Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary as celebrated last week has thrown up quite some issues with respect to leadership deficit, Democracy and effective public communication amidst the tragedy of ideological disconect from reality. Tinubu in his Anniversary Speech likened Nigeria to a Cancer Patient who instead of going for a much needed surgery has preferred to be dousing the pain with morphine. He likened the current reforms of his administration to the necessary surgery geared towards ushering in the season of prosperity.
He acknowledged the growing pain in the land insisting that the pain is necessary to exorcise the cancer which he attributed to years of unproductivity and lack of courage to wheel the patient to the theater for the decisive life saving surgery over the years.
The President declared that Nigeria’s painful economic reform phase is as good as being over and that the country has entered an “age of prosperity”. There are however no convincing indicators on ground to support this presidential optimism.
His speech “From Reform to Prosperity” tried to assure Nigerians that”emergency treatment” for the economy is finished and the foundational repairs now complete with the stage ready for an era of shared prosperity.
He also claimed that the economy recorded a growth of over 4% this year, driven by both oil and non-oil sectors.
Many Nigerians are indeed of the opinion that the national address patently betrayed how sharply disconnected the office of the President is from the harsh realities concerning the economic dysfunctionality of the reforms and the worsening state of pervasive insecurity. There are informed opinions that Mr President, the physician in the present administrative context has succeeded through the on going reforms in sending the Cancer Patient to a stage four level of endemic, near irrecoverable affliction.
From all indications, the patient is currently on a life support in an Intensive Care Unit. Sad enough, there is neither sincerity nor commitment on the part of the team of physicians assembled to attend to the patient. Wrong diagnosis has resulted in misleading prescriptions in a health facility notorious for out of stock syndrome. The support structures of the economy have been so disenabled that it becomes apparently difficult to believe the President when he says that the administration’s focus is now shifting to reducing the cost of living, creating jobs, boosting manufacturing and agriculture, and improving living standards. That is a resort to promises and political polemics which failed to resonate with a people who had been fed with a diet of hope and illusion for far too long.
The President’s address in very practical terms lacked a sense of accountability and convincing clarity of developmental direction. Even at that, with 2027 elections around the corner, the President took out time to criticize opposition politicians who are promising to do things differently by returning to the days of subsidy on petroleum and curbing the high level corruption crippling the sector. The President’s address both in intent and delivery failed to capture the pain in the land and fell short of profering cognate ways into the envisaged era of shared prosperity. It also failed to identify the areas the acclaimed gains from subsidy removal have been channeled into for the expectation of the era of shared prosperity to be credible.
The President insisted that the emergency phase of foundational economic reforms has ended and that the country has commenced transitioning into an age of shared prosperity. This again is in ultra contradiction to the key economic indicators including looming poverty, high cost of living, failed infrastructure , growing unemployment and festering insecurity.
The President’s claim that Nigeria’s economy grew by over four percent in 2026, powered by performance in both the oil and non-oil sectors remains ephemeral as it has not reflected in the cost of living index
It indeed sounded outrightly ludicrous when the President noted that social safety nets and direct support programs as bridges toward progress rather than permanent substitutes are being effectively deployed to attain an outright defeat of poverty across the country.
Expectedly, opposition figures like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have had reasons to observe that such a landmark speech failed the people and disconnected from the harsh realities of millions facing poverty, intensified hunger and worsening insecurity.
The undeniable truth remains that celebration of freedom from colonialism loses its fundamental essence when the peoples collective aspirations are still under the throes of neo-colonial economic oppression and exploitation. Celebration of flags and rendition of national anthem therefore holds no sustainable meaning to a people whose common wealth is plundered by a few political elites who keep appealing for more patience.
This patient called Nigeria deserves to live and therefore must not be left to die in the hands self serving pseudo Medics.
POSTSCRIPTS: DEATH AT THE SECRETARIAT
The circumstances surrounding the death of a deputy director in Delta State Civil Service Unity Ekpevbughe Adeda remains a major stain on the operations of the civil service and the public perception of Delta State.
The 54-year-old Deputy Director in the State Ministry of Secondary Education, died following a violent workplace attack reflective of cultism and gangsterism in the public space.
What took place at the Prof Chike Edozie Secretariat in Asaba on 24 September 2026 was pure organized and premeditated murder.
The global community is following with keen interest to see how justice is to be served in this very sad phase in the history of civil service conduct and service delivery
