 Nigerian women throng the National Assembly Indian numbers to express their disdain on the rejection of women-related bills. Does this undermine the importance and relevance of women's contribution to the governance in Nigeria or see cancers? Barely five days after ascending to the Electoral Act 2022, President Mohamed Abouhari was reading to the Senate to lend a newly signed act demanding voting rights for political appointees. We will be taking a look at this and the impact on the country. And we will review the stories on the front pages of major dailies across the country. Welcome to the breakfast on Class TV Africa. I am Justin Al-Qadoni. And I am Massey Boko. It's good to be back on your screen this beautiful first day morning. Yes, it is first day morning. And Massey, when I think of first day, I am just reminded that the weekend is close by. You don't know how it is in the league because when you walk from Monday to Thursday, I wish we were staying in Canada. You know, they have like just four work days in the weekend. The weekend starts from Friday, you know, as opposed to Saturday and Sunday. How should we interpret that to mean that you probably don't enjoy working? Massey, how are you doing today? Don't put me on the spot, first boy. You're not going to intimidate me. But Massey, a whole lot is really happening in Nigeria. We've been looking at the women who protested yesterday. But one thing I found really alarming was a video that trended on social media yesterday. And Massey, lo and behold, we found out some others are carrying trade for VIPs. They're practically becoming heritage. When does it all change? You need to say the word, a police officer. Okay, fine. Dressed in his attire. But I think that this is something that's been ongoing for a very long time. And it's just the fact that, you know, maybe at this point in time, we're very camera conscious and you have smartphones. Not every smartphone user is acting very smart. But you have a lot of smartphones out there and you just have all of this. Because this has actually been going on for a very long time. It's really saddening. The big question would be, because right now the headlines would be saying that the Nigerian police are fuming as regards, you know, the police officer that was acting like an errand boy. He was actually an errand boy. You know, to the political appointee. So, but like I mentioned earlier, and it's nothing new. It's something that's been ongoing. But fortunately, or unfortunately, how you want to put it, it's just that we're in an era where there's a lot of smartphone that's been put out. And so we want to take, you know, make memories of everything. Basically, it's actually very full. Yes, we want to make memories of everything that's going on. I mean, you can see him properly dressed in his attire. This is not what the Nigerian police force is meant to do. But that's what has constantly happened for us in Nigeria. It has been going on for a very long time. And you constantly would want to agree with me that you have the elite. The elite of over the years dominated the space of, I mean, if you want to talk about the police force now, you have these men, apart from, you know, carrying the plates now, they do carry the handbags, they do wash clothes, they run errands, they have now be, you know, now do chores, domesticated, you know, domestic activities is what, you know, police officers. Now, let's even look at why you would want to hire, or you want to even have a police attached to you. I mean, in that situation, now, if there's any confusion, if there's any attack, what we're expected to see is him holding a gun. Even though there's been a lot of argument over time that there should be a withdrawal, we need to withdraw, you know, the police. Yes, because if you want to look at the number as a third last year, July, you have the United Nations putting out statistics, 211, so we're looking at 211 people. And then if you look at the police force, number is 371,800 police officers as a, you know, the same statistics that we still have, up until we have the police updating the data, and letting us know that we have, right now we'll constantly say that we have 371,800 police officers policing a population of 211 people. And then, because if you remember vividly, there was also a call that we withdraw police officers from these elites. Because out of the 371 that you won't leave it at 300 or 300, or you won't say 400 approximately, you have 100,000 of these police officers policing individuals. And they're not just policing but they have been turned to everyone. So at this point, let's even look at it. I think that the person in question, I mean, the lady, their pointy, does not even have regard for the Nigerian police. And that's what the elite in Nigeria have constantly done. They do not respect the police. They don't respect the police force. And that's why you would even ask or you would demand, and even if the police force thinks they want to carry a plate for you, you should decline. There's no respect for the uniform. There's no respect for anything. And that's what's going on. Because they're actually representatives of the country. They actually represent Nigeria. No, but if you look at the primary function of the police, as they were created, they are supposed to maintain peace and security and protection of life. So let's even agree that it's okay to have you have, I mean, it's all right that you have a police officer. Because that's another one. I mean, we're talking about 211 people in Nigeria. And then we have decided to allocate 100 police officers out of the 300 and something that we have, you know, to some individuals. Now out of that now, then he's supposed to protect you. Is he supposed to carry plates around? For me, it's just how the elite in Nigeria, and that's the truth. The elite in Nigeria do not respect the police. They have constantly damaged the police force. They have contributed to all of that. Some people have actually said that, oh, if you look at it, the young man does not want to, you know, miss out on the little stipends he will be getting and all of that. It doesn't necessarily matter. You remember vividly now that the presidency or the federal government is saying, we're going to have an increment for police officers 20%. How honest have we been? What is the level of implementation following that to the letter? And so sometimes if you find out, I mean, as much as we want to say that that's not an excuse for police officers to act differently, but we have not respected that. I want to say pigeon now because it sounds really nice. I know how, I know how, I know how, you know, really, you know, very sudden in this particular scenario is because like you have said, it is just a disrespect to constituted authority in the country. In a country like ours, when we have, you know, issues of security, bedeviling us, you know, the North Western part, the North Eastern part, the issues of banditry, insurgency on the rise every other day, Nigerians are not secure. And then, you know, the bulk of our policemen are attached to VIPs who actually don't really need their service. If you really need extra service for protection, you could hire private security guards. You could actually, they are in Lagos. There are so many of them. Even there's the neighborhood security watch. You could actually explore local vigilantes or whatever. But the fact is that the policeman's job first is to protect lives and property to uphold the law and not to run your errands, not to be seen carrying your bags, not to be seen, you know, serving you as it is. Miss, when I think about it, you're like, how have we sunk so low? So we would have to move away quickly, but just before that... I'm coming very, very emotional about it. Before then, the point is, I mean, look at it. If you even have a police officer attached to you, why would you be engaging him? So let's even imagine there's a security threat. Let's even imagine there's a security threat around in that premise, the event you attended. What would happen? Because he's holding a plate. At what point is he going to take his rifle? So he doesn't even make sense. That's number one. If you look at the ratio of police to citizen, we're expected to have, according to the recommendation of the United Nations, the UN, you're looking at 220 or 22, even correct, to 100,000 citizens. That's a far cracker. Now, that's not what's going on. Currently, what we're experiencing is one, you have 600 personnel. So you have one police officer policing 600 citizens. I mean, even if you want to make an excuse for it, we should be looking at one police officer policing 180. So that's the ratio. One is to 180. But rather, we're having one is to 600. And the United Nations is saying 220 is to 100. So it doesn't even add up at the end of the day. We don't have personnel. But the little that we do, we have subjected them, we have turned them to become error boys, washing plates, shining shoes, carrying bags, carrying foods. And then we think that we can move 904. This is a call to the Inspector General, please. And it's not, this is the first time, like we're saying, it's fortunate that we're an error where you have the smartphones acting very smart with smart people. And that's why we're having all of this information. So we're hoping that the National Assembly, that's the 9th Assembly. They can do anything before they are out. We're also hoping that the presidency will see this. There's no regard whatsoever. And how do we expect that we respect the police? Oh, we move away from that. And we'll be looking at another issue on top trending. Yes, let's look at our education system. It is no longer the U-Start, the academic staff union of universities has been on one strike for some time now. And they have had meetings with the federal government. But this time around the last one, they had nothing, you know, savory seem to have come out of it yesterday because it ended in deadlock. The issue of, you know, ASU, you know, we have talked about ASU over time, not just on the show, even when we preach at the office and everything, it seems like we are becoming like broken records because the issues are the same, mercy. You know, it's just as though we know what the issues are. We know the solutions yet we are not looking in those directions. And at the end of the day is the same ball game. The ASU will go on strike, they'll meet with the federal government, they will not agree to meet again next to their meeting. Students are at home, students are, you know, taking arms and engaging in various sorts of advices in the country. And at the end of it all, who suffers? It's just the student who always suffers. Yes, so I will reiterate, I have been part of, you know, the ASU strike and I've experienced it six months away from my class. How many years do you stay in school? Did you graduate after your four years? I don't know, I couldn't, I'm not even able to calculate because sometimes it's better not to even know what's going on because you're probably just, you know, sinking into depression and get very sad. So you just leave on with the moment, whatever happens. Don't try to, you know, take into consideration, but I know that there was a time where we stayed back home for, you know, six months and that's a lot and you can't even tell because at this point now, the one month of ASU is going to go on strike, a lot will happen. So many persons will lose their lives. The people that wouldn't have died would die because they are going to be somewhere they are not supposed to be, they are going to be engaging in things they're not supposed to engage in so that a lot would actually happen and that's on the one hand. But the truth is, let's be realistic, we constantly have, you know, a number of persons moving away from Nigeria to other parts of the country to school. Once upon a time in my life, I considered, you know, according to study, I probably have a master's in Ukraine. No, which Accra, what word is Accra, are you talking about? Not in Ukraine. Because if you look at, of course, if you look at Eastern, there will be things that are not waiting in your message. No, if you look at Eastern Europe, you find out that you know, cost of schooling is very affordable. I mean, not necessarily, but not compared to when you want to go to the United Kingdom amongst all this and so, have you ever wondered why people, have you ever wondered why we, actually have our children live in Nigeria to go school outside of Nigeria. Because all standards here are not virtual. Including, you know, politicians. You have ministers, governors, and what have you, sending their kids outside of this country to go school outside. It's just simple. I don't even want to go by the ASU strike or not agreement. I mean, it's very obvious that if the government was respecting the agreement they entered with ASU, we probably want to be talking about this. How many years have we existed striking from 1999 up until now? You will be amazed that out of 23 we have done eight years I mean, if I'm really correct, and that's it. So, on the other hand, you also want to look at the fact that if you look at the classrooms, practically, I have gone to, you know, localities. You want to talk about the education. You want to look at the infrastructure in primary schools, in universities. It is appalling. The infrastructure is nothing to write home about. And this is not me trying to run down the country. But this is a reality. I have gone to communities where people actually sit on the floor. In the 21st century, in a country giant of Africa, as we would constantly want to say, in primary schools, I'm just saying that students, people are sitting on the floor. There are no decks. Not to even talk about that the environment is conducive. Not to even measure up with the technology that's going on. So you probably have a feature, one feature running the entire, you know, so there's a lot to go in. And if you check the universities, it's not conducive. Look at the condition of the lecturers. Recently, there was a video that popped up, I think, in Anambra State or Imo State, where you had professors. You can't even imagine that these are professors who have studied. They have spent their time reading. You need to see it. It looks like an uncompleted building. No, it's shameful. We are not supposed to be talking about this, but it brings us back to the budget. Because it's the same thing. We don't budget enough. You're going to go, yes, dude, don't budget enough. Don't set our priorities right, mercy. You talk about Nigerians wanting to go abroad. You remember the standard. We're supposed to even show the video yesterday. The nuns and the minister, you know, when the nuns are, you know, body even told him bare face that we saw pictures of videos of your, you know, your children abroad. You know, so the guy, imagine how he responded. That's to just show you the body language of those who are supposed to manage our education system. Really, really sad. And that's the reason why people constantly leave. I mean, let's even look at it. The president himself is not even the country for medical checkup. But why do we have to leave our own country to go seek medical help in another country? What do they have that we can't have? We can make it happen. And that's what it is. If you go back to your schools, I mean, you find out that, no, let me even be very realistic, because these lecturers go through a lot. I'm telling you, because as a student, very close to my lecturers, they come back into a whole, the snow of light. I mean, there's no power supply. That would be the word. And the place is so hot. There's heat, no cross ventilation. And you expect them to walk in that kind of environment. And, you know, you expect them to perform very well. We need to, you know, we need to do better. At the end of the day. And so without even having to talk about as to strike or not, what is the state of our universities? What is the state of our universities? Whether they are federal universities, whether they are state universities. Let us even look at government-owned institution. Let's talk about the primary schools and the local government. Because usually you have seen budding houses that look like, I don't even know what to classify them as. Abandoned building and projects. I saw a room where you have lecturers trying to struggle space. It makes nonsense of it. And you want to talk about the salary of a professor? They don't even end at 500,000. I don't know if it's going to be a plus now. That's what a professor ends in a university. And then you have lawmakers. When you want to begin to juxtapose that, it doesn't add up. The Nigerian government. And if you constantly profess that education is the bedrock of every nation, then it's important that the Nigerian government will pay attention. Because it's been said that wherever your hat is, that's where your money will go. So we constantly see the allocation. How we have allocated, you know, in the budget to the educational sector. It's not even enough. It can cater for anything. We haven't really paid attention. So we keep going in circles and it's tiring. Yes, because we're not setting our priorities right. You know, UNESCO has come out several times to say that a particular percentage, about 26 or there, about should be, you know, budgeted for education every year. We keep on going in circles. At the end of the day, the same old stories have been told. The federal government will tell you that they have released $92 billion so far. It's not just about salaries. It's about infrastructure. It's about making the environment conducive, not just for the lecturers, but for our students. But I understand we have to move away from this topic. Russia, Ukraine is still trending everywhere. And there's this story of 115 Nigerians, you know, offering themselves to take part in the war. They want to fight for Ukraine. Mercy Nigerians are volunteering to go to Ukraine to help them. I don't know. It tells me about two things. It tells me that they are not really as patriotic because we have our own issues and that they feel that the country does not really care about them. So why not even go somewhere as when they feel... Do you think that's the issue? What is the issue, Mercy? I can't really say. I mean, it's... I'm just worried that a group of peasants, if there's anything to really, really go by, would volunteer. I mean, you were in a space. You were talking about a war zone. And you're talking about a place where you don't know where the next missile will come from. And recently we saw that in Khakiv or thereabout, you know, a missile that was released from Russia took down a particular university, if I'm not mistaken. So you have people who understand what's going on in a particular... That's your side mission. I mean, it's confusing. To be very honest, I really don't understand the rationale behind the fact that you have Nigerians. Leaving in Nigeria, who want to go to Ukraine to be part of, you know, the force? If you want to even look at alliance and relations, it feels like... I mean, it looks like Nigeria might just have some kind of alliance. This is me just saying, you know, alliance with Russia because of... If you talk about patronizing, patronage of, you know, military weapons and alignment, at some point there was some kind of agreement, they were signed that, you know, we'll probably be getting weapons from there. In 2021, the Russian military will probably, you know, be training the Nigerians. So there's a little bit of saying, oh, you guys probably might just have an alliance with Russia and then Nigerians in Nigeria, in Nigeria with all of the insecurity concepts that we're faced with, volunteering and saying, hey, we're willing to go to Ukraine and, you know, support what's going on there. I can't explain the rationale behind that. I don't even understand. I would say in our local parliament here, let everyone just be in their own lane, you know, let's... No, but you can't stop that because they're proud. They actually put up that publicity and asking that people should come volunteer. I mean, they made that available. So they're looking for people and people have volunteered. And the Nigerian embassy has submitted a list to them. That's according to the reports available to us. Well, the last story we'll be looking at, a bit related to the Ukraine invasion, Russia invasion on Ukraine, but still also related to football. Do you support Chelsea? No, I'm a Liverpool supporter and it was really great to see that Liverpool actually, you know, did a great one, you know, with the penalty that happened, the caribou cup that happened. It was fantastic. It was very, you know, but Chelsea has actually been fantastic. Chelsea has really been fantastic during the performance of, I mean, during the era of... Well, what content? What's it called then? Tuchel, Thomas Tuchel. Yes, Tuchel. You know, Chelsea has really done fantastic. And so, you know, it's really great. But if you want to look at Abramovich selling Chelsea at the end of the day, you would want to agree with me that he's acting in the interest of Chelsea. Why do you think it's an interest of Chelsea? Because he put out a statement. Let's see if I'm able to take that particular... No, he is... He's actually acting in the interest. I'll probably not go through the entire thing, but maybe a paraphrase of what he actually said. I'm hoping that I'm able to get that right now and immediately go through that particular statement that was put out. And so... Okay, so this is it. I would just paraphrase, like I said, in the current situation, to sell the club. As I believe this isn't the best interest of the club, the fans, the employees, as well as the club sponsors and partners. Now, this is how you think as a businessman, because right now, you know businesses that have been owned by Russia, and I mean, the sanctions have been put out just to weaken Russia and make them have a rethink and turn away this sanction. That's why you have all of this sanction. So countries are already acting and withdrawing. He's just putting out this statement. It's very obvious that he's acting in the interest of the club and what happens is that the club would actually go down. He doesn't want to see that. That's all of that you have invested. It's also an opportunity because he's been classified as those who are part of the oligarchy. And so you know what the oligarchy is, a group of persons who are controlling the system and doing a lot. It's very obvious that he has a strong relationship with Putin. And so this would be what will win the hearts of the people. That the fact that the next proceeds would actually go to Ukraine. So the longboard is actually So he's acting, to be very honest, he's acting to protect the interests of the club. You can't actually build that kind of business or build a club like that and see it just go away. This is a time to win back the heart of the people. That's as much as we can take. We wish Chelsea and Abramovich the best in their whatever they decide to do eventually with the club. But we'll take a quick break and we will be going straight to the front pages of the newspapers in a moment and we'll call that off the press. Stay with us.