 Good morning and welcome to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. My name is Nyam Gul Aghaji. On the program this morning we're going to be looking at two hot topics and as usual we'll bring you the top trending issues. Our first hot topic is that Nigeria ranks third highest in female genital mutilation, that is according to UNICEF. And also we'll be talking about World Cancer Day and the ongoing battle. We also are going to be looking at what we call of the press where we look at the headlines from some of our national dailies. Once again, good morning and welcome to the program. We'll go right away to top trending issues, issues that caught our attention in the course of the last 24 hours. The building and construction industry may be witnessing one of its worst moments as exchange rate, building materials and labour prices have triggered an increase in construction costs by 200% in the last two years. Nigeria's inflation rate as of December 2023 climbed to 28.9% and the recent upsurge is primarily linked to the effects of petrol subsidy removal and the devaluation of the official exchange rate, both exerting substantial impacts on consumer prices. The direct effect of exchange rate is being felt more on imported materials like windows, doors, ceramics, tiles, plumbing appliances and sanitary wares which represent 23% of materials in the building market. Prices of essential building materials such as cement, blocks, doors, reinforcement rods, sand, timber, panes, roofing sheets, glass and tiles have risen over 75% in the last 12 months. And this has become source of concern to the built environment professionals because of the direct impact on supply, affordability and accessibility to housing, especially for low and middle income earners. According to architects, materials and labour prices have risen between 100 to 200% in the last two years. For cement based blocks, a 9 inch block previously sold at 450 naira is now 550 naira while the 6 inch block is now 500 naira from 370. There has also been an increase in the price per ton of iron rods. The 8 mm previously at 255,000 per ton is now 518,000. 10 mm that used to cost 442,000 goes for 520,000 while 12 mm and 16 mm rods that sold for 446 naira is now 515,000. The 515,000 naira while 20 mm and 25 mm earlier sold for 442,000 naira now commands 530,000 naira price depending on location. Accordingly, labour prices have gone up with artisans that earlier charged between 3000 to 4000 naira per day last year charging between 6000 and 8000 naira depending on the location. Generally, prices of paint in 20 litre containers also increase from 8000 naira with price hovering between 10,900 naira and 35,000 naira depending on the brand location while retailers and distributors sell between 12,500 naira and 45,000 naira for the 20 litres. Price of sanitary fittings and other items have also hit the rooftop. Rental prices are also increasing in low income settlements with a room self-contained of 150,000 naira being rated for 250,000 naira. A 2-bedroom flat has increased from 400,000 naira to 600,000 naira while a 3-bedroom apartment rose from 500,000 naira to 800,000 naira and could be higher depending on location. For the same type of units in high-brow areas, a 2-bedroom is as high as 1.2 million naira while 3-bedroom goes for 1.8 million naira and above. The President, Commonwealth Association of Surveyors and Land Economy, Mr. Shagun Ajahn-Lekoko said without economic re-engineering, the cost of construction will continue to rise as the country is import dependent for major components of construction materials. While noting that infrastructure projects affected heavy engineering projects such as roads and bridges, he called for greater and effective cost management. According to him, the government must allow a special discretionary exchange rate for imported materials, grant tax relief for construction companies and encourage use of local materials. The President, Casley further advocated establishment of a financial intermediation that will reduce the overall cost expenditures and reduce interest to a single digit, as well as invigorate economic activities and help upscale gross domestic product GDP growth and reduce unemployment. Now that is really disheartening and they figure they are very mild and moderate because a room self-contained is no longer just 250 or so. In some places I know that are supposed to be low housing or low places that shouldn't check that much. I know that they go for 350, some 400,000 naira and the high-brow areas some of them go for as much as a million and a million plus for just a self-contained. I've known that for some time now. So it's really disheartening. A lot of people will now resort to slipping under the bridge when we should be getting houses that we will at least have a roof over our heads. Now the second top trending issue is that the court has struck out the 22.8 billion naira fraud charge against ex-Chief of Air Staff. That was done on Tuesday. The charge against former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adeshola Mosul and two other Air Force Chiefs. Justice Chukwe Juku and Neke set the military officers free while delivering rulings on their separate preliminary objections challenging the court's jurisdiction to try them for their alleged crime. The court held that Mosul and his co-defendants, Air Vice Marshal Jacob Bola Adigo and Air Komodo Badebo or Woduni or Lubenga could not be tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, because the West serving military officers at the time their alleged crime was committed. Air Marshal Amosul was appointed Chief of Air Staff on January 16, 2014 and he was removed from the post on July 13, 2015, 12 months before his arraignment in court. The defendants were first arraigned before Justice Mohammed Idris on June 29, 2016 by the EFCC and seven companies. The companies named in the charge are Delfina Oil and Gas Limited, McCollon Oil and Gas Limited, Hebron Housing and Properties Company Limited, Trapezides BDC, Funds and Pricey Limited, Deghi Oil and Gas Limited, Tim Segg Investment Limited and Solomon Healthcare Limited. The EFCC accused them of conspiracy, stealing, money laundering, concealing of crime proceeds and converting funds belonging to the Nigerian Air Force to their personal use around March 5, 2014 in Lagos. The world saw accused of concealing proceeds of crime and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18A of the Money Laundering Prohibition Amendment Act 2012 and punishable on the Section 17A. They however had pleaded not guilty to the charge. The case was later transferred to Justice Anneke after Justice Idris, now a Justice of the Supreme Court, was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2019. EFCC had on January 16, 2019 obtained a court order for feeding 2.2 billion allegedly recovered from Amosu to the federal government. Also forfeited was 101 million recovered from Solomon Enterprises, a company linked to him. After the four-feature proceedings were concluded, the EFCC amended the charge, reducing the number of defendants from 11 to 3, removing the eight companies previously named in it. Also, attempts made by the defendants to hold a plea bargain talks with the EFCC on two occasions failed due to the insistence of the anti-graft agency that the agreement must include a custodial sentence and other stringent terms. The Defense Council's apology Ayurindi, while moving the application, had argued that the defendants were serving military officers at the time when the EFCC investigated them. Therefore, they are only subject to trial by Court Marshall. Ayurindi had also contended that Section 16 and 18A of the Money Laundering Act 2011, as amended, did not create the offence of criminal breach of trust for which the defendants were charged. Delivering his ruling on Tuesday Justice Anneke held that the prosecution neither committed nor denied the disposition of the defendants. The Court held that, as June 23, 2016, when the original charge was filed, one was not sure whether the first defendant was still a serving officer of the armed forces, since his exact date of retirement was not stated. The Court also reached a similar decision for the second and third defendant and, accordingly, quashed the charges. Now we'll move on to the third one. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the EFCC, has frozen an account belonging to Abu Bakr Ahmad Sirika, brother of immediate past minister Hadi Sirika, over an alleged 8.06 billion narrow contract fraud in the Federal Minister of Aviation. According to a report in the nation, the anti-graft agency made this known after the arrest of Abu Bakr Sirika over contract fraud worth about 3.2 billion narrow that was traced to his private company, Anguirus Nigera Limited. Abu Bakr Sirika, also a level 16 officer and a deputy director in the Federal Minister of Water Resources, was guided that four big contracts were awarded to Abu Bakr's Anguirus Nigera Limited when his brother was in charge of the ministry. According to the EFCC investigators, Abu Bakr Ahmad Sirika is listed as the company's MD, CEO, and the sole signatory to the two accounts linked to the firm with two banks. The four contracts the ex-minister awarded to his brother, which were not executed, are construction of the terminal building in Katsina Airport, that galt 1.3 billion narrow, fire truck maintenance and refurbishment center in Katsina Airport, 3.8 billion narrow. Procurement and installation of elevators, air conditioners, and power generator house in Aviation House, Abuja, 615 million narrow. Procurement of Magnus aircraft and simulator for Nigerian College of Aviation Technologies area, 2.3 billion narrow. The investigators revealed a payment of 3.2 billion out of the total contract sum of Anguirus Nigera Limited and upon receipt of the payment, he allegedly transferred it to different companies and individuals. The investigators also alleged that no trace of work had been done on any of the contract items to date. Hadi Sirika was the substantive Minister of Aviation for Nigeria after former President Mohammed Buhari was re-elected in 2019, but was Minister of State in 2015. Sirika was also associated with the now infamous Niger Air scandal. Okay, that was so, so much, you know, so we're expecting to see that the EFCC or the courts or any body that is supposed to handle all these issues will do a very good job and we will see that the job is being done. Let's hope that Nigeria is going to get better because of all these and the people who are even thinking about committing crimes such as these will be thinking twice right now. We'll take a short break now. When we return, we'll be looking at the papers. Stay with us.