Read his piece below...
In the past few weeks, my colleagues
who have taken over as spokespersons
for the Muhammadu Buhari
government and the All Progressives
Congress have found themselves in
the line of fire, as they are accused of
destroying their old reputation as
truth-tellers, courageous journalists
and activists of the Fourth and Fifth
Estates of the Realm.
It is the same old accusation. Once a
journalist crosses into government and
becomes a spokesperson, he or she is called
all kinds of names: traitor, turn-coat, hustler.
Readers and fans feel betrayed. The defender
of the people’s interest is accused of “joining
them” to go and “eat”.
This is the dilemma of every Nigerian
journalist who has taken up the job of
spokesperson in whatever governmental
capacity. I was abused, vilified and called all
kinds of names, but it wasn’t so different
with my predecessors nor has it been any
easier for my successors.
My favourite on
this subject was a poem published online
titled “The Death of Reuben Abati’s pen” (I
don’t remember the author) but Pius
Adesanmi was charitable to me in another
piece in which he argued that I really didn’t
need the job, but my “arrogance” could be
tolerated. Pius, o kare oh.
In other parts of the world, journalists also
get appointed as spokespersons. The
assumption is that a journalist who has
spent years communicating with the public,
will be able to write, articulate views,
understand the media system and the
technology of the practice, cultivate his or
her colleagues and forcefully defend the
interest of the appointing system. But this is
precisely where the problem lies. A journalist
is required to be independent: free from
partisan political involvement, be completely
unbiased, and defend the underprivileged, the
powerless, the displaced, and all victims of
the oppressive, negligent or indifferent state.
The primary job of the journalist is neither
advertising nor propaganda: his job is to
shed light so the people can see the way,
and their oppressors can be constantly
reminded that there are barking and wailing
watchdogs who will not permit oppression, or
utter irresponsibility in the use of power. The
journalist is to tell the truth so forcefully and
forthrightly, the truth will cause the
oppressor pain and distress, but at the same
time set the people free. To jump from this
background into government or a political
propaganda assignment could definitely
attract criticisms. The more prominent and
influential the journalist is, the more
controversial his new role could be. People
put a tag on you over time, they don’t
imagine you could assume another role in
the public space, and when you do, they
don’t see it as a new assignment, they use
your original role to define your present.
And in the age of technology where every
word that is written or spoken is eternally
lodged in cyber-memory, you really can’t win
the argument. I was hunted with articles I
had written on fuel subsidy removal (my
revision based on new facts and
understanding was considered convenient). In
the same manner, today’s men are facing the
same heat, as tomorrow’s men would.
The simple truth is that the job definition of
a spokesperson is not the same as that of a
journalist. When you take up a job as a
spokesperson, you have elected to defend the
interest of the appointing authority, in this
case, the person or organization you speak
for, and in the case of a country, the
national interest, the definition of which is
probably one of the most contentious issues
in public policy. If it is a political
assignment, then you have the added
baggage of being accused of endorsement:
something a journalist doing basic
reportorial work is not supposed to do, and if
as a journalist, you become a brand
ambassador, you have also again crossed
the line, you have become a commercial face,
not a dispassionate dispenser of truth who
can investigate the truth and deliver it not
minding whose ox is gored.
As a spokesman or brand ambassador, you
definitely have no opinion of your own. You
are a vehicle, a compromised special purpose
vehicle: you speak according to directives,
and in the name of the authority you work
for. It took me some time to figure that out,
when you work for government, you are not
expected to sound like an activist in the
corridors but you can make a lot of
significant inputs. “When you eat, you don’t
talk”, that was how some people rationalized
it, unfortunately, not knowing that a lot of
serious talking actually goes on in
government.
What was not properly acknowledged is that
the knowledge acquired working in the public
sector is quite different from that of the
private space: you will certainly as a former
private sector person gain access to the
inner workings of government. You will build
a new network. You gain access to new
knowledge and opportunity to contribute to
the process of change - you are definitely
better positioned to do so from within -
except that forces of ethnicity, nepotism,
cronyism and even the insecurity of key
players could limit your ability to ensure the
triumph of good reason in such an
environment that is dominated by vicious
search for advantages, rustic thinking and
competition driven by fear and greed. But
still, a spokesperson must do the job. You
must be ready to take the bullet for your
boss. You are a fall guy. You prevent
unnecessary news if you can. It is not your
job to tell the media - go and shoot. You are
a spin master, a spin-doctor: you help the
media to get the facts about government’s
efforts, and persuade them not to “kill.”
Even if the heavens are falling and every
one is lamenting about the falling weight of
heaven, it is your job to give the ordinary
people hope. You must let them know that
something is being done on their behalf.
To defend the ordinary people is at the base
of the assignment: if you work inside
government, you don’t throw people into
despair, you reassure them, if you work
outside government, you give the government
people hell, so as to promote the same
people, two sides of the same coin. On both
sides, the most important element is the
people-element, their rights, their relevance,
because it is the reason government and
society exist.
I admit the whole thing is delicate; it is a
walking-a-tight-rope scenario. How do you
convince the people you are serving their
interest when they see you actively defending
the government, the political head and his
political party, in the name of giving hope?
They would tell you pointedly you are lying
to keep a job. The critical point is that
government is not a media house. The rules
of engagement are different. And that is why
every government spokesperson becomes a
target of virulent criticism. Where does this
lead us to then? It is this: that the people’s
mind works differently from government’s
mind, particularly in developing countries.
The challenge is to find a synergy. And that
synergy lies in government serving the
people’s interest: not populism, but meeting
the people’s expectations, keeping promises
and being seen to be actually working,
accepting responsibility, not shifting blames
or goal posts, and having a good team. The
last point is important- having a good team.
You can interpret this whichever way you
want, but a political leader must have
around him, people who are ready to take the
fall for him. They must be willing to shield
him, and not throw him under the wheels.
When you have ministers who don’t speak up
and are virtually absent, or spokespersons
who are busy hiding their necks and faces,
then there is a problem. Can you imagine
some government spokespersons at a critical
hour posting Rio Olympics pictures, or
talking about fashion or some other
irrelevancies when they should be on their
Oga’s case?
May be what we are dealing with is actually
a conflict of roles. A journalist in
government still thinks he is perhaps a
journalist and in his mind, he is torn between
two conflicts. Those who manage to walk the
tight-rope carefully come out looking clean,
those who stick their necks out get bruised:
but whichever way, much reputational
damage is incurred. But the painful fact of
the Nigerian reality is that the entire
Nigerian journalism establishment is in
cahoots with the partisan establishment.
There are more sponsored spokesmen outside
than within, with the people outside
perpetually peeping inside and the whole
concept of professional independence
trampled afoot as the media digs deep into
Nigerian politics and business for easy
profit. This must be a subject for another
day.
All told, the fortunes of the government make
the difference. The ambition of every political
leader is to be popular with the people, to
win elections and to be taken seriously.
Nobody in a leadership position wants to end
up badly. Every leader wants to make an
impact and be remembered positively.
The
rub of it is that what the people see is what
they believe, and this may be different from
what they get to know in the long run. When
a government does well, the people will know
and acknowledge its achievements.
Unfortunately, Nigerian democracy in the last
16 years has suffered greatly from the rise of
competitive propaganda, but the simple local
logic is that if a lie travels twenty years
ahead, one day, the truth will catch up with
it. That is not to discount the fact that
Nigerians only appreciate their present in the
future. We condemn everything that is before
us, only to look back a few years later and
regretfully revise history.
My take is that
Nigeria is not an easy country to govern.
How easily can anyone govern a country
where everybody including the uneducated
are vocal experts on every subject from
football to politics, foreign exchange and
governance?
When you are a spokesperson though, speak.
Every job has its own definition. And when
you are in the kitchen, don’t complain of
heat. The same people who criticize and talk
about “doing the job with wisdom” know the
truth, and one way or the other, the truth
gets told.
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