The Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation dismissed the 66th Independence Day address by President Bola Tinubu as a rhetorical exercise bereft of clear plans to address the crushing economic hardship, pervasive poverty, and widespread insecurity in the country.
In a statement by Director of Strategic Communications, Makinde/Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation, Richard Ihediwa, the campaign group said, “It is, indeed, disappointing that the president’s address failed to present specific, measurable and binding economy and security policy commitments for which Nigerians can hold him accountable. Instead, the speech remained vague and failed to provide concrete answers or direction on major national issues.
“This lack of binding policy commitment shows that the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has no solution to the challenges facing our nation. In the four consecutive Independence Anniversary speeches presented by President Tinubu since he assumed office in 2023, Nigerians have listened to promises of a better future that never came.”
Ihediwa said it was absurd for the president to claim in his speech that his administration’s reforms did not weaken the economy, when the abrupt removal of subsidy on petrol and the floating of the naira created a calamitous economic shockwave that led to astronomical rise in the pump price of fuel, from N187 per litre to N1,500 today, and the weakening of our currency from N460 to USD1 to about NI,380 today.
He stated, “The undeniable negative impact of President Tinubu’s reforms is the crippling of our productive sector, closure of millions of businesses, high cost of transportation, food, medicare and other basic necessities of life, degraded purchasing power of citizens, widespread poverty and utter hopelessness across the country.
“Due to the negative impact of President Tinubu’s reforms, major multinationals including GlaxoSmithKline, Procter and Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, PZ Cussons, Equinor, Microsoft, Uber and a host of others have left our nation.”
The campaign organisation’s spokesman stated, “It is also incongruous that the president’s speech promised prosperity to the citizens when it presented no decisive plans to address Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit which has hit an estimated $2.3 trillion; no concrete commitment for agriculture, industrialization and local manufacturing.
“It presented no clear-cut strategy to repay the nation’s foreign debts which has accumulated to an upsetting N166.7 trillion under the current administration.
“Is it not ironical that while Mr. President is promising prosperity to Nigerians, his government is still busy seeking for more foreign loans including the recent request for $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank?”
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