By Ken Afor
The New Year speech delivered by Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been labeled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a collection of deceit, unfounded assertions, and hollow commitments.
President Tinubu in his New Year address to Nigerians on Monday, emphasized that the frustration among Nigerians stems from the elimination of fuel subsidy and the devaluation of the Naira.
He said “I am not oblivious to the expressed and sometimes unexpressed frustrations of my fellow citizens. I know for a fact that some of our compatriots are even asking if this is how our administration wants to renew their hope.
“Over the past seven months of our administration, I have taken some difficult and yet necessary decisions to save our country from fiscal catastrophe. One of those decisions was the removal of fuel subsidy which had become an unsustainable financial burden on our country for more than four decades.”
However, the President urged Nigerians to exercise patience, emphasizing that his administration is actively addressing all concerns related to the socio-economic landscape through his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’.
But the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, stated on Monday that Tinubu’s speech was lackluster and failed to address any of the pressing issues afflicting the nation, making it a futile expenditure of time.
“Nigerians were dismayed as President Tinubu employed rhetoric and failed to address the critical issues of insecurity, decayed infrastructure, comatose manufacturing, and productive sectors; crushing 28% inflation rate, continuing plunge of the Naira, alarming unemployment, excruciating poverty and economic hardship occasioned by the reckless, ill-advised and insensitive policies and programmes of his administration, the opposition party stated.
According to the PDP spokesman, it is deemed an unforgivable attack on the intelligence of Nigerians for Tinubu to claim that the decisions he had taken since he took over power from Muhammadu Buhari in May 29 are for the best interest of Nigerians.
He said, “On the contrary, all decisions and actions of the Tinubu Presidency including the approval of an increase in the pump price of fuel from N167 to over N700 per liter, devaluation of the naira with the consequential high costs and hardship; skewing of the 2024 budget in favour of luxury appetite of the Presidency and APC leaders without concrete policies to revive the economy and create jobs; the wasteful foreign trips with political cronies and failure to address the mindless killings across the nation cannot be said to be in the interest of our country.”
The PDP spokesperson condemned Tinubu’s remarks, labeling them as an unacceptable attack on the Nigerian people’s sensibilities.
Furthermore, the spokesperson argued that Tinubu’s claim that his actions and policies are in the nation’s best interest only reinforces the notion that this administration is deliberately imposing hardship on Nigerians to coerce them into submission to a totalitarian regime.
Ologunagba added, “President Tinubu ought to have used the opportunity presented by the New Year to apologize to Nigerians and marshal out steps to address our national challenges, including those responsible for the exiting of multinational manufacturing companies and other businesses from our country.
“What Nigerians demand of President Tinubu is to provide a comprehensive account of our nation’s earnings including the proceeds from the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, especially in the face of allegations that the earnings are being diverted to private pockets of APC leaders and their cronies.
“The National Assembly is invited to step up and perform its Constitutional role of oversight to hold the Executive Arm accountable as the custodian of the purse of the nation.”
It would be recalled that earlier, President Tinubu in a New Year message broadcast to Nigerians urged the citizens to remain united and lend their support to his administration’s efforts in constructing a stronger nation and fostering a society that prioritizes the welfare of all its citizens.
The President also encouraged them to remain steadfast in the face of challenging times and hardships.
