Mixed reactions trail President Tinubu’s protest broadcast

…Ezekwesili, Soyinka, others say broadcast underwhelming

…Peterside calls for suspension of protests

There were mixed reactions to President Bola Tinubu’s Sunday broadcast targeted at addressing scores of protesters demanding end to bad governance and hunger in Africa’s biggest oil producer.

Tens of young Nigerians have staged #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria protests across the nation since Thursday to demonstrate against the cost-of-living crisis in the nation. Prices of staples such as rice, bread, beans and yam have jumped by more than 100 percent in one year and protesters say they are hungry owing to economic mismanagement.

“We are working hard for you, and the results will soon be visible and concrete for everyone to see, feel, and enjoy,” Tinubu said on Sunday.

Read also: Soyinka slams Tinubu’s speech for encouraging brutal crackdown on protesters

“I have heard you loud and clear. I understand the pain and frustration that drive these protests, and I want to assure you that our government is committed to listening and addressing the concerns of our citizens.”

Pro-government groups and Tinubu’s supporters said the president did well to address the nation, urging protesters to go back home.

Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, said the president has acknowledged that he had heard protesters’ grievances loud and clear, urging demonstrators to embrace dialogue as suggested.

“There is no doubt that there is hunger and poverty in the land, but we can rest assured that the president is doing his best to improve the economy. But this cannot be achieved within a year.

“Let’s give the president the chance to address the situation, and let’s embrace dialogue for the peace and stability of the country,” he said.

Daniel Bwala, lawyer and Tinubu’s government supporter, said there is no longer any need to protest as the president has got the demonstrators’ message.

“Thank you Mr President for laying out what you have been doing to address the concerns raised by the Nigerian people. Thank you also for taking the youth; you have heard them loud and clear and you are committed to further deepening this democracy,” he said.

But several Nigerians said President Tinubu’s broadcast is uninspiring, expressing their disappointment at his inability to douse the nationwide tension.

It’s disappointing, say experts

Obiageli Ezekwesili, former education minister, criticised President Tinubu’s broadcast, saying that it failed to connect to the citizens who are on the streets protesting about hardship.

“Your speech is quite a monumental missed opportunity to placate citizens with sound answers and outline of convincing evidence-based actions that you and your government will immediately take to address the priority #BadGovernance concerns,” she said on her X handle on Sunday.

Nigerians are demanding good governance and a paradigm shift in how the government activities are done. Inflation has exceeded 34 percent and food inflation is over 40 percent. The local currency has weakened to over N1600/$ as the economy feels the impact of imported inflation.

Read also: Tinubu to security officers: Follow human rights conventions in dealing with protesters

Ezekwesili said Tinubu’s speech was written with a view to ‘getting back at our enemies.’

The former vice president of the World Bank’s Africa region noted that citizens know when they are being badly governed and have now realised that they must collectively speak up and take action.

He asked President Tinubu to immediately instruct Kayode Egbetokun, inspector-general of the police, and his men, to stop killing peaceful protesters.

Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr, a professor and convener of Country First Movement, said President Tinubu’s speech was below par and flat.

“It was flaccid and an uneventful dance around the issues that brought us to the nadir. He sought to validate the policies that traumatize the people. He sought to decree an end to the protests without addressing the issues. Without making concrete promises. Without announcing some far-reaching reforms. And without saying a thing about cutting the cost of governance, and cutting wastage, wanderlust and profligacy. The person who wrote that speech maybe utterly wicked, mischievous and treacherous, because I do not believe that such is the mind of Mr. President. But what do I know?”

Ugo Egbujo, a public affairs analyst, described the speech as ‘ba la blue baloney.’

He said President Tinubu beats his chest about a new minimum wage, which has less purchasing power than the old minimum wages of Buhari, Jonathan and Obasanjo.

NECA makes demands

Also, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) asked President Tinubu to address what it called ‘economic contradictions in governance’ that are strangulating the organised private sector, and stopping it from fulfilling its role as the engine of ‘development.

Speaking amid the looting that has characterised the protest in some parts of the nation and President Tinubu’s Sunday morning national address, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, director-general of NECA, pointed to the role of some regulatory agencies which are limiting the efforts of the FG in growing the economy.

Read also: Nigerian police deny Amnesty Int’l report, blames Boko-Haram for protesters deaths

Sharing some of the contradictions, the Oyerinde said, “While the nation grapples with high unemployment rate and low business capacity utilisation, some regulatory agencies are still creating bottlenecks for business growth. It is obvious to all that the Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms have done creditably well in engaging critical stakeholders and building consensus on the tax reforms, some agencies continue to introduce new levies and other forms of taxes, negating the one of the main reason for the establishment of the Presidential Committee.”

He said the expectations that Dangote Refinery will contribute to reducing the nation’s propensity for fuel importation was almost dashed by regulatory bottlenecks in the oil and gas industry, at a time Nigeria is in dire need of investments.

“This is especially worrisome given the significant time and effort the president has invested in wooing foreign direct investors.”

Soyinka knocks Tinubu

Wole Soyinka, Nobel laureate, criticised President Tinubu’s Sunday broadcast for failing to address security agencies’ use of lethal force to quell the protests across Nigeria.

Soyinka, 90, a close ally of President Tinubu, said the refusal of the president to address matters in his speech was an endorsement of security agencies to continue toeing the pact of impunity.

Police and SSS operatives fired live ammunition at journalists hanging around the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja to cover the protests shortly after noon on Saturday. Reports say more than 40 people have been killed since Thursday across Nigeria, with dozens injured.

Soyinka condemned the use of live rounds to disperse protesters, noting that the protest itself was not unique to Nigeria alone, recounting how similar nationwide protests took place in France as recently as 2022 and 2023.

Soyinka said, “Firing live bullets at peaceful protesters who bemoaned hunger in the land, according to Mr Soyinka, symbolises an “ominous retrogression, the kind that precedes upheavals and most likely “revolutions.”

“The serving of bullets where bread is pleaded is ominous retrogression, and we know what that eventually prove, a prelude to far more desperate upheavals, not excluding revolutions.”

Dele Momodu, publisher of Ovation magazine, said: “After the long awaited speech of President Bola Tinubu eventually came this morning, I’m sure most of you would be as stupefied as me. I must confess that I had little hope of Tinubu granting some concessions to the aggrieved Nigerians. As a man who has held an iron grip on Lagos State in the last 25 years, it would be difficult for him to change a winning formula that has worked for him ever since.”

However, Atedo Peterside, founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, urged the campaigners of the #EndBadGovernance protest to suspend their demonstrations for now.

Read also: Ezekwesili, others describe Tinubu protest broadcast as missed opportunity

Peterside, in a statement on his X handle on Sunday, stated that if the government fails to yield to the demands of the protesters, they should regroup and call the Nigerian leaders to order again.

“You have made your point. Your massive turnout has frightened many people. FG is not deaf. The President has spoken this morning. Perhaps even the Legislators have heard you also,” the business tycoon said.

“If they collectively fail to significantly reduce the cost of governance, stop wasteful expenditures and tighten their own belts or lead by example, please then re-strategise, regroup and call them to order again,” Peterside said.