Abdullahi Bilal

Every October 1st, Nigerians are summoned to a ritual: we wear green-and-white, wave flags, sing anthems, and are asked if only for a moment to believe that the country is on a path of progress. This year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu delivered his customary Independence Day address, full of references to hope, resilience, and the supposed gains of his administration.

But beneath the patriotic language lies a grim truth: for the overwhelming majority of Nigerians, life is harder than ever. Tinubu’s speech was polished and elegant, but detached from the lived reality of the masses. It offered empty rhetoric in a time of hunger, insecurity, and despair.

If we strip away the glossy words and examine the core issues, what emerges is not a story of renewal but of deepening crisis. From the hollowness of Nigeria’s so-called independence, to the brutality of subsidy removal, the collapse of education and health, the silence on insecurity, the cost-of-living crisis, and the widening gulf between elites and the people—the president’s message rings hollow. Let us take these points one by one.

Independence Without Liberation

Tinubu’s address was heavy with references to 1960 and the sacrifices of nationalist leaders. Yet the hollowness begins here: independence is presented as a completed achievement rather than a continuing struggle.

Political sovereignty was granted in 1960, but economic power never passed to the people. Nigeria’s resources—oil, minerals, and finance—have been managed in the interests of foreign corporations, global lenders, and a corrupt local elite. Successive governments, including Tinubu’s, act as agents of imperialist capital rather than champions of national development.

Independence, for most citizens, remains symbolic. True liberation requires economic democracy, dignity, and sovereignty. None of these exist under today’s system.

The “Reform” Disaster: Subsidy Removal as Class Violence

No issue shows the gap between rhetoric and reality more clearly than fuel subsidy removal. Tinubu again claimed in his speech that ending the subsidy was a “necessary sacrifice” to save the economy. But who is really sacrificing?

Since May 29, 2023, petrol prices have jumped from N185 to around N850–N900 per litre in 2025. Transport costs tripled. Food prices soared. Inflation hit record highs. Yet the minimum wage—N70,000—remains hopelessly inadequate.

The subsidy removal was not a technical adjustment. It was class violence: pushing the costs of crisis onto workers, peasants, students, and the unemployed, while the rich and oil marketers continue to profit. Tinubu praises “tough choices.” But for ordinary Nigerians, those choices mean hunger and ruin.

Infrastructure, Education, and Health: The Lies of Progress

Tinubu boasted of “infrastructure renewal.” Yet electricity supply is still epileptic, rarely above 5,000MW for over 250 million people. Families spend more on fuel for generators than on food.

In education, his silence was telling. Across federal universities, fees have skyrocketed. At UNILAG, fees rose from N20,000 to over N190,000. The student loan scheme is a sham—bureaucratic, exclusionary, and designed to trap young people in debt.

Worse, Tinubu counted the number of schools built as if this were real progress. Yet over 180 schools in the North have been attacked or shut down by bandits. Structures alone mean nothing when institutions are collapsing and education is priced out of reach for working-class families.

Health care is also in freefall. Hospitals lack staff, equipment, and drugs. Over 15,000 Nigerian doctors and nurses left for the UK, US, and Canada in 2024 alone. The elite, including Tinubu, fly abroad for treatment while the poor die in underfunded clinics.

Insecurity: Silence as an Admission of Failure

One of the glaring silences in Tinubu’s speech was insecurity. Across Zamfara, Katsina, Kebbi, Plateau, Benue—and even the FCT—bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists terrorize communities.

In many places, such as Zamfara and Katsina, bandits negotiate peace deals with local communities, effectively running parallel authorities. The state has lost control. Despite “trillions” spent on defense, farmers cannot farm, villagers are displaced, and children are kidnapped.

Even Abuja is not safe. The recent killing of Arise TV journalist Somtochukwu Sommie shows that violence now touches the media itself. Tinubu’s silence on such tragedies during his speech reflects a government with no solution.

Cost of Living: A Nation at Breaking Point

Tinubu’s rhetoric about “recovery” clashes with daily reality:

– A bag of rice now costs N65,000–N70,000, up from N28,000 in 2023.

– A loaf of bread sells for over N2,000.

– Rent in cities like Abuja and Lagos has doubled.

– The naira collapsed to N1,600 per dollar on the black market.

Ordinary people cannot tighten their belts any further—they are already starving. Meanwhile, the elite celebrate with banquets in Abuja while families in Ajegunle, Nyanya, Suleja and Maiduguri cannot afford a decent meal.

Elite Spectacle, Mass Neglect

Tinubu’s speech was not for the masses. It was for the cameras, the elites, and international observers. He spoke of GDP growth, exchange rates, and infrastructure indices—but not of hunger, insecurity, or collapsing schools.

This performance deepens alienation. When citizens see their daily suffering ignored or dressed up as “resilience,” it breeds anger and despair. Independence Day becomes not a celebration but a cruel reminder of betrayal.

The Socialist Alternative: From Rhetoric to Liberation

The emptiness of Tinubu’s words shows the bankruptcy of neoliberal capitalism. His government, like those before it, defends privatization, austerity, and debt repayment to foreign powers.

The only real alternative is socialism:

1 Public ownership under democratic control of oil, gas, and key industries.

2 Free education and healthcare, funded by taxing the rich.

3 Living wages tied to inflation for all workers.

4 Mass housing, electricity, water, and transport as rights, not luxuries.

5 Community-based security, addressing poverty as the root of violence.

6 Debt repudiation, freeing Nigeria from IMF and World Bank chains.

7 Worker and peasant power in governance, breaking the grip of corrupt elites.

Only such a program can turn independence into real liberation.

Conclusion: Words Are Not Enough — Struggle Remains

Tinubu’s 2025 Independence Day speech was elegant but hollow. It ignored insecurity, justified hunger, and demanded sacrifice from those already crushed. It was a performance, not a plan.

Nigeria does not need more speeches. It needs struggle, organization, and a new political direction. Independence day celebration reduced to a mere ritual of flag-waving and false hope is completely hollow, not when the country is still dependent and has done nothing to reverse the existing economic and political structure put in place by British colonialism that in no way serves the interest of the working masses. The task therefore in going forward is for the working class to step forward with the needed leadership to organise the entire strata of the working masses to successful struggle and win political power and commence the socialist transformation of society.