at all the network is pretty bad the network is just fluctuating up and down I don't even know it's a wicked network alright so let's talk about Hakim Baba Ahmed that is older brother accepting this appointment they are two different individuals as we have seen in Nigeria even with the Saraki days I think the older brother was in a different party and the the sister was in a different party I think at the time the sister was a minister in one party and the other brother was holding sway as any president in another party so these are two different individuals they are both allowed to belong to any political groups as they would like so I don't think the senior brother to the vice presidential candidate or the label party accepting the position of special advisor in the office of the vice president he has done anything wrong if he believes he has something to contribute to the growth and development of Nigeria let him go and give it and the brother has his own post that is following so for me my personal opinion is that you know let's go back to this issue we have discussed before you had that disruption this 80 on covering 9.85 billion dollars debt owed FG by all firms others and the plot to stop this probe is thickening these are the areas that the SPA president is able to be focusing on the exchange rate crisis can be solved by only two things number one increase the dollar supply into the Nigerian economy number two reduce the demand for dollars and so if you look at the increasing the dollar supply to the economy these are the big-ticket low-hagging that the president needs to be focusing on there are the likes of the NNPC and other oil companies in Nigeria that are not remitting what they should be putting into the treasury of Nigeria they are not doing that and it will only require the president committing like half an hour of his time by inviting all the heads of the oil industry operators in Nigeria downstream upstream midstream to his office and within 30 minutes raise the right act to them and say guys I know that there are monies that you should be paying into Nigeria treasury that you have not paid go back and pay the monies within so so so length of time if you don't do that I will withdraw your operating license and you depart Nigeria you will not have business again say the kind of things you expect the president to do and these nine billion dollars I can assure you we enter the conference of the treasury of Nigeria in no time who is watching the stealing of the crude oil if you raise the right act to the security chiefs and say allow one barrel to be stolen and you are going home to your house you know one million barrels of crude oil will be saved which at today's price is 90 million dollars 90 and 30 days is 2.7 billion dollars that's the kind of thing that will deal with the supply issue of the exchange rate crisis because more money will not be coming in more money will not be coming in to start his development agenda for Nigeria otherwise this junketing around the world in the name of looking for investors how will they come if the house is not been put in order that's a very big question a trillion dollar question and before we wrap up talk to us about former president and what he did and what the woman who says she is his wife tendering an apology on his behalf and his handlers rejecting her and saying she is an imposter she is not speaking for the former president and the former president stands by what he did and what he said I personally don't have any luck for president Tobasa and Joe that's my own personal view I actually think that we are very unlucky to have president president Tobasa and Joe as the first runner in this relay in this democratic or democracy relay that we are doing now because he basically destroyed the tennis of democracy when he was in office for 8 years democracy is built on certain pillars and one of them is the independence of the judiciary and president Tobasa and Joe will now go after judges or judges make rulings judgment and then his attorney general will now put it in his own way and they will just disregard it the next pillar of democracy is the independence of the legislating arm of government and we will be removing and installing members of national I mean leaders of national assembly will go to a state assembly and use like 5 members that are 23 to impeach a governor all those senators and the guys the other pillar of democracy is the strategy of the electoral process and president Tobasa and Joe in 2003 he destroyed everything election in Nigeria in his build to be elected for the second time and for south west to vote his PDP and all that so he is responsible for the problems that we are facing in this democracy because what he did was he trying to fix it today we can fix it he was in power for 3 years as a military head of state and then for 8 years as a civilian head of state a total of 11 years what will president Tobasa and Joe today say he has solved in Nigeria that he is standing today is it electricity where he said to us pay so much billions of dollars we can see today is it agriculture is it security is it infrastructure is it education and then he will just come and be be this Tobasa be trying to he was there for 11 years he couldn't deliver we are not trying to talk to people who are in power for me I don't have any love for president Tobasa and Joe at all and I just think that he should just relax and be this time as an head of state man because this whole year and that attitude and all this comments that he draws here and there why did he not do it when he was there for 11 years and he hasn't written a letter in recent time so he will probably be getting a letter before the end of the year from him yes we are very correct he was there for 11 years he didn't deliver much and then he comes out and he is doing whole year down by writing letters why did he not write letters to himself he is doing with Nigeria Nigeria's problem and today we will be saying the electricity we enjoy today is president Tobasa and Joe that gave it to us the university education today that is world class is president Tobasa and Joe that gave us today the head care institution who can point this and then say these are Obasa and Joe hospitals that he gave us nothing 11 years down to drain I don't love him though Nick Agule, thank you for your time thank you very much and the Nigerians have a nice day Nick Agule, public affairs analyst has joined me on of the press we will be taking a break right now we will come back with the first hot topic Labour had a meeting with the federal government yesterday want to take a look at that stay with us