President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has delivered his October 1 Independence Day speech but a cross section of opinion leaders insist that Tinubu failed to address life-threatening issues in the country
By Lukmon Ojerinde
Nigerians across geo-political divide continues to react to the Independence Day Speech delivered by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the nation to mark the 64th Independence Day celebration on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Some Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other notable opinion leaders have expressed disappointment over the speech as it failed to address life-threatening issues Nigerians are currently grappling with amidst two nationwide peaceful protests tagged #EndBadGovernance protest, and #FearlessInOctober1 protest.
Tinubu’s Independence Day speech, in the estimation of the informed populace failed to address basic demands by Nigerians.
The Executive Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Arc. Nnimmo Bassey said, “The president has a lot of advisers and it is clear that he is listening to them. It is hard to add anything with the belief that one would be heard.
“The challenge one has in interpreting his message is that we do not know what permutations he and his advisers are making.
“In a space of two months, the President has made speeches that did not address the most basic demands of struggling Nigerians, but merely defended unpopular policies.
“Three of the key issues of contention include the floating of the Naira, the high cost of petroleum products even when a refinery is finally working in Nigeria, and thirdly the high electricity tariffs.
“The President could easily have said that prices of petroleum products would be markedly reduced as significant volumes of the products are no longer being imported. Or is the territory on which the refinery is located no longer a part of Nigeria?”
Speaking on the proposed youth confab by President Tinubu, Bassey declared that, “While having a conference of youths on national issues is a good idea, it is difficult to see why the conference would last a month. Who will listen to a month-long conference of the youths when ten days of protest were met with arrests and detentions?
“Why couldn’t the President have announced that charges against peaceful demonstrators would be dropped? Who will act on the outcomes of the youth conference? We wait to see the guidelines for such a conference, especially on what would be the no-go areas.”
However, he pointed out that, “Independence Days are great opportunities for rehearsing national ideals and triggering commitments to such ideals. Hopefully, that will happen one day.
“Hopefully next celebrations would not be days of rage, pain, anguish, exasperation or fear, but days of rising patriotic fervour.”
In similar reaction, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Rafsanjani, in reacting to the President’s Independence Day broadcast, said the President needed to take governance more seriously.
Rafsanjani said: “We urge the President to move beyond rhetoric and take concrete steps towards meaningful dialogue with Nigerians. Citizens are seeking immediate relief from the harsh economic and social conditions they face daily under this administration.
“People are struggling to survive, and they need to see swift and impactful measures that improve their quality of life and security.
“Nigeria’s image requires urgent restoration both nationally and internationally. We used to be a respected nation, but today, we are perceived as a hub for terrorism, corruption, and mismanagement of public resources.
“The government’s failure to effectively combat terrorism, rescue women and children from captivity, and tackle systemic corruption and impunity has eroded the respect we once held.
“The Nigerian people deserve leadership that is responsive, accountable, and capable of delivering development and prosperity.
“As we celebrate 64 years of independence, let us work together to restore our nation’s dignity, both at home and abroad.”
Also commenting, the Executive Director, Africa Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev David Ugolor, said, “The President’s speech is a welcome development but the attempt to downplay the No to Bad Governance protest is very unfortunate and it reinforces the disrespect for democracy.
“No democracy will function without an enabling environment for citizens to exercise their right to protest. If the President fails to acknowledge the value of recognizing the voice of the people, that will not be good for our Country.
“I have gone through the President’s speech which touched on several policies particularly on Job creation, the integrity test for Dam, Exxon Mobil divestment, Economic Stabilization Bill, energy transition via CNG buses and the Nigerian Education Loan fund.
“I will like to commend the President for the bold decision for trying to convey the national youth conference to engage the youth which looks good. We should hope that this initiative is followed up with concrete action plans that will build trust with the people.”
The Executive Director, Global Rights Nigeria, Abiodun Baiyewu said, “Typical of his speeches, this was not any different. It was full of platitudes, with a lot of self-back-patting. He generously awarded his administration high marks, forgetting that in our democratic system, the only grades that matter are those given by the citizens. Oblivious of our current realities and the mood of the country, he decided Nigerians can proudly pronounce that they are achieving the dreams of their founding fathers.
“I doubt our forefathers envisioned Nigeria as a nation with such inequity and governance ineptitude, in which people endure so much hardship! In the troughs of our trust deficit occasioned by weak institutions and the failures of the political class, he interpreted our collective trauma as that we Nigerians being “united”. We pray and work toward a united Nigeria, but it is disingenuous to claim we are basking in unity.
“Even during the protests against widespread hunger, there was still discrimination against Igbos in Lagos, and our rhetorics are more than ever coloured in ethnic and religious divisiveness.
“Mr. President also mentioned that we are winning the war against insurgency and insecurity. This doesn’t match the reality on the ground. This year alone, Nigeria Mourns tracking shows that at least 4,011 people were killed and at the very least, 4,339 were abducted as of August 2024.
“He also, for the umpteenth time, asked Nigerians to be patient while his economic reforms kick into high gear.
“The speech noticeably lacked any mention of what steps the government is taking to reduce the high cost of governance. On the other hand, he has increased the number of ministries and has continued to exorbitantly increase government spending.
“Nigerians have been patient for 16 months while things have progressively worsened. Many Nigerians can barely afford to feed themselves. When people decided to protest the extraordinarily high cost of living and suffering, Tinubu’s administration gagged them, put them in jail and prosecuted them for treason.
In its own reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the 64th Independent Day nationwide address by President Tinubu as another lethargic and windy rhetoric of false performance claims and empty promises ostensibly scripted to delude Nigerians in the face of the abysmal failure of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, said this in a statement, in Abuja, on Tuesday October 1, 2024.
He said, “Nigerians are appalled that the President’s speech was a complete waste of time as it did not address issues or proffer any solution to the myriads of economic and security problems created by the APC government, for which Nigerians are hurting.
“President Tinubu has by this speech further confirmed the insensitivity of his administration towards the plight and demands by Nigerians which authenticates PDP’s position that there is no hope in sight under the overtly clueless, insensitive and unresponsive APC-led government.
“The failure of the speech to respond to the cries of millions of Nigerians that President Tinubu eases their suffering by reviewing life-suffocating policies of his government also validates concerns in the public space of emerging totalitarianism where certain individuals or groups of individuals are benefitting from the travail of the people.
“It is indeed shocking that Mr. President’s speech practically trivialized the very grave issues of pervasive economic hardship, unemployment, acute poverty, widespread hunger and starvation in our country- for which Nigerians took to the streets in August this year- by claiming that about 10 per cent of Nigerians have been plunged into hunger when confirmed reports show that over 100 million Nigerians can no longer afford their daily meals and other necessities of life under the APC watch.”
The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has equally raised the alarm over what he described as Nigeria’s slide towards political dictatorship.
He raised the alarm in a tweet on his verified X handle on Nigeria’s 64th Independence Day anniversary on Tuesday.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), candidate in the 2023 elections said, “It is deeply regrettable that our current landscape reflects a troubling decline in electoral credibility, increasingly manipulated by those in power.
“Our political milieu has become corrosive; opposition parties languish in weakness, while the ruling party appears to manipulate internal processes to render them ineffectual.
“Nigeria teeters on the brink of a one-party dictatorship, and it is incumbent upon all politicians and statesmen of integrity to rise and reclaim our democracy from the encroaching shadows of oppres
