You're welcome back. With seven to five days to the 2023 elections, the all-progressive Congress APC appears to be uncomfortable with the insistence by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to deploy by model voter accreditation system, BEVAS, and the INEC election results viewing portal for the elections. Both the BEVAS and the IRV were introduced by the electoral body to promote the credibility of the electoral process. BEVAS is a technological device used to identify an accredited voter's fingerprints and facial recognition before voting. The device is also used for capturing images of the polling unit result sheet from EC8A and uploading the image of the result sheet online. IRV, on the other hand, is an online portal where polling unit level results are uploaded directly from the polling unit transmitted and published for the public. At the front end of the online portal, members of the public can create personal accounts with which they can gain access to all uploaded results stored as PDF files. And that means it's a strategic move to make sure that no voting can be done by people who should not be done and people who should do the voting actually get the voting done. A recent statement by the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Adamo Abdulahi, may have justified Igini's claims. Adamo said he expressed strong reservations over the deployment of modern technology in the next year's general election and that's the concern that we have today. The APC chairman made this views known when he received a delegation from the Commonwealth pre-election team at the National Secretariat of the Party in Abuja and he was of the opinion that the federal government was yet to give Nigerians stable electricity adding that it would be a gamble to allow electronic transmission of results. And that's what we are discussing today. How beavers and IRV has unsettled parties and a game changer heading to the 2023 election. And so we have joining us to discuss this, Mr. Charles O'Toole, political analyst and also Mr. Abiodun Shoumi. Gentlemen, welcome to the run-up. Okay, good morning. Let me start with Mr. Shoumi. There seem to be, even though we are restricting ourselves now to the APC, but these beavers and IRV seem to have upset the political terrain as it were. Why do you think that is? Mr. Shoumi, please. I understand even the nature of our infrastructure, particularly psychological infrastructure within the country. A country where you want to make a call, you can end up having to try two, three times in some parts of the country. While at times you sell the data, it does not go get through in time and you know, you keep waiting for it to deliver. So we have infrastructures that would, the technology that will underpin what the beavers seems to be resting on the weak infrastructure. So therefore, anybody, not just the APC, should be concerned about it. Let me give you a good example. The current ongoing case in the tribunal in Ocean State, where the former governor, Uye Tola, is challenging the victory of the current governor, Adelike, Jackson Adelike of the PDP. One of the things claimed, the deposition of INEC itself, not APC, not PDP, is that the first results they announced that it didn't contain the full accreditation information which issued that it failed to upload in full. This has been submitted to the tribunal. And you can then imagine why people will not be worried about it. And that led INEC into first satisfying a result, satisfying the details of beavers for APC, which they used to file. In the case only for INEC to come back and say, no, we have just completed. The whole system has just been uploaded. We are submitting a new one. And the tribunal is saying on which one they used to announce the result. Of course they won't give in to APC. So you can see the confusion, the problem from day one. And that should be very worrying and concerning not only to APC, to all political parties. Number two is what nobody has tested. There will be variations in the performance of beavers. In these rural areas, we are likely going to have delayed transmission of results. And we are likely going to have more problems as witnessed during when they use it for accreditation in the Anambra State election. They witnessed a similar thing. So Anambra State is also a good example where people, for instance, in Inewi, Luka Gumentaria, they have major problems. In a family of five, only one person managed to get through at the same unit, when in reality that they only have two beavers passing for the whole of Inewi Luka Gumentaria. I understand and I know the problem of the IPOC which militated against them. But that is not what affected the technology. So there are genuine concerns. You may have a situation, for instance, where in Lagos, the beavers perform excellently. Delivering 95 percent. And then you now go to somewhere, say, for instance, in Boronu, in Plato, or somewhere else. And then you have 50 percent accreditation. So what would be the average percentage that would be acceptable for beavers to beavers? Because currently, what I like to say is that no matter the situation, it is only beavers and nothing else. That is good. The intention is good. The intention is to eliminate fraud. But that does not mean that we should not look at the problems which has been thrown up by the use of beavers currently, like in the case of Osho State, and the problem they encountered in Anambra State. This is a wider election which will involve the open trade. And we need to make sure that the process is credible. Ineq needs to make sure that they have a reliable infrastructure. And they cannot guarantee that it is only NCC. NCC has made it very clear that it is their responsibility to guarantee the technology to deliver whatever Ineq wants to achieve. So we need to get both agencies to cooperate, and reassure the country that there will not be any problem. Otherwise, we will face major claims that beavers was used to reduce the discourse of people outside city centers to the advantage of the ruling party or one party or the other. And that is not what we want. The election will not be seen to be free, fair, and credible. Mr Ohtu, I would like to hear your thoughts as well before we move on to other matters. Thank you very much. I listened very kindly to my brother. His postulation on the general note, his fears on the general note may seem founded, but there is something very peculiar about technology. And that is the need for constant improvement until the issues regarding the staggered elections in Annabra, Aikiti, and Ocean State. Nigeria never contemplated that there was a possibility for the improvements Anneq has made on the electoral system, generally, including the introduction of beavers technology. People didn't believe it was possible. Now, where I differ very substantially with Mr Ohtu is the fact that if you are deploying this technology, just like your MTA network, your other networks that came in in the early 2000s, and it has witnessed significant improvement just within a period of less than two decades, or about two decades, brother, you cannot say, you cannot take away the fact that it is because it is in use that there were rooms for improvements. Now, if you look at, generally, the fears expressed by APC and different other parties, about network issues, a lot of that, you will be wondering whether this really should be the case. These same individuals, these same stakeholders, stay in the rural areas. They no longer carry money about. They do electronic transfer of money. They perform other functions that technology has afforded the nation and Nigeria's to perform. So why is it that in the case of determining the effects of over 200 million Nigerians, it now becomes so problematic there are 179,000, over 179,000 units across the country. If you record success in about 160,000 or 150,000 out of this unit, 150,000 out of this unit, whatever are the shortfalls can be remedied, and it's not acting as if they are not oblivious of the fact that, look, Nigeria is befitted with all manner of electronic technological challenges, network issues, and that is why they have said, look, we are going to run this election. And it's not going to be like the normal election where you just have a day, like Nigerians have had it.  If there are areas or places that will be need for improvement, INAC is going to study them. And elections can hold in those places when those issues that would have cropped up may have been resolved or sorted out. Now, for me, the fear should be that we did not try this technology at all. The fear should be that Nigerians looked the other way and just said, oh, because we don't have networks in all the villages in the country, we didn't deploy the opportunities, or we didn't have those opportunities supported us by beavers. What is this beavers and the idea about? Beavers just have to do with by moderate voter accreditation, that it is no more an error where you now cannot reconcile the number of ballot papers given to the number of ballot papers cast on election day, because accreditation failed. With beavers, you have all that, so many other husbands, facial recognition, thumbprinting, and all of this technology, like I witnessed it during the Ann Arbor election, does not take time. If there are hitches that are widespread, we can come back. I want Nigerians, they say, perspective, I want Nigerians to see this election. It is about the fate of Nigeria in the next four to eighties, because politicians hardly do four years this time. Anybody who goes in there wants to stay there for the next eighties, whether as a governor or as a president. Is this national assembly member, is this not important enough that we can even devote a time and say, if there are after 179,000 people in this across the country, if we can get it right in 100,000, and we can defer elections to the next day or next few periods, last a couple of weeks, to make sure that we use the opportunities supported us by this technology and get credible candidates elected across board. Wouldn't that have solved the problem for Nigerians? That is what I'm thinking, that this device, the IRF, for instance, on the other hand, has to do with monitoring the results that originates from the polling units. What that will solve is that in the case of Fortune for instance, I didn't like I knew he was leading the election. Even with some local governments not being turned in in Auschwitz State, I didn't like I knew that with the results that have been monitored in the portal of INEC, the party was already in a clearly, all the issues are reports of shortfalls of the system, notwithstanding. What is good is that you can be sure of what is going on across the polling units just by logging into the INEC portal. We can improve on this, my dear brother. That's what I think. You've gone ahead to mention all the advantages that comes with the beavers and the IRF in a situation where it is actually successful. But then we've had other elections happen in the past where these systems of electronic transmission were tried out. Looking at 2023 coming up, do you think that these things put together and probably solved? Do you see it being successful in 2023? Yes. I believe strongly that if we are able to record 60 to 70 percent success, the nation is already having an A and it can be improved in subsequent elections. Where did we start from? We remember that in this country there was a time we had an option A for election in 1993 and it was judged the most fairest and the threeest elections, even though the acclaimed winner did not take out of office. That is the late MQA Abuela. If we have moved from that in 1993 to the 1999 election, to the 2003, 2007, 2011 elections, to 2015, and we are now in an era where even smaller countries with lesser funding, with lesser electoral funds, are not thinking about technologies that can enhance theirs. I believe that the 2023 election, if we put our hearts to it like I said earlier, commit ourselves to the fact that look, we can spread this election the whole of March and even April and get it right across the national assembly, across the 28th out of the 36 states where elections will be holding, elections will be holding, and then the presidential election, it is what the energy, the time, and the resources Nigeria is investing in it. And I don't want us to throw the baby away with the bathwater because within the diverse, the IRF, IRF technology will be unfavorable to some percentage of political parties or some part of the country. We've seen how even the network providers have improved over the years. The MTA network for climate is less than two decades, or just about two decades in Nigeria. And we've seen how it's been improved. If elections are run on a four-eight-year cycle, it means that when we're talking about elections in the year 2050 for instance, where some of us may have grown so old, we could get to the point where like in the American system, it is no more people can pick their cards and cast their ballots whenever they wish and then go about their normal business. That is where we should be aiming instead of not trying at all. That's what I think. Instead of not trying at all, it's the optimism for me. I like that you are very optimistic. Let me go to Mr. Xiaomi. Yes, the concerns you expressed, or the position you took, that people who are concerned about what might happen are doing so justified. But we have from now till the 25th of February. And for a technology that has been tried in Oshun, Ekiti, and Anambra, shouldn't this be a good time enough for INEC to put its house in order and learn the lessons that they need to learn to make sure that this technology works? Should we still be afraid until the time of election? Yes. I listen to Charles and I like his optimism and I wish things can work out the way he thinks. He's ignoring the fact that it's not a wish. Election is guarded by the electoral act. The electoral act stipulated that all the elections must take place at the same time. So the idea of having a staggered election, presidential election, is not going to happen. I said to change the law. It is too late to change the electoral act. We need to understand that. The second issue is that we are also failing to take account of the fact that we only have less than 80 million Nigerians. Actually, they're talking about 67 million who have internet access. That will tell you that the infrastructures, by these I mean masks, to deliver data and telephone services to people, are only concentrated in areas where these 65 to 80 million people live. So what happens to the vast majority of the people, 120 million Nigerians, living in the rural areas, in the barren areas and in the thick forest? How would they get involved in that very process in a way that the vast will also work for them, like it will work for us in the city? Again, we are also ignoring one fact, the confusion and the suspicion and the allegations that will arise if we are to go by what happened in Osho. In Osho State, and I repeat, please go and read the INEC submission and the submission of APC and PDP before the tribunal. The case is still alive. INEC is saying that the Biva's accreditation evidence, which they satisfied and gave to APC, which APC used and discovered that they were over-butting internal local governments in a way that if the Electoral Act is complied with, which clearly stipulated that we are the votes and more than the number of Biva's accredited, then the results should be cancelled. That if the law is applied, then Adeliki would not have been declared, but each other will have been declared as the government. And that is precisely why they are in court. And this case is still on. And we are likely going to have, if we create a situation where in some areas you have maybe 10, 20 million voters, badly affected out of two possible 80 million voters, what would happen? Are you going to declare results without taking account of the polling of those 20 million voters? Because we should not forget that people of the same franchise or people who are not able to vote using the Biva's, if the Biva's fail to work in the rural areas and the Bahrain areas, their numbers must not exceed the margin of victory of any of the candidates. It will lead us to a new round of trouble. Don't forget the 2019 elections. Artiku came up, the PDP candidate in that election came up with his own electronically transmitted results. And this went to the Tribunal, which eventually was rejected. So there are still a lot of uncertainty. What I am saying is, I am not saying we should reject Biva's. No, we have to use Biva's. But we must accept the limitations of Biva's given the level of a technological infrastructural development in the country. We must take account of people in the rural areas, people in the river Rhine areas, so that their votes also will count. We must make sure that they are able to vote. We cannot have an excuse that Biva's fail to function. Meanwhile, Aineka said that you cannot use any other means. So what basically means is that if Biva's fail to work in any area, all the people in that area will not vote. That is my own concern. And that is what I think Aineka needs to look at. How will they be able to ensure efficient and effective Biva's system when people are doing accreditation? Do not forget that the responsibility is not just Aineka. It's NCC that claims they have full responsibility for that. And even then, I doubt it, because NCC will not buy the mast. It's the private telecom operators that will buy the mast, install them and link them to their system, so that we can have an improved technological infrastructure. So basically, what I am saying is that we still need to have more debates while we are implementing Biva's. Have more debates, engage also the private sector partners in these debates, and look at solutions to some of these foreseeable problems. That is the point I'm making. All right. You just mentioned how that if the Biva's fails at certain areas, like the river line areas and the rural areas, people are going to be disenfranchised, and that also means that their numbers will be lost. Before and now, where we used to have, like if I'm to use the word, analogue elections, people go out to vote. And there's been a lot of cases of situations where people do not even see electoral materials. They do not see INEC staff. They don't see anything. And elections come and go, and people get into power, and life goes on. What I'm trying to say, where I'm going to with that is, do you not think that these conversations coming up in different quarters, especially among political parties, is so that INEC's efforts into trying to curb votes buying, to curb electoral misdoings, is cut down to the low. Because, I mean, they've put in efforts, they've brought up these technological innovations, and they're trying to put it in practice, and they've made their reasons clear. And the people who are directly affected, who in fact should be excited and applaud in these innovations, are actually making these conversations and trying to make life difficult for both Nigerians and the electoral empire. Do you not think that these people are actually trying, you know, putting in their best effort to make sure that we don't have the credible election that we all look forward to come 2023? How do you react to that? Yeah, INEC don't doubt about it. INEC has been working very, very hard, you know, to ensure that the process and the results of elections are credible, they are free, they are fair, and they are judged soon, not only by international observance, but also seen by fellow Nigerians as no creditor. They have a huge volume of knowledge spreading into, since 1999, in conducting elections in the country, and we've been trying to improve the system one way or the other. But this is the farthest we have gone so far. I admit, and I'm sure INEC should be applauded, you know, for the efforts, you know, being made true, be vast, to call votes, what do they call it, to cut a vote rigging and snatching up ballot boxes and all that. Those ones would be things of the past. We've seen a reduction in that since 2019. But I agree, musty needs to be done. But the fact of the matter is, when it comes to this very particular new technology, my own worry is more about the election appearing to be credible. At the end of the day, if one candidate wins, and then another candidate with strong support in rural areas, or in the different areas, this is the election, that will spark another round of claim that INEC conspired to ensure that those machines will not work. This is Nigeria, this is our people thing. But rather than allow for that, my own submission is that, is it not better for INEC to assess the state of technology, the infrastructure in the country, and then agree that, look, maybe in 60% of the country, where the infrastructure is good, be vast will apply. In areas where we have weak infrastructure to support be vast, then they would have to look at another alternative means of ensuring that Nigerians are not decentralized. I don't know what the solution is. I'm saying that the conversation must go on, and it must involve not only NCC, it must also involve the private sector providers of telecommunications in Nigeria, because they are also critical stakeholders. If they don't provide the masks, there is no way NCC will not go and buy masks and connect it for them. So they are very, very important stakeholders. So I am saying that we need to engage all of them in this conversation, in this debate, about the state of our technology and our readiness to ensure that be vast work. Be vast must not be thrown into the bin. No, it's a big improvement. It's a big step forward, but we have to make sure that be vast not only works in the river and in the villages and works for all Nigerians. That is the point Okay, I'm glad that both of you gentlemen agree to the fact that be vast is good, and if it has come to stay, it should stay. I've seen all your concerns, but there are there are two things here, just like Uche was asking that is it not possible that some some people are just doing this so that they can use Nigerian word for it is magu magu. I like that more than any other word that the English can have. Yes, but we are like, it's either we we are supposed to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea, which means they are at par, the good and the bad are the same, or we are thinking about a greater or lesser evil. Because on the one hand, if the be vast work, maybe some people will be disenfranchised. Now, if they also give room for other forms of accreditation, it's also a possibility that the people that will vote will not even be the right people to vote. And there would be a lot of malpractice within the election. So we might be left with just the choice of choosing whether some people will be disenfranchised, but the majority of the people, especially the ones living in the crowded areas of the city, get to vote, or we let the people who are not supposed to vote to come and vote. For instance, like the underage voters that they were talking about and all that, the explanation Ina gave me gave, I wasn't comfortable about it. But hey, what do I know? So if we were to choose, do we choose a greater or lesser evil, which one will be greater and which one will be a lesser evil? Because it might come to that. Do we use be vast or do we abandon be vast? What do we need to choose as Nigerians at this time that we are going into 2023? Let me begin with you, Mr. Otu. Thank you very much. You see, the concern you raised is, Mr. Otu and me did very well to, you know, raise a fresh some of these fears and the concerns. Yes, they are genuine, they are genuine, they are consensual, and they are completely awake.  I even called my bank, even when they reversed it, I wasn't credited. I just noticed I didn't transfer. Expecting money was, money had gone out, and you know, behold, I now saw that I had more money than was in my account, which means it was later reversed.   I think for me, it will be a fair deal. The concern raised by Mr. Shou, me about the election being tied to a day and all of that, why those postulations may be correct. The fact also remains that the Electoral Act also has given the INEC the flexibility to adjust, like you see the Electoral Act saying for instance that it is no more an era where you can come and shoot in a pulling unit, cut away the ballot papers, and then they will say, no, let's overlook that area. The result there is significant. Like it happened in here at the local government in Anambra, where I was covering the election with my team. We noticed they came back the next day, brought all the pulling units to the centralised area, some schools, about four schools in the local government, and asked the voters to go there. They provided enough security. On one day, the election that started on Saturday was concluded. I was part of the system and I could say that what the Electoral Act has done is to make the system flexible. The effect of 200 million Nigerians in the next eight years, four to eight years, is more important than anything. And I don't want to contemplate or conjecture a system whereby we will begin to contemplate, oh, let's do work to use the rural areas and then do 60% of work, use 60% to do what fits those in the city. We are still giving them to the same manipulations that the Electoral Act has tried to cure. I am saying that if there are no networks in those areas and we do elections in those areas, there are networks. We can try technologies, things that can, we can begin to think, okay, let's even partner with NCCC. Can you tell us the percentage of places where there are these network hitches across the 179,640 something pulling this across the country? If we are saying, oh, let's just focus on places and sectors of the country and then leaving the other section to their fate, you are still telling the politicians that they can look, look, they can go to the rural areas and manipulate the system with the analogue accreditation system that had made it impossible to reconcile the number of accredited voters with even the number of actual registrants in the particular order pulling in it. In a voice state, for instance, you have 171 electoral votes and you have a total of 2,497 pulling in it. Now, if you check the percentage of rural populace there as it were, you will find out that it is almost insignificant. It is across the 2,497 pulling in it, you can almost say that you are sure that there could be network in about 2,000 pulling in it. So if you have network in 2,000 pulling in it, then the other number is not likely very significant to alter what could have been the overall outcome of an election in the state. That's my own thinking. I do know too that there are more network challenges in a place like Niger, for instance, or northern states that have large expanse of lands, that have a very large square kilometers of lands that can be separated almost like you can do four or five hours from the capital city to the next senatorial district. These are the concerns that INEC and NCC come to say, oh, in these areas, we are looking at what can mitigate the shortfalls and then they can begin to hold conversations on how this can be done. Let's not also tie our minds to saying, oh, once on the 25th of February, once we are done with the presidential election, we are done with it. It didn't happen that way in Anambra. It didn't happen that way in other areas where there were challenges. We can spread this election and make sure that we use this period of February, March, and even a prayer next year to fix those who can be responsible and accountable to us in the next eight years.  Yeah, Mr. Tu, I quite appreciate the way you're talking. The concern of Mr. Shouwami was that the Electoral Act needs to be amended before this kind of a thing can be done that you're proposing. And I quite agree with him. There's no time to do the amendment. But let me go to Mr. Shouwami now. Mr. Tu has chosen his own lesser evil, just briefly now, because I was asking the lesser evil or the greater evil. His own lesser evil is that we take the risk and make sure that the bimodal voter's accreditation is used, the B-verse is used. And if some people are disenfranchised, it would not be as bad as if we let the system be such that it can be manipulated by this political class. So maybe I just come to you to choose your own lesser evil. Let us know if you agree with him or if you don't agree with him very fast before we wrap up. Mr. Shouwami. Okay, my own lesser evil is that B-verse should be used. I will fully support the use of B-verse, but I still think that there is a room to do an audit trail, you know, of defects in our technological infrastructure in the country. It is not too late. And I think that INEC needs to work with NCC and the private operators with the deal to reduce the defective areas in the country. It's not too late. We still have a little over two months. You can install a mask in different places that get people, you know, improve on the telecommunication. It may mean that the pedagogical the NCC would need to come to the heat or to support the telecom operators or to give them some kind of tax debate, you know, to provide those facilities. I don't think it's too late. We can still improve more on them so that we do not end up in a situation where a significant chunk of Nigerian voters are disenfranchised simply because B-verse failed them. That is all I am saying. I will go, B-verse is the least of all the evils and is better. We need to start using it. We need to try and eliminate the concerns of the APC chairman, the concerns of other party apparatus, you know, in the country who are worried one way or the other. We cannot replace wanting to stop rigging while at the same time, electoral practices, while at the same time, you know, replacing it with something that will undermine the credibility of the electoral process. In this case, B-verse is good, but let us do a little bit more, you know, extensive work to reduce the problem areas. That's my solution. Okay. To err on the side of caution, as they say. Well, like you've said, at least you guys have agreed that B-verse is good enough. But I also agree with you that even if some people will be disenfranchised, let the people know that an effort was made and when it got to where it got to, it wasn't because the country just felt that they didn't matter, because that would be very insensitive. Well, thank you, Mr. Abiodou, for showing me and Mr. Charles O'Too for coming on the program and sharing your thoughts. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Abiodou. Okay. Two political analysts. I'm glad they agreed, at least, that the less are evil. I mean, who wouldn't agree? Well, there are people who wouldn't agree, actually. I think those are the problems that we have in this country. Well, they may not know that they are the problems. I mean, how can you look at a system like B-verse and not want to try it out? He gave a very good example of how the telecommunication companies came into Nigeria and it wasn't so stable. But we're getting somewhere. People, at some point, two years ago, two, three years ago, people were complaining so much about the internet data and I don't hear so much of those complaints these days. And that is because something has been done and we keep improving. And I feel like that is what the situation would be. You know, that question I asked Mr. Charles O'Too, it came from a place of having lived through different years of elections in Nigeria, excuse me, and hearing the complaints. A lot of people do not vote at all. Why? Because they did not see electoral, INEC staff, they did not see electoral materials. In fact, it's as if nothing has even happened in their own village. Some actually see the materials. I don't know where they end up. I've seen cases where an entire election was done in a room. I've seen cases where an entire election for a award was done in a bush. I've seen things. So if you have experiences like this and you hear of beavers, you will jump on it and say it is good. But what are the people who are benefiting from non-beavers if I might use that? They know that the system without technology benefits them. These people might not be happy with the rest. Actually, I think I'm going to end this way. I'm hoping that INEC is listening. Congratulations guys. You people are doing an amazing job, but I'm hoping that you guys are able to continue improving. You know, I think it was last week that Bayer was saying how that INEC offices shouldn't be locked for any reason, only to reopen after every four years. No, this is the reason INEC offices should remain open. These things work on your table. You need time to improve things like beavers. Exactly. Do more elections. Do whatever you need to do, but you need time to do that. And that means you need to come to work every day like every other regular worker in Nigeria to be able to get things done. Kudos to you INEC, but please after 2023 elections, maybe sometime in May, June, because you need time to recoup and rest, reopen your offices and get work done. Yeah. Don't just meet in court with people who may have been the offenders of the... Anyway, let's take another break now.  And after the news, we continue our discussions before we wrap up on the show. Stay with us.


Hey, welcome back to my YouTube channel, guys. If you don't know me, I am Tara Holbert, also known as Kiwi Americans. We are a family of six that have moved to New Zealand from the US and we share our journey with you. So if you have not subscribed to my channel, please do that. All it does is alert you when a new video is up. So do that. And also, if you are thinking about moving or traveling or need any information about what it's like in New Zealand, check out my website kiwiamericans.com and you can also just find out what it's like living here and through my other social media, specifically Instagram and TikTok. So give a follow there as well. But you're going to love the topic. Today I want to talk about 15 things that are totally normal for Americans that may really surprise Kiwis. Now, if you've traveled to America, that's fine, but it's not really until you live there that you understand some of these things. So you're not going to want to miss this video. Here we go. Okay. And number one, Amazon. We're going to have to start there. Because if you aren't American coming to New Zealand, you are in for a surprise. Amazon essentially does not exist here. You can get it. There's Amazon Australia and you can get all the other Amazons delivered here. It's not the same.  Amazon is kind of everything. It's where you buy everything. Because now it's to the point. And honestly, I haven't lived in the US in a while. So I might be not totally up to date on this, but like you can order and get something the same day. You can order food. I think I believe you can order food by like three o'clock and it's at your door by dinner time. There's stores that you can walk in that you don't need any way of paying. And it's just automatically taken from your account. Amazon for literally everything. So if you have shopped on Amazon Australia, I encourage you to check out Amazon US because it has so much more stuff and so many more choices. And I always get this question from Kiwis because I do have a seller on Amazon in the US and so I'm very familiar with it. But like what you don't realize is that 60% of Amazon business is made up of sellers, like private sellers like me. And about 50% of the items on I would say probably more than that probably closer to 60 or 70% of the items on Amazon.com can be shipped to New Zealand. It just depends on whether that particular seller is allowing that or not or how much that'll charge. So you can order from there and I highly recommend that you do because you do have to pay for shipping and that could be a lot. But it can be not too bad considering you getting access to something that you can't get in New Zealand. But anyway, I'm off track.  I need this Amazon Amazon. I just don't think you realize if you haven't lived in the US how it has completely taken over kind of all retail. And it's kind of how you do everything and have you checked it. Now there's always things that you can't get in whatever but like Amazon like is life in the US and just thought you'd want to know. Number two, stores are always open. Now this is probably one of the things that I have a hard time communicating because I talk about differences between New Zealand and the US all over my social media. So check it out if you want to hear more about that.  So in New Zealand, things do not stay open late. They don't value that here. And it's one of the great things about New Zealand. They'll have like Thursday night late nights. There will be stores that will be open late. Grocery stores, the warehouse, you know, like there's different stores that are open later. Okay. Because every time I say that things in New Zealand aren't open late, people are like, there's all these stores. Okay. What you're not understanding is the difference in the US. You can literally get anything that you need at any point of the day. Essentially, unless you're like, you know, there's some small towns in Pona, but in general, it's available. Whether it's Walmart, 24 hour Walmart where you can get your car fixed, your oil change, all these things to be done like anytime of the day. And that's what I'm talking about. Like you're not understanding the difference. Yes, there are some stores that stay open till 10 here in New Zealand, but in the US everything's open and you can get anything anytime of the day. Now, do I think this is a good idea? No. Is it nice for retail people to have some time off? Yes. Obviously they have shifts and whatever, but it kind of, when you have everything open all of the time, it's like life never ends. This is why the pace and the stress level, it contributes to that in the US because there's always something to do. Always somewhere to go. Always something like, oh, I should go check that out. Oh, they're having a sale. I should go do that. You don't have that when everything's closing at 530, but that's another topic. Anyway, everything stays open late. So you may not be really aware of that if you haven't lived in the US. Number three, you may not be aware of the actual size of mega stores. So like super Walmart or some of these huge grocery stores, you don't understand. Like it's an actual, you know, you can get a couple of thousand steps easily walking through from one end to the Walmart or to the other or to the Costco or to any of these mega stores. And you don't really have that here in New Zealand, which is nice. It is nice to go to one place and be able to get everything. You don't really have that, but the choices are there's so much more choice in the US can be overwhelming. But I just think that Kiwis, you'd be surprised at how big these mega stores are. And it's like so hard to just like walk in to get like one or two things when you have to go, you know, what feels like a couple kilometers to get there. Okay, so like, I think you'll be shocked at how big some of these mega stores are. Number four, on the same lines of stores, let's talk about wholesale food stores. Now, it's similar to what would be like how the feel that you get when you go to a pack and save here in New Zealand because it's like a warehousey feel to it, right? That's the same as a Costco, a Sam's Club, you know, a place that's selling wholesale foods. Now we are getting a Costco in Auckland, so I'm excited about that. Don't know what that's going to look like, but like it's it's big and it's enormous amounts of food. There's one thing that Kiwis don't really get. If you've never been to America, it's just the pure quantity, the size. You can get peanut butters that are like this big for $6. You can get the fruit is I think what would probably be the most like I used to be able to get strawberries in a huge container like this for $4.99 or you can get like 12 mega muffins for, you know, I don't know, $10. I don't remember, but it's so cheap. And just the amount of big bulk food that you can and how much Americans really do a lot of bulk food. And so you always have a lot in your pantry or your refrigerator because you can buy in bulk because it saves you money. Whereas they don't have that as much in New Zealand. And so, you know, I find it very interesting when I look at refrigerators, people always come into my refrigerator always look so full my pantry because that's just how we do they I'm just so used to buying in bulk. I buy things in bulk as much as I can like they have the more Wilson's here, the Gilmores, and so they do have it here, but it's, it's not the same. These Costco is huge are giving you free samples and so it's just very different. It's nice that we have some bulk here and so I try to do that but like I think Huey's would be surprised at how much food you can get and how normal that is in society to have, you know, a stock up on a lot of bulk food, even if you were just like a couple. Okay. I think that he was to be surprised about that chain restaurants. Okay. America has so many chain restaurants. Now the reason why I say this is different is that yes, there's barely any chains here it's not even worth saying the chain restaurants in New Zealand are American right McDonald's Burger King Subway whatever.  No matter kind of where you go because they're like everywhere. So like franchises are a big, big thing in the US and I just don't think that all Kiwis realize that so it was very hard as an American coming here and you go to a small town or a town you're not familiar with you can't you don't know where to eat. You're guessing and it's it actually feels a bit uncomfortable because when you go to chain restaurants you're getting you know what you're getting you know you're going to like it. But here you know it's great to try new things but some days you don't want to try new things. Some days you just want to know and get something that you like right. And so especially when you have kids and you know the lead that right. And so like when you go to towns here and you have to try something new and you have to figure out it just adds a whole another thing anyway it's too expensive to eat out anyway but it's yeah. So the chain restaurants I think that Kiwis would be really surprised at how many chain restaurants we have. And number six I just need to highlight that I think Kiwis would be surprised at how stressed out Americans are. The number one comment I get from my friends when I go home or when I talk to people like boy you seem real relaxed and chilled and obviously that is a value here in New Zealand and people are chilled out right. But I think that it will be a surprise to a Kiwi to go and see how much people run around how much stress there is and how much daily life. If you've never lived in the US can be very stressful things. People aren't going to say to you hey no worries mate or oh it's okay if you're late or that doesn't happen consequences. If that doesn't work you know oh sorry you missed the date too bad you know and so therefore that causes stress right especially when you have four kids. And like so many things going on and so yeah so I just think that you'd be surprised at how stressed out people are in general. And number seven if you're watching TV in the US I think you're going to be surprised by the advertising. They advertise drugs. I've never seen it advertised here. I don't watch a lot of TV in general so I could be wrong but there's the advertised drugs which has like a whole disclaimer that takes a whole minute to go through. You know this is going to cost. Don't use this if you have this and like I think you're just going to be surprised at certain advertising. The advertising that's done to children in New Zealand you are not allowed to advertise the children in the US. I mean you know there's some rules but like you can and so there's a lot of appealing things for children and especially around Christmas time or you know kids don't know that they need something until someone shows them. Oh you could have this they're very easy to target and they are very it's a very big money maker because you know they're really selling to the parents so the kid wants it then the parent gets it right. Is this what you want okay you know and so yeah so I think you'd be surprised at the advertising in general there's a lot of it. You're going to see billboards everywhere. You're going to just see ads on everything and then just like it's just way more prominent. One of the best things about New Zealand when I first came I'm like whoa like there's no billboards there's no people constantly vying for my attention. It was just such a relief and like so nice and they have a lot of rules around that here in New Zealand which I think is great.  There is restaurants everywhere and there's all different price ranges but there's a lot of restaurants and they're not that expensive. Especially like when I had like little kids like you can order off the kids meal or there's I could literally I literally used to be able to figure out what night of the week kids eat free. So me and my husband would go we would each get a meal sometimes we even shared a meal the kids all eat for free and our bill was $20 $15 and it was good food like food that you would have in a nicer restaurant here. In New Zealand right and so I just think you'll be surprised because in a lot of ways it can be cheaper to go out to eat than to make it depending on you know how savvy you are right. Not good for you not the best obviously not the best idea and so that was an adjustment so Americans that are coming here know that you're going to be cooking a lot more at home because at number one is really expensive to eat out but also it's just not what people do here.  But like yeah you'd be surprised how much people go out to eat. I mean it's not just once a week sometimes people go out to eat every night. Especially like couples it can get really easy like why don't we cook let's just go set that expensive or it's like I don't get one free night or 25 cent tacos or you know it just it can be cheaper than cooking food. If you're an American living abroad listen up we are entering or we are currently in the worst time of year tax season. And if you hate doing your U.S. taxes so if you don't know if you're an American citizen no matter where you live and work anywhere in the world you have to pay American taxes. So if you dread that as much as I do and how hard American taxes are compared to where I currently live in New Zealand then I just wanted to put a little something on my YouTube channel this week that I have been working with right tax.  So if that's you check them out get a discount and let's do our taxes. And number nine kiwis I think you're going to be surprised at how few cafes there are. Now if you go to bigger cities there's going to be a lot more cafes and it's growing the coffee culture has definitely grown over the last five or so years. But in addition to like when I talked about chain restaurants the coffee the main coffee Starbucks caribou coffee you know I can't remember all of them they're chains.  It's not like these private cafes that you have literally everywhere in New Zealand like everywhere like you can be in the middle of nowhere but there's a cafe. So yeah you'd be surprised. And number 10 I think you would be surprised at how much red tape and paperwork there is. Now I've had many arguments on my social media with people from New Zealand saying oh you have to do paperwork and it doesn't compare. No it doesn't. I literally just bought a car and it was one sheet of paper when I just signed my name and they gave their bank account number and I just paid them. No no no when you're going to buy a car it's like so much paperwork and like you feel like you're giving them your life your blood everything you have to sign all these disclosures because suing is a thing as a lawyer is going to involve so every purchase becomes like enormous amounts of disclaimer that you essentially have to sign. Like it takes like an hour to buy a house to fill out all the paperwork and that's with the agent being very efficient. It still takes an hour but just in general signing your kids up to do anything to everything so much paperwork. Number 11 in addition to that you don't give out your bank account number guys. It doesn't happen. You know that's not the way you transact. It's one of my favorite things about New Zealand making all my life so much easier just hanging out paying bills. It's easy whereas in the US there's not that there's processes of which you can pay you know online through online banking but yeah it's not the same. You just don't pay with bank accounts it's not the security of the banking system in the US is not as good as New Zealand. That's the bottom line. And number 12 in addition to that they use checks. Yes they do Americans still use checks and don't get stuck behind the person at the grocery store who's got to write a check because they're not going to do it quickly and it's going to take a while and it's annoying. You still get checks from people you get them in the mail. It's so annoying. I have told everybody in the States do not such that you can't even cash checks in New Zealand anymore. Like they're not even accepting it and so like don't send me checks and they don't understand that because everybody I mean you can still use checks in the US. It's getting less and less and less and less of course but I think Kiwi would be surprised people still use checks. Number 13 I think Kiwis would be quite surprised at what a crowd is that most places are crowded. Of course if you're in a small town or you know you're in the desert part of the US I'm just speaking in general I think that Americans are just going to be much more comfortable and used to being in a crowd. Whereas in New Zealand you don't have to. Like it's totally normal for my kids when we go back to the States to be or all of us really when we see a crowd they're all like I don't want to be here because we've gotten a bit spoiled with not having crowds like anywhere. If you see people on a beach just go to the next beach. Like I'm not I'm not joking. Like there's no crowds and so Kiwis would be surprised that so many things that you're doing are quite crowded. Restaurants are very crowded especially Friday and Saturday night. Things that you go to are like huge crowds so I think that's an adjustment. And number 14 Kiwis people drive fast. People drive fast and we have big four lane highways where everybody's going fast and you need to keep up with traffic or good luck to you it's not going to be good. Where the US you're taught to keep up with traffic here it's like slow down. We have billboard to say slow down and OK so I have a lot of discussions about this topic as well. Obviously it's windy here. There's a lot of mountains but in general people drive slow slower. People are stopping for people in the crosswalk. It's required but that doesn't always matter in the US. There's no rules in driving in New York City. If you haven't been there like so don't just walk out on the road because there's no none of the rules nobody follows any of the rules. The taxis run the show. You'll get that real quick when you go there. But yeah so I think you'll be surprised at just the pace like it's normal for Americans to drive 10 miles per hour over the spin like that's then actually the speed limit at that point.  You know anywhere where there's just the four lane highway so watch out when you get off the plane in LA people are going to be moving fast. And number 15 last but not least Kiwis are going to be very shocked. And I know you've seen things on TV but you're going to be shocked at the political environment. You're going to be shocked at how that is just embedded itself in culture in relationship and what side you're on.  And so that's going to be a big shocker. If you're moving to the US that is going to be a big adjustment. Now New Zealand has its own political climate honestly a lot easier. I know that we've had a lot going on recently with that aside in general it is it doesn't compare it is way easier. It's not what everybody talks about it's not you know but it is all the time and it's on the news all the time and it's just exhausting. In fact I meet with clients all the time that are moving here and they're number one number one thing that everybody says to me they want to get out of the US because of the political climate. Because it's just breaking down families it's great it's just getting worse and worse and worse the divide is getting greater and it's not getting fixed. And so just be aware I think it would surprise you. Well I hope you enjoyed the video this week please comment below and let me know any things that you think would shock you when you went to America or shocked you when you came to New Zealand. And please subscribe below if you're interested in this content and just hearing more about the differences and please reach out to me. If you are moving here if you're thinking about traveling here I have a lot of resources and I'm creating a new membership program that you're going to want to get involved in. So just head to my website or just you know message me or email me is fine. I do a video every week I'll see you next week.


We paid you $2.7 million freedom family two days early this month and we have nine new games for the hundred, whoops, 110% revenue share where we pay you 10% more than what YouTube pays. Here are the games that we've now launched in the Shiny Freedom Dashboard that you can make 110% rev share for Anuchard, Coromon, Dreamscaper, God Strike, Jetboard Joust, One Lonely Outpost, Ruin Raiders, Slaughter League, and To The Rescue. I will get into that, but first I want to give a big shout out to someone you just recently met on Freedom Central, Curtis Pike, a.k.a. Bigsy. Oh yeah, what's up guys? This is Curtis Pike. My efforts call me Bigsy. I'm back in action today. I want to talk about writing. Yep guys, we are looking for writers to join us and click that I, I'm moving myself, to see this video behind me talking about the 90% revenue share founding writers program where we are supporting big YouTubers like Bijou Mike. Bijou Mike has 2.74 million subscribers and we are writing for his videos, recreating editorial content to help him get more views, as well as to pay 90% revenue share to the writers who are writing the editorials about Bijou Mike's videos. Here's an example about the Yandere Simulator. Now you can see Grammarly is advertising on our website right here. We pay the advertising revenue that Grammarly pays us to the writer who creates this compelling editorial text that is rich in Google SEO traffic that helps drive traffic, helps drive awareness to this article where we give credit to Bijou Mike, the YouTuber, as well as the author, in this case it is the man himself, Curtis Pike. And we are doing this for all YouTubers. So if you have videos that you think would work well in a Google SEO strategy using OVob, one video, one blog, send them to us. And if you want to become a writer to get your 90% revenue share to flex your writing muscles, presumably you went to school, presumably you learned how to write in school, why don't you use those writing skills to create content. Let me give you some more examples. The Lazy Pion is another big YouTuber that we are covering in our OVob blogging. For example, the first, the Failed Impressions blog, this was also written by Curtis Pike, talks about the games that Lazy Pion played and thought were boring. Now actually, Thought Never Winter was a pretty good game, but everyone has an opinion. If you think you can write like this, contact Big C on Discord. His Discord ID is down there in the description below. And get started writing on our mgn.gg blog for gamers. This is the website behind me. Visit it at www.mgn.gg to check it out. To get your 110% revenue share for any of the nine games that we are publishing as freedom games, just go to www.freedom.tm, sign in, click the 110% revenue share. You don't even have to be a freedom partner, guys. You can be directly partnered with YouTube. Your channel doesn't even have to be monetized. We will pay you $2 per thousand views if your channel is too small to be earning any revenue on YouTube. But we will pay you each month forever for every video you make featuring any of these games we published, even if YouTube doesn't pay you for the videos you make. But if it does, then we will pay you 110% revenue share, 10% more than what YouTube pays. Each of these links is to the Steam page that gives you very good information about the game. Let's look at Koromon. Koromon, as you can see, is a Pokemon-inspired game. It's a modern, monster-taming game with retro pixel art that brings an immersive storyline, strategic turn-based combat, and challenging puzzles to a classic genre. Now that's the elevator pitch. But check it out yourself. There is a demo that you can download and play and make videos about. If you make a video about the demo, we still pay you 110% revenue share. I'll give you another example. God Strike, right here, is launching April 15th. This is a brand new game that will hit Steam in about two weeks, and you can make videos about it just from your impressions. And you don't even have to make a video of you playing the game, just describing it to your audience and getting them excited to try this. And let me read it again.  I hope you find these exciting guys, and you can see that Freedom Games is the publisher. We are working with talented developers, in this case the overpowered team, who built the game and we help overpowered market the game and bring it to a wide audience so they get the recognition they deserve for all their hard work. So that's on www.freedom.tm in the 110% revenue share category. Just click Submit Video, choose the game that you are covering, and then put in your video link, and you will forever get a 110% rev share or $2 per thousand views if you're not monetized for every video you submit to us each month will pay you. This 2.7 million that we paid you, part of it is the 110% revenue share, and I'll show you the videos that people have submitted using our backend. We track every single video that is submitted. See, we already got one God Strike video, and many Dreamscaper videos. We got some Shorts trailers. We got Jetboard Joust. There are many, many, many, many, many videos that have been submitted about the games we've published, and we hope you will also join us in submitting your videos about the games we publish so you can get a share of the next $2.6 million that we send you each month. Freedom Talent is another new service we are launching for all freedom partners and non-freedom partners where we become your talent agency. We become your talent managers to help you get additional fan funding, give you tax reduction strategies, help you with monetization, and a lot of services off YouTube including converting your videos to monetized blogs. www.talents.tm is this website behind me, and I encourage you to check it out, and I'll give you a lot more information as we have more exciting news about the benefits you get as being part of Freedom Talent. Let's stop there, Freedom Family. Click that I to see my playlist of every episode of The George Show. I am George, and this is The George Show, in case you missed any to help you grow. There are many new tools that we have in production, and I will share them with you as they become available. One of them is a thumbnail tool that will help you get better thumbnails. Another is a search engine that will give you better answers to your YouTube questions. A third is a YouTube channel health check that will tell you what your channel is lacking and how to improve it so that you keep your channel safe. If you remember I made many videos about KYC Know Your Channel that will keep your channel safe. Click that I to see the playlist of all my KYC videos in case you missed any. But we are putting all of that content into a tool that you will be able to use to check your channel's spam score and get yourself a health check for your YouTube channel. There's another concept of getting a health check for your personal self, but sadly Freedom doesn't offer that, but we will for your YouTube channel. And there's many other tools that we have in production like a better tag suggestion engine, like a universal uploader that will allow you to upload your videos to one place, and then we format your videos and re-upload them to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and all the different places that accept direct video uploads.  The universal uploader will be part of www.dashboard.tm, which will be our dashboard for all. That'll be part of our Freedom TALT program that I am excited to be bringing to you over the next few weeks. All right, Freedom Family. Until then, stay healthy, exercise. I've been going to the gym regularly. I've been losing weight. I am now under 80 kilograms, like 79.4 after a good workout. I hope you too have been exercising and getting results. If not, just keep going. Never give up. Hashtag Never Give Up is the one thing that freedom is always taught and freedom will always follow. We will never give up, so neither should you. Come to us. Use our www.community.tm forums or our Discord to get motivation in case you're feeling down or demotivated from YouTube or live streaming or posting on different social media. Tell us down there in the comments below how we can help you because the spirit of freedom is, we all help each other grow together as a family. The Freedom Family. Freedom Forever. All right, guys. Who am I? I am your Papa George, your George-Son-Pie, your Obi-Wan George-Nobie, and many other names you the beautiful Freedom Family has given me. I am the CEO and founder of Freedom! For Freedom and the Freedom Family, where we all help each other grow together as a family. Until the next episode, I am George, and you've been watching... Click that I to partner with Freedom and join the Freedom Family so we can all grow together. You get many perks like position music, you also get Epidemic Sound, a lot of other access to royalty-free videos, sponsorships, and many things to help you grow. Just click the links down there in the description below to get involved in our community, our forums, our Discord chat servers, Meet Our Graphics Team, Meet Our Community Team, all of that on Discord and the forums. What are you waiting for? Get started. We will grow together as a family, because this is the Freedom Family. You are part of it, we are all part of it, and we're all growing together. And you watch next.


Naval Station Mayport teamed up with Red Cross to host a blood drive as the Navy continues in its efforts to inform sailors about the importance of donating blood. For every blood donor, there are three people that live.  So I think it's important to everybody who can give blood. According to the Department of Defense, the military stockpiles blood for service members who are serving overseas in case of medical emergencies.  It can save lives. To know that my contribution is going towards that direction, I can't even explain it. There are no words for that. From Naval Station Mayport, I'm Perry Officer Marcus Stanley.


All right, everyone pay attention. Giovanni the God or shell is up. It's a one one game in the top of the six and he takes ball one. Great take by him. Funk houses on the bump. Here comes the second pitch of the at bat. Breaking ball fouls it down the third baseline. So we're at one and one now next pitch. Nice pitch funky. One and two is the count Giovanni, which no one calls him. We just call him Geo fouls that one back. Count is one and two. Next pitch. It's high. Great eye. Two and two. Now we go one more pitch. Now that's fouled back. Just staying alive, staying alive. Ah, ah, ah, yeah, staying alive. Another foul ball. The count remains two and two. The next one fouled back again. Geo having himself an at bat trying to get the lead off runner on a tie game late. Ball three. Geo says you've done it. I have walked and he runs the first base and no one stops him and the pitcher just keeps going and Glaber the on deck circle. He just starts walking to the plate and both managers don't say anything and what the hell is that? That was three balls. Now I think the one two pitches the cause for all the confusion because look how the umpire reacts. He doesn't throw both hands up and say foul ball. He just kind of raises that left hand while searching for a new ball. I don't know if that's an official motion or not, but I think this is the cause for all the confusion because what if that umpire called that a ball, not a foul ball, and then he was yelling and showing a different count the entire time? That may be the case because look at this. It's on its way. It's on its way. At this point you'd be like, wow, how is he going to catch up to that? He's pretty behind and then the barrel comes around and then this next frame is the weird one. So it looks like he hit the ball there. It looks like it never reached the glove. But one thing's for certain, the umpire sure can't see that, especially how fast it's going.   After the game they asked Geo, did you know you walked on three pitches and he said that he knew, but nobody else knew and I think it's because Geo is the only person that knew that that pitch hit his bat and no one else did. So congrats to Geo Orchella. You know, really good secret by him. Didn't hit my bat, didn't hit my bat. I'm on first.


Howdy, Sheriff. I'll be ready here. Back in 49, 1849 that is. The Wild West meant wrestlers, robbers, and environments. Today it's more like floods, earthquakes, and wildfires. Right, Sheriff? That's right, Deputy. And those disasters and others can strike without warning. So that's why we want you to prepare to survive the Wild West at the California Day of Preparedness in Old Sacramento, 10 a.m. Saturday, August 26th. It's a free event for the entire family. Sponsored by the Governor's Office of Emergency


Item No. SCP-2922 Object Class Euclid Special Containment Procedures SCP-2922-A is the remainder area of 2922. At least one Project Corbin and staff member must be ready to answer transferred calls from SCP-2922-A 24 hours a day. SCP-2922-B's research of SCP-2922-C is to continue as a delta-level priority to the Foundation. Details of the SCP-2922 memetic implantation procedure are restricted to Project Corbin and internal operations staff only. Selection for an SCP-2922 implant and candidate that takes the place of SCP-2922-B is underway. Description SCP-2922-B is a method of communication from a human mind to a telephone. Once a human is implanted with SCP-2922, they will be able to make phone calls to a pre-established phone number at any time. The method by which the phone receives these calls is not entirely understood, as it does not involve standard telecommunication signals. SCP-2922 was developed by the ██ Corporation, initially as a novelty smartphone app. The project was then promptly discontinued when it was discovered that actual telepathy, not the natural electricity of the brain were involved and the prototype was never released. Despite its nature as an app, a landline can be designated as the destination number as well. SCP-2922-A is a ██ brand telephone of a model commonly seen in office building environments. Its number is ██, which is the destination number for SCP-2922-B. SCP-2922-B is a Foundation scientist, Dr. Janet Spiegel, who volunteered to be implanted with SCP-2922-B. SCP-2922-C is SCP-2922-B's current location as of November 25, 2014, believed to be an extra-dimensional realm. Addendum 1, Project Corbinic. On November 25, 2014, two months into the implant, SCP-2922-B was killed in a car accident. Two hours later, a call was received on SCP-2922-A. Sorry, you have the wrong… Oh thank god you picked up, Jake, it's Janet. We're not in the mood for prank calls. Dr. Janet Spiegel? Foundation emailed J. Spiegel 01. Password? Social Security Number 6? No kidding. Am I dead? Hold on, I'm going to verify those credentials. Verified. We just got the call.  But if you're reaching this bone, you can't be dead. Car crash? At least that makes sense, last time I remember I was trying to drive through some rain and now I'm naked in the middle of the desert with… Janet? Come in, Janet. Sorry, just I'm actually truly dead and whatever this place is, I'm not leaving ever. I need a while to adjust so I'll update you on my condition soon, I promise, but I need a moment to take it in. Morning myself if that makes any sense. Alright, just stay calm. Get back to us when you can. Good luck. Yeah, thanks. I'll need it. SCP-2922-B hangs up. Attempts to trace the call yielded nothing. Addendum 1, Project Khorbenik By the command of the O5 Council, Project Khorbenik was started to use SCP-2922-B to explore and ascertain the true nature of SCP-2922-C. Project Khorbenik interview log, PC-02. What does the sky look like? Dark, very dark, sea-green sky. Black clouds, no stars, but it doesn't look like there's a nighttime. I don't even know if this place has daytime and nighttime. There's a couple moons I guess, three white ones. Is there a sun? No, I think it's just these moons for now. Temperature? Cold, I'd say about 10 degrees Celsius, but there's no wind, so that's nice I guess. Any other life forms? Negative, no animals, no people, no wind, no sound, dead silence. The sound of my breath is kinda loud. You can breathe? Yeah, I still got my body. At least a duplicate. How do you feel? Emotionally or physically, the former is still pretty awful, to be honest. The latter? I'm not in pain, I'm not hungry. I don't feel like I need to do anything, I'm… listen, can I speak to my husband? I'll have to take that up with O5. Okay, really impressive you can, I miss him so much already. Noted, I'll bet he does too. How about this, I'm going to walk in a straight line, in one direction, for a very long time. As soon as I see something other than sand, I'll contact you again. Sounds good. We'll be here whenever you've got something. SCP-2922-B hangs up. PC-03. You there? Janet, what do you have for us?  I was just getting to the base of some mountains. How long has it been since I last called? Five days. And I'm not tired or hungry either? That's weird. Anyway, I found another life form, I think. Human? Bipedal mammalian, that's where the human celerity is end. Bigger than the surrounding mountains, wild guess it's about 2000 meters high. Slow moving primate of some kind. It came out of the mountains after I heard some sound like a long slow drum beat.  I don't think it had a mouth. Anyway, I think I got some kind of confirmation that this is an afterlife, if not THE afterlife. It stepped on me. It attacked you? More out of curiosity, I think. I just wanted to see how much force my body could stand from its foot. It wasn't angry.    And where is this primate? Went off into the desert, I think it's just lost as I am. I'm seeing some kind of fire in a small valley. Appears man-made from campfires. People, I see people. How many? Hundreds. Looking in this valley, they're all sort of just huddled up. All of them, naked as I am. Some of them buried waste up in the ground. Why? Why the hell would they do that? Do they appear to be suffering? No, I think they buried themselves, like maybe they're at peace with their condition and just want a place to relax. That'll be me soon, won't it? Stay calm. Look, I've given you insights to something you couldn't possibly imagine seeing in your time at the Foundation. I only asked you to return that you let me talk to my husband. I checked with O5. The only people you're authorized to speak with are Project Corbinic Personnel. Then hire him. He has an art history degree. I doubt he'd be able to last long in a scientific environment for reasons other than to contact you.  SCP-2922-B hangs up. PC-04. Good news. Yes? A wagon came to the human camp, driven by a guy in a white robe and skeletal horse. Those are being taken to the… Elysian Fields. Paradise, basically. Interesting. You don't sound too happy about it. Yeah, sure. SCP-2922-B hangs up. Addendum 2. After PC-04, no further transmissions have been received from SCP-2922-B for 7 months. Multiple attempts were made to contact SCP-2922-B through a phone call. All had failed. Project Corbinic was put on hiatus until a voicemail was recovered from SCP-2922-A. PC-05. Voicemail recording begins. This is Janet. I've been following your efforts to track me down. It helps when you win the favor of the 7th. All it took was me to tell you of a field of reeds where everyone's happy forever and you wanted more. Why? So that you can all have an excuse to die? So you can skip the training and jump right into the mission blind? Cowards. Look, everything was true. Right over to the Grim Reaper came in a wagon. Even the giant monkey wasn't a fabrication. After that, the truth was much more complicated and there's a very easy way for me to tell you what exactly happens after you die. I want to talk to my husband. If your fear and hatred of civilians trumps your thirst for knowledge and you decide not to follow through, I'll know and then you'll never know. Dr. Janet Spingle, advisor to ██████, the impenetrable, signing off. Ending Ends On June 14th, 2015, MTF Psi-8, the Silencers, raided the home of Herman Spiegel, widower to Dr. Janet Spiegel, after detecting a voicemail from an anomalous source similar to the one received by SCP-2922-A. Upon discovery, Mr. Spiegel threw the phone at a wall in an attempt to destroy it and was shot. The phone was unharmed and this voicemail was uncovered. Voicemail recording begins. Herm? It's me.  It's 354 where you are. This is Janet and I'm contacting you from beyond the grave. You're not crazy. Now listen carefully, because it was hard enough to send this to a phone that wasn't available in 1922-A and the impenetrable can only work so much magic. He's friendlier than he sounds, trust me, we're on first name basis. That's not important, some guys from a foundation task force are heading to our house. They'll be there in less than 10 minutes. I can see this, I have some help. This is MTF Psi-8 that's after you, really black ops foundation stuff. They have a policy of not taking prisoners, you're about to die. Look, I know you're very scared right now, I wish I could be there.  There are millions of afterlives, there are as many different ones as there are different types of people. I'm in one of the preferable ones and you can be here with me if you follow my path. There isn't much I can say about the journey without compromising the whole thing, but you've been preparing for this journey your whole life, you've been given instructions along the way you just didn't know they were at the time. Look back to your most important memories, this is not hell or heaven or purgatory, this is the final exam. There are just a few things to remember, one, never give up. I know you can reach me, you're the strongest and bravest guy I know. Two, follow the moon on the left, get to the valley of striders and ask the three face three where the spy went, it'll make sense when you get there. Three, do not do anything that will make anyone angry, if a strider wants to kill you, let it, you'll regenerate, it's harmless. I think it's their way of saying hello, it happened to me.    I've got the impenetrable on my side and he'll do whatever can help you along the way for the record, he believes in you too and that's a high praise considering that it comes from a being of his power, I'll be watching, win or lose, I love you forever. Recording Ends Following PC-06, Operation Gala Hat is officially in effect.


Welcome once again to the breakfast here on Plus TV Africa. A very interesting morning. Now let's see what the papers have for us. We're starting with the Nigerian Tribune this morning and of course we'll be introducing our guest right after this Tribune Tribune in just a few minutes, or a few seconds rather, yeah. It says there, Rivers got 4.7 billion Naira out of 15 billion Naira of that kind of received same 2.8 billion Naira generated. Wicke reviews, laments injustice. Wicke's Vat Batu puts Nigeria's federalism on trial. Experts and lawyers speak. It also says states of Vat management will cause confusion and that's from the FIRS. Why Vat law will be beneficial to Lagos, says the speaker, Abbasah. Still on the Nigerian Tribune. Establishment of farmer states, Greek gifts of fatal Trojan horses says, Thieves snatch Igboho's AIDS case files. DSS tells court. Slams terrorism charges against them. Farmer governors may produce next PDP national chairman. Also on the Tribune, Kogi state, EFCC now tool of oppression and opposition parties or rather now tool of oppression opposition parties tell Buhari. Why ex-governor Daria's 93-year-old father was killed after collecting 10 million Naira ransom. That's by the abductors. For our government intercepts food and fuel supply to bandits, arrest 100 suspects. Those are the big stories on the Nigerian Tribune this morning. Let's take a look at the Ponshini's paper, VAT collection row. Wicke talks 12th on the Ponshini's paper. Lagos defends Beale as FIRS rights national assembly. Reavers orders firms to begin payment. FIRS letter won't stop us, says Lagos. Reavers generated 15 billion Naira, got 4.7 billion Naira. Kano made 2.8 billion Naira, got same, that's according to Wicke. Nigeria records 1.87 trillion Naira trade deficit, amid rising crude export. NMA, NARD blame Ingigay for prolonged strike. NDLEA sees a 6 billion Naira drug linked to Middle East criminal gangs. Afenifari says, Buhari's 108 farm states heard as settlements in disguise. 5G networks incite as federal government approves policy. Rwani says GDP rising, inflation falling, yet poverty worsening. And still on the front page of the Ponshini's paper, we can see a picture there of people clad in black. And this captioned, Reavers pensioners lament colleagues death, protest non-payment of 9 year gratuities. Still on the Ponshini's paper, Iboho's aid sue DSS for defamation, demand a 100 million Naira. Gunmen abducts three of Bassenger's workers in Ogun state, Kogi, 20 billion Naira. Parties accuse EFCC of political agenda. Passenger strangle Lagos doctor turned Uber driver, still car. Families throng Lagos cemetery as fallen tree breaks graves. And lastly on the Ponshini's paper, Buhari's visit, police warn troublemakers. Masop seeks canoes release. All right, now let's see what we can find on the daily independent newspapers. Federal government to boost economy, open opportunities with 5G, says security agencies requested shutdown of telecoms in Zamfara. And stakeholders say Nigeria will derive socio-economic benefits from 5G. Mietyala making decisions for Nigeria, says the Benoist state government. Declare state of emergency on health and education, PFN tells federal government. And with comments, implementation of van Lijade attacks in rivers, says Governor Wiki. And of course, why VAT law will be beneficial to Lagos, Abasai is saying. Federal government files terrorism charges against two of Iboho's aides, and then PC consolidates on gains, publishes 2020 audited financial statements. And we're not against Buhari's visits to Imo, says Oraneze. Finally, let's look at the Guardian newspaper. The story about VAT is still a big deal here. The Guardian reads, manufacturers deplore stalemate. As FIRS, rivers insist on VAT collection. FIRS says we have backing of VAT Act. Rivers meets business community begins implementation. Bikering as Lagos proposes 6% VAT, 75% for state councils, 25%. Manufacturers worry about impasse, despite 44.9 billion Naira remittance. What's in Ibo will tell Buhari in Obiri today by Oraneze, Massab Ibo leaders. Bokoracha says, no big deal. Buhari visited Imo three times under my watch. Horira reacts as government reopens banks after shut down over one day's sit at home. NNPC consolidates gains, publishes audited financials, workers' lawyers fought NGF on Paris Club refunds, or also slams EFCC over face off with Kogi governor. Akira Dulu vows to deal with open greys and offenders, and lastly, October Conversion sacrosanct, pay-to-be governors insist. Let's now say good morning to our guests, Mr. Eaitouk, a public affairs analyst. Good morning, Mr. Eaitouk. Good morning, ever happy to be on plus TV Africa. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. All right. Which other stories would you start with? The VAT story is predominant in virtually all the papers, and it's very important. And we need to look at the VAT story beyond the surface. What is VAT? How do you get about it? What's the role of the government? And at the end of the day, what do you gain by your present method? VAT to be best of my knowledge is consumption tax. And for you to be able to get a certain level of collection, you need to bring your state to those areas, hospitality and stuff that will encourage a lot of people to consume this product and you get the VAT from it. It's different from oil that you say is in the ground. It's something that the government have to do. Now, when you get that money, you take it into the pool and give it to everybody. It doesn't make sense. It just doesn't make sense. It just doesn't make sense. So, as a result, what is death as an incentive for a man who doesn't encourage such things to be able to go on with them? For instance, a very typical example is the states that are against alcohol. This is an argument that has been made over and over and over and people don't seem to listen to it. I think that consumption of alcohol is bad. No problem. I'm down with it. Now, you cannot... It's like let me use a very crude word and if this will drive it home. It's like a parent who tells the daughter, don't go sleeping around with men. He's not right. He's not okay. He's morally wrong.  You shouldn't do that. And yet in the evening, you call and say that month that yesterday you went out, where is the money you got? You send conflicting signals to the person and the question is, is it really bad for me to go out or you want to satisfy your religious propensity against me while at the same time enjoying the benefit of what you speak against? It's something we really need to look at with respect to morality. And secondly, the more serious implication is why would I sit down and collect the money that is being cultivated by another governor? This is not like oil. Another governor knows he needs internally generated revenue. He cuts it in industries. They buy to eat, which is not illegal. As a result, he gets some resources. Now, you take those resources and give to another man who is just waiting on the wings to collect it. It doesn't add up. It's injustice. Why would rivers generate 15 billion and get less than one third, which should be at least five. They get four points something. What is incentive for the other man in state X that generates next to nothing and yet collects from state B that generates this? This is not federalism. On the Nigerian Tribune, they describe this as putting Nigerian federalism on trial. I want to understand that the reason why they say so is because there's been lots of clamour for devolution of powers and federalism where each state controls their own resources, IGR and the rest. We're saying now that in this case of VAT collection by state, it means that state to be able to collect IGR and that it basically seems to be paving away for more states to be independent regarding how they generate and manage their resources. So would you indeed say from that perspective that this row over VAT collection is putting federalism on trial in the country? It definitely is because we need to ask ourselves what sort of system we run. There's so much conflicting signals all over this country. Are we running federalism or unitary government? We need to be very clear on what we want. If we want unitary government, let's say that that's what we want. If we want federalism, everybody knows what federalism is.  So as a result, they have to bring certain things into the pool like the military so that that is what federalism is. Federalism is not I generate money I share with you, my brother. It doesn't make sense. Federalism is each person developing at their own pace and it brings about competition. If you know that you cannot be... Let me tell you, see everybody is running around now to I listened to your conversation which was very instructive and I really followed everything that you were saying. You want to be governor. How many people have sat down to interrogate why each person wants to be a governor? Why do you want to be a governor? What is your plan on generating revenue? What is your core objectives and who have you been? You know all this, I'm sorry I will not so much align with you in that discussion because you see when we go around doing what we think we will impress the people we betray the essence of leadership leadership is what we know will improve the people that's why you are called a leader that's why you are brought in you don't do what I once done in that context your son wants sweets you know that he wants sweets give me sweets, give me sweets but as an elder you know that he will have dental caries so you say boy you cannot have sweets all the time you want sweets but I can't give you sweets because your future is at stake I know better a leader is a man who has the capacity to lead that means you have a vision you have a direction you have what you want to where you want to take your people from one place to the other going around and wanting to say grassroots politics will buy the minds of the people but you betray your calling as a leader you are not a leader that's why Miss Ayane I talk my point once again is has it worked has it continued to work for the average Nigerian politician you miss my point it has worked in giving them the office exactly and that's the point that I was that's the point that I was simply making I wasn't saying that that is the right thing to do as a media person you must never advocate what betrays the essence never that's my thinking I may be wrong yeah once again my point is it is not necessarily the right thing to do but the Nigerian politician knows that it works and that's why they continue to do it so until we get to a stage where we can elevate the type of campaigns that we run until we get to a place where our campaigns are better and you can actually sell yourself as a leader like you've said until we get there that's what they're going to continue to do what I want to appeal to you what I want to appeal to you a personal appeal is please don't encourage those who do that by bringing their narrative if anything say that is wrong that will not progress us that's what you do I'm happy for you but that is wrong that people need to come to a point of saying that is wrong absolutely but once again once again it has continued to work and that's why they keep doing it that's simply the point that I'm making I'm not saying it is right or that's the way that it should be or that's the way politics should be done but it has worked for them and that's why they continue to do it and another thing is and it doesn't but another thing Mr. Aetok it doesn't also stop him from also carrying out his politics or his campaign the right way there is the grassroot way and then there is the way that you also want it you don't have contested governorship twice yeah I'm aware anyway let's move on to something else again let's talk about the apologies let's talk about the DSS and the case file of Igboho's associates that apparently got stolen in one chance in Abuja yes the Tribune coins are this way he said thieves snatched Igboho's AIDS case file that's what the DSS is telling the court okay thieves a man who snatches could be a thief but a man who steals might not snatch so those two words make me wonder what happened because if they say thieves stole you could have been that while they were in the office okay okay let me clarify that for you Mr. Aetok the DSS council his name is Mr. Awol he went on to say that one of the colleagues of the council of the DSS as well went on to convey this case file that was containing the human rights application by 12 of Igboho's AIDS and that while he was conveying that the vehicle was attacked by one chance criminals who stole the case file or because we've seen various sides of the story or that this DSS operative entered a one chance vehicle and then these criminals went ahead to steal the case file when you have an important case how you convey your documents tells the premium you pay on it so I really don't think that it's something I it's of national import to the extent that you ask yourself how do DSS operate on such a sensitive matter where everybody know it was a national it was not like taking to court on criminal charges or things like a fraudulent things they were charged on terrorism in fact sorry they were charged on terrorism in fact that's where I'm saying a case that important this narrative you are giving me just shows something the nation would rather not hear they probably should have just said that the case file is missing or something because if you interrogate the process it means that a case as important as terrorism is not treated with the level of sensitivity level of care that it deserves that's why you can enter one chance it means the person was conveying it by private means or things like that I really don't understand for me it just doesn't add up okay so let's move on now to another story on the daily independent and it's about this particular one where is saying that I beg your pardon the binary state governor is saying that is making decisions for Nigerians and this is really talking about cattle breeding cattle grazing so would you say that according to the narrative that we've seen from the president is seeming like a binary states versus FG or it is or it should be the federal government versus the issue which is the cattle grazing and all the conflicts that has spurned from that for a case as sensitive as this this is probably one of the most sensitive cases as a matter of fact terrorism that we are this what the they had spent issues that we are talking about if you listen to mate Allah not to mate Allah some some some leaders from the north they say that the cattle of these breeders were being rustled and sold to other people now this cattle rearers having no more cattle to sell find it easy to be constricted into this act of you know banditry and the rest so the foundation seems to be that some people came from somewhere and started rustling the cattle of these people who were just ordinary cattle rearers and on account of them losing their means of livelihood and to survive they were brought into something that they even found to be a lot more lucrative what am I trying to bring out for this matter that has turned out to be one of the worst national nightmares and when you look at a chapter I could never quote enough chapter 2 section 14 subsection 2b that says that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary source of government now we are about the third one of the top three most terrorized nations in the world and then the federal government is allowing the narrative for this conversation to be driven by me teala it just doesn't add up can you link that to a statement by fenneferi it's on the punch newspaper that the president's 108 farm states is heard as settlements in disguise the president is just fixated on this issue of land for headers land for headers land for headers I believe that Nigerian heirs have the right to live I believe that Nigerian heirs have the right to good life and to ply their trade in the best possible way I believe that Nigerian heirs I'm very very careful to underline that to that extent what is so difficult look this 30% you know PIA frontier basin development exploration I think that it is to be a poll not less than 80 to 90% of Nigerians will say stay hold on Nigerian heirs take this money for the next 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 years and pump 90, 900% into developing San Bisa Forest an awesome amount of land put all the infrastructure necessary and let the heirs have a place that can ply their trade and benefits their children and also be able to give their education stable environment and ply their trade I believe that nothing less than 80 to 90% of Nigerians will support that but instead of that we are deploying this money into things I don't understand number one number two we are wasting a major resource that we have by way of land in San Bisa Forest number three we are having all man of clashes and misunderstandings with Nigerians on account of land these things are no rocket science why don't you just carry one stone and kill all the birds take this money develop San Bisa Forest first class ranches and state of the art infrastructure and let these people ply their trade have their cattle and make money and have children as a result Nigeria wins the cattle rares win and the security what's so difficult in doing that please tell me okay let's close up with talking about the controversy concerning the president's visit to emo state it's on the daily independent bottom right and it says or rather we are not against emo and that is from to quickly respond to that because there apparently was another sit at home order by the IPOB on Thursday and of course saying that the president was not welcome number one is that IPOB and every Nigerian must understand that the president is a president of the federal republic of Nigeria and to that extent he has the right to go to any and every part of this state even local government he has that right Nigerians must understand that IPOB too number two the president must understand that he is a president of the federal republic of Nigeria and that the IPOB are his children there he has every right I believe that he should be tactful enough not to go there to dare them but he should be going there to say look you are my children I feel you and this is what I'm thinking you should go there to be to such that by the time he leaves he would have taken the wind of their sale addressing the issues that even reasonable people will say IPOB I don't like how you are doing this but trust me your reason for this is Jemaine I believe that if Mr. President has very strategic advisors, good advisors he's going there will do him more good than harm but if he just goes there to dare the people it's like people who already have their backs against the wall and he goes there to give a body language to him having no no interest in them I think it will end up doing more harm but the president should be wise enough smart enough to take the wind of their sale and it's very doable very easy okay we'll see how today turns out I'm sure that there would be feedback from the south east and from Imo State to see how people actually came out on a Thursday thank you very much as the curling eye talk for your time this morning thanks for having me thank you alright stay with us we're going to take a show break when we come back our next conversation is going to be on urban development and physical planning here in Lagos State and we'll be joined by you know an in-studio guest so stay with us don't go anywhere