 You're welcome back, it's still the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa and before we go to the headlines of the news, remember that we said that a lot of things are happening and it's good to know some of these things. Subsidy removal, Governor Obaseki reduces workdays for civil servants to three times a week, increases minimum wage to 40,000 Naira. Remember that the TUC is asking for 200,000 Naira, so he has proven he's very proactive and he's increasing it to 40,000 Naira. Let's see whether the TUC will keep quiet and say he has done what they wanted done for the workforce. Also, we have a story where the National Assembly, especially particularly the reps, have declared Nigeria Air Launch a fraud. They say Nigeria Air Launch is a fraud. Let's see how they are going to pursue that case and bring it to a conclusion. If it is a fraud, we find that the people who are supposed to be held responsible for this fraud are prosecuted and possibly jailed. Because we've seen how the Abracadabra that was behind the launch of the Nigeria Air, in fact there was a plane that was brought and nothing else changed in the plane apart from the painting and it was said that billions were used to paint a plane. Well, I don't know, I've never owned a plane so I don't know how difficult it is to paint a plane. So one plane could take like 10 billion Naira to paint. I don't know how that works. But if they have found out that this is fraud or they suspect that this is fraud, we Nigerians are watching to see what they are going to do about it. We know they are not the enforcers of the law but they make the laws as well and they can influence a lot of things that happen in our country, Nigeria. If they have felt or they are feeling that it is a fraud, let them prosecute the person that is involved or the people that are involved and let's see how that goes. The tent assembly, maybe they will just be the thing that we need, the magic wand that we need to make Nigeria as great as we want it to be. Let's see how that goes. Well, so we will go to the newspapers right now and try to see what the headlines are. Maybe some of those ones that we just read now will be there on the papers as well. But let's start with the nation newspaper. The nation newspaper before us is starting with the headline, Tinibu in Crucial Talks Over Senate President Speaker. In Crucial Talks Over Senate President Speaker. That's the leaders of the national assembly. That's the major headline there and the writers are President Ergyz, Wasi, Batara, Gaddi, others to accept party's choice. Meeting slated with APC Governor's NWC Senators Rep Select today. So that meeting will happen and we will see what the outcome of the meeting will be. We have other smaller headlines. On top of that newspaper, that front page, we have Nigeria Air Launch, a fraud, Rep Panel Claims, OK, NLC. Why we suspended planned strike and then OB endoses subsidy removal. You can find that story on page four of the nation. Senate OK's 20 Special Advisors for President and manufacturers spend 76.7 billion era on power in six months. That's a whopping sum. OK. There's also that worrisome story. Some NWX Governors, dined with terrorists, says Kaduna Governor Obasani. OK. Filing discrepancies tall article PDP partition. That's also on the nation. Cops slams lawyer with 20 million fine over frivolous antitinable case. OK. Those are the headlines we are ready to take from the nation. OK. We should move to another newspaper. From the nation, we go to the punch. The punch should be another next newspaper. Subsidy reps demand NNPCL audit over unaccounted two trillion Naira assets. Riders are some NNPCL subsidiaries bought crude oil without evidence of payment, as according to the lawmakers and legislators, OPS, back refineries privatization. Uba bold drivers begin nationwide strike. Interesting. Uba bold drivers begin nationwide strike. Whatever their reason is, you can find that story on the front page and continued on page 2 and 19. Obasa re-elected speaker as Samo Lu inaugurates Lagos assembly. We got that news yesterday. Obasa has been re-elected the speaker. This is the third time consecutively he's been elected speaker of the house in Lagos. That's history. Anti-inauguration lawyer finds 20 million faces NBA probe. Police investigate assassination of U.I. professor and journalism icon, ex-Daily Times editor Hannah Inahoro for UK burial today. OK. We rest in peace. House alleges Ford asked Tinobu to suspend Nigeria air. You find that on page 19 of the punch. 51 jostle for Kogi Bayosa emo governor seat. That is on page 29. And finally, Senet throws out Buhari's controversial water bill. That bill is really controversial. So now Senet has thrown it out. Page three, you'll get the full details of that news. OK. Those are the headlines on the front page of the punch. We'll move now to Daily Trust. Daily Trust is next. And the biggest headline there is subsidy removal. Artisans, business owners, accused NLC, TUC of selling out. CSOs knock unions. One's other Nigerians covered. Why we suspended strike label? Fear of business loss looms. Manufacturers Association of Nigeria said that civil society leaders activists to go ahead with mass protests. OK, so even if there's no strike from NLC and TUC, civil society leaders will still go ahead. The smaller headlines there above presidential tribunal adjoins over INX failure to supply PDP materials. Reps declare Nigeria air launch fraud. Want officials involved prosecuted. Then IFC supports BUA with $500 million facility to boost Sokoto plan. OK. We do hope we're going to be having a cement very, very cheap after now. OK. Still on Daily Trust. Drama as Nassarawa assembly gets two speakers. Nigerians will say now, now. OK. Food crisis looms. Famers tell Tinobu and UI professor shot that in a bad on that will be all from Daily Trust this morning. And we move to nature news. The biggest headlines headline on nature news as Nate. Nature news publisher urges companies in Nigeria to on payment of plastic tax. A of DB determined to fight pollution as according to borrow legislation required for success as former minister said that and you should be in the fight against plastic pollution. That is Safia. Other headlines are a delicate creates ministry of environment and climate change. That's new. We have also global food prices index drop in May according to the United Nations. Nigeria adopts policy legal ways. Others for waste management. Subsidy removal. Stakeholders champion eco friendly environment in Nigeria. Group calls for reinvestment of subsidy fund. Ball climate change conference. Agn pushes adoption measures for women and youths. OK. Those are the headlines that we could see on the nature news that we want to talk about this morning. But when you get a copy of any of these newspapers that I just read, you'll find more headlines there. More stories there that you can find very educative for you this morning and beyond. Our Nigeria will move on if you know a little bit about what is happening. The guest this morning to help us talk about these headlines is Tunde Kolauli. Tunde Kolauli is a legal practitioner here in Lagos State. Tunde, good morning and welcome to the program. OK. We're trying to reconnect with Tunde Kolauli. As soon as we can connect, we will bring him to talk to us about some of the things that we just talked about or just read to you from the headlines. Tunde Kolauli, I understand you have rejoined us. Good morning, Tunde. Thank you very much. OK. Good. Let's just go right ahead and look at the headlines. Let's begin with the nation, what is found in the nation. Tunde in crucial talks over Senate president speaker. We've always been going back and forth on these, whether the president should be involved or not. So we'd like to have your thoughts on the fact that the president is the one in crucial talks, as they put it, over Senate president and speaker. There's this function of the president over the Senate president and the speaker. Yeah. I hope not in a good democracy. The president is not supposed to be the one that was dispatched to form the Senate president and who is not supposed to be the speaker of the House of Representatives. But that's usually within the jurisdiction of the political party that has the majority in the national assembly. I recollect between 1989 and 1983 that when we had the unity party of Nigeria, we had the national Republican, I mean, I think, political party, which was the president show Jagali as their president. But that's not the case of the party that decided who takes the slot for the president, who takes the slot for the vice president, and then the speaker of the House of Representatives, and then also the Senate president. And then apart from asking an understanding within the political party, they also wanted to reflect the geographical distribution of the countries that are linked. Each of the geographical zones of the country will have important offices that have been plotted or located or given to them. So as well as equal and equal representation in all the different types and segments and practices of the government. So if it is the president that now wants to be calling the show out of the gas, he will become the Senate president and the speaker of the House of Representatives. I am not too sure that would be too democratic. And here they play what they are going to have is a kind of Republican National Assembly in which whatever the president wants or the election of government wants, that the National Assembly will be turning like that they will be putting their seat all up and down for, just as we currently have in all the different states of the country, which is the top now, to discuss what is happening in the election of government, but also what is happening and we will open the judiciary. That is not too heavy for democracy. Okay, another headline that we have found here is that the Senate has thrown out the Buhari's controversial water bill. There is this water bill that everybody kept talking about somewhere before and others were against it and majority were against it anyway. And now the president has left. This bill has been thrown out. Do you have any understanding about what the provisions of this water bill were and why there was need for it to be thrown out or whether it should be revisited? Honestly, that is a very, very important question to answer. But I will try to navigate the same understanding of the matter. You will recall that not too long ago, or just recently, certain things came up on the social media in which the president, the president was being castigated for supporting the withdrawal from subsidy. It was put on the social media. Some of the comments he has made in the part in which he was, in which he lampooned Dr. Buhari to let them for putting a shift on the Nigerian people by withdrawing the first subsidy by increasing prices. In fact, I had to live in that. In fact, it was said that he almost concluded that he have found a dispute then it was said to be a thing to say that there was no cost of this anywhere. And the fact that he was on the platform of this, he is running, but he was hoping they would like to have also faced much a difficulty like cost savings. So now that that statement has been brought out, I am sure it is completely complex as the president to say in the position there was no cost savings, the now coming they are going to be removing the point of toxicity. Also don't forget, the first toxicity is not popular. Within the rank and file of the labor, within the rank and file of the market to men and the ordinary poor people of Nigeria, which they remove and are all with what has been done, prices have gone up as much as 1,000 percent in some of these places. The NIDA has introduced values and work. People have also pointed out that when you go to places like America, Britain, the U.S. and all that, there are subsidies on poor in the places like the U.S. for example, and also even in the places like Catalonia, Libya. So if some of the major economic policies of the world, or major economic policies of the world, have subsidies on their point. Why is this difficult? Why is this impossible? Or why should Nigeria not also enjoy the same thing? Besides, we have all the finalists of the other parts of the country. Billions of Naira are going to the opposition of those finalists. Yes, the finalists are not working. And what we are saying now with the U.S. is that their lives are passing their imbalances, their incompetence, their hindrance to the ordinary Nigerian people. If we have put a refinery on the 31st of September, what happens? If only we would not be having the challenging that we have in this petroleum industry. Furthermore, the two sides smoke out of the country. Two sides smoke out of the country. Who is responsible? Who is to ensure that the borders are not closed, that the borders are well matched? You have immigration in there, you have consumption in there, you have the army in there, and you have the state security in there. You have to put all of them at the border. Even the civil defense force, they are at the border. So why is this difficult? Well, this is a matter of history, isn't it? Because if the border is not closed, and the swells are never smoking out of the country. So these are some of the reasons that are freaky. The conscience of these people. And it may be the underlying factor. Why is there not time to throw out the petroleum or we throw out the city light that we are talking about? Yeah, it's actually the water bill I was asking about. But there is also, let's just follow up since you're talking about the subsidy. The city reps have demanded that NNPCL should have an audit over unaccounted two trillion Naira assets. Two trillion Naira assets. So there should be an audit in this agency. Okay, these people, the NNPCL are saying that even right now, Nigeria is owing them lots and lots of money, 2. something trillion, I think 2.8 or so trillion. Right now there is some unaccounted 2 trillion Naira assets in NNPCL. Some subsidiaries bought crude oil according to the reps without evidence of payment. That's what the legislators are saying. Legislators, OPS, back refineries privatization as Uber, Bolt drivers begin nationwide strike. Okay, so these people who Nigeria is owing 2. something trillion Naira, are the ones that have unaccounted 2 trillion Naira assets in that place. What are your comments on that? Thank you. But if I didn't get the one you said earlier on, I'm not going to tell you the literal details and all that. Now with the one you're talking about now, the NNPCL saying that Nigerian people are owing them. First and foremost I mean, we have had so many audits in the past. What have been the consequences or what have you benefited from those audits? Nothing. The audits reports are usually set under the cap. And then the country or the institution that is affected, we go on to the details as a list. Look at the case of the Canadian of the country, who are supposed to be the head stepper to trigger the management of the money, the money of the country. Look at the amount of production that has been set to avoid, that has been alleged to place it online. And the question now is why is it that all these don't work in Nigeria? Very, very simple. Most times when the government or it was on private terms, want to select an auditor, they hardly advertise those audits' thing for all managers of auditors to apply and then they say to select a manager. If we usually file to a kind of private selection, they select it in. So we usually select their friends to come in and notice their own musicians. So when your friends come into audits, your own musicians and what happens? Most likely it will never give the audits a chance for what has really happened. So that is one issue. Furthermore, auditing NMPs is a very, very important task. I thought you and I would know that NMPs is named on in a very, very opaque manner. And the people behind this opaqueness of NMPs are very, very far apart from us. In fact, the factors are not the same. We recently came out and said the people in the US said to hire cabars who are very, very fast and who are very, very difficult to deal with. So if you have not dismantled your power structures, if you have not dismantled that cabar in the US sector or not at all, whatever audits you want to do or not at all, you may not give the desired results. Furthermore, you will remember and also know that most of the transactions of NMPs is being done through a kind of goods swap. They will send to certain companies goods oil and then when those firms define them, they will send them back to Nigeria as a finished project. So how do you now determine how much or how do you monetize what is being spent and whether it's the goods oil for the finalist and what is eventually taken back as we find the photo. That is very difficult assignment in my own humble opinion. I would rather, instead of waiting the process again on all this in the account of NMPs, that the presidents should go ahead with what we have started to use. We have to start the NMPs to start the goods swap and not at all. We have also said, I think this is an assignment to now go ahead and import the premium products to the countries and send whatever prices that they want to sell it. Going by way of what NMPs are not at all, it's never enough to give all the desired results. We respect the challenges that we have on the ground. Okay, let's look at one headline that is really interesting to me. It's like the most interesting. Towards the end... Can you hear me? I'm hearing you. At the dying minute of the last administration we got a plane land in Nigeria called Nigeria Air. It was launched and stories that we are hearing right now are that we can't even find the plane in Nigeria again. It has returned to Ethiopia because it never was a Nigerian plane. And these are the stories we heard right now. The House of Reps has come up to say that that launch was a fraud and they are calling on the present administration to probe that launch and bring the officers that were involved to book. And some other people have even said they should suspend Nigeria Air. What are your thoughts on what is playing out right now? Well, I agree with those who are calling on the authority for the people to go on the reporting of the Nigerian Air. The information we have out in there on social media and the conventional media that are known as is to the extent that they have to report it to Nigeria. I can't let you long to report it online. And the nearly inscribed Nigerian's name I suspect that the Minister of Education was also trying to impress the president and also impress the Nigerian people that the valve when they were coming in in 2016 that they would bring back the Nigerian Airways and it is not to accomplish that they are coming and all that that we heard it in the last minutes in which they were leaving office to go and bring the Nigerian Aircraft from Ethiopia and then inscribe the Nigerian Air on it pretending that it is the reporting of the Nigerian Air. That is the work of the people. Why is it work of the people? It is work of the people because millions of donors will have gone into that project which in a way can be decided to be free and an attempt to use the Nigerian people is not fair. And when you look at the resources of the colleagues they are calling the state nobody should be allowed to toy with the little calling the state and just get away with it like the Egyptian ministers attempted to do. Don't forget that the Nigerian Airways have been sold to the Nigerian-Ibrahans and the Nigerian was signed and we paid for the Nigerian Airways. You cannot float another Nigerian Airways without the resistance to the contact between Nigeria and the Nigerian. The whole thing in itself sounds very ridiculous. You saw the Nigerian Airways somebody was running it maybe has run it again and all that but it's been sold. You must resist that agreement you must resist that sale and maybe resolve the deal with the Nigerian Airways because the money has no model the survival interest in the Nigerian Airways and also depends on all the franchises with regards to the logo and the name on the Nigerian Airways a kind of settlement to pay on the Nigerian Airways so the minister cannot just work up the agreement and then begin to say if we close the Nigerian Airways I agree that we require of this is that last minister Ibrahca Dabra that was done at the middle of the session without any restraint or caution or disinformation by the outcome president. Okay. Artisans business owners have accused NLC and TUC of selling out remember that today was supposed to be a strike action the beginning of strike action by the NLC and TUC and the suspended the strike pending the outcome of the meeting that has been scheduled for is it Tuesday also next week on the 9th precisely, okay that's been scheduled for the 9th so if this meeting has not been held and NLC has already called off the strike artisans are very suspicious business owners also are suspicious they say they have sold out but the CSOs the civil society organizations have said that they are going to go ahead with protests this one will not be a strike action but with protests over this fuel subsidy removal and the kind of sufferings that Nigerians are having to go through because of that what are your thoughts on this what? I want to go with what is trending on the social media that the Nigeria or most of the physical officers of the Nigerian labor unit in Nigeria whether the only issue of the TUC are not official that most of them are partitions at least you have somebody like Artisans who has openly campaigned for the labor party presidential candidates and you and I will know that Mr. TUC has been saying that he is also going to remove the subsidy on fuel in Nigeria then you also look at some of the other labor leaders they have their different sympathies either to the APC or to the PPC and you will never have all the presidential candidates all the political parties that consider the last election who are saying they are going to remove the PUC and all the other people see the NFC and the TUC never say anything wrong at that period of time I agree with you on the social media that you are not going to see anything wrong now with the FTC that are starting to power to say that it is going to remove the PUC my guess is that because the NFC and the TUC between you they have shot themselves in the foot and that they are going ahead with this fight by not carrying the kind of waste or the popular pooling that the other nation carries that is the reason why they have been going out and coast which is that they are going on with this fight that is supposed to take off this money when is this money going to arrive it is actually they can see both the drawing boards and then they strategize and come out with a better plan as they have to fight this cost and that includes the removal and there is also a message to learn from all of this that in the future the people may require to distance themselves from all the different political parties that we have in the country in fact it might be necessary for them to pull out all the aspects of the political party so that they will have a mouth they will have the legitimacy that we are able to speak authoritatively when issues like this come up in the future for forcing a political party that also says it is going to withdraw first subsidy and then they will force in another political party that won the election which is now time to remove the first subsidy in the country and you know I have also convinced that maybe we should allow the Nigerian allies to remove the first subsidy because the arguments they have been giving up for the incompetence for their lack of performance is because they have been paying for the first subsidy so when the subsidy is now removed and what are they what are the excuses they would have for non-performance well to be fair to some of these people who are arguing every person who was talking about removal of fuel subsidy had a plan how to remove this subsidy for instance you mentioned PTOB you mentioned that TIKU responds the argument is not that fuel subsidy should not be removed by anybody in Nigeria who may be protesting or threatening to go on strike the argument is that the way and manner it was removed without anything that will cushion the effect of this removal that is the grouse that everybody is talking about so right now it will not be fair just to say that people are talking because they are partisan and everybody is in support of the fuel subsidy removal but the way it was removed is the problem do you still think that they have no moral standing to protest or to say that it should not have been done the way it was done just because they have perceived to be partisan well whatever I mean but you don't say including ourselves and what I do I'm not to show the issue whether they are attempting to cushion the effect of the removal of the subsidy or not if it is programed or palliative to cushion the removal of the fuel subsidy and what happened I will not ask you the question where will the resources come from to really provide the palliative to the removal of the fuel subsidy thing now the country is borrowing money to pay a little further and they said maybe to pay some salaries just a moment just a moment just a moment just a moment I understand that but so that I don't lose this thought some people have asked the question that if subsidy was being paid that means there was money that was being paid for this arrangement of subsidy and now they have removed subsidy which means that money that was supposed to be paid for subsidy has been put somewhere else where else was this money put put into because if you pay for subsidy it should have gone to somewhere else okay I think that will be all that we can get from Tunde Kola would have loved to hear him answer this because that's the question a lot of people are asking you stopped putting money in a particular thing that means that money has been freed for something else and Nigerians expected that that something else should have been the palliatives that will cushion the effect of subsidy removal let's say 100 billion is voted for subsidy removal or 1 trillion is voted for subsidy removal or for subsidy rather not removal now it has been removed that means it will not be spent on subsidy anymore where did it go to that's the question we are asking maybe if we knew so much about economics we will know where it has been put into but we are the ordinary Nigerians that may not have that kind of information at our fingertips you need to explain to Nigerians that now that you have stopped subsidy that means we are not spending on subsidy anymore that money that was supposed to be spent on subsidy where is it if you can explain that to us then we will understand but if you don't explain that to us then we will keep asking the question as laymen, as people who may not have the information but also as people who may have the capacity to do what you would not want to be done just because we are ignorant that's how it is so whoever is in charge whoever needs to explain to Nigerians take it gently with Nigerians explain to us like babies so that we get to understand because we all know or at least we feel that it's our collective inheritance as it is it's our collective wealth that is being used the way it is being used we need to know how it is being used and if we are being deprived of one thing let us know the advantages and where you have put that one thing to directed your energy to your resources, your money your subsidy, where did you take it to let us know these things these are very simple things that if we know we can be very sympathetic with the government or we can be very understanding with the government and let things flow the way they should flow we will take another break and when we return we will go to our first hot topic stay with us