THE past week was awash with ceaseless conversations, sometimes turning into heated debates and vitriolic exchanges over the appointment and redesignation of the schedule of duties of our president’s spokespersons. Radio, television analysts as well as newspaper columnists have not only joined the fray but also espoused entrenched positions both positive and negative. Indeed, a few other roadside critics of President Bola Tinubu have dared to redesign the roles of the spokespersons as Sunday Dare “attack the naysayers”, Bayo Onanuga “Issue press releases” and a certain Daniel Bwala “explain government policy execution” and “keep the opposition busy”. Quizzically, this sounds funny and pedestrian yet it would seem that it could be close to an edifying agenda setting to keep the information machinery of government operating at full throttle. A few others have insinuated that it probably is the lack of optimal efficiency of the media team that has occasioned the dire need for improvement in the information flow from government to the people.
Sometimes after a rigorous presidential campaign battle powered by the likes of Dele Alake, Festus Keyamo, Bayo Onanuga, Femi Fani-Kayode and Felix Morka with Ali Muhammad Ali bringing up from the rear, the business of running government and explaining its actions and activities becomes another kettle of fish altogether. The challenge always tends to be how much of factual information can help keep government policies in positive light. How much of demonization of the opposition do the spokespersons need to do to keep the citizens enlightened as well as keep the opposition in continued disarray? This is not new to the democracies of developing countries. In the United States of America during George Bush jnr’s tenure, Karl Rove was there as a spin doctor, and likewise, during British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s time in office, Alistair Campbell was there for him. Need I stress that this is Africa and the dynamics of the acquisition and patronization as well as equitable distribution are a different ball game altogether? The contending forces are so different, variegated and vicious as well.
For quite a few pessimistic commentators that would snigger at the quartet of a Minister of Information and three spokespersons as a large crowd, it might be courteous to observe that the volume of projects and policies embarked upon by the Tinubu administration is under-reported and there is, therefore, a dire need to reinvigorate the machinery. A few examples come to mind. The month of November marks 18 months of the administration and we all seem to forget that Tinubu has initiated an operational up and running Students Loan scheme, settled a nationwide minimum wage increase, established a Credit Corporation for Medium and Small Scale entrepreneurs, reopened and currently developing the solid mineral sector into a multi-billion dollar revenue yielding alternative to oil for Nigeria. Furthermore, the Tinubu administration set the stage for the return of a functioning Ajaokuta Steel factory; it forged and enacted huge monumental increases in revenues accruing to states and local government councils from federal allocation committee up to a 40 percent upswing across board.
Similarly, the gargantuan efforts of cultivating thousands of hectares of arable land, along with the game-changing memorandum of interest signed with the JBS SA company of Brazil for wholesale meat production and dairy products cannot be over- emphasized. This is expected to encourage ranching and also provide thousands of jobs and also begin an end to farmers – herders clashes that have been a serious problem for decades. While the Lagos-Calabar and Sokoto-Badagry highway project might sound far-flung and utopian, it must be said that if the visibility of these projects comes to the fore by 2016, a second term for the President might not be too far-fetched despite the current hardship and tough economic environment. Without doubt, Tinubu’s administration has shown commitment to the involvement of the private sector in the macro and microeconomic space by effectively seeing to the actualisation of the humongous Dangote Refinery as well as the transformation of our energy consumption pattern from petrol to the safer and cheaper compressed natural gas for our transportation ecosystem.
So, the question of why the public and a large part of the media and the opposition seem to doubt the plausibility of these projects and the authenticity comes to mind. Before the troika came on board, there would seem to have been the distraction of lack of separation of powers as well as low competence, so we did not have full value for the President’s momentous visit to India. Likewise, we got a misguided story on the Dubai Emirates visa resumption to Nigerian travellers from one of the president’s men. It is pertinent to mention that during the period of hiatus the erstwhile Director, Media and Publicity of the All Progressive Congress Presidential campaign team and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Bayo Onanuga held the fort professionally and kept the ship steady. Now that the troika is in place, I hope the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations encourages all three of them to apply for membership as the law stipulates and they will learn to be civil and not engage in a daily dogfight in the media. It is hoped that for the good image of the President, the team will make more friends for him than enemies while also factually debunking falsehoods and disinformation peddled by naysayers. President Tinubu’s administration has been working full throttle, much to the surprise of those who doubted that he would survive the rigour of being president of Africa’s largest country. Therefore, the spokespersons must not think this is a tea party or a platform to show off to friends, relatives and even erstwhile detractors. It is a time to amplify and project the performance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and make him marketable if he chooses to bid for a send term in 2027.
That is the mandate.
- Bako, PhD, OON*, is a Senior Lecturer at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto.
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