Literate people should read because every good read enhances life but bad reads have the capacity to be destructive which means they should be read with care. If literate Nigerians have minimum love for the language skill of reading, the time has come for them to review their orientation. Few Nigerians appear to have the inclination for posts which take more than fifteen minutes of reading time. Perhaps the employment of excessive time to think of how to acquire basic necessities of life makes Nigerians feel irritated with long posts. To read a full novel or book becomes an avoidable burden except for the purpose of writing an examination.
But a good read has the capacity to get someone to overlook hunger and other deprivations which haunt Nigerians today.
In developed countries where the majority of citizens have gone past the worry for food, clean water, health, housing, electricity, and for parents and the young, school fees and charges, reading in some cases has attained the status of a must do. Some people read at least fifty books a month and enjoy every minute of it.
For me as a Nigerian reading goes beyond the time requirement. I worry more about content which includes authenticity and less about length although some reading materials are fabulous bores. Content with respect to news both electronic and print mean tons to me and this dates back to my youthful days. At Ogoja where my post-National Youth Service Corps life commenced, half of my 4×6 bed took five weekday newspapers, two Sunday newspapers, Time Magazine, Reader’s Digest (I held an annual subscription which arrived by post without fail every month), Newswatch magazine, Pulse magazine (health), May Eileen Ezekiel’s magazine and one or two stray ones. These took much of my after-hours up to at least 10 o’clock in the night. They, far more than the classroom, built my vocabulary which have remained part of my brain for decades. Good old days! Today one good mobile phone provides a million more of the above but with incredible distractions as one attempts to read.
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One of the biggest turn offs for me today relates to authenticity of content. Why would the four musketeers in Newswatch for instance allow fake news to swim through their fine editorial net to taint the image of the magazine? Should anyone expect trash from Daily Times, Sunday Times, the Concord Group, Business Times (I bound years of this weekly business journal and donated to the Federal College of Education, Technical, Omoku Library when I joined the Faculty of the College in 2000). I am certain academicians used a number of above- mentioned publications for reference and research purposes. Whoever wanted things in the lighter mood had the choice of Lagos Weekend, Ikebe Super, and few others but for news and serious facts, Nigerians knew where their hard-earned kobo would go.
In our contemporary world where commercial journalism sits on an elevated platform and looks down in mockery at professional journalism, readers should be extra careful for some of the stuff as written words are explosive and sometimes fatal best read with care and with a bucketful of salt.
By special grace I have witnessed all Federal Governments in Nigeria from the day an excited citizen lowered the Union Jack and its place raised the futuristic green-white-green flag which signified fertility and peace. No Federal Government has taxed the endurance of Nigerians in less than one year as the present one. Nigerians in my generation should feel intense sadness, disappointment, and in fact shame because the country in 64 years has enjoyed anything but peace and growth but before May 29th 2023 they managed to go by.
The antithesis of a dream of peace and progress versus war and stagnation fly in the face of mind boggling natural and human resources God Almighty blessed the country with. Folks in the old generation must feel rueful when they remember the love, bond, and oneness Nigerians showed to each other up to the immediate post-war period. In one key line the first National Anthem epitomised the belief of citizens in a common destiny despite obvious differences. It reads, “Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand.” The reality of twenty first century Nigeria has been incredible ethnic consciousness, selfishness, and greed which have generated bitterness, frequent blood bath, and socioeconomic stagnation. This informs the reason Professor J. O. Okoh has said Nigeria should be seen as a country rather than as a nation. One can guess by this time God has repeated the sentence, “It repented me that I created Nigerians (man)” as in Genesis chapter 6 verse 6. Which book title suits the Nigeria of 2024 like “Cry the beloved country” by South Africa’s Alan Paton published in 1948?
A social media post purported to have been issued by an unnamed Federal Government agency on a purported new media policy continues to circulate without challenge. It bears Nigeria’s Coat of Arms which to several Nigerians give it credibility. The Tinubu administration has been quick at cuts to social programs which touch ordinary citizens with particular attention on subsidies. But the same government has been slow to an unjustifiable extent on communication, call it media activities.
I can confess I had to reach the long suffering Wikipedia to know the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity and Official Spokesperson to the Nigerian Presidency. The person should manage the President’s personal and official images. The person bears the name Ajuri Ngelale, said to hail from Rivers State but more identified as a citizen of Platteville, Wisconsin, United States. Born of a Nigerian father and German mother, he rushed for chieftaincy title but has demonstrated little push to rush to manage the President’s image. The pain which has followed several Federal Government policies, several unjustifiable budgetary outlays, what people see as goofs by the President and many others are left, one can guess to fizzle out with time.
Dr. Reuben Abati secured a place for himself in Nigeria as the spokesman for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan between 2011 and 2015. A quote from Wikipedia which drew from Nwabueze Chineye’s article in massmedia.ng should be crafted and sent to Chief Ngelale to place on his huge desk. The quote about Reuben Abati says: “He was responsible for a whole range of tasks including articulation and execution of (media) policy, determination of editorial direction, crisis management, media management, communication, and team management.” Can someone tell us which of the above activities goes on in the Tinubu Aso Rock Villa at present? Has the President issued a statement directly or through his media team which demonstrates empathy and gives hope for light at the end of a tunnel if the end of the tunnel exists?
Nigerian democracy continues to be ‘nascent’ because key ingredients are absent. How would one day go by without a press briefing in the White House? Well, except in the aberrant Donald Trump White House because he ran the show the way it pleased him. The performance of President Tinubu’s mouthpiece I think reflects on the President’s idea of choice of key personnel. How much experience does the young Chief have in image management at the level he occupies? As management experts hold, sometimes people are promoted into incompetence. Choice of lieutenants to reflect the desire to reward sponsors, families, and friends often lead to square pegs in round holes.
President Tinubu has maintained a studious silence from the day he entered office. It makes people wonder whether he has fears with regard to the baggage he carried into the exalted office. A pure and professional journalist would make him shift several times on the seat he sits on for an incisive interview.
But studied silence has deep implications, one of them being the creation of speculations. The release mentioned earlier warns Nigerians to avoid comments on government policy and practice which includes the pain generated by policy on subsidies. Absolute silence as canvassed by the scam can be taken to mean nonchalance, indifference, and defiance as in, “What can you folks do to me?”
Maybe the image managers have in mind the Shagari experience between 1979 and 1983. The Nigerian Tribune, Chief Awolowo’s newspaper dedicated space to attack President Shehu Shagari seven days a week. The Dodan Barracks of Shagari ignored the attacks although bad image management may have contributed to the coup of 1984. Things are different to a grand level today given the place of social media in the mix. All the same Tinubu’s Presidency requires instant response to issues such as fake news, unbalanced reports, poisonous information, and painful policies. This requires daily press briefing as obtains in the world’s number one democracy, the United States. A black lady carries out the function for Joe Biden at present and being human, she has made mistakes but she has acquitted herself well. President Tinubu’s relaxed orientation should baffle all Nigerians because he owns a national newspaper: “The Nation.”
