Tinubu’s address: Anambra residents express mixed reactions
Some residents of Awka, the capital of Anambra have expressed mixed reactions to President Bola Tinubu’s address on Sunday over the ongoing nationwide hunger protest.
Those who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria said while the address was timely and empathetic, it failed to touch on some of the issues which led to the protest.
Mr Chris Azor, the Coordinator, Anambra State Civil Society Network (ASCONET) said the President was able to highlight some of the steps his administration was taking to ameliorate the numerous challenges he met on assuming office.
Azor, a Good Governance advocate, said the speech did not provide measures to address the grouses of the masses in the immediate term.
He said among the demands of protesters were realities of hunger and hardship, spike in cost of living as a result of removal of full subsidy, floating of the local currency, insecurity and unemployment.
“The President did not say anything about insecurity, fuel subsidy removal, the humongous cost of governance, and how to tackle them immediately.
“We did not see specifics and timeline on how to solve the issue of hike in prices of food items, social services and galloping inflation.
“Furthermore, the President’s language betrays fixation with political opponents as the cause of the crisis, it is a curious misreading and understanding of the core existential issues,” he said.
Azor said the warning to ethnic bigots was welcome but urged the president to arrest and prosecute promoters to serve as deterrent for others.
He said the Civil Society was worried about the high cost of governance and called for implementation of the Oronsaye Panel report to right size Ministries, Departments and Agencies as well as reduce duplication of functions.
“We commend Mr President for the address, going further, we want him to put in place immediate security measures to give farmers access to their farms, without hindrance by herders and bandits, to ensure massive food production.
“There should be specific timelines and modalities for Compressed Natural Gas conversion nationwide, to ease transportation challenges.
“He should make State Governors to ensure that humongous support releases from the Federal Government get to the people in a transparent, equitable and accountable manner.
“He should swiftly implement Supreme Court Judgment on local government autonomy to ensure full democracy and development at that level,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Jude Atupulazi, a journalist and social commentator described the president’s speech as fairly good with lots of promises.
Atupulazi said at the bottom of today’s problems was the removal of fuel subsidy without emplacing measures to cushion the effects adding that instead of making the lives of people better, it had left them worse off.
He said he had expected that the President would address the downturn in the real sector as a result of the harsh operational environment, noting that it was a major contributor to unemployment and poverty.
“Government should genuinely tackle corruption, rehabilitate our refineries, cut the cost of governance and protect our currency.
“In the short run, fuel subsidy should be returned while the government goes about planning well for its eventual withdrawal.
You don’t suddenly pull out a patient from their life support machine to fix the life support mechanism without first ensuring that the patient has other means of hanging on to life,” he said
