Salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Welcome to Ehqab SOS, the Ramadan Special I hope you're having a very, very blessed and very, very spiritual Ramadan and insha'Allah may Allah accept all of your deeds in this special holy month Joining me today is Sheikh Ali Maash Salamu alaikum sheikhna Salamun alaikum warahmatullahi I hope your fasting is going well and not struggling too much Alhamdulillah, with the grace of Allah SWT Maasha'Allah, Maasha'Allah Sheikhna, let's go into, you know, performing fasting because it's not just, I stop eating and drinking there's a lot more to the fast, isn't there? With regard to fasting, as I've mentioned in the previous episodes that it is a worship and the first thing comes with regard to fasting is the intention, niyah and the intention and the niyah should be to seek nearness to Allah SWT Urbatan ilallah ta'ala That's very important with regard to fasting and the rest of the ibadat and worships that we have to have this intention that I pray before Allah SWT I do the fast, I do the hajj, the tawaf and so forth for the cause of Allah So I have the niyah for the cause of Allah and devotion and ikhlas and noriya, not to show off to the others for example and with regard to the month of Ramadan you do the niyah of course I mean, as I've mentioned Urbatan ilallah ta'ala and you have to make sure that when you fast, it's not for the purpose of going on to diet for example or for those who go hunger strike in prisons for example You do the siyam and fasting for the cause of Allah So what you're saying is that in Ramadan if you are not eating between Fajr and Maghrib for any other reason, apart from this does not substitute you as a fast for Ramadan Well, other types of fasting that do not have this type of intention seeking niyahs to Allah SWT Other than such intention would not be considered fasting be it mustahab fast or wajr fast For example, somebody who goes on a diet or hunger strike or even you hear of friends from eating and drinking from the Adhan al-Mafajr to Adhan al-Maghrib just to keep himself happy without eating without spending for example he wants to save money for example he doesn't want to spend on breakfast and lunch for example Without having the intention of Urbatan ilallah ta'ala would not be considered as fast be it mustahab or wajr be it in the month of Ramadan other than other days of the year you must have this intention for the purpose of Urbatan ilallah ta'ala that is important so the intention must be present at all time from the beginning of the fast from the Fajr time till the end of the Maghrib Adhan that's important I have to preserve and keep this fasting intention all the way down any intention that you make to break the fast during the day that will make the psalm and the fasting void so you have to make sure that you preserve and you keep and retain the intention of fasting all the way till the Maghrib time that's very important because some people think oh well I'm going to plan to eat I'm going to break my fast that intention that you want to break the fast will void the fasting even before you even before you eat exactly you have to make sure that you keep this intention all the way from Fajr to Maghrib wow also Shaykh you were saying that fasting is the type of Ibadah and every Ibadah has the intention we also know that there is a prerequisite of being tahrir is that the same as well with fasting do you have to be tahrir do you have to be in Wudu or anything like this well being tahrir inshallah will come to the conditions of what validates the fasting in more detail inshallah wudu is mustahab at all times you wake up you do the wudu you want to read Quran you do the wudu mustahab you want to go out to study to work you do the wudu but for the month of Ramadan you have to make sure that you are pure from the janaab the hadaf this situation of janaab so you have to make sure that you have the ghusl of janaab before adhan al-subh and adhan al-fajr that's very important and then you can make the intention and you enter the fasting day with the pure body from the janaab inshallah and likewise for the ladies as well likewise with their periods again they have to be tahrir and pure so they start the month of Ramadan or that day specifically in pure and the intention this is wajib in order for the fast to be valid of course as I mentioned one of the main criteria of fasting is that you have the intention that you make this intention of fasting before adhan al-fajr as I mentioned so before you start the day with fasting you have to have the intention before adhan al-fajr and how do you say the intention in your heart in your mind is enough or do you actually add to the words it is not mandatory to utter and say the niyah for example I shall fast today you don't have to say it just to keep in your mind and refrain from eating and drinking on that day that makes the niyah that forms the niyah what is the niyah refrain from eating and drinking from adhan al-fajr to adhan al-maghrib that's it you don't have to sit down and make that intention I'm going to start refraining from eating and drinking from the fajr time and then you repeat it again in your mind or you say you utter it you don't have to just keep things simple and just have the intention or butna layta ala that's simple drinking from these times so what about the time that you make the niyah do you have to make this right at the end after you've eaten for sahur or can you make it before that or does it have to happen right when the adhan starts but when should you recite the or make the intention the intention as I've mentioned it must be before adhan al-fajr time so before the mu'adhan says Allahu Akbar you must have made the intention for the fasting on that day that's very important because fasting is a complete set of ibadah that begins from adhan al-fajr till adhan al-maghrib if you ignore the intention and you say well I'm going to wake up let's say by the sunrise and I'm going to make the intention by the sunrise no fasting void you have to make sure that you did the intention for the fasting before the adhan al-fajr that's very important because it's a complete set it's a complete duty and ibadah that begins from the fajr to the maghrib that's very important it's one set it's one of ibadah duty that you have to accomplish and offer to Allah by the end of the day so you can't ignore part of the day and then you start your intention let's say ten o'clock in the morning no it's too late what if someone wasn't aware that the intention was wajib never mind just the intention what if someone isn't aware of certain things that make the fast invalid so if someone didn't know that or if I do this or that my fast is battered especially the intention everybody else was just doing it I was just going along with it does that make the fast void or not well basically there's no need for the individual for the one who wants to observe fasting to sit down and think and brainstorm all the the facts and the criteria that makes the fasting invalid so he just sits down and thinks about eating drinking such and such he brings all the muftara and the acts that breaks the fast no just in overall just knowingly that I am fasting and to refrain from the muftara in overall that's fine that's enough so just a general that I'm refraining myself from breaking the fast during the daytime and that should be sufficient you don't have to remember and brainstorm everything that they actually break the fast so that's the requirement and is the intention supposed to happen daily can I do one intention for the whole month of Ramadan now there are two types and ways for the knee of fasting for the month of Ramadan number one is to make the intention of fasting for the entire month from the beginning of the month so let's say tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan for example and the night before the first day of Ramadan I do the intention that I will fast the whole month of Ramadan the entire month of Ramadan that should be sufficient that's one of the ways and methods that you make the intention one intention for the whole month so you don't have to repeat the intention every night and to keep it in your mind you made the intention for the whole month you wake up every night you eat the Sahur and you sleep you are refraining yourself from eating and drinking and you had the intention from the beginning to complete the whole month that's the first way the second way is to make the intention in every night I will wake up in the morning exactly for the Sahur you wake up you eat the Sahur, you make the intention for this day, particular day and then you enter the day with the fasting of that day and then the next day the same thing the night before the Sahur you do the niyah again so it's up to you, you can make whatever choice you want and you pick up one of the types of intentions because you know we have a situation sometimes that is tomorrow the first day of Ramadan and let's say that I follow a marja who said tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan so I have my niyah to keep the first day of Ramadan fast on the first day of Ramadan and then later on the office says actually that first was not the first that was the second, we made a mistake in fasting the moon is that fast still valid so I did the first of Ramadan accidentally I fasted that on the second day of Ramadan so do I have to pay back two fasts the first and second or is that one considered to be valid and I can continue and pay back one fast well you see with regard to the intention of fasting the first day or the second day it doesn't matter whatever you make the intention for the days for the numberings for the counting the dates whatever you made the intention that I did the niyah for the second day and it was the first day or vice versa the first day and it was the second day of Ramadan it doesn't matter whatever you make the intention as long as you have the intention of fasting the days of the month of Ramadan it doesn't matter to be the first day or the second or the third that is sufficient and accepted so you don't have to worry about specifying the numberings of the days first, second, 10th, 20th just the intention of fasting the day of the month of Ramadan would be sufficient Thank you very much and thank you to all of you for joining us on this episode Insha'Allah you have the correct intention and the Sahih intention for this Ramadan especially to help your soul purify itself and for you to receive the Taqwa and the Tawfiq Insha'Allah from Allah SWT until the next episode Salam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh


50 INEC offices attacked in four years, report says, as INEC chairman Makhmudia Kubu insists that it is the responsibility of all Nigerians to protect INEC facilities. Tonight in continuation of our Town Hall series and a countdown to the 2023 elections, we will be addressing the need for violence-free and credible elections in Nigeria. And of course, this is PlusPolitics, I am Mary Anacol. The Independent International Electoral Commission has so far recorded 50 attacks on its facilities across 15 states in the last four years. IMO had the highest number of attacks on INEC facilities, with 11 incidents followed by Oshun, with 7, Aqaibom, 5, Enugu, 5 and Iboni State had 4, Cross River State also had 4 and Abiyah 4, Anambra had 2, Taraba, 2, Borunu, 1, Ogum, 1, Lagos 1 by also 1, Ondo 1 and Kaduna 1. The breakdown has shown that in 2019, INEC recorded 8 attacks, 22 in 2020, 12 in 2021 and 18 in 2022. With the recent attack, the Chairman Independent National Electoral Commission Makhmudia Kubu on Monday pleaded with Nigerians to see its facilities across the state as national assets. Yakubu pleaded, well, this plea came following the 7th attack on INEC facilities in five states in the Federation in the last four months. Now, joining us to discuss this is Adene Kea Lobash, she is the Programme Director Data Fight. We are also being joined by Oboe Fangahi, the INEC resident Electoral Commissioner in Dostate. Well, for my background, he is a journalist and he is the Head of News with Kool Wazubia Info while Achike Tude joining us is a Public Affairs Analyst. Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen for joining us, it's a full house. Thank you for having us. Thank you all for joining us. I am going to start with you Mr. Fangahi because INEC is on the front burner tonight. With these attacks directly on INEC officials, Nigerians are worried. Many who are still waiting to get their PVCs are asking a lot of questions. The issue of, you know, their PVCs being hard, or data from their PVCs being harvested and those who probably may have lost their PVCs in those fire attacks are wondering will we be able to be part of this election? But let's start with how INEC is going to recover from these attacks. Okay, thank you very much. Just like your background report has said, it's sad that we're having attacks on INEC fast litigants across the country and given the reports of how many we've had in the few months and going close to the election, it's worrisome that this is happening. But INEC is doing the much it can in terms of recovery of the materials that are needed for the election. Some of the materials that have been destroyed are such that we can easily procure new ones, including the permanent voters' cards if there are some that have been destroyed. INEC is able to produce new ones to give to the owners to vote in the election. But importantly, we need to do everything to ensure that there is a stop to this situation that is happening because nobody, this is not going to all go well for the entire country. It's not just INEC fast litigants that are being attacked by defects of the entire country and the election is very important to the country and we need to have elections in 2023 because the ten years of office of various office holders will come to an end and you will have to have elections for the successors in office to be elected. So it's something of concern to INEC and I'm sure that every Nigerian is also concerned about this. But INEC is doing the much it can to ensure that even when this violence has happened, we are able to recover in terms of getting new materials for the conduct of the election. It's an expensive thing to do, but it's something that we must do if the election is going to go on. Many have queried the fact that if these things had happened in previous years, knowing that there is a tendency of it repeating itself, they're wondering why INEC had not necessarily thought of securing these offices where these very sensitive materials, especially PVCs that are very, you know, everybody wants their PVC right now. It's more like the most sorted after thing in Nigeria now. Many are wondering why these places are not as protected as Fort Knox or even the CBN. Well, the duty of securing public assets is not that of INEC, it's that of the security agencies. So we are working with them. They know that INEC is a national asset, the facilities that must be protected. So the issue actually should be what have they done so far and what needs to be done more to ensure that this doesn't happen. It's not INEC on its part, we've done what we have to do, and when you talk about the permanent booters carts, which is a much sought after item, there's no other way we can do than to have the permanent booters carts in the INEC offices where the owners are coming to pick them up. There's no other place we can keep them. If we decide to keep them in very secure places, how will people collect them anyway? Because people are coming to collect them every day and so they must be in INEC offices and then the INEC offices need to be secured. And then across the country, we are working with the security agencies and then after the more recent attacks, we've had more security officials as posted to the various INEC offices, both at the state level and at the local government offices to secure the places at all times.  We're talking violence free elections, so violence is on the table. We're seeing violence. We've seen violence before, during and after elections. It's been a recurring factor in our elections in the country, but 2023 being an election that many have touted to be a game changer or make it all my election. What should be done in terms of rhetoric to address this issue of violence? Because you see at the core of this violence has to be something that is being said or done. And what do you think keeps fueling this fire? What would make an Nigerian who's asking for change, who wants a change of leadership, who wants good governance to go to an INEC office and destroy it? What would be at the core of that? These people are asking questions of the Nigerian state. They're not only asking questions, they are testing the will of the Nigerian state. And they have seen that, and they have shown capacity to test the will of the state. And the state has not been able to sufficiently push back. The Nigerian state is weak today. It cannot defend itself, neither can it defend its citizens. A state has a lot of power, you know, and, but unfortunately, you know, the fact that this is now happening at will. It's an indication that certain people are already aware that we can push the limits and that the state will not be able to push back sufficiently. So they are having a feel that they cause this mayhem and this destruction and nothing happens. They are not arrested. If they are arrested, the ringleaders, because they are must be, they do not send themselves. They are acting at a script nobody knows. Now you could say, at the initially because we have had, we've been embroiled in violence for quite some time now, over 12 years. Boko Haram, joined by bandits or non-gun men, and all kinds of non-state actors. Cursing, you know, acts of destabilization in the country. Now you, but at this stage, right now, there's an optic in the violence. And I make offices continue or remain targets of these attacks. So you cannot say, yeah, if it's out, it has to, you know, do with secessionist agitation. You have it in other parts of the south side that were hitherto not violent. They were not experiencing this. You've had it in the southwest. You have it in parts of the north and all that. So that tells you that, you know, there is political motivation for some of the things that are going on. What we are seeing is the disturbing rise of anti-democratic forces at work in the country. They do not want the country to work for whatever reason. They want to influence the course of this election, whether it is going to be held, you know, to, to, to frighten people. It will be living that it is not safe for them to come out and exercise a democratic franchise or perhaps to scuttle the entirety of the electoral process itself. You cannot hear but have a little bit of pity for the INEC. And I agree with the resident electoral commissioner. It is not a security agency. They are dependent on the efficiency of the Nigerian security forces to be able to protect them, protect the elections, you know, protect their properties and their assets. And they are not able to do that. I remember about six weeks ago we, we had the meeting in the Nigerian civil society station room, National Stakeholders' Theater in Abuja. The INEC chairman was present and the issue of insecurity came up. In fact, he was the first person, he was the person that said that there are two major issues that bother him. One is the issue of insecurity. The other one is the issue of the abuse of, of funds, you know, for the election by the politicians. In terms of the electoral law distribution, the electoral law and all of that, security was a priority. He did say at that particular point in time that with the damages that INEC has suffered across other parts of the country, that they are, as at that time, in a position to remedy the situation. But that they are hoping that the security forces will be able to do their path to ensure that further damages do not occur. Because it will get to a level where they might not be able to redeem the situation. I'm curious because now elections are not happening and it's going to be happening simultaneously across the country. If we're not even, I mean, we're not having elections yet and we're, we're unable to be sure that these guys can protect our facilities and sensitive materials. How we certain that they can give it to us on election day. No, no, they cannot. Let's not go, no, this is not about semantics. What does that mean if you say they cannot protect me? They cannot protect. I want them to be able to protect because that is their duty. But they cannot protect. I mean, the evidence is there. It's empirical. When they struck, you know, good state and not sure state, the feelers we got or the statement from the federal government was that they were going to deploy security to all INEC facilities across the nation to protect them. Or, without exception, after that we have a series of attacks on INEC facilities in Imose, Anambra State. You mentioned I think Aquabong and some other places after that. So they know that these are danger points. They know that these are targets and that they said they were going to be ready for any eventuality with regards to those targets. And yet they happened. So what has gone wrong? Is it that they told lies that they were going to deploy security to those places that did not deploy security? Or that the security that were deployed, that they were overwhelmed by superior firepower, we have not been told how many security personnel. Was there an engagement? There had to be an engagement. If you already had security people on ground and then you had not bad non-state actors coming in to cause problem within those facilities that are being guarded by the security forces, you would expect an exchange of gunfire or whatever it is. But there will be a confrontation. We have not been told that in each of these places there were I mean such confrontations took place. Or an attack was repelled. An attack was repelled and all that. So what exactly is going on? So sometimes you wonder whether there is much more to what is going on. Is it being orchestrated at other levels, at other quarters, by even state actors and non-state actors or state actors acting in synergy with certain non-state actors? We do not know, but the state has a duty. The Nigerian state has a duty. The president has a duty to ensure the protection, you know, adequate protection is given to INEF facilities nationwide. It is a sad reminder of where we are in the country today. Well, let me come to you before I go to our data lady. What Tachiki has said, I mean, and the anticipation that has built up for 2023, a lot of people have so much hope out there. Hence the number of people we see at INEF offices to get their PVCs. And what Tachiki has said is anything to go by that the police cannot protect these facilities. How are we certain that we can be protected on Election Day? And what does this say about the enthusiasts and the hurricane of wanting to go out in 2023? Excuse me. So the honest truth for me is that elections will hold on February 25th and they will hold successfully in a large percentage of areas across the country. This, what's happening now is not new.  But I would say professionally over the last 15, 15, 20 years, you see these things happen in the build-up to elections. We saw it happen in Anambra, you know, months before the election. And a lot of persons were saying, would elections be held? Today, Chukuman Soludu is the governor of Anambra State. Elections held, you know. The question would be how many people will turn up? But I can also say that the persons I've interacted with, persons, you know, in the course of doing our work across the country, a lot of Nigerians are getting ready for this election. Yes, these issues are happening. And like Kachi said, we can't take away politicians from being possibly responsible for these things. One of my favorite lines from, you know, Game of Thrones is that chaos is a ladder. Somebody somewhere is benefiting from the chaos. Somebody somewhere is benefiting from the insecurity we're seeing. Is it possible, or is it not possible that one political actor somewhere knows that this is my opponent's stronghold? So what's the best way? Because, let's not also forget, I make kudos to them. They've been able to reinvent themselves, you know, in such a way that the average Nigerian is beginning to trust that next year's elections will be free and fair to a large extent. The politicians are beginning to realize that, oh wait, the things we used to do before, you know where we, elections are held in polling units, but they go to coalition centers and rewrite results or they take away ballot boxes and de-enfranchise a lot of persons that maybe it might not work. So is it possible that it's some of these politicians who are instigating a lot of these? My question is, what are they afraid of? What are they afraid of? I mean you're saying it might be them, it's possible, so what could they be possibly afraid of? So the average Nigerian politician who has no other access to money gains a lot from being in office. That's why they move from PDP to APC, from APC to whatever party, just because they do not want to be out of government. For the politicians who have made politics a career, they can't stay out of government because of the amount of money they have seen a lot, have interacted with a lot of them at close range. Once they go out of office, six months, one year, the kind of things they used to do, the private jets they used to fly, the quote-unquote ladies they are used to taking out of the country, they can't afford those lifestyles anymore. That's why anything that will stop them from getting to that path, they will do it. If it means destroying INEC offices, so be it.  You are a data person and I'm sure that you have also had conversations with INEC about these issues and the concerns that Nigerians have raised, especially the cases of fraud. There have been also politicians who have said that they're not certain if INEC's technology would really be able to take us where we want to go in 2023, but let's address those genuine concerns like the beavers, concerns like, oh, can somebody use my card if they're asking for my data from my PVC? Can it be used on election day without me being there in person? Have you had people raise such concerns? And of course, people have also said, how can we be certain that INEC is not also being bought over by these so-called politicians? Yeah, thank you very much. So some of the innovation that INEC has brought into or that has been introduced into elections in recent times and that INEC will deploy for the 2023 elections are actually really good in terms of the possibility of reducing elections fraud or reducing elections, most active, for instance, it is except there are other policies are played. Another person cannot use your PVC because this biometrics involves that your face, with your fingerprints and things like that. So all these being equal, it means that a random person cannot steal your PVC and go and use it to hope. Now, here is where I think that, again, I have always been on the side of INEC communicating more, communicating quicker and communicating louder. For instance, in all of the conversation around elections violence, the way it's supported in the news and some of the comments from INEC, the thing to do is attend to address the public. You know, the public should be aware, violence is not the answer. And I'm wondering why you address the public that is terrified as well. I think that the conversation to the both public cannot be, you know, don't engage in elections. Because most people are terrified. Most people are afraid that their votes are not going to count. Most people are wondering, okay, this technology that we have introduced, outside of civil society and media, it's meant to provide clear understanding of the nation around the technology and what it will mean for elections. I'm wondering how much more work INEC needs to put into communicating each trend, communicating the fact that they are on readiness. I'm wondering when we're going to see INEC outreach. And I understand that these are, you know, startups of government, you know, but I'm wondering where is the outrage again? Or maybe not again, right? We outrage around the violence that is just overtaking INEC across the country. You can't fight with the people. You've got to fight with the people who are supposed to be responsible for keeping those items safe. I think that these kind of communications are important for the people to know that INEC is up to the task. Right now, it just feels like we're all, you know, INEC is trying to cut its losses. It's saying the things that, you know, we're working against it, but we're not seeing the signs of it. INEC is saying that it's going to the technology, but people are still terrified that their votes are not going to count, that the human factor is going to come into play, you know, during elections where some, maybe some electoral office is right, or he is, you know, and then they're manipulating the system. And it is nice for me to come and say, hey, that's going to be a little difficult. It's nice for me to come on air, but how much more nicer would it be if it is the INEC chairman saying this thing consistently to the people? How much more nicer would it be if we can see these conversations of we're going to increase security? People are already terrified that votes are not going to count. Nigerians are already terrified with security issues even making it possible to vote. And now INEC, the custodian of everything that is supposed to facilitate these elections, appears to also be terrified about election violence. So where should the people turn to? Where should, you know, where should confidence come from? I think that INEC needs to do a better job. I don't want to say project false bravado. I'm saying that against the conversation with the people in a way that they can understand. They can, don't just say where the federal government has said they are going to deploy force here. Yeah, the federal government has said a lot of things. They have said, right, it's going to be cheap. It's not, I mean, anybody who has seen this much of the look can tell you that. So they said, oh, inflation will come down. Dollar will come down. It happened. So when you tell me, oh, the federal government has said they are going to do this, it doesn't exactly encourage confidence. It doesn't exactly make people feel confident in what the government is doing. And so I think that there needs to be more clarity. This is how we're doing it. I think there is a challenge. Get the people on your side. This is the challenge we are facing. We are talking to the police. We are talking to these people. This is the right country. I mean, Nigeria has a ratio of one policeman to 400 people. Already there's a challenge in that. So we're being more vocal about these conversations. I think I think that it's not a solution, but it's a step in the right direction. OK. I just wanted to comment because you see, when we started, Mr. Boyfong clearly stated that INEC cannot be doing the job of security agencies. And they stated that clearly. But again, I'm tossing the mic to you, Abul. They're saying that, oh, she's saying that you're not clear enough. You're not loud enough. So again, what is it that you need to do for us to be able to hear you clearly? And I also want to quickly toss this in. On Christmas Day, the issue of insecurity is not just about INEC offices. There are people who are also afraid of what's happening in the area. In Kaduna State, people were killed. While those people were being buried, another attack happened. In those areas, how is INEC supposed to tell them that everything's going to be all right and we're going to have elections? How does that work? OK, thank you. Maybe I should start by saying that on Christmas Day, INEC offices were open. And people collected permanent voters' cars in INEC offices. During this holiday period, our offices have been open apart from public holidays. And in some states, they actually open on public holidays to attend to members of the public who went to collect their permanent voters' cars. This is to show that INEC is ready. People who need to access our services are having the access even during holiday period. And we are sharing the information about what we are doing in this direction. So yes, the attacks have been happening. Yes, we've talked about those whose responsibility it is to send the attacks or respond when that happens. And I've also said that across the country that we've had more security forces in INEC offices than before. So like in the state where I preside as resident electoral commissioner, in the last two months or there about, we've had a lot of permanent security officials permanently based in our offices at the state office and at the local government offices at all times. So members of the public who are in those locations see that there is security in these places. And that is why you find that even while this is happening, a lot more people are going to INEC offices to collect their cars. Today I was in one of the INEC offices and I saw the number of people who turn up there to collect their cars. So INEC is showing in its conduct that we are ready and we are working towards conducting the election in 2023. And the members of the public have shown confidence in it and that's why they're coming to collect their cars. If they were so frightened about this whole thing, then you'll have a situation where people are not approaching INEC offices for fear of being attacked or that they are not sure that elections would be held. Okay. Well, we're still talking about violence-free elections come 2023 and all that needs to be done. We'll take a quick break when we come back. Can INEC, the media, civil society bring a solution to the problem? And what would that solution be? Is it something we can get today, tomorrow or maybe in 10 years? Stay with us, we'll be right back. It's still plus politics and we're discussing how we can achieve free-fair credible elections and of course without violence, even though violence has been a major issue in the election, electoral process in Nigeria. And still in the studio with me, I have Adenike Alaba, program director, data fighter, boyfinger, INEC president, electoral commissioner for AdoState or for Mike Bamano, a journalist with cool Wazubia info and Achike Choudi, who's a public affairs analyst. Achike, I'm going to come to you now with the issue of what can be done. We've talked about all the problems, not even enough of the problems, but then we need to seek out solutions. Yes, we have, like I said, astronomy, people are changing. Now there's been this argument that the middle class is always found wanting when it comes to the elections. A lot more of these people sit at home and tweet and don't show up for the election. We've also complained about the statistics. We have so many people who register for the elections, but then very few of them show up to the elections. How do we change that scenario? Is there going to be a change for the better? What we're seeing now, don't forget, we've talked about all the insecurity and all the problems that Nigeria is facing, including the fact that we have nothing close to good governance. Well, if you want to go by the classical or classical definition of a middle class, we don't have a middle class in Nigeria. That has disappeared, you know, over it, absolutely, completely. I'd say to you, we are looking at it from the perspective of people who are fairly educated. Like Miriam? Yes, you can also look at it from that perspective and say, okay, we are maybe one or two cars, you want to look at it from that perspective, because okay, from that perspective, but I think things are beginning to change with regards to that, because I think they have also realized the mistakes that they have been making, their reluctance to get involved in the political process. Under normal circumstances, it is not the very rich that drive people for political, to ensure political change or social change. It is the middle class, because they are the ones that are most affected, either positively or negatively. When things go wrong, the rich or the very rich or the super rich are there and nothing really affects them so much. So you find out that in order to protect that class, they are the ones that tend to influence people that are of the lower rank, to get them to move towards a particular course of political action for the good of everybody. If we look at it from that perspective, you realize that we are beginning to have a change of mindset. More and more people are engaging. A lot of people, educated people, people of the older generation, it's not just because people are saying now is the youth that are moving this or mobilizing, no, it's not. There are so many other Nigerians that are involved that are in their, maybe between 45, 50, 60s that are talking about what is going on in the country and that want to be involved in the political process. And I suspect that if the trend continues, we are going to see a lot more of them participate in the process itself. So it's not all doom and gloom in terms of their non-participation. I think it really is a thing of the past. People believe that this election in 2023 is going to be pivotal. And what's going to make this? What's going to be that cursor in the direction that we want it to go? No, I mean, the fact that people are tired, generally tired of what is going on in the country. We were tired in 2015. They are more tired today than 2015. Don't forget that in 2015, there was a bit of fresh air. Supposedly Nigerians felt that a political party had been in power for how many years? Over 12 years. And for 16 years, they have not been able to do much. There was not much traction at the economic level, fighting corruption, you know, insecurity and the rest. And then you have not had a group of people who came and said, look, we understand the situation, we can solve this problem. We know what it is. And there was angst, you know, with the failure of what Nigerians saw as the failure of the previous government from 1999 till 2015. And so that led to a movement in a particular direction that saw to the overthrow of that political party. And then this set came in. And so, you know, for Nigerians, it's been, if you look at the experience before then, and the experience from 2015 to date, about nearly eight years now, it's like they move from the pan right into the fire. And so Nigerians are now saying, okay, we give discipline a chance. We got the wrong end of the stick. We now gave the alternative a chance. We got the wrong end of the stick. And it is the reason why you now have, for the very first time, you know, for quite some time now in contemporary Nigerian political history, you now have a third party that has made some sufficient waves, you know, and occupied some space in the country, whether we like it or not. So it is an unprecedented situation that rather than the normal political parties, we have been used to the APC, the PDP, you don't have another. So that gives a little bit of hope to people that perhaps we might be able to do something. And you can see that the other parties are also worried, you know, because down there, they realize that they have also missed the mark somewhere. So it's not so, if you're serious, Nigerians have found themselves in this situation, but the degrees have always been different. Where we find, I mean, in 2015, you talked about, empirically, the bag of rice in 2015 was selling for how much? Today, a bag of rice is selling for around for something 36,000, you know, a liter of well was selling for how much? How much is this selling today? What is this foreign exchange? You know, what is the value of the Naira today with regards to the dollar and other international exchange instruments, monetary exchange instruments and all that. So everything has gone down here. And so you now have all of these things, you know, as part of the animals or the anger that is driving Nigerians today with regards to what is happening and the fact that they have to make a political choice. Okay. I'm gonna talk about the media here, which includes me. How well is the media done in changing the narrative because of course our job as the fourth status, not just to get accountability from leadership but also to point people in the right direction, whatever that direction might be. Now there is that mentality that no matter how much you tell people about who they should vote for and what they should do, there's always what's in it for me. That mentality that we have as Nigerians and if he runs across, you know, all strata, how has the media done? How well have we done in changing that mindset? Do you think we've done well? Have we even scratched the surface?  At least let me speak for the last seven and a half years or there about. You could argue that the media has done well. Can we do better? Absolutely, yes, we can actually do better. But let's also not forget that quite a number of media organizations also have their bias, you know, that there's the media ownership. Without mentioning names, I think most Nigerians are even beginning to realize that maybe this media is tilted towards this way, that media is tilted towards that way because of ownership or whatever reasons they give. But in all of the things we say, the average Nigerian understands one thing, that in seven and a half years, we become poorer. Petrol, you know, has gone from 86, 1, something, to 250, 270 Naira, for the middle class that doesn't really exist. You know, just a few years ago, you could fly a return ticket with 50,000. If you don't have a 150,000 now, I'm sorry, you can't make a trip. You know, all of these things if it has not touched you, it has touched me. It has touched, you know, the average man on the street. So they understood, a lot of people who probably didn't understand in 2015 understand now the power of their vote. Understand now that if you sit at home and you're playing football on the streets, on the Saturday when they're doing elections and say you did not vote, that you did not vote still means that you have voted because it means that a small percentage of people will end up deciding whoever will take charge of decisions for the next four years. If I speak for the middle position I work for, at least over the last couple of years. Consistently, we've made it you know, point of duty to educate.  Elections have consequences, you know, so that people would know. And I will tell you to a large extent that has also made a few persons decide that, you know what, I need to go and register. You know what, I need to go and collect my PVC. Are we going to get it perfect next year? Probably not, but I think we're going to get it better than four years ago, better than seven and a half years ago. And we hope that, you know, with INEX plan with security agencies, hopefully doing what they need to do and then us, the leader and civil society will get it better. Something that you can say before I go back to Oboe and Nike, there's something that you can say about, you know, the third force or the third party that has somewhat occupied space. It seemed to be that this is almost something that happened in 2015 when there was that bandwagon. Oh, this is the new baby. Let's, you know, follow in that direction. That bandwagonism, has it not been the death of us? So to a large extent, you know, see, the one thing I know for sure is that there's none of the traditional parties, the party in power and the main opposition party, who can beat their chest right now and say, come February 25th, we are going to win this election. None of the two. Including the new party. No, I'm talking about the two traditional parties. For the third force, the labor party, even they themselves can't even say for sure that we are going to win this election. And I love that because what used to happen, again, kudos to INEC. If there's one great thing that INEC has done, is to bring back some form of confidence in elections, what used to happen before is people go to polling units, vote. You will see that candidate A won. By the time the results get to the coalition centers, something else happens. You know, such that somebody that has 5,000 votes become 25,000.  In fact, there was a particular incident, you know, I won't mention the state, but the sitting governor had all but, reportedly and allegedly, had all but lost the election. And that's one person you think can say, how? How did he do it? But the plan from the opposition at the time was, don't worry, let's win it first. Let INEC declare it, then they can go to court. You know, that used to be the norm. But at least from what we see that INEC did an equity or shown and a little bit of Edo and Anambra, we can see for sure now that people's votes will count.  It's not going to be a situation where is the total number of registered voters in each polling unit that will be used. It will not be a question of the number of accredited voters. So that's why I'm just waiting to see what, you know, politicians will do on February 23. But the good news, like I said is, whether it is the APC or the PDP or the Thought Force that is in LP, nobody can say for sure right now that I will win. Okay. Back to you, Nikke. Nikke, I just want to pick up from here, vote buying. It's one thing that INEC has had to deal with. It's one thing that Nigerians have had to deal with. How do we change that mindset? I know, you know, talking about getting more and more people involved, I spoke with a young man who came up with an app or a platform that is encouraging people to vote. He has 23 reasons why you should go out and vote. I think it's called Vote 23.  So it's like a call prompt and it tells you why you should go out and vote. And that's one thing. But again, just as I asked to former, how do we discourage vote buying? Because again, INEC is just, INEC has its job cut out for it. But then of course, that's why we have civil society and people like you. Where do you come in here? Continue, because civil society and the media has consistently tried, you know, especially when it comes to voter expansion. I think we have to continue to do voter expansion. I worry that a number of the political programs on TV cannot focus on politics rather than programmatic issues of elections, like, you know, foreign issues of education, of health. You know, sometimes it's one of the conversations between this party and that party and that conversation and the other one. I think we can't improve. You take the conversation in the direction of what matters. You consistent, and by you I mean us, are consistently speak about the things that matter, consistently encourage people. Because again, if all you see around you is co-co-co-co-co, you are unlikely to ask for banter when it's time to take a drink. And so if everything, all the conversations we're having, oh, this party, the intrigues of, you know, political parties and all the drama having political parties, and we're not having the conversations about the key issues of development, then even though we're telling people to vote, we're not telling them what to vote on, we're not telling them the things that should influence their decision. I think this is the next step that we need to do as civil society and the media to take focus on programmatic issues. Let the conversations focus around what do we want to see in education? What do we want to see in health? So when you're going to vote, don't, it's interesting how a lot of Nigerian politics, I mean, I know politics is a personal business really, but we need to find a way to make it about issues. And we have that responsibility because whether we like it or not, media, we're still shaping narratives. We're still talking about it. But you tell me about all of these issues. And at the end of the day, I'm saying, I'm hungry. What are you going to give me? I have beautiful ideas. I've heard everything. Yes, we want Nigeria to change, but I need money. Yeah. So honestly, I understand, I don't know where I was having this conversation and saying Nigerians are traumatized by the problems that they face. So it's not enough to simply, you don't tell your vote because of 2000 and Naira. You've got to say it, but not in, that there's some part of our communication around these things that has been a little condescending, a little, you guys don't know what you're doing. That's why you're doing it. You have to understand the trauma that people are coming from, the trauma of not being able to access health care, not being able to access COVID, not being able to eat and help them to see that you can understand that 2000 and Naira right this week now, but voting the right candidates who is focusing on these issues and these issues can make sure that you're not hungry, can make sure that you don't need to collect 2000 and Naira. Look, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be quick either, which is why we need to do a lot and do it more consistently. I want to quickly, you know, address that I think that I might cannot focus on the fact that people are collecting their businesses because since 2003, what has turned out has been on a consistent decline. To an all time low of 34.75 million in 2019. And that has been increased PDP collection in 2019. So I think that yes, people may collect their businesses for that kind of indication that they will vote. And again, it ties in into the conversation of if we want people to vote differently, if you're not just enough to say go out and vote, you've got to give them a reason to vote differently, put something different in front of them, have different conversations, right? Let's really state this narrative. Let's start this journey. Look, I know that the change we're looking for and the turnaround we're looking for, it's not going to happen in the next four years. It's the beginning. Every election cycle presents a beginning. So it has to be consistent. It can't and that's another thing. Our conversations around important issues around development can't be around election cycles alone. It's a conversation that we have to keep up.  So I understand, we have to communicate from a position of empathy, from a position of understanding that sometimes that 2,000-ira that we're thinking, we won't even buy my data, it's probably both between someone and salvation. So if someone is facing salvation and you're trying to solve that question, 2,000-ira is not the answer to your problem. How would you communicate it?  And I think this kind of thought, this kind of deliberateness, in shaping narratives and focusing conversations, not on what's happening between the political parties and who is first carpeting and not, they're interesting, they give us the creeps. But we need to focus conversation on, this is where we need education to be, this is where we need healthcare to be. And don't just talk in, you know, a society where people cannot relate with it. What does it mean for my five-year-old who can only attend public school? What does the next election mean for me as a safety trader who has a small four in front of my house? It's in both sense that we have to communicate. GDPP girls are all well and good when we're having good conversations here. A lot of people don't understand GDPP, they don't understand some of the metrics that we talk about. And I can say that because I'm constantly facing data and answering the question of how do we communicate in a way people understand is critical. And so we can't just say go and book. We also can't just say book because we want education to be better. We want the budget education to be able to keep the same. It makes no sense to mama and you. It makes no sense to Bola, it makes no sense to Bema. Who doesn't understand? We didn't know that there was a declaration that says that there should be 15% of dedicated to education in a country budget. So how would I communicate to Bola in a way that she understands that, oh, this really concerns me. How do I communicate to pregnant women who have no access to maternal and child healthcare in family healthcare centers? So let them know that this thing you're about to make in two months is going to affect whether or not your next child is going to be born in your house or whether or not you're going to have to take a three hour tab right to accept healthcare or whether or not you're going to have to carry your own work up to the PhD to GPRA. So I think that communicating in terms of what people can understand, what people can identify with. And that's why it's critical that we work collaboratively. National collaboration is sub-national. I'm speaking here, but somebody in Okene, for instance, may not be connected to this program right now. So how do I empower the registration in Okene? How do I empower the registration in Okene? If they could do it, you could say, for instance. So that the same communication and lessons are going on, yeah. All right. Finally, back to you, Obafanga. I feel like I like has a big, big, big, big job to do. And the last time I spoke with Mr. Okoye, I asked that question because you see, I understand that political parties also have a job when it comes to voter education, being that these are the people who are asking for votes. But we never really see that happen. And Achike mentioned something about, you know, political parties being responsible and party financing and all of these things. But we don't see political parties engaging in voter education. And what we see is jamborees and campaigns and parties and musicians performing as opposed to telling people what to do. So even sometimes, people don't even know what political party to vote for at the end of the day. How much voter education is out there, aside from, you know, just having a voter education wing in INEK? Well, voter education involves a bill of stakeholders. What your station is doing is also voter education. The civil society groups do, it's also voter education. And of course, what INEK does, you've posed the question. I've actually asked political parties when I have meetings with them, how many of them, how many political parties have a voter education department or a voter education person? And then when I asked the question, they told me they had such a department or they had such a function. Which goes to the question, who stands to benefit from voters coming out to vote in my election? It is the political parties and the candidates. So we also need to see them do more. Like you say, it's not just about having rallies where literally said about issues is just to be present in the faces of people that this political party is here. They've had this rally. So you see posters and billboards and members wearing insignias political parties. But people need to know what does one political party offer that the other political party is not offering. What is one candidate offering that the other one is not offering? On the part of INEK when it comes to voter education, the voter education here within public, people know when the election is going to be held. What they need to do to participate in the election that is register to vote, collect the voter's cards and know how to vote on election day, the time for the election, the time to come out to be accredited and to vote and how they will be accredited. And also we also tell people about how people become winners in an election. And I think this is one very important voter education component that I would also call on the media and civil society to focus on. A lot of people out there just think that the near fact that they see this crowd of people at rallies of political parties, it means that that political party is popular enough and it would necessarily win the election. No, it doesn't work that way. You don't need to know what qualifies someone to be elected president, for instance, or state governor or members of the parliament at any level. So people know that it's not just enough. You can actually have rhetoric of books cast in an election and not be declared winner because it might have the spread of the votes. This is part of the voter education that I need to try to put out. And I also think that the media would really help if they also focus on this. Because people are just talking about come out vote for candidates A or candidates B and they are not telling people how that candidate could become the president of government elect or member of the parliament at any level. And I guess that's why we're having this conversation and we can't stop having these kinds of conversations. But just to follow up on what she said, because we're out of time, my guys are telling us we have to go. Where's the NOA? I mean, we have a government agency that's put together to, whose most their job is not just voter education, but educating the populist orientation. And some of the things that the INEC rec has said would also fall under the purview of the NOA. So gentlemen, before we go, what's the NOA? I think I don't know what I said, we had a similar organization that was much more effective under the Vangida administration. Because that was a military occupation. But you know, was it not MAMSA? I think it was called MAMSA. Well, that was MAMSA at the time. Yeah. But it's what NOA is supposed to, exactly, morphed into the, I mean, it's not, it's a question everybody's asking everywhere. From Lagos to Kaduna to Abuja. People are asking, where is the NOA? What are they doing? What are they supposed to do? They will tell you that they don't get it enough. Yeah, they have to tell you that there is no funding. But the issue is that people go to work every day and they have a responsibility. Can I say this? You know, because obviously people are not putting on their thinking caps. They are not thinking. Because I mean, if you look at the importance of the elections, for instance, INEC is being supported, not just by the federal, by the Nigerian government. Internationally, there are so many activities that INEC has that is being supported by international donor agencies. Because they know the importance of that. Same thing with civil society organization. NOA is a fundamental, you know, organization that is an organization that has a fundamental role in this election, in an election, you know, period. So you believe that if some people, they were thinking that they would have looked for a way to access some of these funds that some other organizations within the country are assessing. And is there? And should they wait till now? Because again, organization has to be like, if they were thinking that a lot of agencies collecting federal government subventions yearly and practically doing nothing, you know. So people are not thinking.  But like Atruke said, you can also get these, some of these funding elsewhere. But people are not thinking, that's just sad. Maybe I should take a plackant to the headway. I want to say very quickly that, is it too late to ask Inet to collaborate with NOA? NOA is the 774th local government of this country. Is it too late to ask that there is some active collaboration, especially when it comes to voter education, with the NOA? I don't know if Inet... I don't know if Inet needs to ask them. It's their job. It's their job. Isn't it their job? It's their job. I don't have to ask them. That collaboration is actually on, I can assure you it's actually on. And then in each of them, and you said they're in all the local government areas, they also liaise with the electoral officers. They're not doing it in the most areas. In fact, I saw something said by one of the local government persons for NOA on Facebook. I drew her attention to some errors on it and she had to correct them and put them on. So we actually collaborate. Maybe I just have to mention this, that just like the other persons spoke, they may not have enough funding for all of this, but they are also trying in their ways. At a state level, I can actually confirm that they are doing some work that collaborates with us in what we are doing. All right. Well, I want to say this has been a very interesting conversation. Thank you so much. I'd like to thank the program director, Data Fight, or Boy Fanger, who is the Inet president, electoral commissioner for Adobe State. Well, for my partner, he's the head of news for Kool, who will be our aim for his broadcast journalist. And Achi Keture, who's a public affairs analyst. Thank you so much, lady and gentlemen, for being part of this conversation. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Make sure to stop here. Thank you so much. And that's the show tonight on Plus Politics. We'll be back tomorrow.  Have a good evening.


Hello friends, welcome to SS Unitech. My name is Susheel Singh and this is Seco Server interview quiz part 4 test yourself. So here we have 10 questions and each question has four options and you will get 45 seconds to select the correct option. So before going forward, if you haven't watched part 10 of Seco Server interview questions and answers video series, so I would strongly recommend to watch that video where you can understand how we can apply joints and how many number of rows will be written and this is the link and this link will be available on the description of this video. So you can go and watch that video. So let's start with our first question. This is our question and your time starts now. So time up. Option A is true because two null values are treated as different values in Seco Server. So let's move to another question. This is our question and your time starts now. So time up. Option A is true because when null values are used in aggregate functions like sum, count, average, then null values would be skipped. So option A is true. Let's move to another question. This is your question and your time starts now. So time up. Option C is true. Here we are using self join and again two null values are treated as a different values. So option C is true. Let's move to another question. So this is your question and your time starts now. So time up. Option C is true. Here again we are using self join and null values is skipped when we used inside the aggregate functions. So option C is true. Let's move to another question. This is your question and your time starts now. So time up. Option D is true. So here we are using the right join so it will pick all the data from right table and we can count it would be four. So option D is true. Let's move to another question. This is your question and your time starts now. So time up. Option D is true. It's a cross join. So all rows will become from left table. It will combine from right table. So we have four rows in our left table and again we have four rows in our right table. So we can multiply between four and four and we can get 16. So output would be 16. So option D is true. Let's move to another question. This is your question and your time starts now. So time up. Option B is true because again two null values are treated as a different values. So let's move to another question. This is your question and your time starts now. So time up. Option A is true because we cannot use on operator with cross join. So option A is true. Let's move to another question. So this is your question and your time starts now. So option B is true because when we take any column in count then it looks for null values. Else it returns all the rows. Doesn't matter it has null values or not. So option B is true. I hope you enjoyed this quiz. Please leave your score on comment box. If you like this video please subscribe our channel to get many more videos like this. Thank you so much for watching.


This is St. Tech, Hawaii, and one of the matters here. To bingo, we're back. I told you we'd come back, and we came back. We had a really interesting show with a student in a university in a town in the northern part of India. Oh, that show, that was great. And we also played a show that we took at the Energy Policy Forum meeting on Monday that was sort of a group of the working group chairs there. Namely, let's see if I can remember, Mina Merida was one. She's a former chair of the PUC. And John Cole, another former PUC. And Lance Tanaka from Par, Hawaii, and Maria Tomei. And they were our guests on the show, which we actually streamed live on Monday. So today's been an active afternoon. Wow. And now you, Becca. So how do you show today about efficiency? But we always like to include something about what's going on at Hawaiian Electric Companies. And Becca is the manager of renewable acquisition agreements in Hawaiian Electric Company. Get that right? Renewable acquisition department. Department. OK, got it. Close enough. I like that job. Very important job. It is a very important job. In July, the PUC approved the PSIP plan. That was a good thing, because it took a long time for them to do that. And then now you have to implement the plan. And you sent out a press release there two ago, which I was really interested in. And I certainly would like to talk to you about that. We're going to implement the PSIP. We're going to start implementing it with 400 megawatts. Ooh, exciting. Tell us what's going on. Sure. So as you said, on Monday, we filed a press release to announce that on Monday, we filed with a commission request for proposals to procure approximately 400 megawatts of generation on Oahu, Maui, and also Hawaii Island. And so that's broken down into 220 megawatts of renewable generation on Oahu variable, 100 megawatts on Maui, which includes 40 megawatts of firm generation, and then approximately 50 megawatts on Hawaii Island. Very exciting. Very exciting. That's a lot of megawatts. I mean, I'm not sure about this, but there are 1,200 megawatts out there in, say, Oahu, or is it statewide, I don't remember. And this is a substantial part of what's already out there. Yes, it will be. It is the largest single acquisition of renewable assets in the state. So it's a big undertaking for the company. This is going to take us a long way to 100% renewables if we get this much going. Definitely, yes. So how long in general the process is going to involve the approval of the RFP? You're going to submit an RFP form soliciting proposals. And then you're going to have to get the proposals. And then you're going to have to cut contracts. And then you're going to have to get that approved. And then you're going to have to go back and ask the people who was successful to do the job. And you're going to have to make purchase power agreements. And it's going to take a while. How long does it take to get the work done? So we're estimating a little over two years to get through the RFP process and the contracting and PUC approval. So we're targeting to have projects through PUC approval by the end of 2019, or third quarter 2019 approximately. So what we did on Monday is we actually did file draft request for proposals for the Maui firm generation. And then also we filed the draft of the variable request for proposal. And that was based on Oahu. But the Maui and Hawai'i Island would be very similar. Because the process requires going through stakeholder comments and making modifications, the thought was just to file one draft. We can make modifications and then duplicate and make. Use it as a template. Yes. Hopefully that will speed the process. So the next steps, the commission and their order, opening the docket on they had issued an order on October 6 of this month. They gave stakeholders 20 days from Monday to provide comments. We also proposed to the commission in our filing on Monday some additional steps. So we'll wait to see if they approve those. But they include holding a technical conference as well as some additional steps after the 20 days, just so that we could give stakeholders and ourselves an idea of where the process was going. But for now, the only set date is the 20 days for stakeholder input. But typically under the Compit framework, we would file the draft. We'd seek input from stakeholders as well as the commission. And then we would file revised drafts based on that input for commission approval. Very transparent process, I must say. It is very transparent. Actually, we were trying to make the process even more transparent this time. So as part of our filing on Monday, we filed kind of the process of how we came up with the draft RFPs, some of the tradeoffs that we had to make in order to meet our 2019 deadline, and also procure the generation that we are anticipating. But and our goal is to also seek that stakeholder input so that we can make the process even more transparent so that everybody has an understanding of what the utility needs and what we're looking for, and everybody can be on an equal footing in the process. And then in the end result, hopefully procure the cheapest generation possible for our customers. Yeah, and you're going to ride this all the way through. This is going to be a project. Yes. It's a biggest project yet, in terms of renewables. Definitely, in one project. So we're actually proposing a stage process so that we can make sure that we get the generation on in phases and not wait kind of for an end date. You know, speed the process, we think, by implementing in stages. So we're proposing of the almost approximately 400 megawatts, we would take a smaller set of projects to reach PUC approval by 2019. And then in 2019, do a second round of solicitation for projects and then procure the rest of the generation in that 400 megawatts. It'll be built out in the early 20s sometime. Yes, so we're proposing that projects reach commercial operations no later than the end of 2022. OK, we should all stay well and healthy and see this realized, yeah? Yes, definitely. But the one piece of news that I think we should leave with people is that this is different in terms of the purchase power agreements. It's not the same as it was because this is based on dispatchable rather than must take. Can you explain that to our audience? Sure, I'd be happy to. So with the filing on Monday, and by the way, this is all available on our website, the draft documents. We did file a new draft model PPA for variable generation that's dispatchable generation. So it gives the company complete dispatch rights over the power, which will allow us to balance what is needed on the grid and use the energy in the most efficient way for the grid and also for ancillary services. And in exchange, we'll be paying the developers a fixed payment, which will help with them on their financing side and should make the projects more financeable because they have a guaranteed income stream as long as the facility is available. Yeah, that really works well. That's not like a very modern approach to things. It's where we need to go, I think. Dispatchable is what the utility needs. And dispatchable means, correct me if I'm off base on this, but dispatchable means if you want it, you can have it. You can take it.  As opposed before, under must take is that you had to take the power and you couldn't actually control when it was being dispatched or not being dispatched. Correct, if the sun was shining, then under limited circumstances we may be able to have been able to curtail the energy. But in general, we would be required to take it. And then as you said under this, it would be more that we'd be pulling the energy when we need it. Yeah, yeah. So this is a good concept. And I'd take it from what you say that when we're talking about this 400, we're talking about solar and wind. Anything else? Solar and wind are examples, but we're open to any proposal. Oh, it could be something else, too. That we're, see what the developers have. And we also have allowed for storage proposals to be resource plus storage. So that's another option that we're going to be evaluating under the. Very exciting. It feels like we're moving forward. We're implementing the PSIP. These are exciting times. Definitely. We're very excited. We think that this will be great for the state of Hawaii and for our customers. So we are really looking forward to moving forward with the process. Yeah, great. Becca Matsushima, but she goes by Becca. And if there were three of her, they'd call her Tribeca. Oh, I'm only kidding. Thank you, Becca. Thank you for coming down. You have to come back and tell us how it's going later. Definitely. Thank you. Aloha. We can take a short break. You'll see we'll be right back. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Living in this crazy world, so caught up in the confusion. Nothing is making sense for me and you. Maybe we can find a way. There's got to be solutions. How to make a brighter day. OK, we're back. We're live. You had a very refreshing break. And guess what? The table is reconstituted. My auntie at the far side, Sharon Moriwaki, the co-chair of the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, put on a brilliant annual summit on Monday. It was really fabulous. Yeah, thank you for that, Sharon. OK, we have two special guests from the Hawaii Energy. Tony Kowal from Hawaii Energy's program manager of the program called Hard to Reach, Hard Communities Program. They called it that. Yeah. Yes. OK. The program supervisor is Bob Dahilig. Oh, perfect. Yeah, OK, all right. And I'm also involved in the program. These guys are with Honeywell, but they're with Hawaii Energy for this program. And we are talking about trying to reach communities that are hard to reach. And let me say that this is consistent with something that we here at Think Tech talk about all the time, and that is bringing the state together, even playing field. Everybody involved. Nobody left out. And that's what you guys are doing. Who's going to describe the program for me, Bob? It must be you. Well, one of the programs that we have primarily is for multi-family direct install, which we call Energy Smart for Homes. And this is a program where we actually go in and we retrofit each individual residential unit in a multi-family property. And with very simple energy measures, we go ahead and try and directly install, replace, and save the residents their energy, save on their monthly utilities. And overall, save the property management at some operating costs also. So it's a win-win. Are you telling the condos or apartment buildings are like any size? Well, we've done properties anywhere from 10 to over 500. But really, a target audience that we would really like to serve is, again, those hard to reach, which would be like maybe senior communities, low income communities, government subsidized properties. Those types of things, we want to go ahead and reach out to because they're largely an underserved portion of our sector. And how do you reach out to them?  Well, first of all, I want to say that our Energy Smart for Homes program is completely free. All the materials and labor are provided free. And you would think that a free program, people would be flocking to it. But actually, it's a little bit tougher than folks realize. So we do have on staff an account manager who actually goes out and tries to sign up folks for the program, explaining them, trying to make sure that everything that we can provide for them is beneficial for that particular property. Does the whole building have to be enrolled or can individual units come in? Or it doesn't seem to make sense unless you have everybody. Yeah, we prefer to have everybody, but we realize there's not going to be 100% all the time. If any particular unit or resident wants to opt out, they always can. And in fact, even on the energy measures that we provide, if they don't want any one particular one of the measures, they can opt out of that also. So if somebody's watching this show and they want the program to come to them and their community, how do they do that? Call you up? Yeah, absolutely. They can either call us up at 537-5577 or even get online on the web at HawaiiEnergy.com. Yeah, very cool. You've got some videos we think we should look at. Well, I just wanted to quickly show some program offerings. So in the first slide, slide 1B, we have some offerings that I can go ahead and identify for you. And as you can see there, we target, and it's called Energy Smart Four Homes, the four in the homes being four energy measures that we focus on. Energy Star lamps, LEDs. Also secondly, we'll have high efficiency faucet aerators for both your kitchen and your bath and high efficiency shower heads. In numbers two and three that you see there, we've come to find out that about 48% of your hot water use, which again, if it's electric water heating, is a major portion of your electric bill, about 40%. You could reduce much of it by having these high efficiency water measures. So it doesn't just conserve water, but it actually save energy on your electric water heater. And on number four, these smart power strips, they're also called advanced power strips. Those are energy management devices that go ahead and turns off your appliances that aren't being used, depending on the demand. Does it do it automatically? It does it automatically. So in our old school days, remember, we used to unplug stuff when we left the house, that would eliminate that issue. Yeah. And so yeah, with those things combined, we found that those four simple measures can impact a particular unit, about $160 a year. That may not seem like much, but you multiply it times the number of units per year. It turns out it'll be quite a savings for everybody. Monty, how do we reach out and contact people? I mean, in remote areas, I bob alluded to the fact that sometimes it's hard to do that. They don't know, don't care, whatever it is. How do you reach them? So we do have an account manager that will go out to neighborhoods. Sometimes he'll canvass the neighborhood. Sometimes he'll go in almost cold call. He does have a list of property managers, building owners that he does reach out to. And we find that the hard to reach communities, the hard to reach actually extends toward the property managers and the building owners themselves. So it's getting them involved and getting them to buy into the program. This is a no cost or free service that we do provide. And people are very skeptical. People, whenever you hear that, they think it's a scam, but once we get our foot in the door, then we're able to convince them and convince them that, no, this is a viable program that we have through Hawaiian energy. So it can be difficult sometimes to break down those barriers, but we have a very, very good team that can help to convince them otherwise.  But you have tenants, his tenants in that property who are interested and would be good customers for you. How do you deal with that scenario? Well, again, the account manager plays a very good, very big role in that. And he's been quite successful in being able to go ahead and on behalf of the residents, go ahead and talk to the resident manager or the property manager or even the ownership and explain the benefits, the overall benefits, not just in terms of savings, but in terms of energy, in terms of reducing carbon footprint. So he's done a very effective job in that case. So it's social engineering. I mean, you got to be nice to people, you got to find the cultural connection and all that. But what's, from the point of view of Hawaiian energy, what are your aspirations? What are your goals? What are your deliverables, so to speak? And how do you measure the success of this program in wattage, in what? In kilowatt hours and units. So we definitely have a metric that we go after and how many units, which are the tenant residences themselves, how many units that we go after in a particular year. And so we have various sectors, various communities that we go to, various agencies. So we focus in Hawaiian energy, of course, on the hard to reach. And then we also have a partner, Pono Home, that helps us out with this. And they go directly to HPHA properties, as well as DHHL, in certain cases. So this is largely for people who not only remote, who are economically disadvantaged. Definitely. Maybe native Hawaiian communities. Absolutely. Who wouldn't necessarily be online for this kind of technology. That's right. And so you're going to deliver to them. You have a period of time in which you have to, in which the program will last. I mean, is it defined periods, say a year, two years, three years, is that the way it works? Or is it indefinite? Well, we go from a program year to program year. Program year. So we're funded from June to the July of the following year. So we always tell folks that the program is funded, but it may last until July or until the fund lasts. So that may motivate them to come in out of the cold within that period of time. Yeah, hopefully, yeah, they'll realize that there is a little bit of urgency to it and want to participate sooner rather than later. But that doesn't mean that it actually closes at the end of the year because you may very well renew it. It may very well be renewed for year after year for a while, particularly if it's reaching communities that need to be reached. Absolutely. This program was instituted back in March of 2015. We did our first units then. And it's been continuing up until this program year. So yeah, that is that opportunity of continuing after this program year. So tell us what you actually do.  That's a wonderful question, Sharon. Let me go ahead and show you the next slide here on one seat. This was not rehearsed. Couldn't have for a better segue myself here. This just gives you an indication of the areas on just Oahu that we've touched. We've recently started again through Pono Home in reaching some of the neighbor islands. But in terms of their, like I said, March 2015, we've done over 12,500 units just here on Oahu. That's a lot of units. Quite a bit, yeah. And as you can see on that very last row there, the customer annual savings is over $700,000. Yeah, and that's money that accrues to them. Absolutely. I'd say they don't have to pay that much to the utility for electrical generation. Absolutely. Pretty good. Yeah, so again, continue on to answer your question, Sharon. And the next slide, that's our installer there, Jim. And that's what you see there. He actually goes into each individual unit. We'll replace the light bulbs as you can see in the top left, the shower heads. And on the bottom right, he's replacing the kitchen aerator and the other light bulbs like above the hood over the stove. Again, we focus on these particular things because we realize that there's a lot more energy savings that could be reaped from these particular items. And so does he go in and do an audit first and then come back with all the light bulbs or whatever, or how does that work? Again, our account manager goes in and does a site, what we call a site survey prior to actually the installer going in. He will go ahead and make an evaluation of what actually might need to be done so that we can make sure that our installer brings enough of the products on site at the time of installation. You get a special price on these products where you go out and buy them in order to install them? Absolutely, because we buy it in volume. We do so many units. We get a better deal on them. Well, you know, it strikes me there's two sides to this. One is the side of your saving people cash money of $770,000. That's a great gift to them. That's disposable income that they're not spending and therefore they can use that money and other things that may be more important to them like food or rent. Absolutely. Let's look at all of these items for free, right? Yeah, right. So it's an enhancement of their lifestyle in general. But the other part is what I'm gonna ask you about, the other part is the benefit to the community in general, to the state because my right, we're using less electrical energy this way and that benefits all. Can you talk about that? Sure, well, we always preach in Hawaii Energy of course is energy efficiency first and then bring on the renewables, right? So we want Hawaii obviously to be energy efficiency first and focused. And some of the ways that we get there too is we go out to the community and we do workshops. So we do community workshops, energy literacy workshops and I'd like to pull up a video that we always start out with in a lot of our workshops.  You could pull that up please. It's very short, but it's a very nice video and it really just owns in on the message.  Why don't we think the same about wasting energy? Find out how you can be smarter with your energy at smallkindrediculous.org. Nice, it's kind of a funny way to say you wouldn't do all these things in your normal life. You wouldn't roll your spam as moves to be with 30 yards of saran wrap. But yet when you leave to go on a date somewhere and it's at night, you leave all the lights on your house. So why do you do that? We start off with these kind of unique quirky ways of engaging the audience. And so we have a number of different facilitators and instructors that go out into the communities and teach simple tips and tricks and really engage and connect with them. So they are all very locally networked and connected to the communities that we serve and they all have different styles. So we've got a couple, we've got the Blue Planet Foundation that helps us with this. They've been doing this a long time. Yes, and they really focus too on the student energy education. So they're equipping the students, the future leaders for our energy education. They take it home to their families, right, they teach their parents. They use the kids to teach their parents. Exactly, exactly. And then we've got Helen Y who's been a picture of the program. She won an award. He did. Two years ago, she won an award with the William & She Policy Forum. She is absolutely great. She's great at really connecting with the community and having them laugh and then and ask good questions about energy efficiency.  And if you could just pull up slide four, just kind of highlights what she does. So she's a younger woman who teaches basically based on a top 10 tips. And so these are top 10 habits as an energy entrepreneur. So she brings the audience in and tells them that, hey, you guys are entrepreneurs. Instead of saving money, you're putting money in your pocket. So you're actually making money. And then she equates that to fun things like all this money that you saved at the home when you did these tips, you can save for a trip to Vegas or maybe a monthly cell phone bill or a Zippy's surf pack or something like that. So kind of really relate to the audience. This is all about engagement, you know, and you guys are effectively designing an educational program. In order to get your foot in the door. And the movie really teaches us a lot about your teaching. You made it very interesting. It's like not mindful about what you do. And so this is kind of awareness of what we do and then changing behaviors really. Yes, it's all about changing slowly, changing behaviors and nudging people because use the bottom line of it. It's not just that you fix this unit and put energy saving devices. You're actually changing the way people see the thing and the way they conduct themselves. Not only in this unit, but in every unit they live in for the rest of their lives. Yes, lifestyle and behavior modification. Yeah, yeah. So it goes way beyond just the fact of going in and fixing the unit. Yeah, it's a shift, it's a continual shift in behavior, so it makes it part of who they are. Yeah, it must be great to watch, to see this. It is, it's going to be successful. It's very rewarding. Both the Energy Smart for Homes programs as well as our workshops, but when people see it and they get that proverbial light bulb that goes on, it is really enjoyable to see that and rewarding. All right, Sharon, at a time, this happens all the time, Sharon. So it's your time to make a little summary of what we've learned here today. I really think this program of looking at changing people's behaviors and then going to hard to reach communities where a lot of times they don't think about those kinds of things. And I really think that both Tony and Bob are doing a great job. If it's going on for two years and continuing, that we hope that you can expand and tell us more about new programs that you put in place to train people in terms of what is energy and what they can do to put money in their pocket. That's right, yeah. Yeah, well thank you very much for having us. Thank you for coming. Tony Kowal, Program Manager in Bob Dahilig, Program Supervisor at Hawaii Energy with this great new, I shouldn't say new program, with this great program you're doing to reach into remote communities. Thanks so much. Thank you. I appreciate it.


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