 We're back with the breakfast and plus TV Africa G.D. Johnson joins us this morning for Off the Press. G.D. it's good to have you join us compliment of the season. Thank you G.D. Johnson wish you a compliment of the season and great to have you join us this morning. Well let's quickly look at the Daily Trust newspaper. iPop food traders boycotts southeast as nerdeness flea. That's boldly written on the Daily Trust newspaper. Underneath prizes of perishable items on the food store over blockade. We have lost at least 100 persons in one week that's what group is saying. Comply with stay-at-home order to avoid danger. House or community leader is saying Umahi declares war on separatist leader Ekbah. These are the riders you find underneath that caption. EFCC remates 136 billion Naira recovers 30 billion from suspended accountant general. Food inflation increases to 24 percent as festive season sets in. As I said I was responsible for all that. NMPCO thefts onslaught yielding result as production heats 1.59 barrels daily in December. Okay. INEC 53 attacks recorded on our facilities. DSS once against commodity prize hikes. Really what's with DSS and all of this. Trained crushes women driving across the real line. It was also another big story and blasphemy reaction as counter cleric sentenced to death. These are some of the headlines we'll take this morning on the daily trust. Let's go straight to the nation newspaper. Some interesting headlines on the front page of the nation. Start with the big one there. EFCC recovers 30 billion Naira from accountant general Idris. Agency remits 136 billion Naira in seven months. Politicians under watch. Okay. More from the paper. Rising food prices push inflation to 21.47 percent. That's a few percentage points. It was I think 21.07 or 0.9 percent in October. Buhari, Tinubu, Sengolu, others. Mohan Seriki, we just talked about. Biden praises Buhari for deepening democracy that's in U.S. Africa, summit holding currently in Washington DC. Banks roll out new Naira notes, a delicacy or yetola trade war or words rather over 407.32 billion Naira debt. Nigeria secures nine billion Naira dollar loan. Markets as behind Petros Kesti, High Pump, Price as Pangasin. Okay. Still acquisitions and counter accusations. Oyebanji approves recruitment of primary school teachers. Astro is on front page of the nation. Well let's take a quick look at the Guardian newspaper this morning. Banks ration new notes as circulation trickles. Underneeds payout all notes, complain of limited supply. Immethyly rides reps and defers or defers appearance. Lawmakers push someone to next Tuesday about a resident yet to see new Naira notes. Kofi, have you seen the new Naira note? Yesterday I didn't use the 8 p.m. I was cashless throughout. This morning I just might go do some withdrawals and I would like to leave my hands on them. I want to do a social experiment or maybe you can give me some so I can. We'll talk about that after the show. All right. Banks and Kaduna, Kano limits payment to 2,000 and 3,000 Naira. But there's a lot of drama. I'll just go on in the course of all of this. Adelike alleges or yetola left 407.32 billion Naira debts. Got more loans after losing Guba polls and we say it's because we practice money politics. It was an excuse. A boy can never be part of Biafra says Governor Mahi. It will take 40 years to catch up with Saud says World Bank. What does that even mean? Again, we just quickly run through this as we move away. Biden invites AU to join G20 and plans to visit Africa in 2023. You know, I seem to have a big problem where there's always a reference to saying you're going to Africa. When is he going to Africa? Are you visiting the entire continent or you're going to a specific country in the continent? Because there's always if you're coming to Nigeria, someone says I'm going to Africa. Come on. Africa is a continent and in Africa you have Nigeria. You have all the African countries maybe in the West, in the North or in the South. All right. Interest and mercy. Just take the fester and the punch and we'll look at the other system goes on. Banks run out of new Naira demand source cashier's Russian new notes lenders a lot 100,000 Naira per teller in banks. Lenders a lot 100,000 Naira per teller in banks. Suspicious customers snub new Naira notes as local traders reject new currency called declines to stop CBN withdrawal policy. I said it. People might reject this money because it looks like it's a fake version of the old Naira because of the similarity. Jini Johnson, good morning to you once again. What are your thoughts on this? The banks are running out of the new Naira notes. Is this a trick by the CBN to mask economic crisis that is coming? So make it look as if it's because of hiccups in new Naira notes because I know that some economies when things go south, like it happened in Argentina some years ago, you can't get your money out of the bank. People are queuing for us. There's no money. And what are your thoughts on this? And we hear that some traders are rejecting the new currency. Now you see the as of rep summon the central bank or not and the central bank will not delete this appearance. Just imagine the as of rep in attested Congress summoning the chairman of the federal reserve and is telling them we cannot appear. She was our weak. Some of our institutions are is those you choose how these viewers people managing the true representative of the people who have said it that the courts are not the true representative of the people. The Congress is the true representative of the people because these are the people that are directly elected on constituent basis and some people have direct relationship understanding of who they are sending to the Congress. As far as I'm concerned, you have a central bank governor who at the beginning of this year as a presidential aspiration to deny what the evidences are all around around around us. I'm not sure some of those people that are inviting him must have attended one of two meetings, which he must have organized during that period. This Naira note change and the rest of it. You listen to a lot of commentators with respect to that comment. But there's one thing that is very, very common with the present leadership of the central bank, whatever they plan to do, you go out to do it. When you are changing the note, why are you rationing the north? Is it a way to infuse rationing? Now you're giving a limited deadline and you do everything as much as possible to ensure that there is proper and adequate circulation of this of this currency. Just imagine me going to bank and someone is limiting my withdrawal to 2000 or 3000. What would you use 2000 or 3000 to buy? With the current inflation rate and with the current rate of the value of the Naira compared to other currencies, even in Africa, not to talk about foreign currency. So as far as I'm concerned, and then not even at this particular period in time, when this Yuletide period where a lot of families engaging one form of expense or the other. This is the period that you are rationing the distribution of the Naira notes that you have created and you're introducing at the end of the year, not the beginning of the year, not the middle of the year. In that just sense, the normal accounting procedure before we change it is usually first of April of this year to 30th of March of next year. So I don't I just I just don't understand as far as the central bank is concerned, as far as whatever policies they've done with respect to our monetary policy and it seems to be overboard. Just like CBN and just like NNPC, we have institutions that have assumed greater role even than the representative of the people. That believes that they are not accountable to anybody. They are super institutions that are bigger than the major institution recognized by the constitution to be in charge of the affairs of the state. That's the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. They are component part of the executive and the doer see the other parts, other other organs of government have no control over them. God will help us out in Nigeria. Salaries across different states of the federation. Gide, can you hear me? I can hear you loud and clear. So yes, on the Guardian newspaper, there are concerns about unpaid salaries and arrears across different states. For instance, in emo state, teachers are yet to be paid two and a half years of salary. That's the report. And in Delta state, teachers received old salary in rivers. Teachers not promoted in seven years. And in those states, teachers are actually driving cars. I don't want to begin to mention, for the sake of publicity, just to survive. So they are engaged in transportation, business, converted their cars to a means of survivor. And in Akiti state, the old form on salary, Rufus Gihwa Polytechnic, owes 11 months of salary. So in the local pannons, a lot of people are expecting to have a very wonderful time with their family. Some people would say, dirty December. But really, what are your thoughts? Well, it's very clear that we still need to do more. You have a situation in the river, where teachers have not been paid for seven months. Promoted. And I can't actually do what you just said. Promoted. And then you are, I've not been promoted. Thank you very much. I've not been promoted for seven years. Seven, one, two, three, four. That means that throughout the week is tenor. There's no promotion. And the guy is busy doing commissioning of flyover, having a band singing his praises. And then the media is busy blowing his trumpet with respect to in fighting, fighting, fighting injustice, whereas he's a perpetrator of injustice within his own system. Because I do imagine that someone would work for seven years and he would not be promoted. That's the one for the weekend. Let's go to other streets and talk about where our teachers are not. I recall that we used to have a problem with the teachers that primary school teachers to go and strive. And to that easy was to resolve under a person just administration, with the salaries of the teachers, primary school teachers to be precise, being the first line charge that is deducted from whatever location that goes to the local government. And we need to do same. How would you not pay a teacher in respect of the good educationers? What type of future are you doing where the teachers are not properly motivated to teach, instruct and discipline the student in a way that they'll be used for themselves in the future and they will be used for the society in the future? And across the board, how do they go to bed? That's the question. But Jideh Johnson, don't you think that this might be a revenue challenge? You know, especially when we know what's going on with the federation account. I mean, we've been struggling with the source of earning. What is revenue challenge? What is revenue challenge? For example, in River City, when the governor appointed 200,000 youths that have been picked, what is revenue challenge? When the governor has a lot of cars in his entourage, what is revenue challenge is that we go to the office of the governor, you see a lot of duplication of rules and offices, sometimes duplication or codiculation of offices. You see, it's about money, it's about setting your priorities. Mercy, you and I don't live above our means. We know our salary and then we plant based on our salary. We don't extend beyond what we know behind. If we do that and we live in debt, it means that we have to cut some certain expense in order to meet up with whatever loans or relief that we might have sought from somewhere else. And that's why you see these governors, they collect foreign loans, foreign loans to feed into their stensitious lifestyles. And I think we need to do more like that. What right do they have to continue to seek a letter when salaries of the civil servants have not been paid? Then how many are the civil servants? How many? If you are talking about a new generation, the basic reason you come into public service is to help to solve problems, not for you to go every month camping and to the federal government for federal location. These teachers that, okay, look at in the state now, the governor has approved the recruitment of primary teachers. As he made a presentation before the State House of Assembly, as he made budget for them, where is the resources to engage these teachers? Where is he going to come from? But you see, people just think that the easiest way for me to do is on test selection and then I go into the office because we don't scrutinize them with respect to what and how they are going to go about what they want to do. The race for 2023 has started and just look at the type of questions we ask and just look at the type of responses, presidential campaign, spokesperson of presidential campaign, just look at the banters and what have they are throwing into the public domain. Issues that have no relevance to the Nigerian populace, they are not dealing with issues of how we are going to solve the problem of security, how we are going to solve the problem of education, how we are going to solve the problem of poverty and power the people, and how we are going to focus on developing our infrastructure. There's a particular issue in which we are talking about inflation, commodity price, being on the increase on the high side. Why? Because for you to move your goods and services, I was in Cardina about some weeks ago, I could have bought onions in Cardina and bring it back to Lagos. Now, when you look at the price of onions, I want to buy in Cardina, which is relatively, relatively cheaper and you add the transportation cost to it that are used for the logistics. There is almost the same. But imagine if the real system is functioning. We have a comprehensive real network that does not only move passengers, but it moves goods and services. I could buy it and carry it back to Lagos. So there are things that we need to ask them with respect to what they want to do in solving our problem. Solving problem does not require rocket science. But you know what these people are interested in? They are just interested in the title, the governor of this, the governor of that, and them without putting on any thinking cap with respect to how to solve problems. Even some of them, some of them till date, they don't have any certificate. We have elected governors that have no certificates. We have elected governors that have claimed to have gone to schools that didn't go to any school. And there are no consequences for them committing perjury, lying on the road. People that have no capacity to govern this state, to govern this nation. And they parade themselves and they use the media platform to deceive the people by using comparatories to say we make life better. You make life better. Fantastic. That's a fantastic statement. How? How? It's the how question we need to ask. Okay. And I'm going to solve the security problem. How? I'm going to solve the education problem. When I become president, there will not be an asus strike. How are you going to do it? It's very clear. The labor of the foolish varies every one of them for they know what to do. But the most important thing is how? And it's a critical question in the five W's and H's. And we seem not to be asking them the question, how? How are you going? Knowing what to do is a strategy. How to go about it is the tactics, is the various steps and action sequence you are going to take to solve the problem. But all they've been telling us is the strategy. I'm going to do this and tell us the tactics. How? How? We are going to make Nigeria work. Some have provided themselves to make Nigeria work as Lagos is working. And I ask anybody, is Lagos working? Can you pick your car and travel to anywhere in Lagos in record time? You know, how many businesses are destroyed due to travel time, unpredictability of travel time? Mr. Johnson, you're not making those of us who are in Lagos feel any better about our day. You know, sometimes they wait to go with... No, no, no, because they use sweeping generalities. It's painful. They use sweeping generalities to say, okay, we make Nigeria better as... I'm asking somebody, is it a construction? Is it a road transport system? What is it? At least the second Niger bridge is open. Jenny Johnson, we're out of time. We have to go. Is this what the fourth mainland bridge... As well as the open, the fourth mainland bridge in Lagos? Jida, we have to go now and at this point, we have been prompted to leave. We look forward to sharing your thoughts as we coast it down to 2023. Thank you so much for always being with us. It's a pleasure to be with you, Kofi, on the plus and Messi on the double plus, right on plus to you. We just hope that the little bit plus we add plus to every one of us and our also. Amen. And our listeners and viewers all over the world. Thank you. We'll say a big amen to that, won't we? Thank you very much. I'm Jida Johnson and have a fantastic weekend. It's always great to end the week with you, always lively and thrilling. We'll look at what's happening in parts of Nigeria as far as elections are concerned. And democracy, as the Niger police force earlier said that some state governors are threatening democracy in their states. You know, they have a way of going under the radar because everybody's looking at the president. But we zero in on River State when we come back. All we can see for now is as they sweet us, it depends on them. Let's quickly take that break and when we return, the show continues with us.