Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
A former Minister for Education and Health respectively, Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, has told President Ahmed Tinubu, that he “cannot run Nigeria by propaganda.”
Professor Madubike who was reacting to the President’s independence day anniversary speech, said that the economic realities in the country render the President’s independence Day speech claims empty.
He said: “We cannot run a good government by propaganda. We have to face the reality and the final assessment of how well we have done resides on the people- how the people are faring.
“When he says we have turned the corner, I don’t agree we have turned the corner. We have not even reached the corner. I was in the market yesterday to buy a loaf of bread and the least I could buy was N1,400 a loaf of bread that a couple of years ago I used to buy for N50. I love drinking stout. I went to buy stout and it’s N1,200 a can. I used to buy it for N350. That is the real GDP, and not the one that is based on re-basing.”
The elder statesman who said he was a youth when Nigeria gained independence, regretted that all the high hopes and expectations of Nigerians had been dashed by politicians.
“I saw independence. I celebrated it as a young man. I know the hopes that we had. I was in secondary school then. I was prepared for independence. We had high hopes. So those hopes are not only deferred, they are dashed.
“We have to work harder. Nigeria has to work harder to make it. It’s not about propaganda. Propaganda doesn’t put food on the table.”
