by Ekene Ngwu
Another factor is that social media seem to be awash with millions of Nigerian youths, but a major percentage of the 100 million youths in Nigeria are either inactive or not online. From my experience during the 2011 elections, older people vote more than youths do in Nigeria and many Nigerians classified as youths are still under eighteen years and not eligible to vote. This means that, sixteen year olds that account for a good percentage of your 50,000 followers on twitter can only vote in opinion polls online.
Despite substantial online antagonism, Goodluck Jonathan can win the 2015 presidential election, if his team improves in stakeholder engagement, crisis management and timely communication.
The methods and media of timely communication are fast evolving, and it is my opinion that the office of the president should follow global trends. Relating effectively with the public or key stakeholders in any situation is of utmost priority and should be proactive, rather than reactive, in other to avoid rumours and damaging speculations.
This also involves crisis management, or dealing with a sudden emergency situation, whether it involves loss of human lives or issues that have the potential to affect reputation.
Nigeria is faced with security crisis, such as the recent bombings in Nyanya area of Abuja, and abduction of over 200 girls in Chibok, Borno.
These are unfortunate events, and I pray for the repose of the souls, healing of the injured and safe return of the abducted students.
I also pray that God grants the families of the dead the fortitude to bear the loss, and I earnestly demand that the Nigerian government and security agencies do everything possible to find and return those kids to their families.
In the face of these security crisis and the corresponding efforts of the government and security agencies, there are so many lapses in communication and relationship with the public.
It is true that the president visited the site of the first blast soon enough, but he misread the sad mood of the nation the next day, giving room for criticisms. Secondly, the president “didn’t seem” to be aware of the abductions in Chibok, just because he did not reassure Nigerians of any swift actions early enough.
Most of the reactions on social media and the resultant protests were evidently because the government “was not seen” to be proactive in responding to the situation.
Consequent upon the above analysis, reputation is about what you communicate, what you do, how you do it and what people say about you. Having said that, Mr. president needs to act in such a way that he will “seem” to be proactive, and be “seen” to share the pain, ALWAYS.
The media and communication team of the president may be doing their best, but it is time for Mr Jonathan to make communication a peculiar priority. This is because serious negative effects on the reputation of the Jonathan presidency, both locally and internationally, have been caused by ineffective communication.
Even though Goodluck Jonathan might have concrete re-election plans, this article is focused on communication especially, despite online antagonism.
However, the People’s Democratic Party have physical presence in every nook and cranny of Nigeria and have the ability to convey its messages deeper than can be imagined.
President Jonathan has recorded quantifiable success in electric power reforms, agriculture, education, road, rail and air transportation infrastructure as well as improved elections, etc.
You will agree with me that there’s competition between Nigeria’s state governors and the current ones have made more efforts at development than their predecessors. This is because votes are truly beginning to count, and noticeable good governance as well as popularity among the people now contributes to election results. When state governors perform very well, it is also indirectly credited to the federal government, and this is the case in some states in southeast Nigeria.
There is still a lot of work to be done in Nigeria, but because of the decays of the past three decades, many Nigerians appreciate the accomplishments of President Jonathan. So many people attribute this appreciation to mediocrity, but when you leave the confines of big cities and interact with people in many other states in Nigeria, they rate Jonathan fairly.
Majority of Nigerians are in rural areas and what they see with regards to democracy dividends is what they know and what they are told by community opinion leaders. This means that majority of what happens online, stays online, trickles into Newspapers and the streets of Lagos, Abuja and a few other places.
Another factor is that social media seem to be awash with millions of Nigerian youths, but a major percentage of the 100 million youths in Nigeria are either inactive or not online. From my experience during the 2011 elections, older people vote more than youths do in Nigeria and many Nigerians classified as youths are still under eighteen years and not eligible to vote. This means that, sixteen year olds that account for a good percentage of your 50,000 followers on twitter can only vote in opinion polls online.
To win re-election the president has to ensure that he is ever ready, along with his crisis management team to take control of every situation. Taking control includes releasing reasonable and reliable information early enough to avoid the usual speculations that dent the reputation of the president’s office. It also includes decisive action, talking tough, sympathetic behaviours and empathetic non-verbal messages in his body language.
I advice that the federal government continue to practice an “open system” of public relations, rather than a “closed system”, and I’m sure the “Freedom of Information Bill” supports this.
Certain information such as reasons for arrests made in sensitive situations should be released before public outcry and rumours put the government in a reactive position.
A “presidential crisis management team” should comprise of important security personnel, some members of the Federal Executive Council, and professional communication experts. I’d like to believe that this is in place, but I sometimes wonder if they understand they should be pre-emptive instead of reacting after the damage has been done. There have been many times speculations and rumours went viral, masqueraded as facts, and the federal government’s reactions failed to control the damage.
I understand Dr Goodluck Jonathan has a science background while communication is an art, but he has no choice than to step up. This will also require that the various security agencies and other government ministries and offices must embrace effective communication. I follow the Nigeria Police Force on Twitter (@policeng) and their tweets do not seem to be as frequent as it should be. The improvements must continue and I’m sure the president will gain substantial socio-political capital from these suggested communication activities.
I do not see reasons why Jonathan does not or should not have a “verified Twitter account”, and I encourage him to sign up immediately. Most breaking news in the past few years were first posted and seen on Twitter and if you must control the message, you must use all viable platforms.
Communication is very important in the world today that the president will need to get involved and become a key member of his public relations team. He will need to address the nation live more often on camera, and also find time to tweet very important messages personally.
If these are done effectively, Goodluck Jonathan will survive both offline and online antagonism and his opponents will have fewer of his weaknesses to exaggerate.
This to a large extent, among other factors will determine if he will win the presidential election in February 2015.
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Ekene Ngwu is a media and public relations consultant. He studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka; Pan Atlantic University, Lagos; New York Film Academy, USA and Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He has been head of research and reporter at Supersport TV. He is the Chief Executive of Cruise Entertainment Productions. He tweets from @keniscruise
Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
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