I have thought of this letter since I got information about your appointment as commissioner for information in Delta state. I find it extremely necessary to write this so that you won’t fail. While I’m interested in your success, I’m also interested in the success of journalists in the state.
We have been seeing congratulations and encomiums being poured on you by journalists and others. It’s the usual funfare when a new person is appointed into government. All such things are done to gain the individual’s attention for parochial and selfish gains. Nothing more than that.
We are glad that the new government of Sheriff Oborevwori did not go to Aghanistan to hire information commissioner for Delta state. That was the practice of previous governments. Emmanuel Uduaghan brought Oma Djeba and Chike Ogeah from outside Delta state. Though Ogeah performed very well. Ifeanyi Okowa brought Patrick Ukah and Charles Aniagwu from outside Delta, however, they are all indigenes of Delta state. This may have informed why Aniagwu had penchant for national television programmes. Arise TV, Channels TV and others were more important to him than Delta Television.
Aniagwu spent more time on explaining Delta issues to people in Abuja, Lagos, Maiduguri, Kano and other megacities using these television stations than strengthing DBS to talk to Deltans and Nigerians. People in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Jos and others have no business with happenings in Delta because they have their own issues to handle. Attempting to please outsiders when insiders need you more does not make sense.
Again, Aniagwu valued outside media more than media institutions in the state. However, I will give him kudos for the work he did in The Pointer Newspapers. What commissioners before him could not do, within his tenure he did it for The Pointer. He renovated the organization, bought some working equipment for them, and transformed the aesthetic apppearance of the newspaper outfit. Ogeah made series of promises for The Pointer but he failed. On his part, Ukah disappointed the paper very painfully. He never gave one pint attention to the newspaper all throughout his tenure as information commissioner. This writer worked in the organization for some years before veering into online journalism. Hence, he has firsthand information about workings in the newspaper house.
Again, in the previous administrations, most of the commissioners underrated the new media which are online media operating in the state. That was one biggest reason they had much crisis to combat. To them, as far as they satisfied the mainstream media and broadcast stations outside Delta, they were good to go. They were wrong. The world has gone beyond mainstream media. That is why big newspapers like The Guardian have reduced their number of pages because patronage of hard copy newspapers has declined very drastically. All of them are now competing for space in the online media. The reason is simple. That is now the new direction. And all papers must key in if they must survive and remain in the market.
Any government that does not want media crisis must accord priority attention to the online media. This is where Aniagwu also misfired. He paid much attention to national dailies and national televisions more than the online media institutions operating in the state. In this present world, online media stories, whether verifiable or not, can ruin a government and bring the entire system down. The reason is still simple, no government can hide anything from the online media. What you discuss in your bedroom with your wife or in your office with your private secretary can be on internet in a matter of hours. And nobody can be held responsible for it.
Many people that have been sacked, suspended or forced to resign either in Nigeria or outside was the product of the online media not mainstream newspapers. I dare say that your administration as commissioner will be more successful and less crisis ridden if you accord attention to the online media institutions operating in the state. This does not in anyway imply that other media institutions should be ignored. Far from it.
In a similar vein, it will be great if your administration treats all practicing journalists in the state equal in all ramifications. In the previous administrations, some journalists were seen as bigger, hence without their presence in briefings, the event must be on hold until they arrive. This makes them feel bigger and better than the others. Working in a national TV station or national daily does not confer superiority right on any journalist.
Giving some higher honorarium and relegating others to the background in the event where they are all invited on account of their media institutions may not augur well for the new government of Sheriff Oborevwori. I do not speak for gatecrashers. The online journalist, mainstream journalist, radio and television journalist, they are all journalists representing different media outfits and should be seen as such.
A reporter for an online newspaper that is relegated to the background may be the source of your ruin or rise to prominence. A story may be posted by such and can be amplified by bigger media and that could be the beginning of the end for such an officer of government.
I also need to add that you need to be abreast with information in the state so that you can respond to journalists questions in record time. When Ukah was commissioner, I called to get response to an issue. He asked me to wait, I waited for more than a day. Having lost patience, I went ahead with the report and posted on former NAIJ.com now legit.ng. Immediately he saw the report, he spent more than 30 minutes telling me all he could have said before I posted the report. But it was too late.
We are quite aware that some journalists are fond of brainwashing media managers against others so as to be in their good books, it is imperative that you consider these critical issues as you pilot information disemination in the Oborevwori’s government.
While wishing you well in your administration, I encourage you to examine the issues raised in this short epistle. The content therein may in one way or the other assist you in your job.
I AM AUSTIN OYIBODE
EDITOR, EMERALD NEWS
