Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s address to the nation over the nationwide protests against bad governance and cost of living which began on August 1.

The President went on national television for the first time since the protests began four days ago to speak to Nigerians and pledge plans to improve living conditions and grow the economy, including easing food and creating jobs.

Nigerians took to social media after the President’s speech to express their displeasure, stating that it does not directly address the concerns that birth the protests.

“Your Speech reads like a page from your party manifesto and terribly failed to connect to what our Citizens on the Streets are angry and protesting about,” Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister in the country said.

She described the speech as a missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and outline of convincing evidence-based actions that you and your @NigeriaGov will immediately take to address the priority #BadGovernance concerns.

“Your Speech was sadly again written out of a mindset that is focused on “getting back at our enemies”. Imaginary enemies at that! No true Leader has the luxury of having “enemies” among their Citizens. Not at all. A Public Leader becomes the Leader of all with a mind that does not think of any as their enemies,” she said on her X handle.

Others think the promises made during the speech are empty.

“The president Tinubu’s speech is full of empty promises and deflections. Nigerians are protesting because of failed policies and neglect. We need real action and accountability, not hollow rhetoric,” said Usman Zannah on X.

“This speech did not address Nigerians’ urgent demands, especially the issue of hunger. This is not the time to list achievements. It’s shameful for a leader to boast about accomplishments without addressing the immediate needs of citizens facing hunger,” wrote Moha Sheikh.

Nigerians took to the streets on Thursday to protest living conditions in the country, requesting an end to fuel price hikes, and food inflation which had led to a hunger epidemic, and the regulation of government spending.

President Tinubu’s plan for transforming the economy includes a N570bn “livelihood support” which is expected to benefit 600,000 small businesses across Nigeria’s 36 states including a plan to “accelerate food production” by cultivating over 10 million hectares of land “to grow what we eat.”

Nigerians argue that the government has more promises than achievements, demanding actionable targets.

“Empathetic speech, but fails to set clear targets that his government should be measured by. What is our inflation target by year end? How much FDI are you targeting this year? What is our unemployment rate target this year? What is the plan to cut fiscal deficits? What is our GDP growth targets for this year? (Not estimates) And where are we on meeting this targets” wrote Ugodre, CEO Nairametrics, on X.

“There are more ‘I will’ and ‘we are’ than ‘we have’…more of plans than actions and zero timelines, this speech would have been better as a campaign promise, not what we need, he should speak to the protest issues and condemn the killings so far in real time not prerecorded!” said Uzodinma Lucy on X.

As part of the President’s speech, he revealed that 75,000 small and medium-scale businesses in Nigeria have been processed to receive N1mn in single-digit interest loans starting this month, adding that the government has built 10 MSME hubs within the past year, creating 240,000 jobs through them, which five more yet to be released.

Concerns have risen among Nigerians on the authenticity of these projects and their real impact.

“The Bola Tinubu speech is empty and devoid of the necessary ingredients to achieve peace and calm frayed nerves of distressed citizens. It’s full of subtle threats, arrogance of power and audio achievements,” wrote Olaudah Equiano on X.

“Zero commitment to cut down government overhead. Unverifiable achievements. Fake promises,” said Demola Olarenwaju, special assistant, digital media strategy to former vice president Atiku Abubakar.

In his speech, the president acknowledged the lives lost and properties destroyed during the protests, berating protesters for going contrary to their promises of a peaceful demonstration and attempting to “tear the nation apart.”

According to some Nigerians, this was a mislabelling of the protesters and deflection and their objectives.

“The speech they have written for Tinubu already is very insulting to the Nigerian people. They are claiming in the speech that the protest is about regime change. This is how silly and unreasonable the people around the president are. Tinubu, listen to Nigerians,” said Deji Adeyanju, a Nigerian lawyer.

“The main issue I have with the speech is him not acknowledging the protest was largely peaceful. He used the few cases of violence to define the entire activity,” expressed another Nigerian on X.

Tinubu has urged protesters and it’s organisers to suspend further demonstrations and “create room for dialogue.”

“I have heard you loud and clear,” he said in his closing remarks. (BusinessDay)

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