TVC Newspaper Review: FG Launches ₦7.29BN Bond to Clear Power Sector Legacy Debt

[00:00:00]through the front pages of the national newspapers and see what they are saying today and come back with some analysis of some of the matters we'll be seeing here this morning. The nation newspapers always leads to wing and right here NSA in November later to ministry PFIPC illegal you know this matter on the fake agency is making the rounds of course investigations are ongoing and would get to see the bottom of the matter. Tribune newspaper comes up next and he's still on the same issue as well on sir SGF disowned ad during 2025 inquiry foreign affairs ministry this is quoting them we'll give you much more inside when we come to analyze that matter the punch newspaper is also running on the same leg right there reps intensify fake agency prop give MDA's 48 ultimatum ultimatum has been going around this let me give area one [laughter] >> just just a Monday to be here >> right they would all go in cute the leadership newspaper is what we're also going to look at next um something a little bit much more hair um same you know PFIC matter but I see something else right here you hired us lobbing firm submit tinus forfeiture records to Trump administration congress if we have some time we'll touch on that to let you exactly what that means at the end of the day. The the Observer Times is where we're going to right about now. And uh something a little bit about economy. Um MPC CBN retains 26.5% rate to drive stability.

[00:01:44]I'm sure will give us some you know economic insight into that because it looks like it's looking green. However, won't have it in our pockets. This Nigeria is coming on next right there.

[00:01:56]CBN keeps interest rate at 26.5% amid global tensions. Well, as long as our pocket ain't tentioned, we're fine. News Direct is where we're going to. And right here, federal government launches 729 billion bond declare power sector legacy debt. I'm just wondering how they got to that amount. But I'm sure we'll tell you more about that when we get to that point.

[00:02:27]And the blueprint newspaper is where we're running next on the matter. I'm trying to look for blueprint right here.

[00:02:35]There it is. 31 firm wins 37 oil and gas blocks in 2025 licensing round. I'm sure mine is there as well. of the Guardian newspaper is also running on that matter. A little bit of that. Federal government shops for investors as NNPC's $3 billion North Oil exploration lags.

[00:03:01]Hey everybody, jump on this. The Platform Times is where we're going to go into noun and uh right about there.

[00:03:09]Fake university scam uncovered in Lagos as NCDC saves 106 youths were battling fake agency noun fake university very soon let me not say that one [clears throat] the hope newspaper is where we're going to go right about noun and this is around human capital development honors outstanding student teachers and others of as au ideals steals shape on Nigeria uh declared you know I watched that we'll talk a bit about that when we get to that point and of course finally where we always draw the curtains the sport in life oim ranked above Kane and Harland where I am not really surprised at that osim you know he's ranked above all >> why would why would anybody be surprised I mean that guy is just doing wonders I know Mr. show is itching to say something about it. [laughter] Amen.

[00:04:12]>> Well, maybe we should even hear your take about >> not not at all. Let's run first to the the nation newspaper and Mr. Show me I'll begin this one with you right there. This matter the NSA is saying uh you know there was a letter that was sent to the ministry in November and according to that letter it already had declared that this agency is illegal.

[00:04:34]How come since then if such a letter was issued out clearly stating that they say this is illegal, this is the national security advisor office saying that this agency is illegal, then the agency still found a way to have some legs to operate and then now the whistle has been blown about it.

[00:04:54]>> Yeah. Yeah. But we we need to look at you know the the events um timeline.

[00:05:00]>> On the 16th of um October 20 2025 >> um the foreign affairs ministry wrote you know to the NSA to demand you know for clarification on the status of the DJ of that very agency phantom agency.

[00:05:18]Um the uh NSC did not reply until it took them some time because they had to write one to the chief of staff to confirm whether the president actually you know appointed somebody and created that agency. On the other hand again the NSA's office wrote to the office of the um um secretary to the government of federation also to do the same confirmation. M >> by the time they got the letters uh the reply back that was on the 14th I think around 14 or 16th of November 2025 the chief of staff had already taken action. He took action on the 17th October 2025. That was before the NSA could reply and file a complaint to the police that look a letter was for somebody purportedly claiming to be a DG and then my signature was forged and placed on it. So he became the complainant. By the time NSA you realized that the man you know was already uh well there was an action already against him by the police force.

[00:06:21]They simply could only reply you know to uh the foreign affairs ministry and allowed the police to commence investigation and do their job. And again in that same 2025 the police charged Adini to court.

[00:06:34]>> This problem started since 2025. So he was charged to court. was on bail and then since then he only attended the court once out of four or five um appearances before his final apprehension. So if you look at the timeline you will understand why there has to be some delay somewhere because somebody can easily argue that and said look um foreign affairs ministry wrote to you on the 16th of November why didn't you reply with within a week or something but then on the 17th there is already an action filed taken by the chief of staff and the police had already commenced investigation before the NSA could reply to the Tribune newspaper this morning reps are to meet the Minister of Justice and the Accountant General. Today, I'm asking this question. If there was an alarm rose about this agency and this man in the first place since 2025, why wasn't there a stay of operation of this agency?

[00:07:34]>> That is the question that I think um uh the head of service is in a very good position to answer.

[00:07:40]>> I'm assuming you're one.

[00:07:42]>> Oh, yes. No, I'm I'm [laughter] your colleague. I'm sitting down here because In answering that question, we we have to take a lot of things into consideration. U questions that have not been answered so far. How come the phantom agency had offices allocated to that of the head uh head of service? How come uh the man has written letters in fact has represented Nigeria, you know, uh in in one or two uh foreign engagements and so on. So right now the investigations are going on. A lot of questions are flying up and down. Yes.

[00:08:19]Uh it is good we are talking about it.

[00:08:22]But I would want a situation where the investigations actually answer these questions. And the Punch newspaper reps have intensify fake probe. They are giving the MDA's 48our ultimatum.

[00:08:36]I'm assuming this ultimatum is late in the day. Uh I I I don't know about that because the way that he operated undetected in that way seemingly invisible in a lot of our government institutions MDAs in terms of the accounts he opened what he had access to I wouldn't say it's late in the day Nelson I will say the way he operated perhaps part of the tricks of his trade was operating late in the day and going unnoticed what I will say is that I commend that we are all speaking in the same language all our agencies head of service the chief of staff office of even CBN all our agencies and institutions ions that matter or perhaps could have been accused of collaborating with him, you know, are speaking in one voice and this is unacceptable. It did go undetected. But the question I always I always ask is what policies and mechanisms are we putting in place at a policy level in our law in our constitutions that make it so that there is no there is no oversight in things like this. You know, one of the other newspapers you come to and you'll see there's a fake university as well. This is clearly yes this is clearly a pattern. We are not doing enough investigation and enough checks and balances for for institutions some fraudulent institutions can take advantage of those loopholes.

[00:09:43]>> So which therefore means that there are loopholes that highly placed persons can you know utilize exploit to create such phantom agencies for extortion of money.

[00:09:54]You should not forget one thing though that the man was not only parading the letter purportedly you know signed by or from the chief of staff office you know but also parading a government gazette with a forge. will convince anybody who is not a lawyer and you present it to accounting accountant general of the federation look at it there's a gaz there's this there's that so by the time they got to know that there was a problem within the system the police had already started investigation >> and the ministry of foreign affairs even rejected a collaboration with him you know so some of our institutions could see this >> even the office the office we are claiming was never allocated to him directly it was allocated to the office of the government of federation so I managed to hijack that or who is the question on that panel that is that >> thankfully an an investigation an independent investigation has been ordered to be done on him and we're waiting Nigerians are strongly waiting to see the outcome of this but the leadership newspaper uh m show me let's get a little bit of a matter of flooding now um flood kills Katsina siblings and returning Islamic school of course all over the country you know we've been seeing this flood flood matters um it's really sad you know having to see some of those videos you see people trying to you know rescue babies, you know, from from from from the haste of water. It's it's I mean it's a sad one.

[00:11:11]>> Yeah, it is a sad one. And already the Nigerian ideological agency >> has already warned that 17 states will be affected, you know, uh with flooding from 21st of July to 27th of July. What we need to do is to be proactive. This idea of moving people to save lives, you know, from low land to upland um is good to save life, but we need to begin to look at how do we establish permanent settlement for them on the main on the island while we make use of the lone land, you know, for marine purposes or for like for fisheries. So, we need to begin to look at how to permanently resolve this problem >> and and and something of a political matter, the observer times emer and and m I'll come back to you on economy. um articles US lobbyists, you know, submit tinule forfeiture record to Trump's administration. I I'm I'm I'm wondering why they had to go there to do that.

[00:12:08]What what exactly are they trying to achieve here?

[00:12:10]>> Well, that issue was an issue um when uh the president was running for election the first time. Exactly.

[00:12:17]>> It was an issue and is one of those people that believe that the case was not thoroughly handled. So, he now uh spent $1.2 million, $1.2 million in getting this agency to go back there and come out with a report that says yes, it is authentic. Uh he has uh questions to answer in the United States and all that. And that makes it uh uh makes him not qualified to run for president. It's just politics.

[00:12:50]>> And and I I wish he had invested that 1.2 2 million, >> you know, maybe won't have a faking university [laughter] >> and and this Nigeria um Senate repeals 29-year insurance law and creates new regulators and and and something here, you know, I really wanted to talk about Africa tops global hunger ranking as UN sounds warning. Africa is topping global hunger rankings. Why exactly is Africa always found in some list like this?

[00:13:17]>> I don't know. And and it's a paradox because when we even look at the history of sub subsistence farming, when we look at people who knew about food production and living off the land, it was Africans. And so to find this in in the 21st century that were going through this is a shame. The UN and the World Health Organization have have warned have long warned that we are in a food shortage. Some places are even in emergency crisis, food insecurity. I have a uncle who works as as a vet for the United Nations. And so this is not this is not new. We constantly warn. But because Nigerians are so resilient, Nelson, we are constantly adapting to our society, low food production, shortages, uh, you know, lack of lack of good farms and good arable land, the insecurity issue. So, it's a problem and we need to treat it like the crisis.

[00:13:57]>> Talk about far. You know, the first lady has shown us how to live our lives by having farms in our house. Do you have one? Cuz I have one. [laughter] >> Mr. Show me the news direct. Federal government is launching 729 billion bond to clear past sector legacy debt. And there was something else I wanted to talk about. Um this CBN retaining NPR at 26.5%.

[00:14:17]Um they are eyeing a singledigit inflation. What's going on here?

[00:14:21]>> Okay. Um on the power sector quickly um we need to clear that in order to free resources. You know these are legacy depths to free resources for the power generating incumbents you know to invest more in that sector. Um without doing that without clearing the legacy depths there's no way they can have the necessary resources to invest in [clears throat] that sector and improve electricity supply in the country in addition to boosting the confidence of um foreign investor in our economy. On the CBN now it's um there were many people were thinking the CBN will reduce you know the MPR that's the monetary policy rate you know down from 26% to probably uh uh 26.2 or 26%. But the CBN could not um sorry 25%. The CBN could not do that simply because the headline inflation is still 15.93% while uh is being driven by underlining uh food inflation which is um about um 17%. So there's a need to maintain uh the MP you know at 25.6% in order to ensure we have um a sustainable uh h development within the country. In addition to that they also retain the CR which is the cash reserve ratio at 45% you know for money deposit bank that's the commercial banks you and I patronize while the uh the Russian banks um is um 16%. So there will be a certain level of stability you know for some time. So until the next um round when people will be expecting a decline in inflation and also a decline in the interest rate. So at the end of the day, the goal is to approach, you know, to get to a single digit inflation, something less than 10%.

[00:16:06]>> So that we can, you know, greatly reduce that food inflation you just mentioned.

[00:16:10]But I wish we had time to dig more into that. But uh the blueprint newspaper something of interest there to me two jailed 6 months for naira abuse in worry. So they say they can't prog it's it's it's it's news to me you know though the law the law exists but enforcement has not been very very uh strong. So to suddenly hear that yes somebody has enforced that law it's a little bit of a surprise to me. However Nigerians should know that um our currency is not just currency. It is the identity of our country and the way we treat our currency reflects on how we treat our country. So we should uh look at those laws again. Maybe we should help in the media to [clears throat] bring out uh details of those laws for Nigerians to really understand and know that look you have to treat the currency right.

[00:17:06]>> And uh on the Guardian newspaper safe schools Senate extends probe into Ted Fund, nail fund, Eubek and others. These are you know agencies who money goes through them to fund our universities and it's good that the Senate is probing them because some persons are build a generational wealth out of this. Yeah, absolutely. It's very important that probes like that take take place. At every point there should be auditing, there should be accountability, there should be transparency is the least that we can do. To think that somebody would take something as as hopeful to the youth as education and use that as a way to expunge funds or steal money or embezzle or be corrupt. It's a shame and that is good. That is absolutely welcome.

[00:17:45]>> And let me just stay with you on this.

[00:17:46]>> This is a critical sector.

[00:17:47]>> Exactly. on the platform times you know the fake universities come they used a bit you know [laughter] >> this university was operating from a threebedroom um apartment in laddu and what they did essentially was that they told young people we have affiliations with this foreign university we can get you admission some pe some young people you know young people who don't have jobs who are still hustling paid as much as 200,000 to almost 1.5 million naira they what they started doing is that they told the students the people who they had promised admission go and get more students for us and we'll now give you a commission so the NCD essentially rescued those people. But it is a shame you had people from Nijer, hundreds of students from Nijer to Cameroon waiting for admission to think that at the end of before that ordeal these children thought I'm going to get admission to a foreign university and all they wanted was to better their lives. Kudos to the NCDC >> and indeed for for bringing them out and Mr. Show me just quickly poss former governor of state Akulu. Uh what do you have to say about that?

[00:18:41]>> Oh well he was a good man. He came his accomplished and we will never forget his role in creating Amote which has played a major role in ensuring security in South.

[00:18:53]>> Indeed. And finally of course on the spot in life >> favorite. [laughter] >> Indeed. Um of course know you were trying to say something a little bit about this earlier when you know we read about has been ranked above uh Kane and Harland. Yeah of course that's our guy right there. Actually that makes me proud. Makes me proud in the sense that Simmon is Nigerian. Simmon is the hottest thing in football right now and uh putting him side by side Halan and why did they even mention their name? So we're talking about officially as [laughter] one of the best five strikers in the world. No doubt about that. So it's look he's a hot cake. Barcelona all of them are looking for him. Barcelona Chelsea Manu once showed interest in him. You have um Napoli regretting ever selling you know Osim for 75 million euro. So you can imagine the guy is doing great.

[00:19:46]>> Somebody would buy me for 1 million.

[00:19:47]>> Thank you very much. [laughter] Of course, TVC breakfast is a hot cake, but that's how far we can go.