Welcome back to the breakfast and plus CV Africa is time for off the press and as usual We will take you through the pages of a national dailies and also have a guest join the conversation Uponabong Kutariya is in standby. It's good to have you join us. Happy new year Great to have you All right then let's you know start off with the daily independent newspaper this morning and We'll be looking at the top stories on the daily independent The banner caption for the daily independent doesn't really sound very great for 2022 job loss eminent as banks may phase measures Acquisitions, that's what you find 2022 will be a season of consolidation Song-Woo Liu assures legosians. I Will stand by governor Tom for his principal position Wekay, that's the governor of River State Wekay a pillar of support and a sunshine star I also have a ton quoted and all of that on the daily independent newspaper away from that Terrorist mountain roadblocks amounts to two soventies in Nigeria and BF is quoted on that in security probe alleged misuse of security votes by governor's Serap tells Buhari and Also, you have Buhari's non supervision of military activities affecting insorgency results and Legos, please the bong alleged shutting down of estates by the commission of lease I mean we talked about that just some minutes back and fire gods near we market This is some of the headlines on the daily independent newspaper. All right to the punch newspapers next budget National Assembly faults Buhari insist on 6,576 extra projects National Assembly has power to drop and amend the budget proposal says house spokesman Lawmakers have no rights to introduce projects. It's an anomaly says the chair shaggy And also the Senate did respond saying that shaggy did not speak from a position of law, but lack of understanding Also on the punch Nigeria's inflation rate may be among the world's highest in 2022 and that's from the World Bank We gave you said super zoo about she governor attacks Buhari alleges antigraft fight lopsided Buhari eminent Nigerians Mon or Lou Badon by looking to mount throne and We can also find on the punches morning police 178,459 firearms on account for 3.22 billion our pay-to-ghost workers says the auditor general of Federation and The federal government owes five IOC's one point one five billion our a billion dollars cash Call arrears We can also find on the punch this morning food crisis to worsen as bandits kill and kidnap 352 farmers in 12 months To Kaduna Baptist school students released after 189 days with bandits Bandits raid Kaduna local governments highway Q8 abduct 20 women still motorcycles and Mbaka claims anonymous DSS invitations six prayers from congregation These are the major stories on the punch newspapers Away from the punch newspaper Let's also look at the Nigerian Tribune and the caption reads presidency. Why Buhari signed? 2022 budget despised in session of 6573 new schemes that's the board caption you have there and special report is Niger ready for global energy transition by 2025 2022 will be a season of consolidation Some will you assures leg ocean as Legosians as he talks about the complete of the red blue line real project Immortal rise meal and start the fourth mainland bridge This is some of the riders underneath the boat caption Ibadun Stancil as the 41st all Louis bad on oba saliu a detunji is buried Buhari marketing day at equal to no boo governors or bars emya's and others morn markets to be short today Fiel prize new taxes among economic issues to shape 2022 COVID-19 Governors ministers get mandatory rapid tests before meeting President Mohammed Buhari And that's also another caption what had have been on the same salary structure for 12 years Absu tells federal government we're just hoping that we don't you know experience another strike as who has no Justification for strike. That's what the federal government is saying electricity consumers paid 561 billion narrator discourse in 11 months That's according to a report and why Darwin College house master Others were released Legos Commissioner pleases quoted and awaits result of tax ecology tests Bandit skills seven and kidnapped 18 in Kaduna This is some of the headlines on the Nigerian Tribune this morning and now to the nation newspapers Big one there, of course, is in Ibadun says Ibadun mourns all the bad on dies and is buried Buhari governors to new borders pay tributes Baloo goon to ascend throne also on the nation bandit skills seven in Kaduna communities Senate probes PPP RAs 200 million Naira to foreign firms Covid-19 tests for state house visitors new rules of at the presidency and also 2023 polls. Jonathan meets coordinators Buhari states fighting lost battle on 480 million dollars Paris Club cash And then I met alerts airline operators to poor visibility in eight states. I Think these are the stories that we can share on the nation this morning. Good morning once again to Opponable in Kota area. Thank you so much for joining us. And let's go ahead. You know, which of the stories would you like to start from? Okay, let's start with the one of them that mercy did share the one on on security votes by governors and of course Call to probe security votes and misuse of security votes by state governors Security votes it's not accounted for which is extremely wrong and a lot of them are prepared As much as five billion to 10 billion Naira monthly for security votes, which to me is incongruous. It's completely unaccepted. I Think there should be a benchmark to be a fixed amount for security votes And at the end of the day at the end of the month or the end of the year or the end of the governor's end or president's end of it gives an account Of how much is being spent because that is a conduit fire Excuse me for most governors And president in lots of them. That is how they steal the money You don't even know how much is included for security You don't even know how much is being spent at the end of the month And so it is used by governors and presidents because a conduit fire I strongly believe that they should say for governors depending on the state They should say for governors. You should not exceed two billion You should not exceed three billion if there is need for you to exceed National as your state as our assembly will approve and at the end of the month just as you're going to investigate monthly allocation You can also investigate the security vote And I agree some of them will come up with an idea That you in the sense of security is not all about the physical It's not about what you see because you pay for information For example, now you might have somebody who serve as secret agent that you pay monthly And you cannot disclose the number of persons you can because their identities might not be disclosed That should not even be disclosed for security reasons So you pay them money now you understand all those technicalities But then it has been abused. So let's also okay. We are not we are not interested in The attention of who you gave the money We are not interested but we want to know you say you have Ten five billion not a single five billion era a month Because some governors take as much as ten billion era not exceeding three billion era a month If you're not going to this book and you cannot even properly account for it So you're very likely going to reduce the amount that is being stolen in the name of security So first let's start by saying also, okay, they've asked it's not more than two billion They've asked it's not more than three billion But they've got the end of the day they have to assume even though I call the Ministry of Love making because most of them are robust and Even though they have to assume we eventually approve More money depending on the security situation in the state Then fine then at the end of the day the governor should account For because you cannot tell me ten billion era to spend ten billion era security in a month in the state that is this How there's many And this one issue, even if the DSS doesn't even account And this account gets by in the very silent age of stealing very silent age of stealing because we are In cotaria I'm not I'm not credit. They're not credit In cotaria, yes, but yeah, they are not credit. Yes If if the security apparatus across the country is controlled by the federal the state doesn't have state police or anything Then what does the governor spend even one billion naira on monthly? What spy agents? What equipment is he buying? You just ask the right question. That's the point I'm making. You don't have the right question The reason is that is what I'm questioning. So I can you know, the government will tell you to spend ten billion era Some will tell you to spend five billion era But you can see that the governor will buy the 20 cars of the police The 20 cars of the amount to maximum let's say a hundred billion That's funny to me. You get the hundred billion And most times it doesn't mean to be from the security boat. Let's pretend It's the governor's office Even if he's buying cars, he doesn't buy cars every month Because the governor's money So that's what I'm saying. The security boat is being used in stealing by the governor as their own personal money It's like a pocket money to them every month So it has been abused We can stop security boat if that complicates Use your opinion back stop security boat so that you can always account for it If you they say just ten billion era every month ten or ten or five billion era every month Don't ask you are prepared for all that you see Like health and so on you can also don't go to a bad security boat But it is used as a private boat for our government They see it as a pocket money monthly pocket money And as I look at it if you ask me heat Ten billion and five billion as you can do for what? It's not it's not it's not right. So I completely agree.  They'll tell you Our informants and the informants are not we are not they are not supposed to be known So they'll tell you our informant. We pay X amount To get information. It's also part of security. They might come up with that argument But the best way is no security books Stay just as you're going to spend on health Just as you're going to spend on education just as you're going to spend on books Spend let's get the money without any day designation security book At the end of the day when you're made to account When it's time for What's because accountability you come out and explain how The informants you talked about One thing I also want to say is that If you disclose if you cannot disclose the informant to the public But in terms of proof Even if it's like what is done in the law courts when you have a motion in Lemai You don't you don't have it in open court in terms of proof I think those informants should be made known to those that are proving It's like What you call it what this wish to blow us Wish to blow us actually not known to the public But they are known to the authorities So the informant should be known to the authorities All right that are probing Not the public let us say because to protect them against any form of attack Upon about Kutariya. Let's also look at the Nigerian Tribune where The caption here says fuel price and new taxes among economic issues To shape 2022. Do you agree with the School of Thoughts? Sorry, is that what? Fuel price and new taxes to shape the economic situation of 2022 Why economic issues? Oh, definitely the economic situation of the nation Well, but if we talk of the individual citizenry, it's for definitely Definitely for the worse not for the better Because that's why we pay taxes in this country In civilized land you pay taxes because you're not going to sink your boat You pay taxes because you are you are you are social amenities Far supply is constant.  We are in roads.  They don't even provide the basic amenities They don't even provide it. So why you pay taxes? Now you're going to increase the taxes. You cannot be paid. People cannot afford it You have this you are business man. You run a company for five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten years You've not made any cover from that company. Yeah every year you're being attacked. What type of financial? Where are you going to get the money from? Working on fuel, cash in fuel and petroleum prices How ridiculous Now tomorrow they will come up with all kinds of stupid examples I would ask them you say oh in social country the price of petroleum is big But in that country as blessed as we are in terms of petroleum resources That is number one Why don't you say in social countries This they have social amenities on population would not have Why are you always comparing the negatives? Why not the positives? Here I want to practice the social living for the rich and capital living for the poor The policies that are made by our government are qualities against those at the bottom of the second order They are the ones that suffer most This if we have a government, not just in Bahrain, but a government that is quite insensitive As Bahrain's government made it worse because it is rudderless Completely rudderless. It has no idea Only Flanley and the Morale Commission Proceed it. No idea what's left So it's like a drowning man looking for what to save his life Like a straw that can do life and to be saved. That is what the government is doing Why are we in this taxes right now? Because seeing the entire economic situation Accidentally from the economic situation Are you talking about taxing people? Who is going to suffer? Because these government officials don't pay tax What they do is they pay the system From their salary. Which means nothing. Their salary means nothing to them They steal so much that they steal for generations of born So they don't steal. The laborer in the office, you're going to deduct his taxes You're decreasing it You're not increasing. The salary, what is that? That you're talking about the domino effect What are the market tax prices? You're deducting because when you increase the taxes For example, you increase the tax of your money And it adds amount 10,000 a year If the taxes 2,000 a year, that will increase to 3,000 a year. Hypothetically To 3,000 a year. Main way, the price of a cup of coffee in the market has gone up Price of tomato has gone up And you're not affixing that man financially That's what you'll be So rather, I'm learning the problems They are first training problems. I'm graduating them from them So it doesn't make sense to me. What are our refinements? You talk about... These are the same government that said There was no... What is it called? Subsidy The same government that has chosen the pedigree government of subsidy That the people don't know what is in subsidy as a non-value because I couldn't buy it to steal it It came on board. At none of that, yes, there was subsidy. Now you're saying no more subsidy What are the refinements that pass 6 and a half years? What have you done? After you export our pretty long product, we find it there outside And it takes it to cost more It to just give it cost more So the government is completely... If they don't have an idea of how to run a system They have to steal it. Sorry to say they have thieves Thieves in government Alright, it's like... You're asking corruption. Why corruption? Are you fighting? Alright, let's move on Yeah, let's move back. Let's go to the punch these papers and then talk a little bit about security now It says they have food crisis to worsen as bandits kill and kidnap 352 farmers in 12 months And also in Kaduna state, it says bandits raid Kaduna local governments and highway q8 abduct 20 women and steal motorcycles also And you know also talks about two Baptist school students released after 189 days. So let's quickly also share Your views on the insecurity challenges still battling or still, of course, to be devil in Nigeria currently People are still being kidnapped and being killed Communities are still being raided And 352 farmers skilled and kidnapped You must also be very very shocking But actually other criminal activities together I've assumed are focalated stagnant and I said it every day And that is because you have the government that is complicitous Now you ask why The government is not serious. Is the government that has trivialized lies? Let us look at the former Is the general of police the one before Okay, the one before not not and not the one before this this prevent one. I think the one before that one When mr. President All done. Hey as commander in chief to go to relocate to brawler state Let the president went to brawler state And was told that the idea never spent a night It was telling that the president was not aware often ignore He said, oh, I'm not aware when I get back to La Buda early investigate Validation that was the end of it No disciplinary measure was taken. He served out his time I did this obey Disobeying the orders of the tax To the detriment of Nigeria's That was the end of it Let's come to the service too much amount was allocated for the purchase of arms and ammunition Not it you're also in Nigeria Not it rather the situation got worse If your pity was rewarded and that's a good start point people the first time who said They there is nothing to show for the amount received by their predecessors Mr. President still rewarded them with a part of the lab In order to submit them for prosecution How do you want to address the security situation? That's what I said the government's company Appointed between the bandits Was even there in Mr. President This will not end unless certain steps are taken Inside this after Mr. President promised That they were going to wipe out bandits It came up this next day It will not end until they are granted help Gumi is moving through Even if the SS will not come after you the next minute That's what the government is complicit You're talking about how messy for bandits How ridiculous bandits Which is still being written by people Because those are illiterates Are they going to renounce it Without Not the government is that they will never talk of forgiving any bandits Because in the past they did And they went back to the rest of the base They went back So I think that's why they're so Get more information Get more arms and ammunition And go back That's what they do If you don't understand the sincerely have done their thing And penitentiary have put the government No This is a strategy The heat is small Let's come We've exhausted Uh uh uh The government have been exhausted Arms and ammunition have probably been exhausted and so Let's go Get some more And go back The government is aware of this What has happened Everything is being dispatched to the government Cut it off That bandits are taking it away Go look the two government in local government And we have a retired general As commander in chief Oh If they are not guilty you can infantilize Nigeria It's not possible We know The government is complicitory They know what they think It's an ecloceptic war And the sub-president doing it Pull a new man and he's protecting his brothers Let the people be told If you're dragging it Who are you to see it? That's what I said The government is also complicitory Because this is general who are there to fight this war Tell me the situation Okay For the want of time Let's just see if we can quickly share your thoughts On the daily independence There are several interesting caption here But let's look at this one Buhari's non-supervision Of military activities Affecting insorgency result And that's what you have there And also You can also add that with the fact that Terrorists mountain roadblocks amount to two Soventies in Nigeria This is according to the MBF And they just amplified what I said Or will I say I amplified what they said Since the paper was published before this interview Buhari's non-supervision of military activities Affecting the insorgency result I mentioned the issue of the former Senatorial of Police I mentioned the issue of the Burakai And his colleagues So I was going to explain it That explains lucy Completely lucy The man If the man does not even know what is happening in this country Anytime you talk he does it I'm not aware You remember That you know this I'm not aware I'm not aware I'm not aware So what they said And that's of complicity What a complicity Because of those involved Because you see You don't charity in the administration of justice The justice of justice must not blow quickly What is good for The good is also good for the country The same way you are approaching the gross matter The same way you are approaching the cost of matter Should be the same treatment for these bandits Should be the same But no, there is discrimination Real discrimination Well Ms Ainkotariya to be fair It explains it It explains it To be fair Ms Ainkotariya There's of course Every now and then reports of bandits being killed Ten, eight, sometimes even dozens So can we still say that the government is not hitting them hard Same way, of course, the government is addressing Sunday But who, of course, doesn't seem to be commenting We're talking about this I will commend the president's service chiefs There is a remarkable defense in terms of methodology I will commend the president's service chiefs However, they make a very bad situation A situation that was exacerbated by their criticism I tell you, these very commanders Yes, we agree Once in the weapon, the god has his enemy And the devil has his friend The president What's really happening is anywhere in that way Probably the chief of defense is upset He's very full of himself He's probably upset And he's trying not to be sure about it Not as if the president is in trouble Behind the former service chiefs And things got worse under them Monies have obeyed them We are disused and puzzled Not to reward them We can pass under our footmen That is the problem But of course, you know that there need to be tried You know, I mean everyone is I know that You heard the comment Definitely That's an allegation That's an allegation Well, it's still I mean, to be honest, you know, Mr. Angotar I think we have one more story to, you know, that we can throw at you But, you know, regardless of how silent they are It's still left for the Nigerian government to audit this You know, they audit the funds that have been paid to the army And if the Nigerian government fails to do so Then it's, the honest is left for the Nigerian government It's the Nigerian government that is failing Not these persons who have been, you know, accused No, no, no, no, no, no The Nigerian government is As the question is responsibility It's not touched by The Nigerian government can come up and decide to prosecute It's a crime Well, we'll see how it goes So the Nigerian government, yes, repudiation of obligation But then that does not mean that these persons They haven't achieved any allegation They have to do this Oh well That's what it is So the Nigerian government, you want to say a word? Mr. Angotar Let's bring up something else Mr. Angotar, let's move away from the service chiefs and the likes Let's look at something on the Nigerian Tribune Top left corner, it's saying, you know, it's asking Is Nigeria ready for global energy transition by 2025? I'm sure we know the answer to this But I want you to also respond And also, you know, ask, you know, another question I'll be asking with regards is Should this even be a part of our conversation now As a country If the world is moving on to a totally different, you know Energy source There's an energy transition that is expected in 2025 Is should Nigeria even be a part of that conversation? The sense that it's also a country You know, it's 100 people in a class Out of the 100, maybe there's 15 or 20 of them Are the serious students Others have joined the bank world That's what we do So I don't really think we should even Waste our time Don't know the time discussing what is the obvious This is a country that does not even know What 2022 December holds to itself It has no plan So what are we talking about? Are we ready? Are we ready for anything? Everything in Nigeria comes by surprise Even if there's an attack, it's always by surprise It's by chance If we succeed, we say, who? Where is the plan? Millenium development goes Oh, this goes Oh, that's what has happened We did shift in the day Yeah, but President Mamudubari has been attending, you know, Certain conferences across the world Oh, God of Israel I just told you Some persons are just there to drink the bank What about that? I said, what are you saying? What impact has it made on you? What impact has it made on you? What is the impact? I'm saying that your president will give me your country Never, you have to work in it But I can build a team It's not a team Don't meddle, I call you to have You don't need to have meddles And if there's a problem You can imagine the forex How much you spend So what are we talking about? We can't talk about what we lost Because Bahamina do not allow you to enjoy So it's your time to go Tell this more, but you need to let me But you know that some of this travels I mean, it's still part of, you know, The presidential functions I mean, this is some meetings I just have a simple question I have a simple question What Nigeria and what, only one? Only one? How? You just want to feel the impact of wine But if you have an answer, you get the impact That's all about the presidential one Mention one in Nigeria Mr. Inkotari You are looking at me You are looking at me now Mr. Inkotari You don't know We'll put up with Inkotari Thank you very much for joining us this morning We truly enjoy speaking with you Thank you And we want to wish you a very, very Beautiful day ahead Thank you very much All right Pretty interesting conversation this morning We'll take a short break And of course, share with you what happened On this day in history We're going to be talking a little bit About Aretha Franklin, the legend And then right after that Our first major conversation for today Moves to Bernou State We'll be back


Welcome back. It's time now to visit the papers and see what the headlines are. We're going to try to cover four newspapers this morning beginning with the punch newspaper. We're being joined by Chief Lecturer Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lega State, in the person of Mr. Jide Johnson. Good morning and welcome to the program Mr. Johnson. Good morning Mr. Johnson and welcome to the program. Good morning to you and it's a pleasure to meet you and good morning to all of you as well over the world. Can you hear me? Yes, it's always a pleasure to have you join us. Let's begin with the punch newspaper this morning. Interesting headline there. CBN raises dollar supply lift ban on cement and 42 other items. Let's just take them one after the other beginning with this one. What does that mean for our economy? Just your comment on it. Well, that means that the demand for supply, the demand for dollar in actual sense in terms of people looking for forex will almost be met by the supply in the past year scarcity of dollars as a result of that that lead to increase in the value of the exchange of Naira to the dollar. We hope this measure it will not be a Nijak measure and it will not be a stock gap measure because it does. The challenges the Naira has faced in the last 100 plus days is as a result of the Nijak policy of the president doing this in our speech too. I have proclaimed that well the unified there's going to be unified exchange rate concerning the dollar to the Naira without any corresponding policy to address the unahending and unrelenting demand for dollar by Nigerians as a result of them looking out for foreign exchange in order to meet up with their economic and business activity. So we hope this and we will solve the problem in the short run. In the long run all we need to do is to grow our economy, is to improve our economy, is to improve our local outlook so that our export could be able to match up with our income. We could grow our GDP and we could grow Naira with good momentum and good strength and we would be able to compete with other foreign currencies. Do well. However if you are if you are raising the supply of dollar and they are also lifting the bans on cement another for the two items that were listed as being banned from being imported into Nigeria then you will see that one government is trying to solve a problem and the other government is trying to create another problem because don't forget that these items that were banned and people will usually exchange to import this item into Nigeria. So in my basic economic in my basic microeconomic understanding there's an attendant problem that this might also create however in the short run there could be a relief but in the long run there's a need for us to go beyond this nature policy for the government to come up with a complete economic and monetary policy in order to strengthen the Naira, strengthen the local economy and make our currency to compete favorably with foreign currency and another thing which I think we should also point out is it's also why can't we for example let any other house to buy a hall P in our own currency those that we sell the hall to P to Ros they should look for dollar and P to Ros in Naira and then probably strengthen our own those with proper economic understanding but have the clear cotton explanation to this effect but as far as I'm concerned what you have been seeing are Nijak policies and Nijak policies cannot be served in the short run it cannot solve your problem in the long run. Interesting okay another headline that we have is has to do with the controversies that have led to Atiku Abu Bakar of the PDP taking his case to the Supreme Court and according to the APC, Atiku's evidence from Chicago irrelevant, Tinubu tells Supreme Court so your comment on that please um the relevance of relevance of that of that particular case we put to test when proceedings when when proceedings starts at the Supreme Court with respect to the petition by the PDP candidate against the APC candidate as part of their pre, pre as with respect to the qualification or non-qualification of the president as a of today in who are close to be the presidential candidate of the APC um in the march in the entry in the genre of the 420, 25th presidential election so it's never the courts let's see the country looking to the matter I think the substantive element of the case should be looking to and not into the technicalities was not much more important if it was to lead to rest um and up up times of doubts and the the Supreme Court should look at the facts of the case and establish the case so that the case president could be could be established one to establish that well anybody seeking a higher office must come to higher credibility or two to establish that well um the case you have brought against this particular candidate does not open water because from what we have seen has been established by the institution that when this candidate attended the institution has the right qualification and by his or her claim he is entitled to to produce his own certificate so this are the facts that should be looked into and then I have said it when you bring a particular case if followers you see lawyers that will hand you for you see lawyers that will hand you a case and then even before judges we've seen cases where for example I give the case of Masarasti you record that two of the justices said well the election should be the petitioner should be declared the winner while the one of the judges said the the respondent should be should be she should still be retained as the governor so we have had cases of five to go but those of us that hold the society a true responsibility of impartiality of being the watchdog of being the ones that bring clarity to issue is the media the media the responsibility is an institution of of other there is a huge responsibility based on the media looking at the facts of the case what does the fact of the state beyond the void of um legal interpretation beyond legal technicalities because once you bring two lawyers to look into a particular case it is technicalities that we're looking at for in order to win the case either for the case to be thrown out or in order for them to win the case so we hope and we hope the society a comprehensive account of the true nature of things in explaining where what has been established and what has not been established but I hope that these justices of this group will do justice to this particular matter so that we establish a clay court incident with respect to the qualification and non-qualification okubu-sikinaya offices in Nigeria not looking for technicalities there's fear because when the media talks about it I don't know what I will call it that there's a blackmail that comes because they keep saying media trial has no holds no water when it comes to the law and all that so people should not be talking about it in the media always so I see that as a blackmail telling you that you should stop talking until it is decided at the courts and then you you express fear about the fact that sometimes they use technicalities and technicalities have become the order of the day where people will just tell you that because of technicalities no matter the merits of the case the case will be thrown away I take the confidence from Bayelsa yes Bayelsa state where the former governor Timi Pritzilva has or is contesting he is the candidate of the apc and the court has said that he cannot be sworn in up to like three times because he has already ruled for about five years or so and if he if he contests and he he wins again he will be sworn in like for the third time which contravains the constitution and in that defense the apc is saying that he will continue to be their candidate whether they have the time to change it or not he will continue to be their candidate because the person who took the case to the court did not contest with Timi Pritzilva so it disqualifies him probably on technical grounds so it is giving them confidence that technical reasons will make them throw away the case so if we are judging our cases mostly on technical grounds and throwing away very credible cases how do you think this is going to be anything different? As long as it is concerned I think we should test it to the Supreme Court wherever there have been cases there have been precedent that has been established that qualifies Timi Pritzilva I don't know him from anywhere to contest that election don't forget that in Junatan Junatan sought the election in 2015 in 2015 haven't been sworn in after the date of yadua and then won the election and we also have a governor that spent 10 years and I think this is a serving senator where if he's not in minister now came down came down of UB get down of UB spent 10 years 10 years in office he was he was adopted governor and then the governor then died in office the governor of UB then died in office when the governor died in office he completed the term I think it was about two years or so to be expiration of the term of the governor and then he saw the first term and he saw the second term so those cases have been established if you have that that have been established and the courts have known the matter I believe that it has laid down in particular precedent because it can deny somebody an opportunity that others have enjoyed within the same system within the same frame of the constitution it gives you clarity indication so as far as I'm concerned based on my own due to interpretation if they're in dam had had that opportunity and there was no consular crisis with respect to that if Junatan had won the election in 2015 Junatan will have done 10 years in the presidency and it would have cost any concern why would you now apply to Timri Preciva so as far as I'm concerned if I'm in APC if I'm in APC or when leaving council to APC I will throw a kenshaw to all of those to all of those pointers that I've raised and then I will insist that we Preciva is a candidate I think that they should not be talking about the whether the president contested the election he did not contest the election whether he is a party contested for me or not he should just cut the substantive nature of the matter and from some stance and from what we have seen with interpretation and people that have either replaced their principle well if you say that he has been sown in the on time so you are denying the opportunity of becoming the the country only the provision for eight-year tenure and he's only spent five years so because you want to apply that you know you deny the opportunity of having three years and I I I see this this this thing is is is is is is is a bit ambiguous and it's on measure of of clarity and we are still talking about technicalities that we don't want people to talk to talk to talk about I think the first time which he won I think the court rule that he was in his election was nullified and then the election was conducted again or I think that probably replaced you not I can't recall too much about biza but as far as I'm concerned there have been precedent that have been set that people have been sown into that office three times okay well let's move to the guardian newspaper they say the biggest headline there is on sports how funding and low patronage has robbed Nigeria sports to 500 billion naira revenue yearly but I'd like us to start with a smaller headline there where uh the same controversy you want to comment on that yeah it's very very important if you know the the value of sports to the economy and the kind of contribution it makes that is is an area which I'm very very much interested is and it's an area that I've been really researched in not just sense and we'll just do take out sport of the American society what do you think we happen to the africana what do you think we happen to the african american community now take out sport from the beauty economy what do you think we happen to the to the immigrants in in beauty and take out take out the number of african players that are playing or athletes that are that are performing across different countries in Europe and look at the type of revenue it brings look at the type of investment look at the type of investment americans invested in the British English Premiership you have Arabs on competing with one another the Abu Dhabi family invested in mancity the Saudi family invested in Newcastle now the catalyst are looking to invest in Manchester United put the money into that look and make money through sports or you make money through through through through through education in actual sense the fastest route to becoming welding for the for the other privileged scientists to use their talent and we have had a situation whereby government over the years in actual sense since the advent of this fourth republic government at various levels have paid less attention have paid less attention to sport and as a result of that the kind of revenue they should generate we should generate in terms of teaching revenue in terms of advertising revenue in terms of revenue that grows the looku looku looku economy i recall when when mfm was in the was in the was in the heap was in the Niger Premier League and then i was talking to a friend i used to work with the sister station of yours the ring one of the foremost in fact the first sport would be a sport fm station in Nigeria and then we went to watch this mfm past us canopilas you need to see how agigree sedia was packed full and then we are talking about the impact on the looku economy people come to watch the game they buy they buy they buy drinks they buy water they stay in hotel you know the hospitality and everything and now it grows the looku economy and now we come to the looku economy and if you look that if that as well you see people even coming from other countries to come and watch your game or you know this this is critical idea that government needs to to to invest to invest to invest in you know invest in it and you make money from it and you take a lot of it from drugs you take a lot of it from the street see what see what the see what the music industry the music and entertainment industry see what it has done you see what it has done for someone like bonnamboy for someone like the video for someone like whiskey you can begin to mention their name the opportunities how these people grew up from nothing to become global stars to become people are you look at the amount of money they are collecting just because they have an opportunity to exhibit their talents and that's an area in which you need to to invest I I many times I want to be stadium in my in my in my teenage years and in my early early 20s and early 30s all you need to do is to pay visit to national stadium it has done to really that's not that's not really I mean I mean what Rupa used to be I mean what Rupa used to be ah ah ah play basketball play and ball play you know all of this is and we need the value of national sports festival we need the value of youth fund that creates opportunity and we need the value of the shared cup between secondary school across the length and breadth of this of these talents are discovered and these talents as a result of being discovered had an opportunity to pursue their career through their talent through the gift that God has given to them it's not everybody that will go to school in that sense the easiest way for you to make money is to make money through your talents you know what it is then said you know it is then said that he doesn't understand how you will be paying the amount of money for doing what you love to do just imagine what it will have been for you if not for football he grew up in an island one of the poorest island in in portuga madira but look at what spot has done for him look at what spot has done for the grand james look at what spot has done for David Becker and government across levels from local government to state government to federal government in Nigeria in the last 25 years have not paid attention to spot at all we just leave service we are paying to it okay um a smaller headline there uh it's uh on so many newspapers now about the fact that there is a new efcc chairman but on this particular newspaper the guardian it is written controversy trails appointment of a lawyer or look on your day as efcc chair well um the the argument people released was that um there's a provision that there are stand provisions in the efcc art which disqualifies him but because it said that somebody must be in law enforcement and what have you and my own argument is very simple which area lawyers are creating from we like creating empire for ourselves uh i don't know this man from anywhere i don't even have any interest in the matter but my my my my my argument is very very simple for example in Nigeria you say okay before you can become before you can become the minister of health you must be medical doctor there's no way it is written now lawyers if lawyers are into law enforcement they are lawyers that's what they are trying to do and now you have a lawyer and someone is arguing that when it has to be in return assistant commissioner of police has to be the argument that this man is not into law enforcement does no good water because by training by design by career pursue lawyers are into law enforcement who are those that they are pointed to everywhere united states of america um as far as this if you really practice the judicial system which some some have argued there is a need for us to even appoint people in private practice with certain experience into our bench across board into the bench of the operate court into the bench of the supreme court when someone has practiced as engaged in private practice to the certain number of years you could you could nominate such a person into the supreme court you could nominate such a person into into the apricot as far as i'm concerned this guy is a lawyer and a lawyer is a law enforcement officer globally is a global standard who must usually have a global approach to the way we do things sometimes when people write act when the when the when they are proposing this bill they propose this bill in such a way in order to create empire or some certain people who do the police use to prosecute their cases who are the is the not lawyers so as far as i'm concerned the man is qualified based on the fact that he is a lawyer and this is that not a 15 years experience if your question is qualification you have already appointed him as a secretary to that body so somebody had been a secretary of your body you mean the person is not qualified to be so it's into law it's into law enforcement we shouldn't be using drama there's no controversy over this particular over as far as i'm concerned there's no controversy over this particular matter okay um we move to the nation newspaper as we are drawing closer and closer to where we draw the curtain work begins on 260 federal roads nationwide it do it does seem like the minister for works is really working and he came up with an innovation that the roads in Nigeria do not need any other thing than concrete and people express fear that the price of cement will go up instead we're seeing the price of seven crashing down and this competition between the two giants producing cement in Nigeria and all that some people have said it will raise the capital expenditure of the country because of the way it is going to be constructed but the gladdening fact is that 260 federal roads nationwide uh the work will begin and contractors have been ordered back to the sides how realizable this is is another kettle of tea so where there is too much euphoria and too much entusiasm we have come to comment as a no kid on block just like the euphoria and the entusiasm and the excitement that characterize specialist appointment as minister of works power and housing the first time of bari before the portfolio was further reduced as well as i'm concerned we already see this entusiasm and this this this excitement at the beginning i hope the momentum will be will be sustained because for example for us in diga state we are the minister of works for eight years minister of works for the first time at federal level for eight years all you need to do is to take it to third milan bridge and you know the amount of money partial hours and partial last worship of of this of of the ministry of works spent on third milan bridge but on enforcement of the bridge but you call look at the surface of that bridge now i passed to that bridge and then i knew what it did to my car and then i went from ligust i went from ikuro due to imota imota now i go from ikuro due to imota leads to ijebo this if you know is it we won't believe that ligust are the opportunity of having a minister for eight years that road is a complete mess in front of ligust state investia after global it's a complete mess i regretted because i took my son to school i regretted driving my car through that road in natural sense i didn't know how much money i'm going to spend on that on that particular road so they come they are now we are doing we are renovating 360 roads the co-oprest conference and at the end of the reality that we have on the ground does not meet up with the the excitement and the enthusiasm and the publicity they are giving to what what and they are doing i hope they will keep to their promise and hold them accountable i think we should we hold them accountable to what they are doing eight years of partial i did not help us we told me nambi is no help us with kuru due to imota did not even finish that of shagamu to equal do as well so we wait and see what this this this administration we do with respect to um do use concrete do use concrete natural sense concrete would last longer it lacks better it's considering the trend that we we have we have we have in Nigeria it it's it's i think it it's is better and it it will last longer i hope they just keep to their promise at the momentum with which they start is sustained towards till the end other than for us to start with the with a good momentum and then as and that last thing and as we progress they begin to lose steam and it begins to take they begin to take their eye off the ball as far as i'm concerned some of our roots are dead trap some of our roots the 12 million bridge that they spend money that they close many times and i'm saying it if actually it's hearing me it will be it is it is a major stain in his career with respect to with respect to his performance as minister as minister we need a number of times they close 12 million bridge under balance administration but just go and look at the surface go and look at the surface of that of that is it dead trap is in dead trap is is a major disgrace to us as a country to us as a people and to those that were given the opportunity to support everybody ministry of works for eight years i pass through there every day so i know what you're talking about it's you pray for a hold up to happen on that bridge because if it is free and you are trying to speed you enter into more trouble than than necessary okay um we'll move to the nature news nature newspaper is uh uh leading with a story tinu bu that's flood control tinu bu forms committee to tackle nigeria's flood crisis and the rider is 45 killed 171,545 displaced by flood in 13 states that's according to nema well um you know what happened last year when we don't mean this we always have every year when camera released water from one of its dam we knew it and how many states were affected and then we knew what a flood industry to the environment and we knew what flooding does to to to to to to farms of farmers across the land and plate of of this country and then if you look at the amount of money government said the the the the invest in terms of subsidy to farmers and the rest of it if you need to access this question is this money actually going to the farmers or is he actually going to the private cofast of those that are meant to implement or is it this policy as far as this issue of flooding is concerned it's a perennial problem there are people in nema we have our permanent secretary we have our people we have our technical people technical experience that have been in these agencies for more than 10 years and that have received common funding with respect to tackling this problem you see when new administration come people begin to talk tough they begin to act like bandam and they begin to to form to form tough guy like bandizu and after a while ice are taking away from the ball and then the people are left to to to their fate and it becomes business as usual the issue of flooding is not just a problem it's not about setting up a committee there are the series of committees set up over and over and over by successive government what is required is is decisive action what are the steps they are taking to address this particular this particular this particular this particular this particular issue one thing i can never take you in from pashalas administration when was governor of ligosthic is the EU of of flooding of dealing with flooding of of of channeling all the canards all the canards in ligos to ensure that there was no there was because the test case to his administration happened in 2011 when there was this heavy rainfall in ligosthic and it opened their eye and then in a serious comprehensive effort was put in place to return the hukana in ligos that takes all the floodwater and for many years ligos is no problem with flooding we have done back to it so there are ways to solve this problem and ways of solving this problem is not by setting up committee is not by having a talk shop or a workshop is by having an action shop government to take actions what do we need to do to solve the states are well which states are bordering kameroon and i can really be telling what about water that is released from the dam back into the ocean this should be the states not committee not committee at this stage well maybe the committee will be looking at that because there is this talk that since 1982 that kameroon built that dam we were supposed to do something as well maybe build our own dams that will cushion the effect of the release of that water which we never did and we keep warning people every year to be mindful to live where they live leave their crops behind leave their ancestral lands behind every year to go to higher ground and all that maybe this committee will look into those issues and address them once and for all like you said fasula did it in ligos it can be done at the national level don't you think yeah yeah it's it's just it's just basic as ABC for us to be decisive about it and for people not to make money out of the misfortunes of that if you knew the amount of money Nigerian folks year in year how to address this problem show it that some of this challenge you have you have raised it if kameroon is releasing the water from the dam there is in it for Nigerian from Nigerian and for us to also control our own to control to build our own dam in order to control the flow of of of whatever water is released is released by by kameroon from the dam we had agreement we had agreement with Niji with respect to River Niger we had agreement so why can't we have such such such such agreement and such agreement with kameroon in order for us not to have a perennial problem that renders people that destroys people's economic economic investment that destroys that that destroys their lives and their property without getting any adequate compensation from government on people i cannot show you that these people are compensated on paper if you want to check the records on people and this is the compensation government has given to to to flood victims from this from this particular area but in reality this people will not have access to money the evidences are there all they need to be used for somebody to just receive them in view of the flooding social that affected it at this stage please have to release of social as compensation for families that are affected and then the money will be collected by one person or group of people and at the end of the day they will not even get to actual victims of this flood there is need for us to to put in place proper measure that takes care of our citizens and not some select individual or powerful powerful elite within the system you know that's also the excuse we give for the reason why we remove we remove first subsidy in the first system said it's some kaba so powerful elite are making money from from from from the subsidy payment and it's the same thing who applied with what we have with these and people that are faced with the premium problems of flooding as a result of what are being released from the dam in cabero okay well thank you so much for your thoughts this morning on the headlines on our national dailies mr jide johnson thank you so much for coming it's a pleasure to be with you thank you for having me have a good friday and ensure that you you you you enjoy yourself and also put your safety into constitution when you try to told me love me everything thank you very much i have been my players thank you thank you so much okay we've been talking with mr jide johnson a chief lecturer at nigerian institute of journalism here in lego state will take a short break and when we return we'll be looking at the fact that cbn has lifted for x band on 43 items stay with us


So how can I store this now in Java? Again, I have my numbers. I've got everything sort of styled up and Again, these are strings. So these are already going to need my air quotes around them But how do I take these numbers or these words and Store them into one variable that I can use later So the first thing I need to do just to move over here for a second is I need to sort of Declare that out and I use the same sort of data type that we've used in the past I say that this is going to be a string, but here's where things are different I want all seven of these to appear in my string or in my string array So what I do is I actually add in Square brackets these square brackets what they're doing is they're saying I now have a string Or an array of strings. I have a collection of string data types Then we give it the same variables Variable name as usual, but here's where things change up a little bit What I want to do is I'm going to actually create this on the fly and what I mean by that is since I already know the Values of the days of the week Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday What I can do is now I can add the curly brace and Everywhere I Have a new element remember. That's the five dollar word for the day Everywhere. I have a new element. I added a little Comma when I get to the end. I put another closing curly brace So what this now allows for me to do is Store these and what will happen is Java will go ahead and automatically infer This is gonna be the zero element. This is going to be the one element to three four five six


Income tax 2021-2022, self-employment tax, SE tax. Get ready to get refunds to the max, dive it into income tax 2021-2022. Most of this information can be found in publication 334, tax guide for small business on the IRS website, irs.gov, irs.gov. Looking at the income tax formula, top line of it, noting that this will have a supplemental schedule in essence being an income statement, income and expenses, the expenses basically being deductions, the net then flowing through to line one, the income line and to the first page of the 1040, ultimately going into line number eight, going from the schedule C to the schedule one, then here to the first page of the 1040, line number eight. This is going to be the schedule C, profit and loss, basically an income statement. The bottom line of this schedule C will be subject that's kind of like the net income to self-employment tax. So this is going to be the schedule SE, which is the self-employment tax. Now in general, it's useful to think about the self-employment tax is kind of the equivalent of payroll taxes for a self-employed individual. And when we're talking about the self-employed individual, you might be saying, hey, if I have a schedule C, I might still have employee E's on the schedule C where I deal with payroll taxes in that sense as the employer and have to deal with the employer portion of the payroll taxes and the employee E portion of the payroll taxes. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about the bottom line of the schedule C basically being the net income of the schedule C and the government in essence thinking of you as the employee E of your own business as well as the employer of your own business and therefore subjecting you for that net income amount to basically kind of like payroll taxes on both the employee E and employer side which is going to be called the self-employment tax which is going to be the Medicare and the social security taxes. So this will be a significant tax and it's something that is going to be in addition to the federal income tax and something that often causes confusion especially to people that go from a W-2 system where they're getting withholdings for all the taxes but also with the social security and Medicare with regards to payroll taxes and they've never had to kind of deal with that when they file their form 1040 it's just like an informational type of thing and then they move over to say self-employed and then they have to actually calculate and pay the equivalent of those payroll taxes on in essence the net income bottom line of the schedule C and pay both the employer and employee portion which again can be quite significant. It's also important to note that it's a separate tax calculation from the federal income tax because when you talk about deductions then you have to think about is this something that's going to be a deduction for the federal income tax purposes or is it going to be a deduction for the self-employment tax or both because the self-employment tax is usually going to be a more simplified kind of calculation just taking that bottom line and using more of a flat tax kind of system to do the calculation although there's a cap on it for the social security portion of it. So that's just the general overview that we want to keep in mind with self-employment taxes. Make sure to take that into consideration when you're talking to people about the business and their sole proprietorship. So self-employment tax is a social security and Medicare tax primarily for individuals who work for themselves. It is similar to the social security and Medicare taxes withheld from the pay of most wage earners. And we talked about the idea that if you had a situation where you could be either self-employed, reporting on a schedule C or an employee which would be better? And the answer of course is well it depends because if you're self-employed you might get a bunch of deductions that you couldn't take if you're a W-2 employee because the assumption would be that as an employee those deductions or those expenses would be given to you by your employer so they're not generally allowed if you're a sole proprietorship then you might be able to take them because the assumption would be that you'd have to provide more of your own kind of resources in that instance. However on the downside whatever net income that you have is gonna be subject to both the employee and employer portion of the self-employment tax. Whereas if you are an employee you're only subject you're only getting a withholding from your wages the your portion the employee portion so there's a significant difference there in terms of whether you're an employee or the self-employment tax as a sole proprietorship. If you earned income as a statutory employee you do not pay SE self-employment tax on that income social security and Medicare tax should already have been withheld from those earnings that's a little bit more of an unusual situation but you might see that as a statutory employee. Social security coverage social security benefits are available to self-employed persons just as they are to wage earners. So the social security is gonna be something that we don't know really in the United States if it's gonna be a benefit program or if it's like a retirement kind of program for everybody because the tax is quite significant to it and then the benefit calculation is kind of calculated on who put the most money in but it's also phased out substantially as the income goes up as you put more money in as your income is higher. So that means that if we're thinking about it more of like a retirement program you put all this money in you should be getting a benefit from it in retirement then you wanna be able to basically if you're paying it in have it added to the calculation that will be then calculating how much money you're gonna get back out at the point of retirement the more money you put in the higher your benefits should be when the money's coming back out. So to even everything out from an employee-employer situation and a self-employed situation they're gonna subject the sole proprietor to paying in the payroll taxes in the form of self-employment taxes but also getting the benefits on the social security side to hopefully get benefit payments paid back out at the later years. So your payment of SE tax contribute to your coverage under the social security system. Social security coverage provides you with retirement benefits, disability part of SE tax, Medicare tax and Medicare part of railroad retirement tax. If wages and tips you receive as an employee are subject to either social security tax or the tier one part of railroad retirement tax or both the total at least 142.8 you did not pay the 12.4 social security part of the SE tax on any of your earnings. So here's where it gets a little confusing because the social security has a cap on it and the reason it has a cap on it meaning if your income goes above 142,800 income subject to social security then you no longer pay the social security tax above that level. And the first thought most people have when they hear that is like well why would that be? Because now you're given a benefit to people that make more money over a certain threshold and the reason for that is again because we're not really sure whether the social security is a safety net or like a kind of a retirement program and basically you're getting a benefit if you put more money into the program and it was a retirement program then it should go into the calculation for you to get the money in retirement. You're paying all this money in it's a substantial tax you should be getting the benefit from that in the calculation to get the money back but after a certain threshold you're not getting any more benefit even though you're putting a lot of money into it at that point in time and again the calculation on how much you're gonna get back in benefits at retirement age is already phased down as your income goes up and then if it goes over a certain threshold you're not getting any more benefit even though you're paying a substantial amount in that's why there's a cap on it basically. So a lot of arguments over how high should the cap be should there be a cap and whatnot but that's the rationale for it. So now that there's a cap the problem is well if I only have one source of income like one Schedule C business on my return then I can determine if I go over the cap then I cap it off no problem the tax software can figure that out and that's not a problem but if I have W2 income and a Schedule C now you can see you kind of run into problems because the W2 income I'm paying into to the tax system as well and then I'm also paying in on the self-employment side so the cap is gonna be more difficult to apply how do I apply the cap out and that's where the confusion comes into play because you still shouldn't be paying in your combined income subject to social security more than the cap of the 142.8 and if you do then you might have some tax consequences to adjust for the fact that you overpaid the social security. Okay so however you must pay the 2.9% Medicare part of the SE tax on all your net earnings so the other part of the self-employment tax and the payroll taxes is the Medicare part and it doesn't have a cap on it so that means no matter how your income goes you're gonna pay into it which that one is a much smaller tax and it's pretty clearly more like a safety net program and not like a retirement benefit program so that would make a little bit more sense so additional Medicare tax, a 0.9% additional Medicare tax may apply to you if your net earnings from self-employment exceed one of the following threshold amounts so the social security actually caps off and you don't pay any more after the cap the Medicare tax actually goes up by this 0.9% and that's if married filing jointly you go over the 250,000 this would be like normal progressive tax system calculations which again would make sense because this tax is not a benefit program for you it's a safety net program so the more money that you make the higher you put into the safety net program generally and so they have this tear up or level up married filing separately the 125,000 and if you're single head of household or a qualified widow's widow were 200,000 if you have both wages and self-employment income the threshold amounts for applying the additional Medicare tax on self-employment income is reduced but not below zero by amount of wages subject to the additional tax so then again you got this kind of issue with okay well what if I'm also subject to W2 income which I'm paying payroll taxes on which is basically the same thing as the self-employment tax with this added amount and it gets confusing so use form 8959 additional medical tax to figure this again software of course often helps with these calculations and then you can kind of reverse engineer use the instructions to software and then back your way into and help out to basically explain what is going on so which forms must I file so if you are liable for income tax then of course you've got the 1040, 1040 SR and then at the due days the 15th of the fourth month after April 15th April 18th in our case self-employment tax so if it's self-employment that's going to be the schedule SE so if you have a schedule C on your income statement then you also have the schedule SE you file it with the form 1040 of course estimated tax that's going to be the 1040 ES if you have a schedule C you need to make your estimated taxes because you got to make them during the year and so that means you got to make these estimated tax payments generally unless you have also W2 income and you can do withholdings social security Medicare taxes and income tax withheld these are kind of like the equivalent of the schedule SE, the self-employment tax but in an employee-employer situation so if you were a sole proprietorship schedule C and you had employee ES then you would be filing form 941 and 940 or 941 is generally quarterly or 944 depending on your level and those would be calculating the payroll taxes but those would be based on the employee's earnings the employee's earnings as opposed to the net income of the business which is subject to the self-employment tax which is basically your kind of your earnings of the business that's subject to taxation so then we've got the providing information to social security and Medicare taxes and income tax withholding so if you had employee ES you've got to report the W2 or if you were an employee you get the W2 that reports not only the federal income tax which is the main thing we mainly think about but also the withholdings which is social security and Medicare the reason we don't typically think about them is because they're flat taxes they've already been taken care of they've already been paid it's just an informational thing to report doesn't really impact the 1040 calculation unless there's like some cap problem that hit with the social security or something like that that's why when people move from a W2 situation to a schedule C they're shocked about the self-employment tax that comes about because they're not they haven't really thought about that when they file their 1040 federal unemployment tax that's gonna be another tax on the employer side of things so that would be a payroll type of tax reported on the form 940 which you would only be dealing with if you had employees if you were sole proprietorship and had employees dealing with payroll taxes for your employees filing information returns for payments to non-employee and transactions with other persons so you might have other transactional forms possibly like a 1099 for example and then the excise tax so you might be subject to the excise tax we might talk a little bit about that in future presentations as well.


Passion-based learning. What is it? It is authentic. It is student-driven. It is inquiry-driven. It is how we grow in life. We ask questions and try to find answers. It is giving students ample time to be creative. Passion-based learning helps cultivate lifelong learners. Is that what you want in your school? Questions can come from interests. Interests can lead to passions. Passion can lead to purpose. I'm going to begin by looking at a teacher's perspective. As a teacher, what is something that you are passionate about? This type of learning could take you many places. If you were given time in your school day to pursue your interests, you could go many routes. However, what about your school or career gets you sick to your stomach? What problems are you facing that you would like to change? This type of question truly drives our learning. This is where your fuel comes from, inside, from heartache. Angela Myers is my top motivator and role model for encouraging passion-based learning. She stresses the importance of not only asking what students love, but what breaks their heart. She knows that a passion is something you must do, something that no matter the obstacles or the pain that comes with it, you will continue doing. It is part of you. This is passion-based learning. Why is passion-based learning valuable for your students? Let's hear from teachers in the trenches first. Passion-based learning is valuable to students and important to implement because of engagement. In today's world, we are 14 years into the 21st century and kids outside of school are already creating their own videos, they're connecting through Instagram and Twitter, Facebook, they connect with their friends and family, they plan meetings, they gather together, they Google what they want to know and they are completely engaged outside of school. But are they connected to ways that serve their futures and are they engaged in the traditional classroom? And that's what we have to ask ourselves because what we need to do is to get that outside of the classroom stuff inside so that we are creating classrooms of engaged learners. We have a positive online connectedness, mastering digital literacies. And how do you do that? Well, Genius Hour are passion-based learning. It's a time to dig into your interests, master your skills and ideas and share your passion with others. Passion-based learning or compassion-based learning has been extremely beneficial to my students because it really helped them to identify something they are passionate about and it allowed them to learn how to learn through their passion. So it allowed them to take ownership in school and to get them to have them be inspired and excited to learn and that was very refreshing to see. So I think most students really appreciate the autonomy they receive within it and then feel that the learning that they're doing is relevant and something that relates to them. It's one thing to, you know, try and reach your students by integrating things they want to do and by giving them choice in the projects and then it's another thing to just like let them go and do anything they want and learn about anything that they're passionate about or that they wonder about and then share that learning with the class. It really is something completely different and well, I think the rest of my teaching is pretty good. I know that during genius hour, that's when my kids really love learning and they come alive in a different way. I think that first of all, passion time gives students an opportunity to explore their own interests without too much structure from the teachers. I think that it's a chance for students to take risks without worrying about failure or grades because in our classroom we don't grade our passion time projects and passion time is also a great opportunity for students to work with friends either as a partner during their their passion time project or just collaboratively as a whole class. Why is passion-based learning valuable for you as a teacher? I thought I'd be able to model that learning for the students at the same time as they were doing their projects. I figured they'll do their genius hour projects and I'll go ahead and do mine. It didn't turn out that way. There's absolutely not enough time for me to do my own projects when I'm circulating and checking in with kids and having one-on-one conversations with them, giving them feedback, asking them questions, that kind of thing. It didn't turn out the way I thought it was going to at first, but it was still so valuable for me as well because, well A, my students are learning so that's amazing and B, I got to know my students in a different way. You really get to know them. You get to know what they're interested in and what they're passionate about and you get to see the way their minds work when they're dealing with their wonders and kind of planning out their own projects and see them problem-solving on their own. So why is passion time valuable to me? Well, as a teacher I think that it's great that I'm giving my students some time for them to explore their own interests so that makes me happy. I think it's also valuable to me because I see that students are practicing skills that we're learning in other areas of the curriculum and that confirms to me that this time is extremely valuable and purposeful. It's also important for my students to have a say in their education so it makes me happy to know that I'm letting them make some decisions because what they learn and how they learn it doesn't always have to be determined by me. One common theme we hear is that you get to know your students. Getting to know your students is not something that is just nice. No, it is necessary if you intend to teach your best the rest of the time that you have students, the time in which you have curriculum to cover. You can cover that curriculum in a more engaging and effective way when you know your students likes, dislikes, skills, and struggles. This is true differentiation. It is personalization for the rest of your school year as well as this dedicated time. There will be no talk of grades in this video. Many teachers do not grade their students passion-based learning time or products but some give multiple points for various tasks. I'm of the belief that we do not grade practice. This is a time in your week when students can practice, fail, and then try again. If they fail, we know they are trying. To grade or not to grade is something you will have to figure out on your own but your personal learning network, including parents and students alike, should be able to help you make this decision. I also will not be addressing how to fit it in. Now that you know the reasons behind passion-based learning, you realize that you do have to fit it in. How much time is up to you? Here's a disclaimer, however. It doesn't matter how much time you choose when you start because you and your students will hunger for more. And hopefully you will create more time for students to own their own learning. You will find that ideas from passion-based learning become infused into the rest of your week easily. So how do teachers implement passion-based learning? First, dedicate a specific time during your week when you will give the learning over to your students. This can come in many forms. Imagine you have a common text all students need to be reading. One baby step is to have students develop questions about this text. They can then branch off into different corners of the room to have discussions stemming around these. These questions are issues that they came up with, not teacher-directed questions. Imagine you have a set time set aside for independent reading. They should be choosing their own books, magazines, articles, blogs to read. You could have a wonder wall where students post questions and other students help them answer these questions. Or giving the learning over to your students could mean that you create genius hour or 20% time or passion projects. A set time for students to learn what they want to learn. A time for students to create. A time for students to possibly change the world. You can start small here if you'd like. Two days at the end of each quarter, one week during each semester, or set aside time every single week. When you decide to implement time each week, you may start slowly if you feel you need scaffolding. You may want to begin by letting students share their skills with the class. They can share what they know about a subject or share creations they've already made. A second step at implementing passion-based learning once a week is making sure you have time to have one-on-one conferences with each student. You will then find that you will be able to use the time you spend in these conferences to really learn about them. What drives them? What can you use to capture their attention and keep them engaged the rest of the week? With what do they struggle? What may be obstacles on their journey to success? The precious time you have one-on-one with students will help you infuse what you learn about your students into the rest of your days. Your students will know that they matter. Chances are you'll create stronger connections with these students than you have with prior classes. A crucial step in implementing passion-based learning is informing the parents. Let them know what time you're taking out of your regular curriculum and the reasons behind it. It may be that their child has never had this time embedded into the school day and parents will be thrilled you are taking time to really get to know their child or let him or her shine. Typical school is very stressful for many children. When they come home glowing about the learning that's taking place parents will be appreciative. Consider your end result. What do you want students to get out of this time and what do you want them to produce and share with others? Some classes have students share when they are ready. If the questions they had have been answered they've created something to share with the class then they can share when ready. At this point other students may want to help them continue with the learning. What else might they want to know about the subject? How else could they tackle this issue? Sharing with the class can bring a new dynamic to the child's ideas and he or she may want to continue the learning at this point. If not it's time for this child to brainstorm or get started on another idea. Some classes have students share at the end of each quarter or unit or even year. You will need to decide any parameters for sharing. In the Genius Hour community the major consensus is to let students share how they want. A poster, a presentation, a performance, an interactive session are all welcomed. Some teachers need more structure and they will require something as formal as a Ted style talk. Some students will be grateful for the freedom and yet some would rather have the structure. It is what they've been conditioned to do in a school setting. You may want to have options to share with students from more structured to less structured so they may choose based on their learning style. At any rate, sharing is crucial in passion-based learning. This stage, whether it be many times throughout a student's project or slowly at the end of a project, helps students reflect on what they've learned and accomplished. It allows other students to learn from each other, give feedback, ask more questions and be inspired further. Sharing can come in many forms, presentations, songs, demonstrations, a poster to hang in the school, blog posts or an entire blog dedicated to the learning, YouTube videos, or perhaps a presentation before the school board. There are myriad ways students can share what they've learned. The possibilities given the technology and connections we can make are endless. When you expect more of your students, you will find they take the next step. They will choose to make a difference in the community or in the world. Through their passions and your guidance, they will realize their heartbreaks. They will start creating content that Angela Meyers calls WoW content, worthy of the world. So why take the time to try passion-based learning? In case I can't convince you, I ask other teachers, why should teachers take the time to implement passion-based learning? Well, if you do a search for cognitive verbs in the Common Core by Robert Monsano with ASCD, you'll find a list of Common Core State Standard Verbs. Let's look at a couple of those. Collaborate, contribute, share. Build, develop, create, produce, publish, record. Appreciate, persevere, plan. Reflect, self-correct. Problem solve, argue. Defend, claim, quantify, support, verify. Acquire, compile. Gather, listen, notice. Search, seek, study. This is what kids do when they're looking up things for their own interests, something they're passionate about. So it builds knowledge, connections, possibilities. And through that passion, students apply all those skills that our standards expect in communication, research, reading, writing, designing, collaboration, media competence, digital citizenship, all the digital literacies, etc. It really defines the reason for school. When I have taken 20% of my time out to get students inspired and passionate about learning and to teach them how to learn more efficiently, I've found that when you go back to the other 80% of the time that you have, they learn more efficiently and more effectively than they ever have before. And they're learning more than they used to in my whole 100% of the time that I had. So my answer to that is that that isn't an issue. In fact, I would just give it a try, take a chance, model the fact that we're willing to take a risk and do this and just try it. And I think that you'll see that students become much more passionate learners and excited to learn and more efficient learners.  And you're going to get to know them in a new way and that's going to be really special. Why else? Because during Genius Hour, so many different learning outcomes are hit and it's a way for us to focus on the procedures of learning and not just content. So your students are going to be problem solving. They're going to be coming up with ideas, they're generating lists, they're thinking up ways to do their project, they're being creative, collaborative, they're communicating with each other and with the whole class when they present, they're working on a lot of those other skills that we really want them to be able to work on. So it's a good way to practice those what some people call 21st century learning skills. Passion time allows students to learn about their own interests and it's important that they understand that school and life don't have to be separated. They don't have to look forward to going home in order to pursue their interests. They can explore those interests in school and share them with all the people in the classroom. Also other teachers might be surprised at how much passion time actually empowers students to lead the classroom, not just during passion time but also throughout the rest of the day. When teachers get off the stage and become the guide on the side, student learning and independent thinking improves immensely. Finally passion time really helps teachers take a step back from constantly guiding the students. Sometimes we just need to let our students go and make their own discoveries and make their own mistakes. Hi Joey, Genius Hour has been such a valuable experience for me because it helps me to retain my position as chief learner in the classroom. When I align myself with my students and together we become teachers slash learners, it changes everything. Together, we are better and more able to be passionate learners. What do you and your students need in order to succeed? You will need to dedicate a specific time during your week. You will also need to tell the students and parents so that they hold you to it. This is non-negotiable if you want it to work. Your students also need to have a virtually risk free environment. Set up this environment from day one of the school year. Students need to feel comfortable trying something new, failing, trying to improve and sharing their triumphs and failures with their classmates. Many teachers believe students need to have a guiding question. This question must be one in which the answer is not found by a search engine. This is a broad question that will take a while for students to search for an answer. If it is not a question they want answered and instead it is a goal they want to achieve, students should be encouraged to develop a timeline as to how far they think they should be at certain points in the year in order to be successful then adjust as needed. You will need something to ignite a fire under your students, a push that motivates them to act. Kid President's pep talk on YouTube is a quick clip that inspires children to take action. Students could create paper blogs about their passions. They can map out their heartbreaks. You may want to host a cardboard challenge. Whatever you use and it may be all of these things, if it will impress upon your students that you mean business they are great to use. It will impress that you want to know their passions and see what they can do and what they already know with what they want to learn. You need to get out of the way of your students. This is their time to learn or create what they deem is important. You need to take the time to talk with them one on one, be there as a guide to answer their questions with why not instead of no I don't think so. You need to buy into the idea of students owning the learning or your students won't. If you still have a need to control or manage the classroom you'll have a very difficult time implementing this type of learning. Books you could read to help you change your mindset are listed in the resources page in this video description. Authors such as Angela Myers, Daniel Pink and Sir Ken Robinson will make you see children and learning through a different lens. Soon you will be committing to some time in your classroom given to the students so you should be alerted to some of the outcomes you and your students will experience. First, know that this is a major shift for teachers who still like control.   However, you may find a kindred soul and you too or more teachers can work together to jump in and then keep tweaking as needed. If you believe in this type of education enough your passion will be infectious and you may convince others to help you change education one class at a time. If you decide to implement passion-based learning once a week know that this may be the hardest you work all week simply facilitating but it will also be your most rewarding part of the week. Know too if you're trying this once a week that it will be difficult to rein in students to follow your lead once again and as you delve into your classroom curriculum you may find that this is an obstacle at first but you'll soon realize that this disengagement from students during your lessons will push you to create an even more student-centered environment throughout your week. You will find that students will gravitate more towards each other rather than you when they have questions. They will learn more from each other and you will be learning alongside them. You'll see the true essence of we are better together. You may have a student who doesn't buy into the idea of owning his or her own learning. This will hurt your heart. You'll work with this student more than the rest trying to get at what makes this one tick. This one student may be your biggest struggle but you must not give up. This will just strengthen your conviction that this type of learning is necessary in our educational system. Those students who struggle every other day in your class you'll see their engagement rise. You'll see them smile instead of sigh more often. You'll find moments to connect when there is no pressure or stress and the culture in your class will grow into something beautiful. It will definitely be a year to remember for both you and your students. Warning, one taste of it and you'll want more. Let's wrap up with hope. Teachers were asked what is your favorite part of Genius Hour or Passion Projects? My favorite part about Compassion Based Learning is just the fact of seeing students excited about something in a classroom so they get that time and they're just like oh I cannot wait to go look this up this is my topic this is what I love and when they do that and in Compassion Based Learning we have you know really told them pursue your passion but then try to change the world try to make the world a better place through your passion and to see students actually do that to see some of the final projects that they have done that have helped out the community or to talk to younger kids and get them excited about something to see students passionate about learning learning after school learning in the summer learning at lunchtime at school you know giving up their time to learn because they become so excited about it has been the greatest thing that I've seen. I think my favorite part is of course like I said before getting to know my kids in a different way it's really special to learn more and more about what my kids love and what they're interested in and I think it changes the sense of community in the classroom it changes the relationship between student and student and student and teacher and ultimately it starts to spill over into the rest of our week so that's probably number one favorite thing but number two or maybe even tied to number one then the other thing that I really really love is when the students share when they present out their genius hour projects and the other kids in the class get to know a part of them that they didn't know before and new connections are made or just a new awareness about who's in your classroom and what their talents and strengths are and what they think about and what they love I think that's really special as well. So what's my favorite part of passion time? Well I would probably have to say that there's a few things number one their final products are something that I enjoyed looking at even though the final products not our focus we are focused on the process but there's nothing better than seeing you know the pride in each student when they finish a project that they're pretty proud of as well. I also like to read each student's compliments and quality boosters that they give to each other in the comments section of each other's blogs they end up seeing things that I could never see and I'm pretty proud of them for being so observant and then finally I enjoy the process of coming up with essential questions or guiding questions with my students because I get to have one-on-one conversations with each student and that gets me to know them in a different way that I might not have been able to do otherwise at a different time in our day. The factory model of teaching needs to end. Our students futures will be so very different from anything that we have ever known they need to know how to learn for themselves by trying something new failing adapting and trying again in a low risk stress-free environment that we can provide. Our students are already learning on their own outside of school we need to be there to give them guidance when they are struggling in school you will find resources mentioned during this video in the description underneath. Let's end our session now by hearing from some seventh graders who have experienced a type of passion-based learning titled genius hour. It gives you an actual time to learn something new that you really want to learn. People get to like read books that they normally wouldn't be able to read and they get to explore different things that they wouldn't be able to do in different subjects. So you could learn more about what you want to learn. You get to learn what you want to learn and study what you want to study because later we can share it with other people. It allows kids to be creative because you do what you want to do and not what the teacher wants you to do. It gives kids time to be able to learn knowledge. It gives kids time like to learn something on the on their own instead of having their teachers tell them what to do. You get to learn what you want but you learn because you can become a scholar because you get to learn what you want to learn and you learn more and you read more. Yes like everything you do leads to learning and learning is good for you. That's why it's worthwhile.