 I'll seal the breakfast on plus TV Africa time for us to check out the papers We call it off the press and we have a Zika. Yeah, I took who joins the conversation Good morning. Is Zika. Yeah, I took is good to have you join us and Merry Christmas Good morning and Merry Christmas to everybody in plus TV Africa. That's all right. Thank you so much we start off with a daily independent newspaper and As always we would be looking at the big stories on the daily independence the banner caption reads electoral act amendment bill Senate to consult with reps Response to Buhari in January that will be in 2022 Passes seventeen point one two trillion era budget for 2022 a John's plenary to January 18 National Assembly to transmit 2022 budget today Lawan is quoted on that. I mean this arrived as you have underneath the board caption You also have APC scuttle electoral act amendment for fear of 2023 That's what the PDP is saying and sure electoral bill becomes lower Sarah key urges nas and a boy governor inaugurates a boobie ago regional security outfit 2022 budget will be difficult to fund says CPP E You also have another boat caption here federal government ok's full implementation of new national development plan Buhari administration most economically inclusive the Nigeria's governor's forum quoted on that the federal executive council ok's 5.7 billion narrow for agric sector and Senate approves Buhari's 276.8 billion narrow the airmen's requests. I hope they got that correctly and just before we move away NNPC rakes in 203 billion narrow from patrol product sales in January and Air Force promotes 29 air vise Marshals and 31 air commandos. This is some of the headlines on the daily independence newspaper this morning and now to the punch Newspapers electoral act amendment bill Senate backs down on overriding Buhari refers a bill to constituents We will consult our constituents during recess. They have a role to play says law one Why rejected bill in order to rig 2023 poll and APC plans to manipulate results as the PDP Also verification federal government in introduces digital token to replace 11-digit NIN Petro subsidy rises hits 1.16 trillion in 11 months Also, and we can also find a national assembly to transmit 17 trillion our budget to Buhari today 12,547 patients in isolation centers could be 19 cases increased by 847% Also on the Pontius morning Federal government rakes in 2.56 trillion are from petrol kerosene and diesel sales in 13 months Federal government declares Monday and Tuesday January 3rd also as you tied a new year holidays DSS operatives kill admission seeker suspect released after order from above and Magoda residents protest plan demolition of buildings as they barricade their gates. I Think that's all we can take or we will be taking this morning on the punch newspapers Away from the punch newspaper this morning Let's check out the Guardian newspaper and the boat caption quite different from what you have on the punch and on the daily independent COVID-19 Niger records highest single-day infection. That's what you find the several riders underneath We'll just take a few of them for debts 2123 new cases as you tied festivities heighten. You also find Delta state reports 395 cases of Omicron variant Vaccine inequality booster programs would prolong pandemic You have the who lamenting Consensus Nigerians may need a may need a fourth dose of vaccine to ensure protection from Omicron Expert insist country remains vulnerable to mass Fourth and more waves of the variant That's it away from the boat caption Bandits abduct 70 traders on canoe Kaduna road And government unveils five-year blueprints to focus economy Senate passes And raises budgets by 800 billion error to 17.126 trillion Gone men kill seven peasants abduct five women in Katsina Electro bill senate holds action to override Buhari to consult reps These are the headlines on the Guardian newspaper this morning and out of the leadership newspapers state of the nation convene Reconciliation confab now obj sultan tell president Muhammad of Buhari Say insecurity driven largely by social injustice and failed economy 1999 constitution lacks principles of justice fairness and equity We could also find the air oshoom apc leaders unite to unseat oya tola We spend 30 billion naira on n power monthly military promotes 233 generals and others And electoral bill senators chicken out on overriding president Muhammad of Buhari as they pass a 17.1 trillion naira budget Um, all right. I think we would stop here also Mr. Ezekiel nyayatok. Good morning. Once again, and thanks for joining us The big one of course that has made headlines in most of the papers is the national assembly and their The steps that they are taking after the president fail to ascend to the electoral act amendment bill It says yeah that senator's chickened out Do you agree with that term? Yeah, um Chickening out is more of um too much of a plus for them You you chicken out when you had the lever to at least attempt I never thought they even had any lever to as much as attempt because this is a situation where Mr. President says jump and their question is how high So the thought of them Overriding the president was actually a thought that um was more infuriating to the people You know, I don't know if they try to find out what Nigerians think of the national assembly They are setting statements. They will not even bother to make because We just feel that they are a rubber stamp You know and every day they give us more cost, but you see that's not as important As a fact that we really don't understand a lot the national assembly Doesn't seem to understand what election is They to them it's like a game. It's like a play But the most important thing in a company is a choice of the management team A man gets into an office or get into a company and all of a sudden The company is turned around for good Another person gets into the office and all of a sudden the company starts the fortunes of the company start to decline Election is not the leadership recruitment process of Nigeria election is the selection of the management team of the Nigeria project Now it's only common Surgical it's not rocket science for you to know that the super eagles today are looking for a coach And there's a process of recruitment of a coach because they know that the fortunes of the team Depends on the quality of the coaching team This are simple things we know Then please let Nigerians know that election is the selection process of the Nigeria project management team And that the Nigeria project management team determines what our life is going to be As a people and as a nation and take elections serious now The senate is more interested In passing the budget It means that they have no understanding Of the concept of prioritization You can't you can't in any way Bring the budget Close to the management team with respect to priorities As the matter of fact This is one project that they will need to work on saturday and sunday Knowing two things and this is very important for Nigerians to know First The senate refused To take the electronic transmission of results That's number one number two all of us in the civil society Rows and mounted the level of pressure that is almost unprecedented And then i'll say they went back to the acocoons and it's like two can play So they say okay, you wanted we give it to you and clandestinely They put in something that they knew up in issue they knew from the beginning Will not fly Now while this was going on The national assembly The presidency through the presidentializer officer that he has The attorney general through his oversight function Knew the law the new what was going on they played the game So this is a game between these people against the Nigerian people. That's my understanding When they finally sent The bill to mr. President Mr. President on his own part started the second part of the game Where he left it Meanwhile, he knew when the bargaining was going on he knew when the debating was going or he knew when the Discussions were going on he knew every single thing but he kept it for 30 good days After 30 days, he says, oh, no, we can't do it because of and this is a president That a text message to the senate president the night before the bill is passed Attorney general would have said what's going on, you know organo go sign this to you Don't do it if there was sincerity or purpose. No, that was not done Then they brought it and kept it for 30 days the maximum stretch And sent it back to them when they were supposed to be very busy about to go on recess In fact, they were so unfortunate that the 30 days did not move into the recess. So when God helped us and the 30 days is not getting to the recess The senate and then the national assembly all they needed to do was what are you going to do? You've consulted you've discussed you've done everything for years Six years you've been on it All they needed to do okay, mr. President if there was sincerity or purpose You don't like this class we expunge it and went from one of the national assembly members What he said was that this is our thing maximum because they already have a clean copy of the version that was to be sent before this Nocturnal thing was introduced So he just put it back and sent it back to him and by today Mr. President having seen that his objection is would have ascended to it. No National assembly kicking in their own second part and what is the second part? Oh, we go and consult and in january we'll be back when they come back in january They'll take a while to go through it will we will we not yes or no and all those things and then They will send it back to mr. President Mr. President will take a good time again to see whether those things align and do you know what happens in the amendment This process should be one year before the elections and in february the campaign is supposed to start So what's going to happen? Mr. President is going to say on technical grounds You know, it is not up to one year. So it's time bad Let's manage what we have and then they would have clapped for themselves Oh, we've succeeded in playing the Nigerian people, but I want to tell them a very sad news for them We understand the game and we know what's going on And we are not going to let it be All right, let's move away from the electoral act amendment bill. We'll be looking at the daily independent newspaper now A boy in the state government to inaugurate a bubu agu a regional security outfit Do you think that that's we'll go a long way in you know, covering the insecurity concerns or sort of the security issues in the region Yeah, I think it it's a positive I thought they had done that long ago because you know this a bubu agu had come up a while back But I guess probably they were looking at the funding structures and other things So I think it's better late than never the way the things are now Security is being left in our hands as as as the federal government is not giving us what we want Or one reason or the other good or bad the state the regionals are taking Their own steps and it's going right down to the individuals We're all starting as individuals to be our local security providers To decide where to go how to go whether to go in the mass or to go as individuals Nigerians have actually it has come down to not just the the state or the regional level It's come down to personal level where security is no longer taken for granted. You can't just wake up and say Oh, I'm going one place or the other in my country You have to sit down make a lot of calls plan and plot and if possible like the story about the nyc You carry some ransom, you know, so that they can be instant appeasement You know, it's like please take this. Let me go and things like that It's sad and I look forward to when that should be a story that was told in the past All right, and of course on the punch this morning there's a talk about the 2022 budget 17.126 trillion naira. It says national assembly to transmit 17 trillion naira budgets to buhari today And that's from amad lawan We're saying I talk anything exciting about the budget Absolutely none. Absolutely none if you You know, I've contested the election twice Like I said and the very first one for the first time almost in my life I had migraines for about three days. I can go for Three months. Let me not exaggerate and say six months without having headache. I never have had I had migraine terrible headache for about three days Because when you look at the budget take the budget of Nigeria look at what was passed And then go back and look at the implementation You realize that the budget is just a ritual It's just a piece of paper that nobody takes serious down to the state level And I think it's even worse at the state level. You realize that there's a subhead that had maybe about say 800 million and another one that had about maybe 50 million At the end of the day in terms of implementation, you know, they hide things and they make it It's a game for them governance has become a big game for the players It's not it's not what it ought to be you discover that the one that had about 800 million The release is maybe about 20 or 30 million But the one that had 50 million it realizes the spend has gone up to maybe about seven or 800 million So it's just a A manipulative kind of piece of paper that they throw to the public and then the public looks at it and debate it Debate it at the end of the one look at the implementation You know the cash release is what really matters at the end of the day environment and things like that And they have a good relationship between the office of the accountant general the national assembly the presidency or at the state level We talk about the budget office years and then maybe the house of assembly and the governor's office These guys have an understanding to play Nigerians That's why in acquirable for instance We set up a special group where we did the budget monitoring and what came up was almost scandalous And I think that the time has come when citizens should actually come in And be a lot more interested in the affairs of state and put pressure on the system to do what they ought to do These are not our lords. They are Our managers recruited by us and they ought to fear us instead of us fearing them So I'm not as excited as I should be about the budget because I really don't see what I should be excited about If they had given education something like 20 percent. I'll say yeah, we're thinking. Have you noticed something? Have you noticed that the tech investors the fintech? They are moving into Nigeria in droves and as of today we have about four unicorns Go to Lagos come to your go to some of these Tech, you know Units you see how much foreigners are coming into Nigeria and they are so interested in Nigeria tech sector Have you noticed that our government don't even know anything about what's going on? Just think about it They take the IT sub sector People are coming look at the unicorns and ask me. How did they get there? How did they get bought at those prices? How did these people get to know? Where is the government? This is one area that the government would have said wow, this makes a lot of sense Do you know what it means for you to be a unicorn? Do you know what it means for you to get those things resident here and go out of your way to create our own what may call Silicon Valley? Come to a place like Uyo where you have some of the brightest best IT guys And set up this infrastructure Where you will be able to make money in the billions in dollars We don't have thinking governments, federal governors All they do is budget oil share Meanwhile, there's a bigger cake. I look forward to when we start to recruit Managers that understand governance and harness the resources that we have Okay, the federal government okay's implementation of new national development plan. Does this sound like a sherry news No, not to me You see it all the same thing We run a governance and a system where your administration goes with you And if you understand that two things should happen When you get into office within your first year you have four years Do even if you want to do a 10 year development plan In your first year So that by the time you run your four years You have gotten the buy-in of the people in the consistency in the paradigms You understand me in the infrastructure of that development plan By the time you get into four years you really need to a stage where there is an animation of we the people In that plan there's a buy-in of the people so much so that even if you live in four years It has almost entered an auto drive But you do this with less than two years to go Who is going to implement your your plan the new person is going to come in and think in terms of His own legacy so to speak So they should concentrate on finishing strong forget about the year 2023 forget about it Concentrate on where you are now and how you are going to exit on a blaze of glory That is my honest advice to them all this development plan of five years Who are you living that for if pdb takes over tomorrow or if a tc takes over tomorrow What are you going to say you got to bind them to it meanwhile? We don't have a believability in it in the six years you've done to what extent that we believed in it for us to say Oh, no no no we can see the consistency Even if you want to check look at some like I always bring this in in cross river state Mr. Donald Duke Started this concept of calabar carnival He sat on it as if his life depended on it He created it to come into an auto mode version And even when the next governor came in it became very difficult for you to just even when they tried to do a few things Well, like no no no no no no no no The citizens had come to bind to it not just cross riverian But people from outside and it has become a culture. How did that happen? There was a vision. There was a consistency. There was a believability. There was you know These principles that make people to say this makes sense and today How many years after the only consistent thing in Nigeria that came from 1999 is a calabar carnival How did that happen? You know over time we've continued to hear of vision 2020 and vision 2000 and the likes vision 2010 there's been so much of them Millennium development goals also You know and it doesn't seem like any of them actually takes off all leads anywhere So, you know, I think you know our viewers will agree with you That you know, this doesn't seem to be exciting But one more thing we will talk about on the leadership newspapers There's something from from a president to lushe goba sanjo and sultan It says convene reconciliation confab now obj and sultan tell president muamad upohari Saying security driven largely by social injustice and failed economy Um, zyan talk do we need another reconciliation confab or do we just need You know the government to do what is necessary and justice, you know, you know across the system I I I always talk maybe because I'm an architect. I talk from foundational standpoint And the question is what is a nation? Unless you know what game you are going to play you cannot kid yourself for it If you're going to play golf you're setting outfit You cannot wear if you are going to swim you can't go with your jacket The same thing if you're having a nation the question is what is a nation And what are the fundamentals? What are the basics? What are the paradigms the things you cannot do without in a nation One word that stands out is equality Equality of all citizens equality You've got to know That the different nationalities that come together to form that nation Every individual Is equal And the best way that kind of illustrates equality in Nigeria if it was done right is voting Where it is one man One vote it doesn't matter whether you are dangote. It doesn't matter whether you are fabio It doesn't matter whether you are in gyato. It's one man one vote I hope yes. I hope my my my my this is not so based on that foundation Then we are able to discuss based on equality based on equity based on fairness And as of today The the the the gap between us the fault lines have become Almost unacceptable in nationhood. So I think there's a point somewhere when we start to say let us convoke A talk shop of some sort where we see to what extent we can have some level of understanding and reconciliation There is a point And um, whether this administration can do that all I want to appeal to Nigeria is try and manage and see to what extent We can just go through this motion and at the end of the day Let us wise up wake up and bring into office people that understand what governance is all about We should be sick and tired of going through the same route the same cycles and achieving nothing That is what my take would be on the matter for now All right, uh, I think at this point in time, it would be okay to say thank you for being part of the conversation Ezekiel Yaito Is public affairs analysts. We really appreciate your time and we look forward to sharing more of your thoughts on this platform America's was what thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. God bless you. Thank you Okay, so, uh, we just had straight to telling you what happened today in history Today being the 23rd of december We'll tell you what happened today when when we come back we head straight to our first major conversation of the day