RULAAC’s Response to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 66th Independence Anniversary Address
The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has taken note of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s address to Nigerians on the occasion of the country’s 66th Independence Anniversary.
The President presented an optimistic assessment of Nigeria’s economic trajectory, arguing that the difficult reforms undertaken by his administration are beginning to yield results and that the country is moving “from reform to prosperity.”
RULAAC acknowledges the importance of macroeconomic stability and notes the President’s references to economic growth, declining inflation, improving foreign reserves, greater stability in the foreign-exchange market and increased non-oil exports.
We particularly note the President’s own acknowledgement that the true measure of economic success cannot be statistics alone but must ultimately be reflected in the food on Nigerian families’ tables, electricity in their homes, quality education for their children and security in their communities.
It is precisely by this standard that Nigerians will assess the state of the nation.
THE GAP BETWEEN ECONOMIC INDICATORS AND EVERYDAY LIFE
For millions of Nigerians, the most urgent question is not whether particular macroeconomic indicators have improved, but whether those improvements are translating into a better quality of life.
Food, transportation, housing, healthcare and education remain difficult for many households to afford. The purchasing power of wages has been substantially eroded by the cumulative impact of inflation and the rising cost of essential goods and services.
Government must therefore move urgently from celebrating improvements in macroeconomic indicators to demonstrating measurable improvements in household welfare.
If the sacrifices imposed by economic reforms are to retain public legitimacy, Nigerians are entitled to transparent accounting of the savings and additional revenues generated by those reforms and how they are being invested in social protection, healthcare, education, public transportation, employment creation and productive infrastructure.
Citizens cannot continually be asked to make sacrifices while government at all levels appears insufficiently committed to reducing waste, ostentation and the cost of governance.
SECURITY CANNOT BE A FOOTNOTE
RULAAC is concerned that, despite the continuing severity of insecurity across different parts of Nigeria, the President’s address did not provide a sufficiently substantive account of the security situation or a clear assessment of progress, failures and outstanding challenges.
Terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal violence and other forms of criminality continue to threaten lives, livelihoods and economic activity in several parts of the country.
Farmers cannot contribute meaningfully to food security when they cannot safely access their farms. Businesses cannot thrive where kidnapping and violent crime impose additional costs. Communities cannot prosper when residents live in fear.
Security must also be understood beyond military operations against terrorists and armed criminal groups.
Nigerians must equally be secure from unlawful conduct by agents of the state.
RULAAC continues to receive and document allegations of arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, prolonged detention, extortion, unlawful seizure of property and other abuses by personnel of law-enforcement agencies.
A democratic government committed to security must protect citizens both from criminals and from abuses committed by those entrusted with enforcing the law.
Police reform, accountability for misconduct, effective civilian oversight and full implementation of the safeguards contained in the Police Act 2020 and other applicable laws must therefore remain national priorities.
Good Governance Must Accompany Economic Reforms.
Nigeria’s challenge is not merely economic. It is equally a crisis of institutions, accountability and public confidence.
Economic reform without governance reform will not be sufficient.
The government must demonstrate greater transparency in public expenditure, strengthen anti-corruption institutions, respect judicial independence, guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and protect the legitimate work of journalists, human-rights defenders and civil society organisations.
The rule of law cannot be selectively applied.
Political officeholders, security officials and politically connected persons must be subject to the same laws that govern ordinary citizens.
The sacrifices demanded from Nigerians must also be visibly reflected in the conduct of government.
The Silence On 2027 Is Significant
RULAAC considers one of the important omissions from the President’s Independence Day address to be the absence of a substantive commitment concerning the integrity of the approaching 2027 general elections.
Nigeria is already effectively within an electoral season. Political mobilisation has begun, and incidents and allegations of political intimidation, disruption of political activities and violence require serious attention.
The credibility of the 2027 elections will not be determined only on election day. It is being determined now.
Every political party and candidate must be able to organise, campaign and communicate freely throughout Nigeria without intimidation or violence.
Security agencies must remain professional, impartial and politically neutral.
Allegations of attacks on political opponents must be promptly and independently investigated, irrespective of the political affiliations of either the victims or alleged perpetrators.
Those responsible for electoral or politically motivated violence must be prosecuted rather than protected by political influence.
The Independent National Electoral Commission must be allowed to exercise its constitutional and statutory responsibilities independently and must itself demonstrate transparency, consistency and institutional courage.
Election technology, including BVAS and electronic transmission or publication mechanisms, can strengthen transparency, but technology alone cannot guarantee credible elections where violence, intimidation, vote-buying, abuse of state resources or partisan conduct by public institutions is tolerated.
President Tinubu Has A Dual Responsibility
As Nigeria approaches 2027, President Tinubu occupies the position of President of the Federal Republic while also being an interested political actor in the electoral process.
That circumstance places a particular responsibility on him to ensure that the institutions of the Nigerian state are not deployed to provide improper political advantage to any candidate or party.
RULAAC therefore urges the President to make an unequivocal public commitment that his administration will:
– guarantee equal security protection for all lawful political activities regardless of party;
– direct security agencies to maintain strict neutrality in the electoral process;
– ensure prompt investigation and prosecution of political and electoral violence without regard to political affiliation;
– protect the rights of citizens, journalists, election observers and civil society organisations;
– respect INEC’s institutional independence and refrain from improper interference in its operations;
– ensure that federal institutions and public resources are not unlawfully deployed for partisan purposes;
– support effective enforcement against vote-buying, intimidation and other electoral offences; and
– respect lawful electoral outcomes and constitutional mechanisms for resolving disputes.
These commitments should not remain rhetorical. Nigerians must see them reflected in the conduct of state institutions throughout the months preceding the elections.
Independence Must Have Meaning In The Daily Lives Of Citizens
The President rightly observed that independence carried the promise that Nigerians would have the freedom to shape their own destiny.
That freedom must have practical meaning.
A Nigerian who cannot afford basic food is not enjoying the full promise of economic citizenship.
A farmer who cannot safely reach his farm is denied security.
A young person unable to find productive work confronts diminished opportunity.
A citizen afraid to criticise public officials or peacefully participate in civic affairs experiences diminished democratic freedom.
And a voter who cannot freely attend a political meeting, support a candidate or cast a ballot without intimidation cannot meaningfully exercise political sovereignty.
At 66, Nigeria requires more than optimism. It requires accountable institutions, responsible political leadership, security founded on respect for human rights, an economy whose gains reach ordinary citizens and an electoral process in which Nigerians can freely determine who governs them.
RULAAC therefore calls on the Federal Government to use the period between this Independence Anniversary and the 2027 general elections to rebuild public confidence through measurable improvements in security, living conditions, institutional accountability and protection of democratic freedoms.
The President has declared that Nigeria is moving “from reform to prosperity.”
For Nigerians, the ultimate evidence of that transition will not be found principally in speeches or economic statistics. It will be found in whether families can afford food, whether citizens can travel and work without fear, whether public officials are accountable to the law, and whether every Nigerian can freely participate in the 2027 elections without violence, intimidation or improper interference.
Nigeria’s democracy will be strengthened when citizens – not governments, political parties or security agencies – are genuinely free to determine the country’s political future through credible elections.
Okechukwu Nwanguma
Executive Director
Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC)
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