Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s national broadcast on the occasion of the country’s independence, saying it did not offer solutions to the challenges facing the country.
He said Tinubu’s broadcast did not specifically indicate how his administration would revamp manufacturing, agriculture, food production, transportation, healthcare, education, and other key sectors.
The party also said the president did not indicate how he planned to resolve the foreign exchange increase.
This was stated by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.
Tinubu had addressed the nation earlier on Sunday as part of activities to mark the country’s independence anniversary.
“It is worrying that President Tinubu’s speech also lacked clear measures to revamp the critical sectors of manufacturing, agriculture, food production, transportation, healthcare, education and other critical sectors of life in the country.
“The President’s speech did not articulate solutions to the fall of the Naira from N187 to the US dollar under the PDP to over N1000 under his leadership; “There are no answers to the alarming unemployment rate of over 40 percent and the fact that Nigerians are now fleeing the country in droves daily,” Ologunagba said.
The PDP spokesperson also said that the president’s broadcast did not include solutions to the kidnappings and murders in different parts of the country.
He said: “Furthermore, it is heartbreaking that the President’s speech did not include words about the senseless killings, mutilations, kidnappings and mass burials of citizens in various parts of the country under his watch. He had no reassuring words about the kidnapping of students in Zamfara State or other victims of such dastardly acts across the country.
“On the much-hyped welfare package, the PDP says there is nothing to cheer about that spiteful symbolism where, amid unbearable costs, President Tinubu announced a paltry N25,000 a month for six months for workers low-grade average, while still being ambitious in its promise of compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
“It is also certain from the record that the promised cash transfer programs to an additional 15 million vulnerable households would be another conduit to divert public funds to corrupt APC leaders.”
Ologunagba noted that the President’s broadcast simply showed that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has no plan or capacity to resolve Nigeria’s challenges.
“Our party invites Nigerians to note that President Tinubu’s speech has left no one in doubt that the APC administration has no plans, capacity or competence to handle the crucial and urgent task of governance; which is clearly beyond their management power,” he stated.