 Welcome back to the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa. It's now time for Off The Press, the segment where we take a look at the stories making the headlines on our national dailies. Let's say hello to our guests, the public affairs analysts, Mr. Femi Lawson. Good morning, Mr. Lawson. Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Let's begin with a daily independent newspaper. The headline reads, Condemnation Trails Buhari's Request to Borrow 4 Billion Dollars, 710 Million Euros. Experts, PDP say fresh loans will deepen economy crisis. Above that headline, Edo prohibits unvaccinated persons from entering government offices. Buhari says 1.6 Million Households, 8 Million Nigerians Benefits from CCT. CBN to Establish International Finance Centre. Below the headlines on the daily independent, IPOB, iPob, Wands impersonators. As Southeast is locked down again, Hush Poppy. Buhari will have final say over Abba Kiari's fate, according to the Minister. Says Police Affairs Ministry yet to hear from President on Magu. Buhari seeks stiffer control against small arms and light weapons, as warns FG pushing it beyond limits. UAE names 6 Nigerians as Boko Haram financiers. Nigeria's spending on e-commerce hits $13 billion per annum. Lastly, on the daily independent, e-transmission of results. Listen to Nigerians, PDP Governors charge National Assembly. Big story there says experts and others carpet National Assembly, as Buhari plans $4 billion, 710 million euros borrowings. Loans will reduce poverty, says the President. Public debt rose from 12 trillion naira in June 2015 to 33.11 trillion naira in March 2021. Perpetual borrowing, lawmakers working against Nigerians' interests, will account for the actions, says a group. Also on the punch, VAT battle shifts to Supreme Court as Rivers' challenges order. Rising unemployment can wipe out Nigeria, an elite, can wipe out Nigeria, an elite unsafe, says Ngegei. Lumin strike, hold Federal Government responsible, as who tells parents. We can also find on the punch, indigenous nationalities protest at UN warn against Nigeria's disintegration. And on Kogi prison attack, GGC threatens fleeing inmates with prosecution. Sit at home hurting Southeast, Umahi will be lamenting and violence in Anambran, Inugu. 60 landlords desert houses as flawed over worms in the community. And also fireshift may join PDP national chairmanship race. These are the big stories on the punch this morning. We see similar stories on the Nigerian Tribune, still about the President seeking approval for fresh $4 billion loan and 710 million euros loan. The President, the APC, selling Nigeria, says PDP. I pop bows to pressure. Cancel, sit at home order. COVID-19, Edo begins enforcement of restriction for unvaccinated persons. Ogo joint VAT war, BIO passes second reading at assembly. Amoteku arrest herder for arrest herder, 180 cows for flouting anti-open grazing law. Bajabia Mila endorses Sanhulu for second term. Southern governors meet in Inugu tomorrow. Amcon AIG's CPS to support debt recovery drive. CBN to launch 15 trillion Naira infrastructure fund in October. Kogi jail break, 114 out of 266 fleeing inmates recaptured. Vietnam students block highway over 20,000 Naira late registration fee. And on the this day newspapers, Buhari rally's banking sector supports to leave Nigerians out of poverty. 15 trillion Naira infrastructure ready in October says MFLA, CBN floats Nigerian International Financial Center. Also on the this day on value-added tax, we can go to Supreme Court's one stay of execution nullified. President seeks Senate's approval for $4.179 billion and 710 million euros external loans. The PDP says Buhari and APC sell in Nigeria, urges National Assembly Probe. And ex-Uniali Council member seeks trial of VC for breach of procurement law. Good morning once again to Femi Lawson. Thanks for joining us. All right. I think the most popular story this morning is the loan that the president is once again seeking $4 billion and 710 million euros. What's your reaction to this? We must understand that this borrowing that the president has been pushing the request to the National Assembly in a successive manner is such that has become inevitable because if you followed the process of the making of the 2021 Appropriation Act, you understand that it has been explicitly stated by the president when presenting that budget that the source of funding of this budget, you know, under most of the headings are going to be coming from external borrowing. So today I think what the president is doing is just the inevitable. Even though it is very unfortunate that we have to continue to live on debt as a nation, that we have to continue to use the greater part of our annual budget to service debt. I think Nigerian people, particularly the opposition party, that are not making, you know, noise about this request by the president should have understood that it is not cutting by now. There is a foundation. What road did they plea when the president brought budget to the National Assembly and emphasized that this budget is going to be funded through external borrowing? And we also forgotten that when this request are going to be presented on the floor of National Assembly, members of the opposition party who are legislators are always present to give ratification to some of this request. So I think the PDP in particular must go beyond nearly Asian processes and become serious as an opposition in terms of policy, you know, and critical analysis of government, you know, programs, particularly the making of the budget, which is affecting on the floor. Is it unfortunate that the country so much have matched the debt to the extent that not even the generation that's currently borrowing would be able to pay this by the time it is over? Yeah, well, Mr. Lawson, is it important to also question how well we have used the loans that we've taken in the last six years? Because we move from 12 trillion to 33 trillion Naira debt in five or six years. So is it important to question how well we've used these loans and also maybe also encourage government to look out for other ways that we can save funds in Nigeria? Loans cannot be the only source of income to fund Nigeria's budget. What do you think, Mr. Lawson? You see, our pension for taking loans like we are currently doing is a direct reflection of the own productivity that has characterized governance in Nigeria, not only the federal government. There's hardly any state in Nigeria today that is not indebted either locally or also to foreign lender. And what does this imply? It implies that our states, the federal government, are no longer productive for a country that is so blessed with human and natural resources to rely so much on extra borrowing to run government to fund its programs shows that we are not productive. And there is no way this country can be productive or our state can escape this burden of debt until we begin to look at restructuring this country. We have to exercise for this. Some states in Nigeria have no reason to be poor. Some states in Nigeria have no reason to borrow, but because they are not productive, because the system has also crippled and incapacitated them, they have no other option than to keep borrowing to run government and to service the state. Quite unfortunate also is the fact that majority of these borrowings do not go into capital development, capital projects. A lot is a lot of our spending, figures or recurrence, mostly to service, you know, political office holders in Nigeria are the detriment of developmental projects that will impact on the life of the ordinary people. That is the irony of it. Mr Fermilossin, when we take a look at the papers this morning, we see a story regarding iPob. It's on the Daily Independent. It says iPob wants impersonators as South East is locked down again. And when we go to the Nigerian Tribune, just above the headline, we see the story, iPob bows to pressure, cancels sit at home order. Now, when we took a closer look at the story, we saw that, you know, iPob spokesman came out to say that from September 14th, there was no longer a sit-at-home order in the South East. It's effectively canceled. They went ahead to condemn all the atrocities that have been carried out by people who claim to be members of iPob. The recent motorcycles, the recent incidents of motorcycles being burnt in emo state, they condemned that and said they were going to replace those motorcycles and rebuild the blocks of classrooms that were destroyed. You know, they just went on and on and it seemed like they had turned a new leaf, saying that iPob was a responsible organization that would only sit at home on the days when their leader would be having caught appearances. So what do you think might be responsible for this change of heart? Would you say it's a combination of efforts of, you know, an outcry of Nigerians? Would you say, you know, like Emmanuel Parf, who said it's because of the impact, the economic impact on the South East? Would you say it's the governors, the Orhanes, Indibu, or the president's visit? The problem we are witnessing is the reality, considering the fact that the latest statement is not the first, you know, from iPob, you know, suspending the seat-at-home order, that they have been an earlier directive that the seat-at-home order be suspended. But the unfortunate situation is that criminal elements within the South East have exploited the seat-at-home order to unleash violence, to assault people, and to many innocent people under the guise of enforcing the seat-at-home order. The seat-at-home order, for the avoidance of doubt, is a civil form of protest by people to express their displeasure to whatever police or whatever are happening around them. And what does it mean to sit at home? It's a voluntary action. It is left for those who choose to sit at home to sit, and those who want to express their constitutional right of free movement to also do. But when it gets to the point where non-state actors, militia, are beginning to enforce what ordinarily should be a civil action, then that must be treated truly as a criminal offense. It is impressive that the governments of the South East and stakeholders are rising up to speak against this evil. It is very clear that some elements are held to sabotage the IPOB agenda. The IPOB, of course, has been known to organize itself, especially when its leader, Inam De Kano, was around. But that non-delay, the IPOB must not allow these criminal elements to sabotage its agitation. Otherwise, everything that it has demanded for, all this work it has agitated for, will be swept under the drain. IPOB has to be very careful at this point in time. There must be clear court-defined leadership, even in the absence of Inam De Kano, where it looks like all sorts of characters must speak for IPOB because of the absence of their leader. So IPOB also has the responsibility to have a clearly defined leadership that will give orders and all some of these things that they are doing, not just a gang of criminals operating as IPOB, assaulting people, destroying people's property, stopping children from writing examinations. It is time IPOB come out with an alternative leadership that will be speaking and representing its voice. Okay, Mr Lawson, let's now also talk about the value-added tax debate as the River State government seems to be moving to the Supreme Court to, of course, get favorable ruling if possible. How do you see this playing out? Well, it's important that we do not see this as a River State issue anymore, even though Governor Wiki has led, you know, the crusade for some of, for what some of us see as the right thing and a very big part towards the structure in this country. Only yesterday the deal, you know, on that also scaled the security of the River State Assembly. And I can assure you that more and more states, not only in the South, even in the North, will join this litigation by the FIRS against River State government, you know, and others who have not shown interest. It is time for us to begin to really define some of these dictates of our constitution that have been abused, that have been misinterpreted by our pre-teams of the successive administration in Nigeria. We must understand that it is not this administration of President Buhari that took over the collection of tax evacts from states. It has been there, but it is good that the state is coming to correct this impression. And Governor Wiki is really writing by ensuring that adequate judicial interpretation is given to the usual VA, VAT, especially the ruling of the Federal High Court in Potakot, which gave the power to collect, you know, VA to save. So I think it is the right state and I think more states should be interested in what Governor Wiki is currently championing on the VAT. I'm just to quickly add to that. Is there any other way around this? Do you think the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal in any way can interpret the constitution different or the FIRS still has, you know, something to fight for? It is within the right of the FIRS to continue to, you know, fight for the retention of his power to collect the VAT. But the truth is that it is also the exclusive preserve of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution of the Federal Republic, because you are giving the Supreme Court that power. And I think the Supreme Court is the appropriate authority that will do the interpretation outside as regards the power of states and what categories of taxes are states empowered to collect in Nigeria. So I think the FIRS has not also shown any posture of willing to engage these states on this tax issue. So I think the best thing to be done is, of course, to approach the Supreme Court. Mr. Larson, finally from me, there's a story on the daily independence just at the bottom left that reads UAE names six Nigerians as Boko Ram financiers. We've heard statements from the UAE, you know, even last year that he knows someone in government, you know, that was a member of the Boko Ram financiers list. And now it's named about 38 people and about 15 agencies. And amongst them is six Nigerians. What do you expect the UAE and the Nigerian government to do with this information? What I think the Nigerian government must do at this point in time is to consolidate on what the UAE government has done by exposing locally people who have been identified as consul of Boko Ram and other incident groups in the country. We have intelligence organizations like the DSS, the NIA, DIA, all of them have been recalled of how the activities of Boko Ram and some of these incident groups have been financed in the past. And I don't think it is right for government to continue to conceal the identity of these people, especially at a time that these insurgents are becoming more embodied, more empowered, and more sophisticated, even for the Nigerian forces to tackle. One of the best ways to tackle these minutes of insurgency is to expose their sponsors just like UAE is doing, just like United States has also promised to do. And we can begin to reduce, you know, the sources of funding, you know, another empowerment that is giving them the leverage that they are so much enjoying in the country today. So I think the government of Nigeria must be sincere enough not only to get these six individuals that have been linked to sponsorship of insurgency, you know, probe that prosecuted, but also expose more, including those that have been accused of being in government, you know, who are behind the sponsorship of Boko Ram and other incident groups. All right. And of course, Asu once again is talking about strike here in the country, and they say, you know, the federal government should be blamed if they eventually go back on strike. Femi Larson, do you think that the Nigerian government, you know, has failed in managing these crises here and there, including with the NARD? The Nigerian government has not been fair in the way it has been dealing with public education in the country. It is very unfortunate that we have a bunch of leaders whose children school abroad and are not in any way interested in the fate of education in the country. Just like Asu said, and for some of us who have followed the dispute between us of federal government for over 10 years, you come to realize that federal government, according to Asu, have only been able to fulfill one of the major points of demand of Asu. And we must always understand that the demands of Asu are not just about the welfare of university teachers, but also the improvement on the state of education on our campuses. And I think for any society that is willing to genuinely develop and does not want to live its future in death, like we're currently doing, such country must take education seriously. And our country is not taking this, it is very unfortunate that we continue to have no lower budget appropriation, then fundamental issues that have to be addressed, like what has been raised by Asu, have not been addressed. And I think it is within the right of Asu as an industrial union to use that only tool. It has, which is tight to make it demand. But I think the federal government should not allow Asu to go on another strike this time around, you know, before attending to some of these, even if these demands cannot be met, you know, all suddenly as well, I think there must be some serious mess and more to be done than one of the points that have been addressed by the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Fermilas and public affairs analysts, we appreciate your insights on off the press this morning. All right. So with us, we're going to be going back in history next and sharing with you what happened on this day, 15th of September, many years ago. I'm going back to talk about the one of the famous names in boxing, Muhammad Ali, and what he was able to achieve on this day. And I'm going back to the year 2020, just a year ago to tell you about a landmark ruling regarding the death of Breonna Taylor. Stay with us.