 And we're back with the breakfast. Chris came day one. He joins us this morning via phone. He's a United Kingdom arbitrator. Chris is good to have you join us. Good morning and happy Easter to you. You know I'm always, every time I have to introduce you and then I remember that you are an arbitrator of the United Kingdom. Then I also remember the issues, you know, bilateral relations. So quickly, let's start off with this one. Niger has been put on the red list in terms of recruitment, international recruitment. I mean, medical practitioners cannot just be recruited without a government-to-government agreement. How does this make you feel? And what exactly do you think this is? Is there any connection with the recent bill that has killed the second reading? Oh, no. The issue, we are talking about the one that the administration that was issued by the United Kingdom. Exactly. Yes. Okay. Don't forget, it's taking it from me. It's not about Nigeria. About 53 countries were involved. So it's not just about Nigeria, so we cannot even make it to Nigeria. But the issue as it was that for me, it is an opportunity for us to look in words and continue to make sure that we do the right thing by making sure we provide the necessary environment, enabling environment for our practitioners to practice. When you look at what is happening, the rates at which our medical practitioners, doctors, nurses, and the like, traverse all parts of the world. And to practice, you're going to see that it's too much of a brain-dream for us. We don't even have enough. But our government is not even doing the necessary thing to be able to make sure that these professionals are able to retain them. It takes so much to be able to break up these professionals, these doctors, these nurses. But we just treat them a little bit like even to the extent that the minister of... Minister of Labour at the point was saying that we have more than enough doctors. Anybody who wants to go out can go anywhere. That is even a medical doctor. So it is just so terrible what's our best. I think it's more of an adversary from the latest report. Even yesterday, the Niger Medical Association and NAR already issued a statement that that will not affect the migration of Nigerian doctors. Let's even take it to work. Let's even take it that United Kingdom is placing some kind of restriction on doctors and medical practitioners from this part of the world. What of other countries? United Kingdom is one out of several hundreds of countries across the world. And Nigerians can find themselves anywhere they want. So to me, it's no big deal, essentially, between the two of us. I don't think it's a big deal. Let's quickly turn our attention to the punch newspaper this morning. The point says APC kicks us not in Senators Insistence Senate Presidency. Dume, Kanu and Niger Senators poised to contest says Senate needs competent hands. Again, this is always the conversation where you talk about zoning. Any Muslims aspiring to be Senate President lacks respectful constitution. This is according to the Vice Chairman. APC yet to decide on zoning where it won't allow another Sarraki-Dogara scenario. This is according to the spokesperson. These are writers you find underneath. Now, still looking at the punch, more interesting headlines on the way. Buhari should suspend fuel subsidy removal, declares the marketers. Also, you also have marketers saying on the other hand, hey, we're planning to have about dispensers of gas stations, 30,000 of them. United Kingdom's restriction can stop doctors movement. This is according to the Niger Medical Association. Just as you have said, Chris Cain and Wando, poor reconstruction will cost $800 million as NPA boss. I take that again. Part reconstruction will cost $800 million as the NPA boss. It reminds me of the $800 million that we're also borrowing to cushion the effect of subsidy removal. Again, Lagos FCT residents celebrate as grateful for surviving cash crunch. So you could see a pictorial representation. Don't I just love Nigerians who just have a way of staying alive and just be happy despite the situation. Animorators indicated for sexual harassment will be dismissed and NPC is quoted to say, and we'll just take this one quickly as we move away from the punch newspaper. Nigeria unemployment rate to hit 41% in 2023. This is according to recent ranking. Should we be worried as a country? It's a question that's begging for a lot of answers. Then we turn our attention to the Guardian newspaper. The Guardian says, Nigeria's industrial base weaker over poor credit support from banks. That's what you find there. And still ahead, Buhari undertakes last official trip to Saudi Arabia as he salutes Dangote Hutan 66. You'd see a picture of the president waving. It's okay. You have a safe trip right there. And World Bank sees 2% output growth in 2023. At age or at 95, struggle continues for better Nigeria says Adebanjo. And at 80, Biden considers reelection in 2024, just as Trump is also putting his head out there. I mean, it's going to be a lot. But we also have more papers. We'll just turn our attention to the daily trust now. The daily trust is consumers grown over epileptic power supply. Situation worsening heat, access to water amid Ramadan. Situation worsening heat, access to water amid Ramadan. It's not something that, you know, they can talk about. I just think that some basic things shouldn't be rocket science, honestly. Muslim clerics faithful accused this cause of sabotage. Electricity companies blame low allocation from national greed. And then, you know, that's also something that you need to also consider. But then again, we also have, we have the capacity to evacuate as much as we are producing. We're not producing so much from national greed. Arrest of Kano Singer, escorts, please commercializing responsible for abuse. And then $22 million Calabat Channel dredging. Intel's contract cost my job. Well, that's also another conversation. World Bank to advocate debt restructuring for developing countries. And this doesn't come cheap, trust me. Resident doctors reject bill of mandating five-year service for doctors. How to secure your bank account from fraudsters. It's more like an editorial, some sort of security consent. Buhari embacks on an eight-day visa to Saudi Arabia today. And the report say that this might just be his last, right? You can't never tell. Be our taxes sacrifice for new Niger will be tell supporters. That's it. We would look at the leadership now just before we have our guests. APC are daggers, dawn over zoning of NASS leadership. 48 days to go. Presidency defends President Muhammad Buhari's performance. Tambiwal Petition Zainek over a release thing of polling units for Iran. Then again you find insecurity, remand focus. Army Chief tells troops. Well, these are the headlines we'll take this morning on the paper review. Chris, are you still with us this morning? I'm here live on directs. Okay. Then let's start off with the punch now. I'm sure that you're itching to share your thoughts, but I can't wait to hear what you have to see on this one. The whole back and forth that's going on with the APC now. And generally, who controls the tent assembly? This has been a back and forth. APC is kicking as Northern senators insist on Senate presidency. On the other hand, the likes of Orji Uzo Kalu is also saying, hey, it has to come to the South East. That's how it should be. So the issue of zoning again were back at it even for the tent national assembly. What are your thoughts? Well, I would say the leadership of the National Assembly is that of the APC to lose, as we say, because APC has the majority membership in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. So, you'll be expecting that they will be able to produce the leadership, the main leadership of the Boat Chamber talking about the Senate president and the Senate president, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and also the deputy and other principal officers. But the way it is, and it has always been with APC and some other political parties that when it comes to power sharing, there's always this tozu. But we'll look at it from what has happened with the election of the president, the president-elect. You'll come to realize that for the APC, the national chairman of APC is from the North. The president-elect is from the South, South-West as it were. The vice president is from the North. So, ordinarily, people have been saying that, well, it has to go to the South. When you're talking South, are you going to my prison into the South-West or the South-South? That is the question. Then there's also this religious balancing. And, you know, the issue, I've always said to a number that our politics is premised on three factors. One, ethnicity, two, religions. And I just, I chose the third one, which I look at as capacity to be able to perform and which we hardly look at. But religion and ethnicity plays a vital role. So, if the president and the vice president as a true-elect are Muslims, you are looking at the possibility that the next Senate president, who is going to be the number three years within the ranks, is going to be a Christian. But I said it is there to lose. But let us not, we may, I use what we may, witness another, what we call, cool, within the international community. You know what happened in 2015? We had the APC, that just one power was really dying on what to do with the leadership, or to pick leadership. Somebody has somebody in mind, but you are not able to put your ass together. And before you knew it, some members of the Senate quickly gathered themselves together. I let somebody that was never recommended by the party, and that isn't the person of the Senate, or Bukalaf Salaki, not how he became the president of the Senate. We the assistant of those in the opposition. I hope that, likely, we will not strike a second time this time around. But wherever it is, they should be able to put their ass together. But if they don't, well, the minority party may also connect with members of the APC and put the rug over there. So we are expecting that in the next few weeks they'll be able to decide who wants to bet. And once everybody wants to be Senate president, let's say, representative from the North and the South. Well, let's see how this turns out. Chris, except for you and I, I'm not sure that, you know, we want to become the Senate president. That's on a lighter note. But I'd also like to, we're still staying with the punch now. Buhari should suspend field subsidy removal, declares marketers. All marketers are saying that the president should suspend subsidy removal. Do you agree with this marketers? This current regime says it's not going to suspend subsidy removal. At the same time, again, that is going to be a problem for the incoming government. So there's no way the government that has barely less than about seven to eight weeks to go, less than seven to eight weeks to go. I don't think the government will have the responsibility of removing subsidy or not. Don't forget that subsidy has been provided for till about May or June this year. So that issue has been taken. So the the scoring governments, there's neither an idea. They have already said that they're not going to do. And the incoming president, the president elates, I'll say that he will hear the grand running. So the marketers should be talking to this president so the president elates in his numerous speeches have said it's going to remove subsidy from the one. I was going to do that. I don't know. But you remember, if you remember what happened in Kenya when current president of Kenya was elected the day he assume of it, he removed subsidy. And in the last few weeks, you've seen Riot going on in some cities in Kenya. That has to do with not just only about removal of subsidy but also because of the rising cost of commodities and food items. So I think it's something that we trust softly. I personally think that this is the way to go. But before we can do that, are we doing the right thing? If you've done the right thing, as I said most often, I want to get into where we are today. Promises were made in 2015. I'm talking about this current government. I don't look back at the PDP or the president, this APC government promised that they're going to revive existing refineries, that they're going to build new one. Not a single refinery has been built as the reservoir is living in few days time. Not a single one. Now we are importing practically almost 99.9% of our fuel consumption area. And I continue to say that we seem to be the only country in the world that produces crude oil that imports well. So I'm too to say some people say that government has no business in business. That government shouldn't be building refineries that it should be private. Whichever you look at it, we must revive our refineries. We must build new ones to be able to refund. If we don't we'll continue to go. We're just postponing the evil day, which will eventually come. And that is the situation. They've been waiting on dangling the petroleum. It was supposed to come on steam last day. It couldn't come up. They say it was December, it didn't come up. They say January, how long can we continue for that? And I've said in time with that number that we might just be putting all our eggs in one basket, depending on the encoded because that is an individual. So what means that all of us will just sit down and wait. Whatever they're going to decide that is the price of petroleum is what it's going to be. That's by the fact that government have bought about 25% equity into the petroleum refinery. That is not going to be the solution. We need to revive our refineries. We need to build new ones. And that in this, we save most of the money. The foreign exchange that we use in buying the petroleum products from other countries. That is the way to go. If we don't do that, we are just blinking in the dark. Well, but again with all of these issues that you have raised, do you think that just like the marketers are saying that there should be a suspension of this particular policy? Well, personally as I said is postponing the everyday. If you know how much we are spending on subsidy you continue to realize that if we push that into certain sectors we won't be aware we are presently. I personally believe that we should be able to do the way we subsidy. But it should be a gradual disengagement. It should be a gradual thing. Not in one sweep. You say you remove subsidy. If we remove it we are looking at from what we've had it could rise up to 500 Naira or up to 750 Naira per litre or many Naira. And what that you touch petrol, it touch every aspect of our economy. It touch every aspect of our lives. For this of goods and services we go up. The landlord will increase his rent despite the fact that he didn't use petrol to build a house that will be to about 40 years or 50 years. He will increase the rent. You are going to have so many I'm sure you are laughing. But that is the fact. Anything we touch so I believe that we can have a gradual remover. But what we are doing that gradual remover we will make sure that we are also turning most of this fund into reviving our our refineries and building the new ones so that we can be able to along the line I can say within the next one or two years we can be able to have refineries where we can refine our products locally and stop this importation. That in itself will bring down the cost of this product that is a curve within the international community problem within the target. It affects the prices of you see what is happening now between Russia and Ukraine. That in itself is also affecting the prices of wealth. So if we refining locally the prices will come down. But if we don't no matter how we look at it we will continue to grow. We are talking about doctors trying to move at Nigerians are moving in truth SMEs are dying the unemployment is about close to 40 to 45 percent what are we talking about? But I really don't know these things that you are saying because just a few days to go 48 days the presidency is still defending President Mohammed of Buhari's administration and his performance and you are here reeling out all of the ills that are going on in our country are we in the same space? No we are not in the same space we live in two different worlds those in government and we live in the ordinary ones when they live in that they are very distant. Agama is the first one to say if nobody praises he praises himself. What do you expect the government to say? If we look at one of the new surpass students the spokesman of the president was talking on the national program yesterday and saying that 8 months of Buhari's sickness deprived him of capacity to effectively perform his studies. Is that why he was elected? Fermi additional said that is one of the national I watched the program on one of the national in the political program last night but Nagina did not let anybody to give excuses it is later to be able to deliver they have been able to deliver we have in this that we can use to judge this government. We have talked about the issue of petroleum now which we have become an abutress of electricity. What have they added? Not a single has been added to they met about 4,500 they are living about that same money if not less. They said they are going to get 10,000 megawatt whereas into the system every year not a single has been made. They have not expanded both the transmission and the discourse are just charging Nigerians arbitrarily on a daily basis that is that you look at employment I have told you now that our employment is about close to about 40% how many people have about 130 million Nigerians are within the what do we call it now what do we call it now. Anyway about 100 they came out with that statistic poverty line poverty line over 130 million Nigerians so what are we so what in this issue they used to be able to tell us that they performed the government we are worse than we were in 2015 but definitely the government will not tell you that those who are speaking for government will not tell you that there are beneficiaries of this government but you and I know how much was dollars when the government took over $9 to dollars when this government took over probably about $300 I don't know which areas based on improvement here and the little infrastructure here they will only tell you that we built the river Niger bridge is that all there is to governance not of course not again we are back on the leadership we still have to talk about the issue of this bill I feel like it's getting a lot of people Nigerian stocking stakeholders you have the doctors not saying that the bill to hold doctors immigration is a modern day slavery do you really think that that's the case or the government is trying to also solve the problem of the movement of our medical practitioners which leaves us with less doctors or practitioners as a country it is modern slavery you cannot the Nigerian constitution where Nigerian constitution has amended if given for freedom of movement association and that constitution is what we call the ground norm in law it's part of every other enacted law so anything contrary to the 1999 constitution is just a mirage and aberration and that is what it is you cannot tell me that I cannot move out of my country after I finish university because you want to keep me here and the rest of them let me even look at it what have they done about those of them going on medical going on medical checkups and abroad have they stopped that they have come to us what of their own children that they allowed to we make sure that we keep the education system here as we strive for years but you have all their children have they brought up a bit to stop that so what are they talking about that definitely won't fly it's just a rhetoric on their part they have about 5 years before they can travel who does that they can't even even if they pass the bill it will not be signed by the presidents so they are just wasting their time they should concentrate on making law that will improve the lives and the loss of Nigeria not trying to impoverish us but Chris why don't you also look at the reason why this bill was proposed what is it what is it to stop the brain drain they won't be drained forget this these guys are just being selfish I said they are too drained all of their children are all over the world they are in schools all over most of them, if you look at them not less than 80 to 90 percent of those legislators their children are brought are they Nigerian universities what type of brain are you talking about Chris you can also take out the fact let's see if you look at it logically it's a problem that we have a lot of people moving away from the country and it leaves us with less hands to attend to the entire population of over 200 million persons you don't have such a problem by stopping the problem what you do is to improve the system to make the system conducive for them make it conducive for them to practice if you do that they will stay do you know that some states that have not played doctors for 36 months have you heard what's happening now in Nabiya state over 12 months have you seen some other states that are not paying them when they talk about the remuneration they are not being paid do you know how many times doctors have gone on strike in Nigeria because they are not being paid are we not in the same country to happen to somebody trained up it is like me I have read I am a graduate of law I start practicing you are not telling me so I cannot go out to go and practice in other part of the world just because of the fact that you feel that you are practicing in Nigeria and you don't have that that I told you that the ground norm was operated with is the 1999 constitution and there is the freedom of movement of any individual so that is a slide on the fundamental right of any individual so nobody, no legislation can be put in place that can stop them even if you do it doesn't stop them from stopping even if you are traveling you can stop somebody from traveling you can stop practicing so let them do the right thing let them provide the avenue for these doctors to be able to stay comfortably and do their job in Nigeria you see doctors performing operation in the darkness because the light you cannot provide ordinary lights so what are we talking about now I am still on the leadership newspaper there is also one I think that this might just excite you talks about the wall bank and the fact that it is advocating for developing countries asking that we should pay attention to SMEs of course there is also a plan that should sound like a cherry news especially when we as a country our debt profiles seem to be on the high last time we checked we were looking about 77 trillion error if I am not mistaken yes I agree but it doesn't seem cherry to me today I am just looking at probably the negative it is not that people are looking at negative but the fact is that these are the things that are in the face and earlier we tell ourselves the truth is better we are talking of the SMEs practically all the SMEs in Nigeria are dying many of you know that without power SMEs cannot thrive you see the cost of petroleum diesel is going to for about 100 about 1000 Naira per litre in Nigeria diesel petroleum is very very very very expensive and far away is and I know how the cost of petroleum here so you can understand it so it is not just about what we need to do is to make sure that the necessary infrastructures are put in place power is if this government alone had faced just the issue of power in these last eight years and we have gotten it right I would have been very happy I am telling you if all they have focused on power and probably the issue of petroleum that we are talking about I would have been happy because if we were able to improve our power sector or the other sector within the economy would improve the SMEs will grow SMEs employ close to about 75% of the population or if not 80% of our population but when they don't have the right atmosphere may see there are some people in the even your house there is no single home in Nigeria I want to start to be corrected by the next generation a crisis a small part of my neighbor everybody runs on generator we are supposed to be a standby for electricity but now electricity for the public supply is not a standby for generator we run generator close to about 20 hours how will an SME survive in that that is the issue so let us go through the critical area government will look at this area critically. Those are areas they should be focused on. If you can be able to, I'm telling you, that would drive a lot of people out of poverty because the job is not even there. So people are not engaging themselves in various vocations, barbing, telloring, forkenizing, they meet. They are doing it. Those are how other countries grow. But if the SMEs are not growing, then the economy cannot grow. And that is the fact. Well, I wish we had more time to talk about, you know, what the IMF intends for developing countries and Nigeria cannot be left out of it, even when we also have China who is a large, you know, creditor to, you know, this developing countries and Nigeria is lending, is that there's plan to lend in arrears. And there's also, you know, other plan to suspend that payment at the initial times. Just a second, just a second, just a second. The issue of lending, it has never, there's nothing wrong in lending to developing countries. But the question we've always asked that, those money that lends, that they lend out to this development, today use it for specific reasons why they were given. You see that in African countries, they get disembezzled. That is what happens. They don't put it in those sectors. And we cannot continue to, when they say they are lending you, they are also lending you at a particular rate, interest rate. That's why they are saying that the plan to suspend it. Sorry? That's why they are saying that they are planning to suspend that process, maybe at the initial time, just to make it. Exactly. I totally agree with you. Yes, I totally agree with you. It's true. All right, Chris, we have to go. I'm sure that, you know, in the coming days we'll have more time to talk about this issue with the World Bank and especially the fact that our debt profile is on the high. But thank you so much for making our time to be with us this Tuesday morning. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much, Bob, man. Have a wonderful day ahead. All right then. Chris King, the one do is a chattered United Kingdom, a betraytor. He joined us this morning via phone for off the press. We take a break when we return. We head straight to our first conversation, where all marketers actually are saying that there's plan for dispenser of gas. And they are seeking, you know, loan from the central bank of Niger. Now they are saying that this is a way out, you know, of the effect of the removal of subsidy when that happens in June. Stay with us.