I was struck by two issues in President Buhari's 56th Independence speech
- the craft in the speech, and the resolute, howbeit unsuccessful attempts to force cattle rustling onto the national security agenda.
I'll take the second first.
For reasons best known to him, President Buhari is bent on forcing cattle rustling onto the national security agenda. I am puzzled that he's doing this without giving us the benefit of information - not to say persuasion - to empathise with what ordinarily appears to be a self seeking agenda. What are the numbers and value of animals lost, on periodic basis, that makes cattle rustling a matter of national security? What indeed is the contribution of cows (one form of protein diet) to the national GDP? If the idea is to reduce herdsmen-crop farmer clashes, is it possible to establish an intersection between cattle rustling and bloody herdsmen invasions, considering that the military ground and aerial forces he mobilsed were deployed mainly to herdsmem attack-free zones of the country?
I simply do not get it.
Secondly, I must say that the Independence Day speech was bland, not inspiriong. This, once again, advertises the poor writing resource being deployed by the current Presidency. Don't you just wish that the President delivered the first part of Reuben Abati's position instead? Could it be that everyone - including the two media gurus - is terrified after the change-begins-with-me blooper?
The change in speechwriting capacity should quickly begin with them, biko.
