President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s national broadcast on Sunday, August 4, 2024, in response to the mass protests across Nigeria over hunger and hardship, was anything but presidential. Apart from the fact that it did not acknowledge the severity of the sufferings that Nigerians passed through in the last 14 months due to both fiscal and monetary measures of this government, the nationwide broadcast failed to address the specific demands made by the protesters. The speech was a repetition of the promises the government made since it came into power, most of them not mature enough to yield fruits that would ameliorate the current unbearable suffering.
It was quite unfortunate that President Tinubu missed an opportunity to impress the nation that he was in touch with the people and had a pragmatic approach to the crisis. It was apparent from the participation in the protests that, apart from a few elite who have access to the government treasury and could cope, whatever the economic conditions in Nigeria, the majority of Nigerians were victims of the harsh economic policies.
The inflationary trend in Nigeria has been unprecedented. The prices of goods and essential items have been on the rise on a weekly basis, as the government did not lift a finger to halt or stop the trend. The purchasing power of the Naira became weaker and weaker with its devaluation at a rate of slide never seen before in the history of Nigeria. The difficulties have been so grave that experts had begun to predict doom to the unmanageable level suffered in Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and even Lebanon, where national currencies became useless and basic amenities were unaffordable and unavailable.
From speeches delivered at rallies and banners carried from one part of Nigeria to another, the protesters made it clear that they wanted a reduction in the pump price of petroleum products. They wanted the government to address food shortages, unemployment, and wasteful spending by this government. They called for a reduction in the cost of governance. They wanted the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to be reinvigorated to fight against the corruption in this government.
These demands were not unfounded. With the removal of subsidy on petroleum, a lot of resources are now at the disposal of this government to invest in other sectors that should create jobs, invest in agriculture, education and other important sectors. However, these funds are being shared among governors and the political elite who hardly account for them. Issues of this nature raised by the protesters were not addressed in the president’s speech.
The tone of the president’s address was dismissive of the 10-day protests. The president waved the demands aside, based on the assumption that some politicians instigated the youths to protest in pursuit of their political agenda. This assumption was totally wrong; totally out of place, because hunger and hardship are enough agenda for any government, ruling or in the opposition, to deal with.
The purpose of government, as stipulated in Chapter II Section 16(2) of the Constitution, is to ensure the survival of every citizen of Nigeria, not to enact policies that will make life unbearable. It states clearly in Section 16(2 a) that, “The economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of a group; and (d) that suitable and adequate shelter, suitable and adequate food, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and employment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens.”
The Constitution is clear and emphatic about the need for government to cater for the welfare of the people. Even systems of government that claim to be capitalist make provisions for the welfare of the poor, through subsidised transportation, medical care facilities, education, housing and even food. The protests were about the welfare of the people. The president should have used the speech to address the issues raised by the protesters and come up with genuine timelines for their implementation. This way, Tinubu would have admitted to Nigerians in his speech that his policies, though with good intentions, had brought difficulties for the people, and that he would come up with remedial measures.
The protests have provided genuine feedback to the president on how his policies are affecting the people. We call for a total review of Tinubu’s policy directions, in order, to align with the needs and expectations of the people. The president must assemble Nigerians who are capable of designing pragmatic and indigenous policies to deal with the current twisted economic condition. By now, it should be clear to Tinubu that the strategy of outsourcing policy directions to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has hurt the country severely; it has not helped in any way. Government policies should be of benefit to the people not destroy their lives today in the name of planning for a better indeterminable future.