By - Presidency announces President Tinubu will deliver a nationwide broadcast on October 1 at 7am marking Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary
- NTA and FRCN designated as lead broadcasters, with other TV and radio stations asked to join their network feed
- Address comes as public sector unions have named this same speech as the moment they expect government action on petrol prices and a wage award, ahead of a threatened October 2 strike
President Bola Tinubu will address Nigerians on Thursday morning to mark the country’s 66th Independence anniversary, the Presidency announced Tuesday, in a broadcast timed just hours before a threatened nationwide workers’ strike is set to begin.
A statement from Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said the address is scheduled for 7am on October 1, with the Nigerian Television Authority and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria carrying the broadcast live. Other television and radio stations across the country have been asked to join the two networks’ feed to carry the address simultaneously.
A Speech Arriving Under Pressure
The timing places the address squarely at the center of an unfolding labour standoff. The Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, representing eight public sector unions, had explicitly named Tinubu’s Independence Day speech as the moment it expects the government to respond to its demands, chief among them a cut in petrol prices to N500 per litre, an immediate wage award, and the start of talks on a new national minimum wage. The council’s September 30 deadline for action passed without a public government response, and it has since confirmed plans for a three-day warning strike beginning October 2, just a day after Thursday’s broadcast.
Whether the President’s address takes up those specific demands, or focuses more broadly on the anniversary itself, remains to be seen. The statement announcing the broadcast made no mention of its content beyond marking the 66th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence.
AfrikTimes will carry full coverage of the address once it airs.
