Tinubu’s Independence Day speech fails to address most Nigerians’ concerns – Poll

President Bola Tinubu’s 64th Independence Day address on 1 October failed to assuage the discontent of an overwhelming majority of Nigerians, recent PREMIUM TIMES social media polls have shown.

The speech came amidst a tough economic situation, high energy costs, and widespread insecurity in the country.

Many Nigerians are paying unprecedented amounts for petrol, with some spending hours at filling stations to buy the product at exorbitant prices. This has led to increased transportation costs and a general rise in the prices of goods and services.

Alongside petrol prices, foreign exchange rates — key indicators of the Nigerian economy and central to Mr Tinubu’s economic strategies — have gone through the roof.

Presidential addresses have become a part of the rituals of Nigeria’s Independence Day celebrations since the nation gained independence from British colonial rule on 1 October 1960. These addresses go beyond merely commemorating freedom and honouring the contributions of the nation’s founding fathers; they also serve to communicate the government’s efforts in tackling the country’s most pressing challenges, notably security and economic issues at present. Additionally, the speeches are carefully crafted to convey a message of hope to the citizens.

However, polls conducted by PREMIUM TIMES via two of its social media handles from 1 October appear to show that Mr Tinubu’s Independence Day address missed the mark.

The poll, which was on for about 96 hours from 1 to 4 October via the newspaper’s Facebook and X accounts, reveals that at least 86 percent of respondents are either completely uninterested in in the or find it unhelpful.

Poll methodology

The poll posed the question to users on both social media platforms: “Did Tinubu’s 64th Independence Anniversary speech address all your concerns?” The options provided varied in style but held similar significance, tailored to the limitations of each platform.

On Facebook, respondents had five choices: A – It addressed my concerns and restored my hope in Nigeria; B – It only addressed some of my concerns; C – I don’t care about the speech; D – It barely addressed any of my concerns; and E – The speech was useless and made me feel more hopeless about Nigeria.

However, on X, where only four options are allowed and character counts are limited, users were presented with: A – Yes, B – No, C – Somewhat, and D – I don’t care.

Poll Results on X

The poll on X garnered a total of 1,933 users as of its date of closure on 4 October.

More than half of them, about 51 per cent, voted “No” – that is, the president’s speech did not address their concerns. About 35 per cent voted “I don’t care”.

The two categories accounted for a total of 86 per cent of the respondents who found the president’s speech unhelpful.

The rest of the respondents are distributed between “Yes” and “Somewhat”

While 4 percent voted “Somewhat,” equivalent to the Facebook option “It only addressed some of my concerns,” 10 percent voted “Yes,” indicating that the president’s speech did address their concerns. This means that only 14 percent of respondents received Mr Tinubu’s message with varying degrees of satisfaction.

The poll on this platform therefore reveals a split between respondents with 86 per cent displeased with or unmoved by Mr Tinubu’s assurances and the rest 14 per cent satisfied with the president’s address to different levels.

Poll Results on Facebook

On Facebook, 327 users participated in the poll.

In a similar fashion, eight per cent of respondents — 26 individuals — said the speech addressed their concerns and renewed their hope in Nigeria, and these respondents (1 per cent) said the speech only addressed some of their concerns.

This means that only about 9 per cent of all respondents have some level of satisfaction in the speech.

On the other side of the broad divide, 25 per cent of respondents said they were indifferent to the speech, and 28 per cent felt it “barely addressed any of their concerns,” while the rest 38 per cent voted that the speech was “useless.”

This implies that overwhelming 91 per cent of the respondents on Facebook found the speech useful.

Unassuaged discontent

President Tinubu addressed Nigerians in a national broadcast in commemoration of the nation’s Independence Day celebrations on 1 October.

Although the president acknowledged the challenging economic conditions confronting Nigerians and highlighted some of his government’s achievements and continued efforts at addressing the challenges, the speech was widely criticised on social media.

A reflection of discontent against the government, some Nigerians mainly in Lagos protested the situation in the country on the Independence Day. The protest came on the heel of an earlier hunger strike tagged #EndBadGovernance protest with much wider participation across many states and Abuja, the federal capital, in August.

In the aftermath of Mr Tinubu’s Independence Day address, petrol prices surged to more than N1,000 per litre in most states. This increase came after NNPC Limited withdrew as the sole off-taker of petrol from the Dangote Refinery, effectively relieving the state-owned oil company of the burden of paying fuel subsidies.

On Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the annual inflation rate for September, which showed a rise of 0.55 percentage points, ending two consecutive months of decline.

The headline inflation rate stood at 32.70 per cent, compared to the August 2024 headline inflation rate of 32.15 per cent, as announced on Tuesday.

‘We’re not pleased’

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on the outcome of the polls on Thursday, Muritala Abdullah, a young, fresh Nigerian graduate, said Mr Tinubu’s speech did not reflect the daily realities of many Nigerians.

“His speech did not proffer solutions or give us hope that things will get better. For instance, look at the Port Harcourt refinery, I can’t count the number of times that they would give us a date of commencement of its production but all to no avail,” he said.

Temilade Onilede, a researcher at a fact-checking organisation, Dubawa, said Mr Tinubu did not address the rising petrol prices and other problems associated with it to her satisfaction.

“The speech is not viable and seems to be another obnoxious attempt to feign ignorance to the sufferings of the citizens, which is common to other rulers of African countries like him,” Ms Onilede said.