As a matter of academic and professional interest, I have been following GEJ, that is the trademark sign off of the President on his facebook page and of course also browsing through comments and views of Nigerians. Let me declare my interest promptly: I teach media and communication outside the country and I have been racking my brain as regards what to research on about Nigeria for the numerous conferences and publication that await! I do not deserve your pity; my choice of career was self-inflicted. So the activities on this facebook page was a God sent. I refuse to divulge the slant of my research so that other academics don’t beat me to the gun.
One comment did stand out though; when a Nigerian posted that whoever is impersonating the president and deceiving Nigerians by writing on the page should stop forthwith. A poignant commentary about the arrogance of our past leaders who were completely insulated from the daily lives, struggles and challenges of their compatriots. So, some Nigerians can’t in their wildest imagination see the Nigerian head of state relating directly to the people. In the part of the world where I live it is a pleasant surprise that the political movers and shakers mix with the people; go to the same shopping malls and people don’t bat an eyelid when they see them. These leaders have learnt their lessons quite well: You climb on your high horse, like the award winning Axe commercial model to tell the ladies how their man should smell, and you are voted out. Where to view the axe commercial? YouTube, you technophobic reader! That Nigerians are hungry for this kind of conversation is apparent from the increasing number of persons who like the page and keep commenting.
Of course the president cannot possibly read all the comments. Even I am struggling with the few friends I have on facebook, twitter and Foursquare. If I need to meet a deadline, I forget to check in at the tennis club where I am mayor on Foursquare, forget to tweet for weeks and black out facebook. To my peeps on facebook this explains why I did not send you birthday wishes. Next year will offer another opportunity. Of course I do all these to keep in touch but also, as an academic, I do not want to become a museum piece in the area of media and communication. I won’t bore you with the apps I have downloaded from the iTunes store and how I do not have a need for many of them and how my children have invaded my iPhone space. When I get the iPad, remind me to upload the video on YouTube of my five year old listening to old - fashioned bedtime stories by swiping her hands to turn the pages of my iPhone.
But this provides a good opportunity for the many media and communication graduates to get off their butts and play a role in the communication machinery of government. Away with the fixation of hiring former journalists as communication and public relations executives and their narrow media relations outlook! To my former students, you can see I am rooting for you, so carry go! So they can go through the various postings and give an executive summary to the president. And the president, just like other statesmen/women who pretend to have written the speeches they deliver at the UN, will then respond to Nigerians’ concerns. His re-election will then be guaranteed by the people not by Godfathers whose only credential is stuffing stolen ballot boxes and, as a reward, getting hefty pay offs from the state treasury. Just like the sad ending of the silent movies’ era, where some talented persons had to move over with the coming of sound, these relics would be consigned to the dustbin of history with the envisaged electoral reforms, like the good looking stars with squeaky voices.
All government setups will also have to have email addresses and facebook pages so that Nigerians can complain/commend service provided. If this was in place, I would have posted my disenchantment with the goings on at the Nigerian High Commission in Johannesburg where my wife, our four little children (ala I have a dream) and I were subjected to a grueling and distasteful experience last December in our quest for the ePassport after traveling down from a neighbouring country. In the same vein, I would have also posted how the collection of the ePassport experience went smoothly like a well-oiled wheel. This way, all the arrogance, bribery, tribalism etc would be exposed and this might even be the beginning of the revolution that would be agreeable to Nwabueze and Danjuma. Shi kena.
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