By Adadareporters
The New Year’s speech of President Bola Tinubu laced to ‘motivate Nigerians’, and a pointer that ‘the journey to the nation’s recovery is still far’.
Dr Ephraim Okenwa, head of the Department of Mass Communication, Coal City University, Enugu, stated this on Tuesday while reacting to the speech.
He berated members of the National Assembly for not living up to expectations, adding however that ‘they can’t give what they don’t have’.
Okenwa said, “President Tinubu’s speech is full of promises. Nigerians know what they want. You don’t need to use speeches to motivate them. We know the problems on ground: unemployment, insecurity and poverty.
“But we hear of large numbers of appointments by our leaders. I was disappointed in Tinubu’s speech, though I didn’t expect much. Tinubu launched hardship on Nigerians on the first day he came into office.
“In his speech, he is relying on private refineries to solve the nation’s problems. The journey for the nation’s recovery is still far. He made us understand that things will continue to be rough until they begin to get better. He didn’t mention corruption in the entirety of his speech.”
Okenwa urged Nigerians ‘who can pray to rise to the occasion’. In his words, “Our present politicians have no answer to the nation’s problems. We are yet to see the leaders for our renewed agenda.”
He also decried National Assembly members for not checkmating the excesses of the executive.
He said, “Look at how they handled the budget. Rather than cutting the sum, the lawmakers added more. Many of them ought not to be there. Our problem is that we remain silent when we should be talking. And when we talk, the lawmakers won’t hear. Many go there only to sleep. They can’t read.
“We expect too much from them, although they can’t give what they don’t have. We need to change our orientation. Nigeria has many brave people, but we choose to be silent.”
