Former President Muhammadu Buhari made a historical broadcast on Sunday. It was his farewell address as he was about to hand over to the new helmsman, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Beyond appreciating the political importance of the broadcast, we shall learn a few linguistic lessons from it today. Particularly, its text affords us the opportunity to highlight the qualities of a good speech while it also harbours some grammatical concepts to reflect upon.
A good speech should have and keep to its focus – to achieve clarity of message. You can digress a little along the line but it should not be at the expense of the subject matter, so that you do not bungle the opportunity of efficient communication. The Buhari’s farewell address very much achieved this as it reviewed his coming, his policies and programmes as well as the future of the country as he leaves.
Also, a good speech should be concise. Even where it seems long, it must be filled with salient materials. With this, the speaker will not waste their time and that of the audience. Buhari was, in this wise, able to cover the story of his eight years’ sojourn in his relatively compact broadcast. In your own case, it is the context that will determine how long the piece should be but the more concise, the better.
Related to the above, your speech should exude (not exclude!) facts and figures. Reward the audience giving you their time by feeding them with facts, figures and examples to back such up. It is a way of keeping them engaged while keeping your message real. In Buhari’s case, he advanced facts about his administration’s adventures although, being a political presentation, some of his claims are bound to be controversial. When he, for instance, said he left the country better than he met it, many Nigerians are likely to disagree, especially based on the unprecedented economic hardship they are experiencing.
A good speech should also be convincing and captivating, with the writer/speaker communicating in simple and correct English (or any other language being used). This is very important as the piece under review again confirms. Many mar their speeches with verbosity. Nobody is interested in big words or phrases. In some contexts, you may need to inject one or two for some effect – like during a political campaign, especially among youths such as students. Yet, it should not be overdone just as the context must resolve whatever riddle you drop on stage.
We are already seeing the outcome
The expression is from the broadcast. This thus means that those who scripted it could not escape the trap associated with stative verbs. These are verbs that refer to a state or condition rather than an action. They do not normally accept the continuous form. Examples are hear, know, remember, feel and love:
I am hearing you. (Wrong)
I can hear you. (Correct)
I am remembering it. (Wrong)
I remember it. (Correct)
I am seeing you. (Wrong)
I (can) see you. (Correct)
We are already seeing the outcome. (Wrong)
We already see the outcome. (Correct)
Repatriating back
Like reverse back, return back and revert back, ‘repatriate back’ harbours tautology. We do not need the ‘back’ in any of the expressions. It is a popular error which found its way into the presidential address. You simply repatriate someone or something. You don’t repatriate back.
