As reactions trail President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast on the ongoing hunger protests, Adamawa State governor Ahmadu Fintiri has told the President to take action instead of just saying he has heard the cries of the protesters.
Tinubu had, in his speech, noted that he has heard the cries of Nigerians who have taken to the streets in protest over the high cost of living in the country.
“My dear Nigerians, especially our youth, 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,” he said.
Although he listed various policies and programs initiated by his administration, the President had been accused of failing to address the concerns raised by the protesters.
Speaking in Adamawa on Sunday, Fintiri, who defended the protest, said it is not enough for the President to just say he has heard Nigerians.
“The protest might be unpopular especially because of the way it is carried out in some states, but the message is clear and the demands are genuine. None of us can deny that there is hunger and general poverty.
“The lesson we must derive from the protest is the constant reminder that it is not enough to tell the citizens we have heard.
“We must be seen as doing the needful in providing solutions to citizens’ concerns,” the governor said.
Also reacting to the broadcast, a former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, described Tinubu’s address as “underwhelming”.
“As one of millions of Nigerians who were at church when you delivered your late-in-coming Speech to Citizens on the #EndBadGovernancelnNigeria protests, let me loudly say it was terribly underwhelming to read.
“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.
“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 @NigeriaGov will immediately take to address the priority #BadGovernance concerns,” Ezekwesili said in a tweet.
A senior journalist and former presidential aspirant, Dele Momodu, expressed shock that Tinubu did not make any concessions to the protesters.
Momodu, while reacting to the broadcast, 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 for the last 25 years, it would be difficult for him to change a winning formula that has worked for him ever since.
“Also, what did we expect his advisers to be telling him when most of them have been his most fanatical cronies from Lagos who have learnt never to challenge the master?
“So it was merely wishful thinking on the part of incurable optimists like me to think he was going to have mercy on hapless and seemingly helpless Nigerians.”
However, a former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, came to Tinubu’s defence, saying the President did not disappoint.
“President Bola Tinubu’s speech has not disappointed Nigerians in that for the first time, the president clearly stated the daunting economic situation his administration met on ground at inception.
“He also amplified the strenuous efforts made by his government to reduce the prevailing crippling and stagnating debt servicing ratio from 97 per cent of earned revenue to 68 per cent.
“In truth, this has been the major cause of our present economic woes and sufferings.
“It is now self-evident that if the fuel subsidy was not removed, it would have been impossible for the government to function.
“And the government will not be able to meet its obligations, without continuing the profligacy of massive and sustained borrowing to fund the subsequent national budgets,” Okupe said.
Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo hailed the broadcast, describing Tinubu’s address as compassionate.
In a post on X, the minister said, “Great and inspiring speech by Mr. President. Compassionate, yet firm; conciliatory, yet not condescending; resolute on our objectives, yet reassuring. Wonderful balance.”