Countdown to May 29, 2024, there was a debate about whether President Bola Tinubu was going to address a joint session of the National Assembly and deliver a State of the Union speech or not.

Yes, the President did address members of the National Assembly but it was “informal” to say “hi” to the lawmakers and inform them he would soon send a supplementary budget for their consideration. It was a seven-minute interaction. The Senate President later described the President’s visit to the lawmakers as “waka pass” an unimportant role in a movie in Nigeria’s local parlance.

It was then suggested by the President’s media handlers that the President would give a comprehensive address on June 12, celebrated as Democracy Day. Today is June 12 and the President made a broadcast to the nation. The speech was more of a recall of memories by the President of those who contributed to the democracy Nigerians enjoy today. In a rare salutation to individuals and organizations that played significant roles in restoring democracy in Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu identified them by their names which is inspiring and commendable.

Reforming the Polity
However, the President did not ride on the momentum of the day to speak about how he has taken or wishes to take the struggle further. A lot of Nigerians expected the President to point the way toward a political reform agenda that would improve and take the electoral processes to a higher pedestal something close to what President Umaru Musa Yar’adua led government did constitute an electoral reform committee after the 2007 election which he acknowledged as flawed.

Uwais a former Chief Justice of Nigeria worked with technocrats and professionals from diverse fields and made recommendations to improve the electoral system and the performance of various institutions and stakeholders in the electoral process, including the legislature, judiciary, executive, political parties, security agencies, civil society organisations, media and Nigerian citizens. A key recommendation was for the power to appoint the INEC board to be transferred from the president to the National Judicial Council (NJC) while its funding was to be a first-line charge on the Consolidated Revenue of the Federation.

President Tinubu could also have taken the route of former President Goodluck Jonathan who decided to set up a constitutional conference committee. The 2014 National Conference, inaugurated on 17 March 2014, had about 492 delegates representing a cross-section of Nigerians including the professional bodies and groups.

With the growing polarisation of ethnic groups in the country, a statement from the speech of what the President intends to do or convening a national constitutional conference would have been a welcomed development to calm all frayed nerves. Such a conference would be a platform for dialogue by constituent units of the federation to discuss issues and problems that affect national unity and cohesion. Not taking any of these routes is like living in denial.

Making of A New Constitution
As a restructuring champion, it is anticipated that the Tinubu government will bequeath to Nigeria a brand-new Constitution. The 1999 Constitution was the making of the military regime and it is expected that the renewed hope agenda of the President will birth a new constitution and a democracy day speech would have been appropriate to serve as a pointer to this but nothing to indicate this direction was referenced in the speech.

Many are still shell-shocked that the President and the National Assembly could change the old homemade national anthem and revert to a colonial one in one week. All parliamentary protocols were bridged to get it done and the President signed the new law twenty-four hours after it was presented to him. Nigerians expected such speed, ingenuity or magic from the political leadership in giving Nigerians a new Constitution that is a creation of “we the people”. A democracy day speech could have rekindled this hope but such was missing from the president’s speech.

Calming Tension Between Labour and Government
The speech was short in calming the expectations of the organised labour who believed the President would improve on the N62,000.00 recommendation of the Tripartite Committee. But all the President said was “We shall soon send an executive bill to the National Assembly to enshrine what has been agreed upon as part of our law for the next five years or less.

“In the face of labour’s call for a national strike, we did not seek to oppress or crack down on the workers as a dictatorial government would have done. We chose the path of cooperation over conflict. No one was arrested or threatened. Instead, the labour leadership was invited to break bread and negotiate toward a good-faith resolution.”

Good as this may sound to the ears, it fell short of organised labour’s expectations. The workers had anticipated that the President would use his prerogative of human kindness to add something extra to what has been agreed as it was done by former President Buhari who raised the minimum wage from N27,000.00 recommended by the Tripartite Committee to N30,000.00 currently enjoyed. The speech missed out on that opportunity which could have also potentially averted the looming labour strike over the issue of minimum wage.

The Biting Economy
“As we continue to reform the economy, I shall always listen to the people and will never turn my back on you”. The President said he felt the people’s pain but didn’t speak about what he was doing to ameliorate the pain in terms of new economic policies to bring down their suffering. He didn’t give assurances of what would be done to arrest the rising prices of foodstuffs and general inflation. That was a missed opportunity. Nigerians are being called out today to protest hardship and hunger in the land. But the President’s speech reveals a disconnect between what is being done from the seat of government and the realities of the street.

Overall, the President’s speech may have fallen short of what could inspire hope of a better tomorrow under his administration. It is like saying “We have no other fresh ideas of how to move the country forward” and that is why some analysts have concluded that the speech had no substance. That may not be correct. It only missed a great opportunity to raise the ante and inspire hope for a better tomorrow.