00:01Nigeria celebrated 66 years of independence on Thursday, marked by a speech from President Bola Tinubu.
00:10Tinubu, who's running for a second term in January, highlighted his government's economic reforms
00:16and said the country has overcome some major challenges since he took office in 2023.
00:23But citizens are sceptical.
00:27We're not doing well economically, I listen to the British directorates, something we've
00:32been hearing before. These are part of the campaign promises. And if they are still promising us that
00:37now, it means nothing is working as far as I'm concerned. The failure of an IRA has defeated,
00:43in fact, despite the huge money being shared by state, if we look at it critically at what it was
00:50before 2023. The value is not there. We can only see numbers. What this money can translate to
01:00economically for us is very, very poor as far as I'm concerned. Security will be another major
01:07factor in next year's vote, as mass kidnappings and killings have spread to regions once spared the
01:13violence. For a person of 66 years old, you know, we expected to be, you know, more than this. Although
01:22it doesn't be bad, it doesn't be bad, but we pray for a better country because insecurity has been not
01:32something to write them about, you know. People get kidnapped every now and then. Then the cost of
01:40living has been on high. So we expect the government to look into it.
01:46Tinubu began his administration with economic reforms, including the removal of a decades-long
01:52fuel subsidy. He later floated the local Naira currency by ending its distorted foreign exchange rate,
01:59triggering a major devaluation. The reforms were cheered by investors, but resulted in soaring inflation.
