He also talked about continuity, which means that clearly his priorities remains the same. To grow the economy, to address the challenges of insecurity and to tackle corruption. That much is clear.
But in terms of details, I was questioning the details. That the president of Nigeria should not be boasting about 2.7% GDP growth, because we need a lot more than that.
Then of course another highlight of that speech was the renaming of National stadium after late Chief MKO Abiola, which is now Mushood Abiola National Stadium. I will say that MKO Abiola being recognized generally across Africa as a pillar of sports, as a major sports philanthropist is a befitting recognition by President Buhari.
Let's look at the explanation that the president offered. He said he has to do this and to recognize Gani Fawehimi and Alhaji Babagana Kingibe, in order to heal past wounds, in order to make atonement for the injustice of the past. I think that is a very good line in the statement. But there are of course too many other persons in Nigeria who will feel that this government has been unjust to them, and will be seeking that kind of atonement. But the biggest thing that Buhari administration can do is to try and promote the ideals that Chief MKO Abiola stood for in particular, and Chief Gani Fawehimi will be a defacto. Chief Gani Fawehimi was a defender of the rule of law and interest of the masses.
We will like to see not just atonement, but a commitment to that. When Chief MKO Abiola campaigned in 1993, he talked about hope, his campaign was tagged "Hope 1993." His objective was to lift Nigerians out of poverty.
President Buhari also talked about optimism. Yes he is very optimistic about the future. He said that he is going to lift over 100 million Nigerians out of poverty. It is good to hear that. Then he says China has done it, Indonesia has done it, India has done it. But it is not enough to say other people have done it. It is to see what lessons can learn from example of India, from example of Indonesia, from example of China. In any case, there is serious poverty in India. It is not though as if India has successfully lifted people out of poverty. But there are lessons that we can learn from this other jurisdictions.
Then the president goes on to blame religious, ethnic and political leaders for the insecurity in the country, and he stated his commitment to ensuring the security of lives and property.
The question is as if he knows those political, ethnic and religious leaders. It will also be the responsibility of the government either to call them to order or to sanction them.
Then of course he gave himself a pass mark for having managed the economy very well, haven taken Nigeria out of recession. I guess he was sounding like an Industrial economist their. But the evidence is on the street of Nigeria. There are more Nigerians today in the poverty trap, than any other time. We will like to see a difference in that regard.
But generally in terms of the overall quality of the speech, I think the president is more or less was just saying things we will like to hear, routine things.
The speech is short in terms of the details. I will rate his 2015 inaugural speech, which was more shorter, better than this present one. And if you look at the speech, there isn't much that you can quote their.
In 2015, the president gave a short sharp compact speech, that everybody was talking about for weeks. This one is just all over the place. I can't tell whether it was edited or not, but if you look at it, there are grammatical insolicities here and there. Well that's not the fault of the president, but fault of the people who prepared the speech for him.
Summarily, we expect the president after his speech, should begin to gain momentum, that's when we will have confidence or have hope that he actually means business.
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