Tinubu’s New Year speech not in tandem with realities

The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2025 New Year Day address has further confirmed the disconnection of the present administration from the people, saying there is no hope in sight.

The party also said the speech further validated the fact that the Tinubu-led APC administration is “disconnected and unconcerned with the hardship Nigerians are going through as a result of the ill-implemented policies and gross mismanagement of resources under his watch.”

Debo Ologunagba, National Publicity Secretary of the party, in a statement reacting to the speech, said “Nigerians were appalled that despite the prodding by the PDP and well-meaning citizens, President Tinubu’s New Year speech did not articulate any specific direction for the nation or proffer solution to the myriad of problems caused by APC’s misrule.

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“President Tinubu’s speech again underlines APC’s insensitivity to the anguish of Nigerians by failing to present any definite policy roadmap towards reducing the price of petroleum products, addressing the widespread hunger in the land and revamping our ailing productive sector.

“The speech did not articulate any solution-based direction for the critical sectors of electricity, oil and gas, road infrastructure, food production among other areas that are fundamental to the wellbeing of citizens. It was also pathetically devoid of a precise plan to address unemployment through strategic investment to stimulate multisectoral Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the country.”

The opposition party said if the APC administration has the interest of Nigerians at heart, “the New Year address would have made definite pronouncements on the price of fuel especially given that with a deft, transparent and innovative management of resources, economic potentials, comparative advantage, national refining capacity and effective policing of our borders, Nigerians should not pay more than N350 per liter for petrol within the country.”

PDP said the president must realise that “Nigerians have lost faith in his administration. They have since moved on and are eagerly waiting for the next round of election that will mark the end of the nightmare which the APC represents to our nation.

“Our Party, however, counsels President Tinubu to redeem his image by ending the insensitivity of his administration, listen to Nigerians and get more committed and focused on the purpose of governance which is the welfare and security of the people.”

Relatedly, the President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, said the optimism conveyed in President Tinubu’s New Year speech does not align with the current economic condition of the nation.

The TUC President made the comment during his appearance on the Channels Television program, Politics Today, on Wednesday evening.

Osifo said the presidency is doing more of optimism than reality.

He stated “The president of a country is the chief salesman of a country, his own primary responsibility is to lay out the message that he has laid out.

“To paint a very bright picture, to paint a picture of a lot of goodies that could come in 2025. So he has done what any president in the world could do. So generally, from listening to the statement and reading through it over and over again, we could see that a lot of things were painted with optimism.

“So in reality, what the president has said is trying to inspire hope, but that hope that he’s trying to inspire, is not really in tandem with what we have currently in our economy.”

The TUC President commented on the policies of the Tinubu-led administration, stating that both economic analysts and financial experts have recognized that the government’s policies have contributed significantly to the nation’s current challenges.

He emphasized that these policies have played a major role in exacerbating the economic difficulties faced by the country.

Tinubu’s New Year speech not in tandem with realities – PDP, TUC