Let’s stop these Presidential media chats
May 16, 2014 by Niran Adedokun 90 Comments
Niran Adedokun
If
you succeed in taking anything away from the Nigerian, it is not likely
that you will be able to deprive him of his optimistic spirit. Most of
us Nigerians are pathological optimists. Let me give you an example: In
the minutes, hours and days following each media chat that President
Goodluck Jonathan has had in the four years, you are sure to find loads
of criticisms, abuses, condemnations, threats not to ever waste time
listening to him again and all such on the social media. But that never
really happens. We all rush back home to catch the next Presidential
media chat.
So, why do we do that? Perhaps, we hope
that the President would have become more articulate within the space of
the last three months or that he might have earthshaking gist to unveil
– so much optimism.
As one of those Nigerians ever ready to
give President Goodluck Jonathan another chance however, I sincerely do
wish that his handlers would henceforth spare the nation the pains of
two hours wasted in the name of a Presidential media chat. In so doing,
they would not just be helping Nigerians save their time and money(since
most people would have to buy fuel to power their generators to hear
and watch what the President has to say), they will more importantly be
saving their principal from the venomous odium which follows those
interview sessions.
And I promise you, it would be impossible
to fault the decision of those Nigerians who may have chosen not to pay
attention or come back to pour invectives on the President in the event
that we ever stage another Presidential media chat. Not with what we
saw on the night of May 4, 2014.
That was a day in which not just
Nigerians but possibly the whole world looked up to the President to
explain what had and was being done about the over 200 girls that were
abducted by the Boko Haram insurgent group. It was the day in which we
expected the President to light up the fire of hope in us, but not only
did we not get that hope, the President dampened our spirit.
As a Nigerian, it was one of the lowest
moments in recent public office history that I can remember. I do not
know whether Jonathan considers the following: “I don’t know where they
are… there is no confirmation of the location of the schoolgirls; you
are a journalist, you know more than me,” a prove of his forthrightness,
but it came across as the most non-committal statement that any elected
representative of the people should say at this point in time. At the
time that he said this, Nigerians and the international community were
already livid that it took close to three weeks for the President to
speak publicly on the fate of the girls and then, he would go ahead to
bring more uncertainty than we even felt before.
Each time I think about it, I am reminded
of that Yoruba adage which enjoins the gods to leave the people in
their current state if their offer would not better their lot. I imagine
that it would have been better for Jonathan to maintain his silence on
this matter than the statement quoted above. Not even the lame pledge
that, “I assure you that we will get the girls …” could make up for the
disappointment already in the air. It was only four days later that the
President found the appropriate word, but I doubt if anyone was still
listening when he said he could no longer sleep well on account of the
girls’ abduction.
But that was not the only disenchanting
point of the night for me. I found it very objectionable that the
President has not found it right to institute a probe into the
allegations against the Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Even
if to just prove a point. He has apparently left the lady to run the
Nigerian oil and gas sector like her personal colony. The President even
argued that Diezani was not in court to stop her probe by the House of
Representatives. Jonathan, who leads an administration which has sworn
to transform Nigeria, justified the use of private jets by governmental
bodies and made those of us who complain about its implication on the
resources of the country smell like cheap lay-abouts. While I do not
care about the diatribe that he launched at the House of Representatives
since they know how to settle themselves, the President would have done
his transformation agenda a whole lot of good by showing Nigerians that
the era in which people spent billions of public funds on their
indulgences was on the way out. The attempt to justify this by the fact
that every arm of government does it is even more indicative of a leader
who has given up on his plan.
Then the issue of the $20bn alleged to be
missing from the Federation Account by the recently suspended Governor
of the Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, is another low point of the night.
Rather than address the question on whether the government had made good
its promise to investigate the matter, the President threw verbal
punches at Sanusi, rambled about how the United States would have caught
up with anyone who stole that kind of money and then landed at what I
consider to be the most incredible proposition of the evening: Trying to
differentiate between stealing of public funds and corruption. Almost
sounding permissive of the former, Jonathan said: “People have been
confusing corruption with stealing. If public officers steal money, they
term it under corruption…” On that night, the President put a lid on
any hope that his administration would do anything to fight the
cankerworm of corruption which everyone but Jonathan sees as one of the
major challenges that Nigeria faces.
So I ask myself what exactly is the
purpose for which his handlers call him out to speak with the press
every quarter? Is it just to see the President on television or for him
to bring Nigerians, especially those who are not convinced about his
capacity, up to speed on what his administration is doing to improve the
situation in the land and possibly win more people to his side, a
public relations strategy?
I suspect the answer is the latter but
regret to say that rather than acquire more support, the President loses
more friends from these media chats. I have argued that this is not the
first time the leader of a country would be without charisma and colour
and that we need look at the performance of the man, but Jonathan
appears to present the image of someone who does not even understand the
enormity of the responsibility on his shoulders. So how does he begin
to address them?
Or is it possible that he knows what to
do but does not just have the right words to express them? If that
happens to be the case, then Nigerians should not have to rush home and
sit for two hours to listen to him smashing everyone’s hope that things
will soon get better in Nigeria by his wrong choice of words.
In the days after his last media chats,
not just Nigerians but media organisations all over the word found
demeaning words like incompetent, irresponsible in addition to clueless
and other that were hitherto used to describe the President and his
administration. This cannot in any way be the desire of those who
encourage him to speak to the nation through media chats.
To save the President and the country
from any further pains and loss of man-hour from these chats therefore, I
suggest that his men should find a less counter-productive way to sell
their principal. That is the hallmark of responsive perception
management.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Let’s stop these Presidential media chat
Niran Adedokun
If
you succeed in taking anything away from the Nigerian, it is not l
ikely that
you will be able to deprive him of his optimistic spirit. Most of us Nigerians
are pathological optimists. Let me give you an example: In the minutes, hours
and days following each media chat that President Goodluck Jonathan has had in
the four years, you are sure to find loads of criticisms, abuses,
condemnations, threats not to ever waste time listening to him again and all
such on the social media. But that never really happens. We all rush back home
to catch the next Presidential media chat.
So,
why do we do that? Perhaps, we hope that the President would have become more
articulate within the space of the last three months or that he might have
earthshaking gist to unveil – so much optimism.
As
one of those Nigerians ever ready to give President Goodluck Jonathan another
chance however, I sincerely do wish that his handlers would henceforth spare
the nation the pains of two hours wasted in the name of a Presidential media
chat. In so doing, they would not just be helping Nigerians save their time and
money(since most people would have to buy fuel to power their generators to
hear and watch what the President has to say), they will more importantly be
saving their principal from the venomous odium which follows those interview
sessions.
And
I promise you, it would be impossible to fault the decision of those Nigerians
who may have chosen not to pay attention or come back to pour invectives on the
President in the event that we ever stage another Presidential media chat. Not
with what we saw on the night of May 4, 2014.
That
was a day in which not just Nigerians but possibly the whole world looked up to
the President to explain what had and was being done about the over 200 girls
that were abducted by the Boko Haram insurgent group. It was the day in which
we expected the President to light up the fire of hope in us, but not only did
we not get that hope, the President dampened our spirit.
As
a Nigerian, it was one of the lowest moments in recent public office history
that I can remember. I do not know whether Jonathan considers the following: “I
don’t know where they are… there is no confirmation of the location of the
schoolgirls; you are a journalist, you know more than me,” a prove of his
forthrightness, but it came across as the most non-committal statement that any
elected representative of the people should say at this point in time. At the
time that he said this, Nigerians and the international community were already
livid that it took close to three weeks for the President to speak publicly on
the fate of the girls and then, he would go ahead to bring more uncertainty
than we even felt before.
Each
time I think about it, I am reminded of that Yoruba adage which enjoins the
gods to leave the people in their current state if their offer would not better
their lot. I imagine that it would have been better for Jonathan to maintain
his silence on this matter than the statement quoted above. Not even the lame
pledge that, “I assure you that we will get the girls …” could make up for the
disappointment already in the air. It was only four days later that the
President found the appropriate word, but I doubt if anyone was still listening
when he said he could no longer sleep well on account of the girls’ abduction.
But
that was not the only disenchanting point of the night for me. I found it very
objectionable that the President has not found it right to institute a probe
into the allegations against the Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Even if to just prove a point. He has apparently left the lady to run the
Nigerian oil and gas sector like her personal colony. The President even argued
that Diezani was not in court to stop her probe by the House of
Representatives. Jonathan, who leads an administration which has sworn to
transform Nigeria, justified the use of private jets by governmental bodies and
made those of us who complain about its implication on the resources of the
country smell like cheap lay-abouts. While I do not care about the diatribe
that he launched at the House of Representatives since they know how to settle
themselves, the President would have done his transformation agenda a whole lot
of good by showing Nigerians that the era in which people spent billions of
public funds on their indulgences was on the way out. The attempt to justify
this by the fact that every arm of government does it is even more indicative
of a leader who has given up on his plan.
Then
the issue of the $20bn alleged to be missing from the Federation Account by the
recently suspended Governor of the Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, is another low
point of the night. Rather than address the question on whether the government
had made good its promise to investigate the matter, the President threw verbal
punches at Sanusi, rambled about how the United States would have caught up
with anyone who stole that kind of money and then landed at what I consider to
be the most incredible proposition of the evening: Trying to differentiate
between stealing of public funds and corruption. Almost sounding permissive of
the former, Jonathan said: “People have been confusing corruption with
stealing. If public officers steal money, they term it under corruption…” On
that night, the President put a lid on any hope that his administration would
do anything to fight the cankerworm of corruption which everyone but Jonathan
sees as one of the major challenges that Nigeria faces.
So
I ask myself what exactly is the purpose for which his handlers call him out to
speak with the press every quarter? Is it just to see the President on
television or for him to bring Nigerians, especially those who are not
convinced about his capacity, up to speed on what his administration is doing
to improve the situation in the land and possibly win more people to his side,
a public relations strategy?
I
suspect the answer is the latter but regret to say that rather than acquire
more support, the President loses more friends from these media chats. I have
argued that this is not the first time the leader of a country would be without
charisma and colour and that we need look at the performance of the man, but
Jonathan appears to present the image of someone who does not even understand
the enormity of the responsibility on his shoulders. So how does he begin to
address them?
Or
is it possible that he knows what to do but does not just have the right words
to express them? If that happens to be the case, then Nigerians should not have
to rush home and sit for two hours to listen to him smashing everyone’s hope
that things will soon get better in Nigeria by his wrong choice of words.
In
the days after his last media chats, not just Nigerians but media organisations
all over the word found demeaning words like incompetent, irresponsible in
addition to clueless and other that were hitherto used to describe the
President and his administration. This cannot in any way be the desire of those
who encourage him to speak to the nation through media chats.
To
save the President and the country from any further pains and loss of man-hour
from these chats therefore, I suggest that his men should find a less
counter-productive way to sell their principal. That is the hallmark of
responsive perception management.
Let’s stop these Presidential media chats
May 16, 2014 by Niran Adedokun 90 Comments
Niran Adedokun
If
you succeed in taking anything away from the Nigerian, it is not likely
that you will be able to deprive him of his optimistic spirit. Most of
us Nigerians are pathological optimists. Let me give you an example: In
the minutes, hours and days following each media chat that President
Goodluck Jonathan has had in the four years, you are sure to find loads
of criticisms, abuses, condemnations, threats not to ever waste time
listening to him again and all such on the social media. But that never
really happens. We all rush back home to catch the next Presidential
media chat.
So, why do we do that? Perhaps, we hope
that the President would have become more articulate within the space of
the last three months or that he might have earthshaking gist to unveil
– so much optimism.
As one of those Nigerians ever ready to
give President Goodluck Jonathan another chance however, I sincerely do
wish that his handlers would henceforth spare the nation the pains of
two hours wasted in the name of a Presidential media chat. In so doing,
they would not just be helping Nigerians save their time and money(since
most people would have to buy fuel to power their generators to hear
and watch what the President has to say), they will more importantly be
saving their principal from the venomous odium which follows those
interview sessions.
And I promise you, it would be impossible
to fault the decision of those Nigerians who may have chosen not to pay
attention or come back to pour invectives on the President in the event
that we ever stage another Presidential media chat. Not with what we
saw on the night of May 4, 2014.
That was a day in which not just
Nigerians but possibly the whole world looked up to the President to
explain what had and was being done about the over 200 girls that were
abducted by the Boko Haram insurgent group. It was the day in which we
expected the President to light up the fire of hope in us, but not only
did we not get that hope, the President dampened our spirit.
As a Nigerian, it was one of the lowest
moments in recent public office history that I can remember. I do not
know whether Jonathan considers the following: “I don’t know where they
are… there is no confirmation of the location of the schoolgirls; you
are a journalist, you know more than me,” a prove of his forthrightness,
but it came across as the most non-committal statement that any elected
representative of the people should say at this point in time. At the
time that he said this, Nigerians and the international community were
already livid that it took close to three weeks for the President to
speak publicly on the fate of the girls and then, he would go ahead to
bring more uncertainty than we even felt before.
Each time I think about it, I am reminded
of that Yoruba adage which enjoins the gods to leave the people in
their current state if their offer would not better their lot. I imagine
that it would have been better for Jonathan to maintain his silence on
this matter than the statement quoted above. Not even the lame pledge
that, “I assure you that we will get the girls …” could make up for the
disappointment already in the air. It was only four days later that the
President found the appropriate word, but I doubt if anyone was still
listening when he said he could no longer sleep well on account of the
girls’ abduction.
But that was not the only disenchanting
point of the night for me. I found it very objectionable that the
President has not found it right to institute a probe into the
allegations against the Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Even
if to just prove a point. He has apparently left the lady to run the
Nigerian oil and gas sector like her personal colony. The President even
argued that Diezani was not in court to stop her probe by the House of
Representatives. Jonathan, who leads an administration which has sworn
to transform Nigeria, justified the use of private jets by governmental
bodies and made those of us who complain about its implication on the
resources of the country smell like cheap lay-abouts. While I do not
care about the diatribe that he launched at the House of Representatives
since they know how to settle themselves, the President would have done
his transformation agenda a whole lot of good by showing Nigerians that
the era in which people spent billions of public funds on their
indulgences was on the way out. The attempt to justify this by the fact
that every arm of government does it is even more indicative of a leader
who has given up on his plan.
Then the issue of the $20bn alleged to be
missing from the Federation Account by the recently suspended Governor
of the Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, is another low point of the night.
Rather than address the question on whether the government had made good
its promise to investigate the matter, the President threw verbal
punches at Sanusi, rambled about how the United States would have caught
up with anyone who stole that kind of money and then landed at what I
consider to be the most incredible proposition of the evening: Trying to
differentiate between stealing of public funds and corruption. Almost
sounding permissive of the former, Jonathan said: “People have been
confusing corruption with stealing. If public officers steal money, they
term it under corruption…” On that night, the President put a lid on
any hope that his administration would do anything to fight the
cankerworm of corruption which everyone but Jonathan sees as one of the
major challenges that Nigeria faces.
So I ask myself what exactly is the
purpose for which his handlers call him out to speak with the press
every quarter? Is it just to see the President on television or for him
to bring Nigerians, especially those who are not convinced about his
capacity, up to speed on what his administration is doing to improve the
situation in the land and possibly win more people to his side, a
public relations strategy?
I suspect the answer is the latter but
regret to say that rather than acquire more support, the President loses
more friends from these media chats. I have argued that this is not the
first time the leader of a country would be without charisma and colour
and that we need look at the performance of the man, but Jonathan
appears to present the image of someone who does not even understand the
enormity of the responsibility on his shoulders. So how does he begin
to address them?
Or is it possible that he knows what to
do but does not just have the right words to express them? If that
happens to be the case, then Nigerians should not have to rush home and
sit for two hours to listen to him smashing everyone’s hope that things
will soon get better in Nigeria by his wrong choice of words.
In the days after his last media chats,
not just Nigerians but media organisations all over the word found
demeaning words like incompetent, irresponsible in addition to clueless
and other that were hitherto used to describe the President and his
administration. This cannot in any way be the desire of those who
encourage him to speak to the nation through media chats.
To save the President and the country
from any further pains and loss of man-hour from these chats therefore, I
suggest that his men should find a less counter-productive way to sell
their principal. That is the hallmark of responsive perception
management.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Let’s stop these Presidential media chats
May 16, 2014 by Niran Adedokun 90 Comments
Niran Adedokun
If
you succeed in taking anything away from the Nigerian, it is not likely
that you will be able to deprive him of his optimistic spirit. Most of
us Nigerians are pathological optimists. Let me give you an example: In
the minutes, hours and days following each media chat that President
Goodluck Jonathan has had in the four years, you are sure to find loads
of criticisms, abuses, condemnations, threats not to ever waste time
listening to him again and all such on the social media. But that never
really happens. We all rush back home to catch the next Presidential
media chat.
So, why do we do that? Perhaps, we hope
that the President would have become more articulate within the space of
the last three months or that he might have earthshaking gist to unveil
– so much optimism.
As one of those Nigerians ever ready to
give President Goodluck Jonathan another chance however, I sincerely do
wish that his handlers would henceforth spare the nation the pains of
two hours wasted in the name of a Presidential media chat. In so doing,
they would not just be helping Nigerians save their time and money(since
most people would have to buy fuel to power their generators to hear
and watch what the President has to say), they will more importantly be
saving their principal from the venomous odium which follows those
interview sessions.
And I promise you, it would be impossible
to fault the decision of those Nigerians who may have chosen not to pay
attention or come back to pour invectives on the President in the event
that we ever stage another Presidential media chat. Not with what we
saw on the night of May 4, 2014.
That was a day in which not just
Nigerians but possibly the whole world looked up to the President to
explain what had and was being done about the over 200 girls that were
abducted by the Boko Haram insurgent group. It was the day in which we
expected the President to light up the fire of hope in us, but not only
did we not get that hope, the President dampened our spirit.
As a Nigerian, it was one of the lowest
moments in recent public office history that I can remember. I do not
know whether Jonathan considers the following: “I don’t know where they
are… there is no confirmation of the location of the schoolgirls; you
are a journalist, you know more than me,” a prove of his forthrightness,
but it came across as the most non-committal statement that any elected
representative of the people should say at this point in time. At the
time that he said this, Nigerians and the international community were
already livid that it took close to three weeks for the President to
speak publicly on the fate of the girls and then, he would go ahead to
bring more uncertainty than we even felt before.
Each time I think about it, I am reminded
of that Yoruba adage which enjoins the gods to leave the people in
their current state if their offer would not better their lot. I imagine
that it would have been better for Jonathan to maintain his silence on
this matter than the statement quoted above. Not even the lame pledge
that, “I assure you that we will get the girls …” could make up for the
disappointment already in the air. It was only four days later that the
President found the appropriate word, but I doubt if anyone was still
listening when he said he could no longer sleep well on account of the
girls’ abduction.
But that was not the only disenchanting
point of the night for me. I found it very objectionable that the
President has not found it right to institute a probe into the
allegations against the Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke. Even
if to just prove a point. He has apparently left the lady to run the
Nigerian oil and gas sector like her personal colony. The President even
argued that Diezani was not in court to stop her probe by the House of
Representatives. Jonathan, who leads an administration which has sworn
to transform Nigeria, justified the use of private jets by governmental
bodies and made those of us who complain about its implication on the
resources of the country smell like cheap lay-abouts. While I do not
care about the diatribe that he launched at the House of Representatives
since they know how to settle themselves, the President would have done
his transformation agenda a whole lot of good by showing Nigerians that
the era in which people spent billions of public funds on their
indulgences was on the way out. The attempt to justify this by the fact
that every arm of government does it is even more indicative of a leader
who has given up on his plan.
Then the issue of the $20bn alleged to be
missing from the Federation Account by the recently suspended Governor
of the Central Bank, Lamido Sanusi, is another low point of the night.
Rather than address the question on whether the government had made good
its promise to investigate the matter, the President threw verbal
punches at Sanusi, rambled about how the United States would have caught
up with anyone who stole that kind of money and then landed at what I
consider to be the most incredible proposition of the evening: Trying to
differentiate between stealing of public funds and corruption. Almost
sounding permissive of the former, Jonathan said: “People have been
confusing corruption with stealing. If public officers steal money, they
term it under corruption…” On that night, the President put a lid on
any hope that his administration would do anything to fight the
cankerworm of corruption which everyone but Jonathan sees as one of the
major challenges that Nigeria faces.
So I ask myself what exactly is the
purpose for which his handlers call him out to speak with the press
every quarter? Is it just to see the President on television or for him
to bring Nigerians, especially those who are not convinced about his
capacity, up to speed on what his administration is doing to improve the
situation in the land and possibly win more people to his side, a
public relations strategy?
I suspect the answer is the latter but
regret to say that rather than acquire more support, the President loses
more friends from these media chats. I have argued that this is not the
first time the leader of a country would be without charisma and colour
and that we need look at the performance of the man, but Jonathan
appears to present the image of someone who does not even understand the
enormity of the responsibility on his shoulders. So how does he begin
to address them?
Or is it possible that he knows what to
do but does not just have the right words to express them? If that
happens to be the case, then Nigerians should not have to rush home and
sit for two hours to listen to him smashing everyone’s hope that things
will soon get better in Nigeria by his wrong choice of words.
In the days after his last media chats,
not just Nigerians but media organisations all over the word found
demeaning words like incompetent, irresponsible in addition to clueless
and other that were hitherto used to describe the President and his
administration. This cannot in any way be the desire of those who
encourage him to speak to the nation through media chats.
To save the President and the country
from any further pains and loss of man-hour from these chats therefore, I
suggest that his men should find a less counter-productive way to sell
their principal. That is the hallmark of responsive perception
management.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
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