This is not Collin Firth playing Prince Albert, Duke of York, rather it is the story of Goodluck Jonathan's effort of trying to get 'misled youths not to disturb public peace.' Whether the Nigerian president needs a speech therapist to take him on breath control, muscle relaxation or how not to stutter especially on a day when even a child could read fears written in block letters on his face... is really none of our business, we have bigger things to worry about e.g price of petrol. As it is, Martin Luther King Jr, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela and other great orators of this world would hate to be in his shoes right now (emphasis on shoes).

The broadcast was on the evening of a Saturday which most people I know had their minds #occupied already with the New Year's gift and bracing up for the coming week. "Who are we to stop the president from having his special broadcast...don't they always have it even when we don't care to listen" A friend said while trying to convince me to watch for the fun of it. We started an argument on whether he was going to use the teleprompter or not - we chose not to waste our time guessing what the address could be about.

Please permit me to digress a little bit while I paint this scenario, Let's assume the teleprompter goes off during the live special transmission of Mr President. I'm sure he'd give an unconscious Mogbe! (a Yoruba exclamation remark meaning "I'm in trouble") before the NTA guy in the control room slams the flattest and ugliest logo in the world on our faces.

I'll skip the intro and other parts of the speech to go straight to what could have been the selling point of the entire broadcast IF it had come before January 1st.

"To save Nigeria, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices. On the part of Government, we are taking several measures aimed at cutting the size and cost of governance, including on-going and continuous effort to reduce the size of our recurrent expenditure and increase capital spending. In this regard, I have directed that overseas travels by all political office holders, including the President, should be reduced to the barest minimum. The size of delegations on foreign trips will also be drastically reduced; only trips that are absolutely necessary will be approved. For the year 2012, the basic salaries of all political office holders in the Executive arm of government will be reduced by 25%. Government is also currently reviewing the number of committees, commissions and parastatals with overlapping responsibilities. The Report on this will be submitted shortly and the recommendations will be promptly implemented. In the meantime, all Ministries, Departments and Agencies must reduce their overhead expenses."


Here's my very concise take on the statement. I have a strong phobia for the word "sacrifice" from time immemorial, Don't get me wrong, I make sacrifices, but I'd rather people suggest it to me using a thesaurus to check for similar words. By and large, I think it's unfair for the Nigerian government to ask for more sacrifices from us. Being a Nigerian comes with enormous sacrifices:

We provide our own security       http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16458743
We fix our own road                     http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/levy-yourselves-repair-roads
We are our own NEPA                        http://trendyafrica.com/?p=1581

Fortunately, GEJ has agreed (at least in a way) that removing fuel subsidy is not as important as slashing the cost of governance, genuinely fighting the image-denting issue of corruption and finding a fast and effective solution to the sectarian violence in the country. Therefore, my attempt to analyze the entire speech of Mr president will amount to a big waste of time, I already tweeted my opinions on that.

 Beyond the speech, the controversies and the apprehension of all things to expect as Nigeria remainsTh on the spotlight in the coming days, there is a common theme of struggle-for-control that both the George VI and  GEJ shared. Both also gained power owing to the misfortune of their predecessors. The monarch being the protagonist of the historical drama won the battle against stuttering, let's see how it goes around here.