The customary independence anniversary speech, the second by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has drawn reactions from Nigerians. Some of the experts have described the speech as uninspiring and lacking take-away messages of hope about the country’s future. Prof. Abdelrasaq Na-Allah of the Department of Economics, University of Abuja said three metrics can be used, based
The customary independence anniversary speech, the second by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has drawn reactions from Nigerians. Some of the experts have described the speech as uninspiring and lacking take-away messages of hope about the country’s future.
Prof. Abdelrasaq Na-Allah of the Department of Economics, University of Abuja said three metrics can be used, based on current challenges and aspirations, to determine whether the speech was adequate from the people’s point of view.
The first and most important, of course, is the battle against corruption. ” Here, it is very disappointing to note that the ten-letter word did not show up even once in the over 2000 words speech delivered by the President. This is not surprising given that the administration has nothing to show in this area. Besides the fact that there has been no new initiative or evidence of commitment to existing ones, the war on corruption has reached an all-time low during the last year of this administration.
“For the first time in the history of this country, we have a former governor who has been indicted by the EFCC but despite the huge resources at its disposal, the agency is unable to bring him to face justice.
“Beyond this, we are continuously witnessing cases of nepotism and corruption, especially at the highest level of government. According to him, the second is the economy-related issues of high cost of living and unemployment. Indeed, the university don said it is a good thing that the President acknowledged these challenges in the opening paragraph of the broadcast.
“But beyond the usual promise of a better tomorrow, there is nothing in concrete terms to take home from the speech. “First, Mr. President mentioned in one paragraph that “we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel”.
“I do not know where this light is radiating from. Of course, it is easy to blame the rising food prices on insecurity that disrupts supplies, but we are still shying away from addressing the real issues of subsidy and exchange rate management that brought us here in the first place”, he said.
He said countries all over the world, including the most ardent followers of liberal policies, maintain one form of subsidy regime or another in their critical sectors. Nigeria may soon be on record as the only country without a subsidy programme anywhere in its economy.
The economist said the situation with exchange rate management is not too different as we have become a country that subjects the value of its currency to market forces even though we have nothing to export beyond oil.
But no thanks to these policies, Nigerians, according to the World Food Programme, now spend more than 65% of their income on food alone while about 10% of the population now faces the challenge of food insecurity according to a global report on food crises. He regretted that measures to address unemployment are still at the level of conception as revealed in the broadcast. This is a far cry from what the people would have loved to hear.
According to Prof Na-Allah, the third is the issue of insecurity. He said the President’s announcement that over 300 Boko Haram and bandit commanders have been taken down is no doubt a welcome one. But this may mean nothing in the face of the reality that kidnapping, ransom payment, and death of farmers in the hands of bandits statistics continue to rise.
Commenting on the President’s speech, the Executive Director, of Make a Difference Initiative, Dr. Lemmy Ughegbe said the President’s Independence broadcast was riddled with empty rhetoric, lacking any substantive, progressive, or people-centered policies.
Instead, he said it was rich in self-praise and self-glorification, resembling more of a poorly crafted campaign speech than a fitting address for such a significant national occasion.
“Rather than use the 64th Independence anniversary to restore hope and inspire renewed faith in Nigeria’s future, the speech deepened the nation’s sense of hopelessness, despondency, and despair”, adding that “at a time when Nigerians are yearning for decisive leadership and policies that can alleviate their suffering, the address failed to acknowledge the profound economic challenges facing the country”.
According to him, the Tinubu administration’s key policies have exacerbated this economic turmoil, resulting in widespread hunger, rising unemployment, and increasing insecurity.
Regrettably, Dr. Ughegbe said: “Instead of offering concrete solutions to these pressing issues, the speech served as a reminder of the government’s role in deepening the struggles of ordinary Nigerians”.
Dr. Augustine Eigbe, an Abuja-based Development Communication Specialist said the 20-minute pre-recorded Independence Day broadcast by President Tinubu can best be described as empty rhetoric aimed at deceiving many Nigerians to believe that there is hope when the policies of the government are anti-people.
He said it was uninspiring because it didn’t address the issues of hunger, suffering, and poverty in the country caused by the removal of fuel subsidies, electricity tariff hikes, etc.
“The only thing that can bring succour to Nigerians is for the government to reverse the removal of subsidies, which has greatly affected the prices of general goods and services”, he said.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday reiterated that he was aware of the economic hardship faced by Nigerians as a result of the current reforms by his administration, but assured that the inevitable changes he embarked upon had begun to yield appreciable results.
