Luanda, Oct. 14, 2025 (Lusa) - Analysts challenged the Angolan president on Tuesday to present the "real and not fictitious country" in his message to the nation, calling for objective policies to curb hunger, poverty and unemployment, and for "tangible results" from economic diplomacy.
Angola's President João Lourenço is presenting his State of the Nation address on Wednesday at the opening of the fourth legislative year of the 5th Legislature of the Angolan National Assembly, and analysts heard by Lusa believe that this speech should also "restore hope to Angolans".
"I have been arguing that the speech on the State of the Nation, rather than x-raying the country, should also give hope to the citizen and there is a segment of our society that I think the President should pass on a word, not just of encouragement, but of hope, especially to young people with the problems of homelessness and rampant unemployment," analyst Osvaldo Moco said on Tuesday.
Speaking to Lusa, Mboco said he hoped to hear from the president about policies to curb inflation, which leaves Angolan families without purchasing power, as well as a strategy to combat hunger and poverty, since many Angolans resort to rubbish bins to feed themselves.
"In recent times we have seen a large number of people who, as well as living on the streets, feed on leftover food from rubbish bins, and it would be important to look at our strategy for fighting poverty and which sectors we should coordinate and measures for national production, industrialisation and coverage of drinking water," he noted.
"It would also be good for the president to present how many Angolans there are after the 2024 Census - the results of which have not yet been released," he noted.
Osvaldo Mboco, a specialist in international relations, also argued that it was essential for the Angolan head of state to present a balance sheet of his economic diplomacy in his eight years in power, namely the number of expressions of interest, the number of companies attracted, their respective sectors, turnover and jobs created.
In statements to Lusa, political analyst Crispin Senga also defended this balance: "As an Angolan, what I would like to hear [from the president's speech] first and foremost is what tangible results the country has achieved in terms of economic diplomacy."
Senga highlighted the Angolan President's "regular trips" abroad, saying that it was "fundamental that João Lourenço tells Angolans what gains the country has made from these trips," which are financed with everyone's money.
Crispin Senga, who also specialises in international relations, said that Angola "continues to be held hostage by oil," and that the head of state should tell the nation "what has been done to stop the country depending mostly on oil" and really invest in diversifying the economy.
"So I expect the president to present the real and not the fictitious situation of the country we want to build," said the expert, calling for attention to the social sector due to hunger and poverty "which have been getting worse and worse".
A discourse closer to reality is what the analyst Albino Pakisi advocates, pointing out that not everything was bad during João Lourenço's eight years in power and that there was also progress, especially in infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and roads.
"We have to recognise that it hasn't all been bad, we can't say that everything is bad, there has been progress, but the progress hasn't been in the areas and sectors that the people are asking for, such as the issue of employment, we have more unemployed people, so there are several factors that should be mentioned in the president's speech," he said.
Pakisi said he hoped that João Lourenço would be "more in tune" with the reality of the country, because "the reality calls for much more".
"But we also hope that there are no untruths, as there have been in recent speeches, about infrastructures that were said to be completed, but were not (...)," concluded the Angolan teacher and philosopher.
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