You Failed Us, Nigerians React To Buhari's Valedictory Speech

 

... Ask Tinubu To Rescue Nation from Poverty

... Plus Buhari's Valedictory Speech

Femi Akinsola, Ibadan

Christiannah Fawale, Ado-Ekiti

Fadeke Oniyelu, Ado-Ekiti

Fountain Newsbreaker's Report

Against the backdrop of former President Muhammadu Buhari's apology in his Valedictory speech for his shortcomings, Nigerians have describe him as a colossal failure.

Fountain Newsbreaker went to town to get the views of a cross section of Nigerians on the speech which President Buhari delivered on Sunday 28, May 2023, urging the new President, Bola Tinubu to lift Nigeria out of doldrums. Have a wonderful reading:

Jerry Alomatu, a Mass Communication graduate from the Federal University Oye Ekiti says:

"To a greater extent, Lagos has been a safer place to live in compare to other states. At a point, some part in south west that was considered safe and terrorism-free became unsecured for both indigenes and non indigenes, like the killing during church service in Ondo.

However, I'll commend this administration for the maintenance and improvement in the security sector. To my best of knowledge, Lagos is peaceful and kudos can be attributed to the Buhari Administration.

Araromi Maxwell .O, PhD  

Associate Professor ( Education/ French language) University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. "Buhari farewell speech is full of hypocrisy and claims of fictitious achievement. We are not surprised at his performance. He has always been incompetent from inception. This was obvious when he first ruled Nigeria as Military Head of State. It is quite unfortunate the burden he has left for the incoming administration to carry. This is the only administration where ministers act like super powers arrogating undue power to themselves and acted with impunity without any checks and balance. Chris Ngige and Adamu Adamu are typical examples of square pegs in a round hole presiding over ministries they know nothing about for eight years. Buhari was only in charge of the country but he was not in control. Poverty level has increased astronimocally and the purchasing power and value of naira has diminished tremendously. He has plunged the country into humogous debts that would further cripple the economy system of Nigeria. He borrowed money till the twilight of his administation for no clearcut reason and he was being backed up and supported by the National Assembly members who are supposed to curtail his excesses judging by the principles of separation of powers. This is a man who had said repeteadly that he was in haste to leave the presidential seat and he failed to resign voluntarily when destinies of over 200 million Nigerians were at stake. This is an indication that he had conceded to failure and incompetence and he still continued to retain the seat until the last moment. Two major decisions he took during his 8 year tenure ( Naira redesign and closure of the borders) will continue to linger in the memory of those who lived to survive these inhumane and dastardly acts. The untold hardship it has caused business owners and good people of Nigeria is unquantifiable. It is quite obvious that servicing of debts will be one of the major challenges of the incoming administration. Meanwhile, he failed to acknowledge in his farewell speech that Nigeria earned the status of the world capital of poverty during his tenure"

Monijesu Olasupo, a Content Creator, Content Writer, Journalist and the face behind Epignosis World says: "Security in Nigeria has drastically gone from bad to worse. He literally turned the security officers that are our friends to be our enemies. The past president should not be the one commending himself for what he has done let the people decide that. Security in Oyo state is good because we've a good Governor and supporting systems but the other parts of the country, especially the Northern and Eastern regions are worst. Without mincing words, President Buhari failed woefully concerning security during his tenure."

Solahudeen Abdullahi Olatunde, a student of Adekunle Ajasin University Ibadan Campus (AAUA), English Language Department 100 and Creative writer says: "Congratulations to my nation! the great giant of Africa,it's obvious that the outgoing administration of our amiable President, His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari has done his best. I pondered on his speech, and I can agonize that the problems he promised to exterminate are yet to be extirpated. Even after eight years in power, Nigeria still stands downgraded in the comity of nations with Bad infrastructure, disorderliness, and the likes. To say the fact, Buhari's tenure ended well, but, with 100% Insecurity."

Julius Oluwadarasimi, a student of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Akoko says: "Everything has gone wrong with the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I’m glad Aso Rock will have new tenants. The failed Buhari government will be no more. I hope and pray that the new Tinubu administration will do all that it takes to make Nigeria work for everyone, and not just a section of the country. We need reforms in all sectors to make it work. And the new government shouldn’t be afraid to take hard steps that will give us a better country. I hope Nigerians have optimism left in them. He has no choice than to perform brilliantly within the first 100 days because no excuse would be entertained from any quarters. The time is now."

Oloyede Olayinka Meshach a certified mass communicator, counselor, content creator, and Analyst who graduated from Federal University of Oye Ekiti says: "Nigeria as a nation witnessed the administration of the outgoing president, His Excellency, President Mohammadu Buhari in a wishy-washy and dilapidated helplessness in term of security and corruption eradication. Although,the weight of Nigeria's problem might not be eradication at a glance but every Nigeria expected to see the good effect of his governmental administration to lighten a good number of them if not all but his era's work was to no avail in proffering solution to the dilemma of this country. In term of economic development, Buhari's administration ended as the worse of all."

Ogunleye Olufunso, a Certified Journalist says,

"Honestly, President Buhari has not done badly in terms of policies that may likely have positive impact on Nigerians.

Unfortunately, I will score him Zero, I mean zero, over all he did in view of the state of insecurities, insurgency, ritual killings, kidnapping, killing of two soldiers in the East, attacks on trains, attacks on Governors, a lot of available death etc"

My name is Borisade OLuwaFemi, a serving corp member in Kaduna state. 

First of all, I must commend the president for his efforts to curb the insecurity challenge, and congratulations to him on a successful completion of tenure in office.

Insecurity in my state has not really been tackled rather it's been modified day by day, coming in different dimensions but still trying to achieve the same goal, the president has done what he thinks is best for him and I must commend his efforts, just that, the mentality of Nigerians played a key role in sabotaging the efforts of the president and the military.

Insecurity in Nigeria is still a big issue but under former president Buhari, it becomes a bigger issue because it was fast spreading even to areas that were formerly known to be secured, but despite *all this* I think the president claims might be true on paper but on the field I don't think so because Nigerians are more scared than ever before, since they've lost confidence in the administration, they decided to become more vigilant and find means of protecting themselves.

I am Oreoluwa Akinsola, a post graduate student at the University of Ibadan Economics education. President Buhari's outgoing administration did not meet expectations in the delivery of the dividends of democracy, especially in terms of the provision of food, security, economic development, and even in politics. It is rather unfortunate that we voted for him to better the lots of Nigerians, but we were really disappointed by the administration. From recession to depression, he used the CBN and Emefiele's strange monetary policies to kill small businesses. Kidnapping and insecurity is on the rise because the government has failed woefully.

President Buhari tried his best in the area of infrastructure but his best was not enough for the progress of this nation. The progress is retarded in other sectors. For instance, the Buhari regime only sneers at the imperative of justice, which makes suffering perennially worse with upward increase in hardship,

fatalities, and mortalities. He is also, leaving the Education sector worse off than he met it, especially regarding the university. May the type of the outgoing minister of labour, ‘’Ngige Kind" , never come again to the Education Ministry.

Security-wise, he performed below expectations. Nigerians are more divided in his tenure. His style of governance exhibited distance between the leaders and followers because he hardly speaks to Nigerians on national issues.

Finally, he failed to deliver on his slogan "I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody".

Dr. Tolulope V Gbadamosi, 

Sub-Dean- Undergraduate

Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Below is the former President's speech:

The President of Nigeria, His Excellency, Muhammad Buhari has made a farewell speech today, 28th May, 2023.

In his address, he stated that Nigeria witnessed "a keenly contested Presidential Elections" since the first Republic and this demonstrates that out democracy is getting better and more entrenched with each election. He urges Nigerians to accept the decision of the courts and join hands to build a better Nigeria. His Excellency affirmed that he is leaving behind an electoral process which guarantees that votes count, results are credible, elections are fair and transparent and the influence of money in politics reduced to the barest minimum and Nigerians can elect leaders of their choice to ensure that our democracy remains resilient and our elected representatives remain accountable to the people " We are already seeing the outcome of this process as it provided an even playing field where persons without any political God - Father or access to money defeated other well resourced candidates" 

He continued in his speech buy appreciating his brother, friend and fellow worker in the political terrain for the past ten years- Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and he congratulated him on the realization of his dream, which was propelled by a burning passion to put Nigeria amongst the leading Nations' of the world Concerning the Nigerian economy, it has become more resilient due to the various strategies put in place to ensure that the economy remained afloat during cases of global economic downturns. The president reminded Nigerians during his farewell speech that the supply chain disruptions and economic downturn that the world witnessed between 2020 and 2022 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The deftness of our response to the pandemic still remains a global best practice. Furthermore, we increased the ability of the poor and rural Nigerians to earn a living, provided more food for millions in our villages and gave our women opportunities to earn a living. Also, Young men and women in urban centres were also supported to put their skills into productive use. Our administration also provided an enabling environment for the private sector to engage in businesses for which their return on investments is guaranteed. The private sector proved a strong partner in our drive to build a resilient and sustainable economy as evidenced by the growing number of turn-key projects in various sectors of the economy"

"In the course of revamping the economy, we made some difficult choices, most of which yielded the desired results. Some of the measures led to temporary pain and suffering for which I sincerely apologised to my fellow countrymen, but the measures were taken for the overall good of the country. Mindful of the need to ensure adequate infrastructure to drive economic growth, we completed age long projects and processes notably amongst which are the Petroleum Industry Act, completion of some power projects, completion of the second Niger bridge and various important roads linking cities and states"

His Excellency made it known to the public what his tenure did to insecurity, he said, "Our battle to ensure that all Nigerians live in a safe and secure environment has achieved considerable results. As I complete my term in office, we have been able to reduce the incidences of banditry, terrorism, armed robbery and other criminal activities considerably. To sustain the gains made so far, I call on all Nigerians to be more vigilant and support the security agencies by ensuring that our values defined by being your brothers’ keeper govern our actions. Up till now, I still grieve for our children still in captivity, mourn with parents, friends and relatives of all those that lost loved ones in the days of the senseless brigandage and carnage"

" For all those under unlawful captivity our Security Agencies are working round the clock to secure their release unharmed. Fellow Nigerians, you know how dear the desire in my heart is, to rid the country of corrupt practices that had consistently diminished our efforts to be a great country. I did pursue this commitment relentlessly, in spite of the expected push back. I am happy that considerable progress had been made in repatriating huge sums of money back to the country and also taken over properties illegally acquired from our common wealth."

Concerning international scene, the president said "Nigeria’s influence continues to grow as exemplified by notable Nigerians occupying headship and leadership positions in renowned global bodies. Our democracy is built on and continues to thrive on the principles of separation of powers. The leadership and members of the National Assembly deserve my appreciation for their patriotism which did not detract from their roles as a check to the executive arm"

In conclusion, His Excellency expressed his appreciation to a good number of Nigerians who provided their support and encouragement to help him navigate the exciting journey in moving Nigeria forward. "I cannot and will not forget the millions who prayed for me during my illness in my first term of office. I am constantly praying for you and for Nigeria to thrive in peace"

He said, "As I retire home to Daura, Katsina State, I feel fulfilled that we have started the Nigeria Re-Birth by taking the initial critical steps and I am convinced the in-coming administration will quicken the pace of this walk to see a Nigeria that fulfils its destiny to be a great nation. I am confident that I am leaving office with Nigeria better in 2023 than in 2015. I thank you all. And may God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria"