By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user posted a video clip of President Bola Tinubu telling Nigerians that there’s nothing he can do to solve the economic hardship faced by the citizens. The X user claimed that the clip was the recent 2026 New Year’s speech by the president.

Verdict

This claim is MISLEADING. Findings indicate that this video was from 2023, during a nationwide broadcast on the removal of fuel subsidy that year.

Full Text

Nigerians began 2026 with a drop in the inflation rate, a slash in fuel prices, and continued insecurity in the country.

With just one year to the general polls, some Nigerians are looking forward to a change of government, with the options of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, who just defected to the coalition’s African Democratic Congress.

Some Nigerians claim that President Tinubu had nothing to offer with one year left before the election, and therefore, he’s incompetent.

To corroborate this further, an X user posted a video of the president saying to Nigerians that there’s nothing he can do in the face of the continued hardship in Nigeria.

The X user, Obiasogu David, claimed that the video clip was from the 2026 New Year’s speech by the president.

He posted the clip with a caption that reads, “Listen to Tinubu, the ‘President’ of Nigeria, delivering a ‘New Year’ speech that was supposed to give his people motivation and hope.”

The post has already garnered over 600k with more than 2k reposts and many comments that showed that many people believe it was a recent video.

This similar claim also appeared here.

Verification

FACTWATCH Nigeria typed in the keywords from the president in the video, into a Google search, and the results indicated that the clip was from July 2023.

Tinubu, who addressed Nigerians in a nationwide broadcast in 2023, said there was no other way to save the economy but to pull the petrol subsidy in May that year.

The decision led to an increase in the pump price of petrol and a hike in the cost of living in the country at that time.

During the speech, Tinubu said that if there were other ways to address the economic issues without making the decision, “I would have taken that route as I came here to help, not hurt the people and nation that I love”.

Watch the full video of the speech in 2023 here.

FACTWATCH Nigeria observed that the president didn’t give a live broadcast on the 2026 New Year; rather, he delivered the message through text.

What Tinubu said in his 2026 New Year message

Tinubu said 2026 would mark the beginning of a more robust phase of economic growth for Nigeria, citing moderating inflation, improved foreign reserves, rising investment inflows, and sustained GDP expansion as evidence that recent reforms are beginning to yield results.

The President said the administration’s fiscal, monetary, and structural reforms implemented in 2025 had stabilised key economic indicators despite global headwinds, while pledging to deepen tax reforms, expand infrastructure investment, strengthen security operations, and accelerate inclusive growth initiatives aimed at improving living standards across the country.

See the full text here.

Conclusion

The claim that the video of Tinubu giving Nigerians bleak hopes was a recent video is MISLEADING because the clip was from 2023.