Does the Buhari-led administration think that Nigerians would consider its return to Aso Rock on the basis of cheap lies and propaganda in the pages of newspapers? If this was what informed this extravagant budget line for PR and media related lobby, then they ought to be told that good performance would sell the government far better than employing the services of marauding “chop-nalists”.
The pen is mightier than the sword is a loaded aphorism that sums up the enormous power of the pen, a tiny tool with a nib through which ink flows during the acts of writing or drawing. As a result, those who wield the pen, specifically journalists, are saddled with the responsibility of using it meticulously.
By training, journalists are compelled to abide by the ethics of their noble profession always. Despite this, there are charlatans, compromised journalists, who trade off ethics, turning their pens into cutleries. These are the people I call “Chop-nalists”.
“Chop-nalists” are those who have crossed the threshold of fair and unbiased journalism. Their pens have been turned into spoons for scooping crumbs from the tables of the high and mighty in the society. They have reneged on serving as reliable independent watchdogs for the society, in the pursuit of their selfish interests.
Without mentioning names, Nigerians know those who fall within this category. For instance, two media moguls famed for their monkey-dey-work-baboon-chop business model, who got huge funds from the Dasukigate slush fund are good examples of “chop-nalists”.
Likewise, the unnamed media practitioners who Dr. Reuben Abati, spokesperson to former president Goodluck Jonathan, claimed were beneficiaries of the Dasukigate N50 million traced to his account by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission are. Mind you, this is if truly Uncle Abati did not corner the funds alone.
With these examples in mind, it is easier to understand why the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government budgeted over N1 billion for “public relation” and “media lobby” through the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, as reported in PREMIUM TIMES.
It is fair to admit that the Buhari administration has, to an extent, reduced the waste of public funds if compared to his predecessors in office. He’s offered to take a 50 percent pay cut; reduced the number of ministers and merged some ministries; reduced the number of crafts in the presidential fleet after much public outcry; plugged leakages through the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), and as well he’s been able to save the sum of N8 billion monthly by getting rid of 40,000 ghost workers, according to Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the president. Given these, however, does it make sense that the same government that harps on reducing waste in governance is budgeting N1 billion for media related shenanigans?
Would the then Buhari, the presidential candidate of ANPP, CPC and APC, applaud the government of his predecessors if they budgeted the same amount for a media jamboree? Is this administration of Buhari not repeating one of the mistakes of his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, by budgeting public funds to feed marauding “chop-nalists” just to get good press?
Of course, Buhari rode on media support to Aso Rock. But, the media support in this context should not be mistaken as solely the support of the conventional media. Buhari’s predecessor, Jonathan, had much more money to churn out to the press. In fact, he did.
Yet, Jonathan and his agents,”TANOIDs”, were overwhelmed by the zeal and commitment of Nigerians who wanted a change in the dangerous trajectory of the country under his watch. As such, the Nigerian youth invested their monies and time, using the social media to vigorously campaign for Buhari because they believed there must be change in the leadership of the country.
So, why does the Buhari-led administration need the services of marauding chop-nalists to sell its visions, policies, programmes, projects and achievements to the public? Is it that the Buhari-led government is sensing that its goodwill and acceptance is waning?
If there is anything the Buhari-led government ought to have learnt from its electoral victory, it is that Nigerians know what they want and the media jamboree cannot change their mind. Also, that Hilary Clinton lost the recent US election in spite the huge media support and opinion polls in her favour should resonate well with Buhari and his team members.
Apart from the fact that some rats in Buhari’s government stand to benefit a great deal from this wasteful proposed expenditure, how does the number of town-hall meetings, quarterly opinion polls or meeting with the so-called hawkish media influencers and hungry bloggers in 2017 affect the price of fish or create jobs for hungry and unemployed Nigerians?
With N1 billion, the government could create more 5,000 unskilled jobs. How is this possible? If a new motorcycle cost N200,000, N1 billion would procure 5,000 motorcycles. These motorcycles could be given out to the interested youth across the 36 states with an agreement on how to repay the cost of the motorcycle within a year.
This idea might sound unsophisticated, but by the time we painstakingly estimate the number of unemployed graduates youth who have resorted to okada business to earn a living and the number of unskilled and unemployed youth who would gladly accept such offer, the derivable fact from such findings will certainly humble us. Besides, the fact that there are many okada riders earning more than N30,000, the salary of graduate beneficiaries of federal government’s N-Power scheme in Nigeria suffices.
In another way, if we randomly ask to know the worth of the businesses of women roasting boli, plantain, or abokis hawking cheap jewelries or women hawking abacha, an Igbo cuisine, we would be amazed that most of these businesses sustaining a whole family are not worth more than N20,000.
A rough calculation of how many of such petty traders could be raised if N1 billion is given out as soft loans to petty traders, should nudge us to see that the government’s proposal to buy good image in the press with such huge amount makes no sense.
To think that the government intends to spend N1bilion on a media jamboree that has no positive impact on its hungry citizen in this time of recession is ridiculous. Sad enough, this budget is supposed to be a budget of recovery from the mistakes and fatal flaws of 2016’s budget.
Does the Buhari-led administration think that Nigerians would consider its return to Aso Rock on the basis of cheap lies and propaganda in the pages of newspapers? If this was what informed this extravagant budget line for PR and media related lobby, then they ought to be told that good performance would sell the government far better than employing the services of marauding “chop-nalists”.
In other words, a performing government needs no deliberately spun stories or distorted analysis to convince its citizen to keep supporting it.
Of course, all over the world, governments court the press in other to suppress possible explosive investigations, cover its lies and sell its propaganda to the public. If Buhari’s lying minister has convinced him to believe that a billion naira budget would buy up the Nigerian media, Buhari needs to have a rethink.
There are still credible online platforms, veteran columnists, and some decent bloggers in Nigeria that would not sell out for a billion dollars. For these objective journalists and media outfits, it is public interest that matters the most.
As such, the public can be rest assured that these journalists would keep informing, educating, entertaining, investigating an exposing unwholesome activities in our society in line with best practices.
Those who have eschewed common sense for sentiments could go ahead to defend the presidency on the issue raised in this piece in the same manner they gullibly did when the padded 2016 budget was exposed. That’s OK.
Ahmed Oluwasanjo writes from Abuja.
PremiumTimes
END
Be the first to comment