Federal Government’s discordant tunes on policy matters

The inconsistency in the information management of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is fast crystallising into inefficiency which the presidency is required to fix before it is too late. SUNNY OGEFERE and SEYE OLUMIDE

One year two months into President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, there is strong evidence of lack of coherence in its communication strategy.
There have been discordant tunes by the ministries, departments and agencies over the policies and programmes of the administration with public information often inconsistent, if not divergent on major issues.

This has manifested in the handling of the devaluation of the naira, the country’s monthly revenue generation, current quantity of electricity generation, planned dialogue with the Niger Delta agitators, the administration’s position on herdsmen and farmers’ dispute, adherence to federal character principles in government appointment, the fine imposed on the MTN Communications Ltd. by National Communication Commission (NCC) among others.

The Buhari’s administration, for instance, assured Nigerians about its determination to rout the Boko Haram insurgents in the North East by December last year. Although, the president placed his determination on the ability of the Nigerian military during a meeting he held with the Commander of United States Africa Command, Gen David Rodriguez in his office.

Few days before the Christmas, the Minister for Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, told Nigerians that the war against the insurgents was largely won but in a twist, a wave of attacks by female suicide bombers, shortly after the minister’s assurance, claimed the lives of more than 50 people in north-eastern Nigeria.

Nigerians were also jolted by the inconsistencies of the government when the president pontificated that Fulani herdsmen came from Libya, a claim that was
later countered by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai, who said the herdsmen may have some affiliation with the Boko Haram terrorists.

Still on the same subject matter, the Information Minister told Nigerians that the “Fulani herdsmen move from everywhere, from Mauritius or anywhere. You can’t stop them!” All these happened within a period of two weeks.

In another instance, when the former British Prime Minister, David Cameron flippantly said Nigeria and Afghanistan were fantastically corrupt nations, the Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu, issued a statement condemning Cameron’s statement, stating that Nigeria and President Buhari were ‘embarrassed’ and ‘shocked’ by Cameron’s words and denied that Nigeria was a fantastically corrupt nation. This was on the 10th of May 2016.

But shortly after, Nigerians were bemused as Mr. President himself concurred with the British Prime Minister, that Nigeria was indeed fantastically corrupt. This was contrary to Shehu’s statement issued on behalf of the President. The question then was who authorized Shehu to issue the statement in the first place.

Nigerians also got thrilled when it was announced that two of the abducted Chibok girls had been rescued but the report later turned out that what the State House said, was not true. Not only was it not true, but also differed with the news coming out of Borno State and reported by the world. One of the girls was not really a ‘Chibok’ girl and the one who was from Chibok was not rescued as the government claimed but had escaped from her captors.

Another unfortunate scenario was the statement credited to the Vice President, Prof.Yemi Osinbajo that fuel subsidy has not been removed.

That was in May this year. However, three days later the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, said if subsidy had not been removed, we would be paying marketers ₦16.4 billion a month.

Nigerians began to wonder who was telling the truth between Osinbajo and Kachikwu?
The controversies that surrounded Mr. President’s trip to China further shook the confidence of Nigerians concerning what was emanating from the government and the inconsistence in what was being dished out by the officials. Buhari’s spokesmen announced to the nation that his boss was going to China to sign a $2 billion loan agreement but when he (Buhari) landed in China, the people were again told that it was no longer $2 billion but $6 billion.

Speaking on the issue, the National Chairman, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Ralph Nwosu said it is either the information management of the administration was not coordinated or that there is a missing link between the President, the Presidency and the ministries.

In addition, Nwosu expressed concern that the whole scenario was gradually turning the country into a police state under the APC’s led government.

To him, it was becoming more and more difficult to speak against the policies of this administration, wondering if other Nigerians apart from those in power were not stakeholders in the business of building a better Nigeria.

According to Nwosu the issue should not be taken lightly because government was supposed to be built on trust and not inconsistency “the Buhari-led government is not towing the right path in unifying this country. The causes of the inconsistencies in the government’s information could be viewed as a priority misplacement of the Ministry of Information. What I mean is Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who was the information manager of the APC when it was in the opposition has failed to see the difference between what his job was as a propaganda information manager to what it is currently.

“Political party propaganda is different and cannot be equated with disseminating information to the public under a ruling party and in nation building. This could send a very wrong signal to the country and the international community.”

Nwosu called for caution on the manner the Buhari government managed its information otherwise it might appear the administration was taking the country for granted.

He said some considerable number of the citizens were already losing confidence and trust in the government because they perceive it to be inconsistent.

Dr.Remi Aiyede of the department of political science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, described the development as poor coordination among the various agencies, especially between those who managed information and those who are in the line ministries.

Mallam Garba Shehu

“I think it’s important that the government put its house together and ensure that there is collaboration and information is properly passed across the various agencies, and that will help, even in the implementation of programmes, not just only in communicating with the public,” he stated in an interview with The Guardian.

He noted that the inconsistency in communication was a major flaw of the government that has to be addressed saying, “but more importantly, it also shows especially in the case of the university admission thing that government, especially officials of the government don’t seem to know where their responsibilities begin or
where it ends.”

Citing an instance, Aiyede said, “In the case of the admission, the Minister came announcing so many things about admissions without clarifying with the Permanent Secretary or the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) that is why there have been some conflicting information churned to the public, which is not healthy at all because it creates a lot of confusion within the polity especially to those who have business to do with the relevant agencies involved.”

Spokesman of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Mr.Yinka Odumakin said beyond inconsistency, Buhari’s major problem was that he has personalised governance “which is not only wrong but dangerous for the corporate existence of the country. In a situation where one person personalised governance this type of errors cannot but be found on persistence basis.”

Odumakin wondered how a government, formed by one party like the APC could be inconsistent. The leadership of the party, the presidency and the National Assembly are APC controlled yet were operating at variance. “We are now in a country of one man show. Internal wrangling has wrecked the strength of other stakeholders in the party and they are now placed under the foot of Mr. President, who appears not to see anything good about others, apart from himself.

“Tell me when last this government held the Federal Executive Council’s (FEC) meeting? When last did the party itself meet or how come the APC has not been able to constitute its Board of Trustees (BoT)? These are strong signals the APC house is unstable and its government cannot be consistent in information management.”

The Afenifere spokesman claimed that the APC was acting true to character and predictions that they were mere strange bedfellows that came together just to acquire power and “now that they have the power each arms of the party has gone back to operate in their different tents.

“The shortcomings of the government are beyond inconsistent in information management; this is only one of the reflections of the main problem of the party. For instance, the APC controlled legislative arm was the worst since 1999. It was riddled with crisis from inception and I want any of them to show me one single thing it has achieved? The problem is, we don’t have a government, not to talk of anyone that is inconsistent in communication strategy.”

Commenting on the issue, the Chairman of Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, Lagos chapter, Olusegun McMedal said the only thing one was sure of was the ‘change’ mantra that started during the electioneering period.

He said Nigerians bought the vision for change but while he asserted that the change was taking place, government was not communicating enough. “Over a year in office, Nigerians are still groping in the dark regarding the communication strategy of the administration. The picture we are getting appears like this government is ill prepared.

The perception was like Buhari did not plan to win the elections hence there is no communication thrust.”

He chided the administration for under-communicating with Nigerians, which he said created opportunity for conjectures.

On the government’s anti-graft war, McMedal faulted Buhari’s reluctance to inform the masses in concrete terms “how much has been recovered.”

According to him, “Sometimes too, you have conflicting messages from the president’s media team, Ministry of Information and party apparatus.  It took the administration a long time before it could set up its cabinet and in reaction to the development, people started speculating and different kind of lists started surfacing in the media, which compounded the confusion. This remained for weeks without
comments from the government.

“When the authentic list finally came out and the screening by the Senate was completed, the ministers remained without portfolio for weeks. The argument was that the late announcement/appointment was due largely to the delay in formation and inauguration of the Transition Committee.”

The public relations guru also frowned at the various foreign trips of Buhari, saying: “What you often read is that the President is planning a state visit to Britain for instance, the objectives of the trips and the outcome of such visits are sometimes not well articulated. People now thinks that the trips are unnecessary, and a waste of scarce resources. But I understand that some of these trips are sometimes on the invitation and expense of the host countries.”

McMedal was also irked by the fact that the administration was not consistent on its promises to give the Nigerian youth monthly stipends.

“On assuming office and with the drastic drop in income as a result of international price of crude oil, it became glaring that that promise will have to be postponed or cancelled but instead of clearing the air and coming straight on the issue, everyone in the presidency and party apparatchik started giving conflicting remarks.

Eventually, one of the media advisers actually reassured the Nigerian youths that the President would live up to his electoral promises.

“We believed him because he speaks for the President. But several weeks later, the President announced, while abroad that he cannot fulfil that electoral promise because of the present economic realities.

We understand the situation but it took too long for the President to clear the air. The pertinent question for me, as a perception manager then, was on whose authority did the media adviser made the announcement? That has eroded the trust quotient of the adviser. Why you may ask. The government is creating rooms for assumptions because it under-communicates and sometimes gives conflicting information because too many people are talking.”

McMedal did not also spear the rod for the Buhari’s government on the issue of the botched two days proposed State visit to Lagos.

According to him, “The Lagos State Government circulated a press release announcing the visit on Saturday May 21, which went viral.

Citizens of the state were excited and hopeful by the milestone the visit would create but unfortunately, it was cancelled less than 24 hours to the flag off of the event without any concrete reason. Again, people started speculating why it was aborted. At any rate, the huge financial loss to the State is nothing when compared to the reputational damage to President Buhari.”

To address these, McMedal suggested government should inaugurate a think-thank team made up of technocrats who would constantly advice Mr. President on major policy decisions. Government needs to engage and connect better with the people.

Nigerians were still to come to terms with the reality of the current Buhari’s presidency and reconcile it with what they witnessed or read of his military regime. Some said that he has been mitigated by age; others argued that he has been overwhelmed by partisan and dogmatic constraints, the complexities of power and elite exploitations.

Obviously, the Buhari myth of the saviour with magic wand for Nigeria’s mountainous challenges has imploded and his image and reputation sullied, bringing him to the level of the ordinary Nigerian politician.

Presently, observers are beginning to think that the hopelessness and desperation that propelled Nigerians into the change agenda might have impaired their reasoning and judgment resulting in perhaps a hasty evaluation.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed

The confusion reigns supreme and Buhari’s acceptance rating is heading southwards. The newly released governance survey by the NOI Polls for June revealed that the approval rating for President Muhammadu Buhari has dipped to 39 per cent.

The survey, which revealed a nine-point decline from the 48 per cent in May, also showed a general decline in the approval rating of the President across five geopolitical zones.

Buhari had the highest rating in the Northwest zone at 61 per cent, followed by the North East at 59 per cent; the Southeast zone had the least approval rating at eight per cent, followed by the South-South at 24 per cent.

This calls for concern as well as urgent and deliberate measures to reverse the ugly trend with coordinated government policies and programmes as well as a healthier information management that would ultimately better the lot of Nigerians.

Meanwhile several efforts to get comments from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed didn’t yield result.

While the minister said he was in Spain attending a function and would not react to such issue on phone, Garba promised to get in touch later. They did not do so before publication.

According to Mohammed, “This is not an issue that could be discussed on the telephone. It must be properly explained.”