 You're welcome back to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. It's now time for Off the Press. Our being joined this morning live by public affairs analyst Ezekiel Eitok. Good morning. Good to have you in the studio. Yes. So we can actually do that in person. Fantastic. So good to be here. Thank you. It feels good. I love the studio. I hope I'll be able to concentrate and talk really loud. There's a lot. All right, let's begin with a punch in this paper this morning. The headline reads, El Rufai attacks governors over strike. NGF moves 318 naira per litre fuel price. The writers read, certain political interests bankrolled NLC to destabilize Kaduna, alleged governor. We're dealing with a tyrant. Industrial action may be escalated, says Waba. NLC suspends strike as FG summons El Rufai and labor thugs attack secretariat. Above the headlines on the punch newspaper, National Carrier. Ministry prepares memo plans 2022 takeoff date. Also $189 million clinical trial. Others ground local COVID-19 vaccine production. Senate considers Beale, criminalizing ransom, proposes 15 year jail term. Attacks on INEC facilities orchestrated aggression. That's according to Yakubu. Below the headline on the punch newspaper, all gunthreatens clamped down on the states, alleges illegal development. Alleged IPOB planned attack on Lagos propaganda, cheek, ex-minister. NECO shifts unity school's exams over low registration, picks June 5. Dangote truck caught with 600 smuggled rice in Ugun, three arrested. Police invited us on Dohkoppel keel, two-week-old baby during brawl. Salton advocates dialogue, can President LeMence killings fears famine? And also on the punch newspaper, Reps probe Max air, aeroplanes bird strikes. Emir escapes death. And lastly on the punch newspaper, 127 south-south, southeast cops killed. 25 stations raised, and that's according to a report. All right, now on the Nigerian Tribune. There will be no war in Nigeria, says the Saltan. Disintegration, not solutions, as can. On the United States, the federal government punish those behind recurring cases of schoolchildren kidnapping, ones Africa over a relationship with China. About a meeting, PDP governors blast APC over criticism. Also on the Nigerian Tribune this morning, Senate considers bills seeking 15 years jail term for those who pay ransom to kidnappers. Two more offices burnt, 2023 poll in danger, Einig Boss says. Voter registration, by elections threatened, he also says. So this morning, fourth mainland bridge to cost $2.5 billion, that's from the Lagos government. And National Carrier to now take off in 2022, says the federal government. Bandits Q8, burnt church in Kaduna. And the LEA intercepts 4.9 million Naira Traumador, 4.9 million Traumador capsules in rivers. And also, labor suspend strike, federal government invites LRFI and NLC to meeting. Thugs invade NLC secretariat. We can't be intimidated, says Ayuba Waba. Those are the big ones on the Nigerian Tribune. All right, moving on now to the Guardian newspaper. It says, why foreign direct investment in property sector dries out? Also, Horewa writes Biden, others on genocide in southeast. Labor suspends a five-day warning strike in Kaduna. FRC alleges 32 agencies failed to present audited accounts. These are stories on the Guardian newspaper. And lastly, Nigeria, others to receive fresh $150 billion from World Bank. And now on the nation news papers. Sultan says Nigeria's problems won't lead to war. Bandits Q8, burnt church in Kaduna. We can also find this morning, $700 million looted cash returned in four years, says Malami. Or your APC kicks as Makin Day pushes on with council polls. And governors okay debt reduction, judicial and legislative autonomy. NGF silent on a sub declaration. Removal of petrol subsidy in order. Also, burning our assets threatens 2023 polls, says INAG chairman. We can also see here, federal government brings LRFI and NLC to negotiation table. 4.9 million tram-a-doll capsules seized at airports. And also a national car to take off in 2022. Pretty much the same stories both on the nation and the tribune this morning. I think we can quickly, Joe, go to our guest. Thank you for joining us once again. Thanks for having me in this awesome studio, I say that again. Yes. Alright, so let's start with the, first of all, the suspension of the strike in Kaduna state. The federal government, of course, reported yesterday has decided to wade in and bring the two parties together. Yuba Waba says this is done to allow place for dialogue. How do you think this will go? Two things. First, I want to thank the minister of labor for wading in or weighing in whichever one. And secondly, as much as there are certain things about LRFI that I find troubling. But I actually do have a lot of respect for him. Maybe his methods or his approach may not be too good. And a lot of times I mean he's haunted by probably not thinking through processes. And I think it's something that a lot of people need to learn, people in office. You don't, you don't, you don't, you don't react to your present circumstance. They hear and now. They say disconnect in his personality. One, he has capacity for long-term planning where it concerns him. On the other hand, if he needs to get something, he also acts in a way that is almost irrational. For instance, when he needed to get into power, he was extremely vicious in attacking, you know, then-president Jonathan. And when he was with PDP, he, he, he said that President Buhari was perpetually unelectable, you know. So you, and then you turn around and then you say you, you are with this person. You say the other person is, I mean, there isn't that consistency that is the character of a leader that you need. You can just follow him blindly because it's like, is it serving his interest? So it's like his interest seems to be much bigger than larger interest. And when you are a public servant, larger interest must overtake your personal interest. That's a problem I have with him. But you see, this issue of ghost workers and right sizing, there is no, there's no alternative to it. So in, in principles, his decision is right. But when you want to take such a decision, it's only proper that you communicate to your people. This is what we are having. 90% of our resources is being spent on this level of people. Yes, they are a critical sector, but can't we have an understanding and have a midway approach to this? By so doing, the first thing is that you get a public buy-in. That means like, if we're able to save this, we'll be able to do one, two, three. Don't be, don't act like a dictator. No matter how noble your intention is. So basically it's El Rufi's approach. Approach, approach is really, really not it at all. But in terms of what should be, we must look at the civil service. We can't continue this way. So I think that labor also, they need to think of those who paid their bills. It's not only about them. You need to think about those who paid it. Are they aware that we are those that paid their bills? And that we need to be alive to be able to pay their bills. The society need to be vibrant, need to be working well, and their bills come from either oil or internally generated revenue. Those revenue will come from the society being okay so that people have jobs to do and they're able to pay their taxes, the companies are vibrant, they're able to pay their taxes. So they have to think both ways. And we don't have this capacity to balance our thought pattern, you know, the long-term and the short-term. We're always on here and now. So I pray that the minister of labor will be wise enough to let people see reason for a compromise. Once a compromise is struck, if you are letting off people and labor says take care of them is just, come on, sensical is right. Labor is right within a context. But labor to say you can't do it is not going to work. We can do it and to be done, but done right. We'll see how the meeting goes. Okay, still on the punch in the newspaper, we saw a report basically about just how much attacks have been orchestrated against security of formations in the country. The report said 127 policemen attacked, about 25 police stations attacked as well, raised in several states in the south, south and the southeast. Looking at this vis-a-vis the 2023 elections, vis-a-vis insecurity, how are we supposed to check this as a nation? I think the time has come when, you know, I was talking with somebody, I don't want to be location-specific. And I said, when will this project be completed? You know, somewhere, I travel a lot, all the states of this country. And I also have working relationships with a lot of the government. And I said, when will this project be completed? And the driver said, sir, please, we know what made the complete project. We just say, when will this administration be completed? May they leave all the projects, may they go fast forward, may they finish the administration. You understand me? And I found it very instructive. People have come to a point where they are so unhappy with the system that they are asking, when will this leave the project? Just don't do anything again. Can we just fast forward and let the administration just go? And that is one of the states of this country. Like I said, I don't want to be location-specific because it actually applies to so many other states. Coming down to why I said that is that we have not really sat down. I did a video and I run a radio program that is very popular in Akwaibon. And I asked my people, are you aware of the implication of what you are doing? I even talked to the ESN and the iPop people. I said, look, let me tell you something. If you don't cool down and do things properly, you may be smiting your nose to spite your face. You may inadvertently give reason. By the time you attack INEC, you attack the police and everything. And then the police are off the road and the insecurity escalates. The people will no longer be behind you. But it's still not been established if it's the ESN. I know where we're coming from. Distance yourself very well from it. And then let people interrogate and see who is behind it. Because let me tell you something. We must make the South so peaceful that the military have no reason to intervene. I'm from the South. In our own larger interest. Because if we give inadvertently, in any way, the police, the military, the right to intervene, these people will dislodge from the South. All the elements that you could use to protect yourself and will become extremely vulnerable. There are lots of conspiracy theories in Nigeria. One is maybe the annexing of the South by the North. It's one of the conspiracy theories. This is a conspiracy theory. You cannot dismiss with the wave of the hand. So the question is if in the North there's so much insecurity and we don't have that power is might and really boom. And then in the Southeast there is level of insecurity. And the federal government says, boom, let's get in there. And then, you know, I heard a story. I'm trying to verify that the attorney general once compared, you know, banning open grazing to, you know, banning spare parts cells or something like that. And I want to say that spare parts is everybody knows the work of the ebos. Okay? And if the South bans open grazing, don't zero into spare parts because the Yoruba, you know, we're just discussing. Don't, they are not into spare parts. I'm from Akaibong. We are not into spare parts. So it's like a certain profiling. There's a certain mindset. There is a certain agenda. And these things don't help our conversation. Yeah. But I would just quickly mention, you know, it almost sounds like, you know, the Southeast needs to lay low, you know, and even lay lower than any other part of the South, you know, simply because they need to be on the good side, which is unfair. And what I'm saying is, even prior to, you know, the attacks on security outfits and, you know, anarch offices, there have been military operations in the Southeast. The crocodile smiles one and two have been in the Southeast. Even before some of all those things happened. So it hasn't really been because of the, you know, these attacks that, you know, the federal government has decided that we need to go into the Southeast. You see, there are two things. The first is that when they talk of the concept of giving a dog a bad name to hang it, when you are perceived as the dog, the first thing you do is strategy. That's the very first thing you do. There are some times where you may need to be silent. There are some times where you need to have strategic relationships and buy-ins and don't get isolated. If I was to advise the Southeast, I would say, look, do everything humanly possible to buy, to get the buy-in of your neighbors. Form a strategic alliance. So how can iPop do that now in the East? No, not iPop. I'm talking of the leadership of the Southeast. Well, form a strategic alliance. Even if it's trade, what does it take for the traders in Nnewi and Onitsha to network with Cross River to ensure that the Kalaba port is made active while at the same time letting Legos know that they are not going to be disenfranchised because Legos are not going to join you if they feel they are going to be removed. Now, the deep sea port is coming up in Ibaqa, in Aqwaibom state, which is going to be probably one of the biggest, largest, most interesting, to what extent is the South bringing their muscle to bear in all these things? And if on account of self-preservation, when Aqwaibom people see that, these guys are coming to a network with us and once they are there, they are the major traders, there's going to be boom and everything, because of our interest, we'll be compelled to say, leave Southeast alone. I need us to also chip in our thoughts on the 15-year sentence. But once again, it still sounds like Southeasterners need to go the extra mile, more than any other part of the country. Yeah, it's unfair. It's unfair on them. Absolutely unfair. It's absolutely unfair. They don't necessarily have to go. They have equal rights with every other person across the country, so they don't need to call themselves or look for these relationships that you're mentioning. No, they need to. See, this sentiment does not solve a problem. We want solution. People want to kill me. What do I do? First is that I can defend myself. Second is that I can network with my neighbors. You've got to put all the cards on the table. That means we are accepting that there is some propaganda against you. Yes, yes, that is. Let's quickly speak on the 15-year jail term proposed for paying a ransom. Let me say this. We need to come to a time when we understand what governance is. We don't seem to have people who understand governance in government. When there is a situation, question number one is how do we take the wind off the sail? What is the wind? Where there's light and you know that oxygen, I think it's oxygen. Yes, I'm trying to remember my chemistry long way back. Helps the light to glow. How do we cover that light so that we starve it of the oxygen and the light will just naturally go off? Okay? Kidnapping is a major enterprise. The returns on the investment is unimaginable. It's like Amrobri. In fact, it is the softest part of Amrobri. Okay? Because all I need to do is I spot you. You have a KV that is high. Kidnapped value that is high. And I wait. And I just pick you. Okay? And I ask ransom. And before I know, I have 10 million. Which if I was walking, I will not see that in decades. Because it's so enterprising. You're not just going to say, oh, stop it. Oh, don't do it. You know, it's not nice. No. You are going to have to kill a fly with a sledgehammer. That's number one. And number two, you've got to know, get Nigerians behind you to know that if we are going to eat the omelette, we must break the egg. There are going to be consequences. We must understand the three C's. The chances that come your way. The choices that you make. And the consequences of those actions. When we have leaders that lead from the front and Mr. President comes and tells us enough. As from today, there will be no more. There will be no more. Kidnapping. Kidnapping thrives when there's ransom. What we want to do is take the wind off the sail. Take the oxygen off the fire. And we know that in the process, some people are going to lose their lives. Exactly what I was going to ask you. How many Nigerians? Because looking at the situation of school children, because we know that during the whole process of the last children that were released from the Federal College of Ferrisian Mechanisation, there were lots of talk about paying ransom, not paying ransom. Some people say the contributed as much as 60 million to give the bandits. So it's just been a lot of conversation even with this Greenfield situation. So are you saying that parents should full their arms and watch? I am saying that when this set of parents pay to get their children, all Nigerian parents should start keeping a lot of money to be paying because it becomes so easy. So some children would die in the process. There must be collateral damage unfortunately. No, no, no, we need to get this very clear. We need to get this very clear. Is there an alternative? The alternative is for you to have this government that is so good that the snipers are there, wherever you are, they'll come after you. We don't have that government. But isn't it the lazy way out instead of fixing security infrastructure and architecture? This is what I'm saying. So isn't it the lazy way out to instead of deciding okay, we're going to do what we possibly can to invest in our security architecture, to invest in every single detail that would make it difficult to carry out the kidnapping. Instead of doing that, we'll simply just ban paying of ransom. Two things, the very first thing is that you know we discussed before now, America banned it. They know how to forecast tomorrow and snip in the bud. You see, leadership is about taking very hard decisions because before you go to war, in war people are going to be killed. But there are some times you need to go to war just for you to have peace on the long run. This is where there's a difference. In the US, if an American is kidnapped, we all know what the Americans need to rescue their citizens. So the Americans have faith and if the American government says no payment of ransom, it means that they're taking so responsibility of rescuing that American citizen. Does the Nigerian government do the same thing? For where we are today, let's keep paying ransom. And I'll tell you that ten years down the line, you come back and play this record and say, I'm coming, I'm coming. I wish we had unfortunately taken that hard decision. So my thoughts aren't in support of paying ransom. My thoughts are to wake up the Nigerian government to realize that it is still their responsibility to rescue the Nigerian government. That Nigerian government is not going to wake up. It's going to be beating a dead horse. The responsibility is on us now to interrogate the people that we give our powers to. We need to come to that. You see, right now I've stopped blaming leaders and leadership. Because it's like expecting a dog to meow or a cat to bark. These people are entrepreneurs. They came to us, offered us so much humongous money. A man pays 10,000 Naira per vote. And you think he's doing that to save, and you collect that money. You're not thinking. It's like playing draft. You play draft. He gives you one each up. He gives you another one each up. He gives you the third one each up. When is a game? And the next thing you had is pamp, pamp, pamp, pamp king. And you're like, hey, you're silly. Why are you doing it when you're taking and taking and taking? Didn't you know it was a game? Your politics is a game right now. And start to look for people with competence, capacity and character to put in office to manage. These are people that will take decisions that will take us where we need to go. We appreciate your time and your thoughts. As always, good to have you in Lagos. You guys are actually more handsome and more pretty than I've been noticing. Thank you. You get that? He's actually a very nice, all looking guy. He's the one that you're always like turning to look at him. We need to go. Thank you very much once again. All right, stay with us today in history. 20th of May. I'm going back to the year 1927 to tell you about one of the richest countries in the world and the day that they gained sovereignty. And I'm going to tell you something very twisted in just a minute.