*Can half truths launder the battered image of a crippling govt.?
By Maryam Musa
Media reports about efforts by the Nigerian government to hire public relations consulting firm is no longer news. It was a topic of public discourse by local and international media last week. The leak report which was first circulated online and attracted wide publicity that the federal government under Mr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as part of its ‘strategy’ to secure another term for the embattled president amidst scandals of corruption, the missing $20b oil revenue, unprecedented insecurity, political instability, alarming poverty despite the controversial rating of Nigeria as Africa’s largest economy and the failure of the Nigeria armed forces to locate and secure the release of the Chibok girls, is in the process of recruiting an international public relations firm, at the cost of nearly $1 billion dollars, to improve an image generally regarded by Nigerians and other countries around the world as already battered.
While the sources that leaked and revealed the report are credible, the federal government last week denied the allegation of plans to recruit a public relations firm to improve its image in Nigeria and across the globe.
Going by the recent reported recruitment of the Washington based Mercury LLC PR company by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to do a similar job for her and her ministry which came into spotlight of public scrutiny following the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi expose and recent wave of scandals that questioned her credibility and management of the nation’s wealth, Nigerians generally believe that Mr. Jonathan can go to any length including spending from the nation’s oil wealth as much as the reported $800m for the PR job if he is convinced they have the solution and they can do the magic of polishing and improving the unpopularity and general lack of confidence his government has in the eyes of majority of Nigerians and from the powerful western countries.
The report in view of what many Nigerians are experiencing as a result of official corruption and general insecurity has caused fury in some quarters, disbelief in some and indifference in others. PRCAN in a press statement, declared, “without equivocation that the purported move by the Federal Government to engage foreign public relations firm is neither strategic nor advisable and represents instead a needless strategic gaffe added to the many avoidable missteps of the Federal Government in handling its communication and reputation challenges.”
The details of the purported plan to engage a PR consulting firm appears convincing to Nigerians. The report specifically mentions the embattled minister of petroleum resources, Diezani Allison- Madueke, who herself is embroiled in corruption allegations at the centre of the infamous deal. According to the report the aim is targeted at countering the blistering negative publicity that has followed the government’s atrocious response to last month’s abduction of over 200 schoolgirls by Boko Haram militants and public outrage over $20 billion in allegedly missing crude export revenue.
The Holmes Report that revealed the purported deal, which many regarded as authoritative focuses on such high-level image-making deals. The report alleged that Alison-Madueke and some other unnamed government officials met with several PR firms in London to finalize the cushy contract, for which the Jonathan administration is sufficiently desperate to put on the table over $800 million dollars.
Sources told DESERT HERALD weekly that Diezani wants to kill two birds with one stone when she proposed and spearheaded the PR deal. On one part is to promote the image of the Jonathan administration in view of the consistent crisis of credibility and confidence affecting his government in Nigeria and across the world, while the other target of the embattled Petroleum Minister, who is set to face the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Representatives on allegations that she squandered ₦10 billion in unauthorized private jet charter expenditures is to explore the possibility of a propaganda campaign against the move by the lawmakers to investigate her excesses at the ministry.
Clearly, President Jonathan by his pronouncements during the last media chat is against any form of investigation on Ms. Alison-Madueke because, according to some insiders in the petroleum ministry, investigating the minister will mean opening can of worms that may expose Mr. President’s alleged deal in the ministry. They said Diezani’s several acts of impunity against the lawmakers and her multimillion naira battle to stop or frustrate the probe is not only to save her alleged mismanagement of the crude oil proceeds but also to cover the illegality and corruption Mr. Jonathan knows and ignored.
In the said report, a top PR firm in London said it obtained a Request for Proposals (RFP) document from the Minister and her team outlining the government’s media strategy and seeking a company to provide “strategic counsel,” “stakeholder engagement,” “proactive” media relations and “key message and storybook development”.
According to the RFP, the successful firm will be required to target stakeholders in the UK, USA, Commonwealth countries, “all relevant EU institutions,” academic institutions and NGOs, “arrange 1:1 meetings with influential and open-minded potential champions,” and “arrange briefings to build links at various levels with the UK, US, Commonwealth and major European governments.”
The report said the image-making firm that wins the contract will “feed in academic arguments to those identified” and “determine champions who are willing to speak publicly on Nigeria”, in a bid to “rally an alliance of support for the Nigerian government”.
Part of the image laundering job, according to the leak report, is that the firm that wins the job will be required to develop “key messages, including facts and proof points” concerning “events surrounding the security challenges in Nigeria”, pushing the “core platforms of democracy and sustainable development.”
According to the source in London, “The Minister and her team will task the firm to ‘Begin the process of developing relationships with key journalists who are friendly and receptive’, and ‘Provide avenues for proactively seeding positive stories’.
To that end, “One to two high profile, credible and friendly” journalists would be targeted for “1:1 relationships,” the source said, alluding to the prospects of enticing such journalists with juicy offers.
The willingness of the government to throw vast development resources into the hands of foreign PR practitioners at this time is believed to reflect its desperation as the 2015 elections approach. The government has in the past several months clearly lost the propaganda war to its critics as its mishaps have played out in full view of the world.
The report further said any relevant PR counsel would be limited to improving the transparency of the government’s communications in light of intense global media scrutiny. That is a confession that nothing can be done to improve the government’s transparency, or its performance.
The source added that in view of the fact that negative media coverage was tarnishing the image of the government, the winning PR firm will lobby the press and make sure that reporting becomes positive, but it is unclear how that can be accomplished in view of the editorial position of many Nigerian papers even though money and gratification have a lot of influence in the conduct and practice of the media in Nigeria.
The Ketchum PR firm, one of the agencies reportedly visited by the Nigerian team, declined to disclose any information, citing client confidentiality.
But last week the presidency in a press release denied ever having a plan to engage an international public relations firm to “counter mounting criticism both inside and outside the country” describing it as completely false and baseless.
Special Adviser to Mr. Jonathan on Media, Reuben Abati, in the release said “the suggestion that the Federal Government intends to spend a staggering sum of $800 Million on the phantom public relations effort to ease increasing pressure over its response to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls is also wholly untrue. The Federal Government considers the reports of a drive to recruit consultants to launder its image highly insensitive, deplorable, absurd and very malicious”.
Mr. Jonathan said his “topmost priority for now is not public relations or image laundering but national security and the ongoing effort to ensure the safe return of the abducted college girls”.
A senior government official who pleaded not to be mentioned confided in DESERT HERALD weekly that there is indeed efforts by the minister of petroleum to engage a foreign PR firm to launder the battered image of the government and that going by the happenings in the country and the need for the president to get the support and confidence of the electorates ahead of the 2015 election and to win the sympathy of the international community, the purported deal is justifiable even though he said the total sum was hugely exaggerated by the press. He said considering the scandal that exposes the corruption in the Nigerian Military, its lack of equipment and sophistication, the abduction of over 200 Chibok girls, the Boko Haram crisis, intense politics, multibillion dollar scandals in the petroleum sector and many others are big PR problems on the Government’s plate. And they call for big time solutions. It could be the Government’s way of trying to deal with a big PR problem and seeking a PR solution anywhere on the face of the planet.
Also, an analyst in a presentation on why the government may seek the services of a foreign RP firm as a likely solution, said “since most of our negative image is fueled from abroad and the Western media are largely in control of the most influential organs of mass communications, the Government see some wisdom in speaking to the West in their own language. CNN, BBC, New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, Reuters, Bloomberg, Financial Times and such influential media, largely shape the thoughts of investors and key global decision makers. So is there some advantage in a simulated home advantage, and taking the ball to the other side? Nelson Mandela made a famous remark that “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
But he said such approach may eventually not work for Mr. Jonathan even if the international media were to stand by him which is not likely anyway. He said Mr. Jonathan must take bold decisions to be taken seriously by Nigerians and the international community. He said “though charity must not end at home, it must begin at home!”
He shared the views of many interviewed by DESERT HERALD that an orchestrated cleanup campaign of the country’s image from a strategic and fundamental point of view is perhaps better started at home, insisting that “the sincerity of purpose and genuineness of the action determines the success of any PR campaign. It is therefore argued that trying to fix our PR problem from the outside in, is far less effective than the inside out. As someone remarked, “actions speak louder than words, but intentions speak loudest. Engaging a foreign agency is a vote of no confidence in the local communications industry and sends a wrong signal both within and without.
The massive campaign budgets being thrown around, though unsubstantiated, puts a big question mark on the Government’s much trumpeted declaration of greater transparency, accountability and war on poverty and corruption. Our own Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics, in its last poverty report, stated that over 112 million Nigerians live in poverty conditions and the World Bank also listed Nigeria as one of the world’s 5 poorest countries, with over 60% of the population living on less than $1 a day. This unprecedented setback including deteriorating insecurity and crime reach its highest pick under Mr. Jonathan.
When you have a president that doesn’t measure his success or lack of it on the condition of generality of his people but considers having citizens amongst the world’s richest or “if you talk about private jets ownership, Nigeria will be among the first 10 countries in the world” as a yardstick of economic growth then that country is in trouble and certainly such a leader is going against reality and cannot perform”.
Nigeria supplies nearly 3% of the world’s oil, and is currently the top producer in Africa. Despite the country’s vast natural wealth and exports, the average person in Nigeria does not live so well and it worsens under Mr. Jonathan with no hope of improving the lives of its ravaged citizens.
According to the CIA World Factbook, the average life expectancy is only 52.6 years. Only 61.3% of the population is literate while 29% of Nigerians between the age of 5 and 14 are child laborers.
The government of Nigeria has long been a tool of European and US corporations. It became worse under the current president. In 2013, the Nigerian regime received $652 million in US foreign aid. Protests were launched all over the world, when Ken Saro Wiwa, an environmental activist, was executed by a military tribunal in 1995. The execution was blatantly done on behalf of Shell Oil, so much so that in 2009 $15.5 million was paid to the families of Wiwa and Shell’s other victims in order to prevent a trial in a United States District Court.
Nigerians are being exploited daily by their so called democratic leadership and yet they cannot talk and no freedom to express their grievances in a public demonstration. The country under Mr. Jonathan has witnessed series of alleged human rights violation especially in its war against the terrorist group, Boko Haram. When Nigerians held a general strike, demanding better economic conditions on January 9th, 2012, the result was brutal repression. Roads were blocked, curfews imposed, with at least 16 Nigerians killed. By the time the strike ended on January 15th, the military was patrolling the country, enforcing a ban on all protests of any kind.
The continuing reality for long has been that Nigerians are suffering and poor, and brutally repressed when they rebel, while US and European corporations make billions from their oil.
Interestingly, the US government has kept Boko Haram off the official list of foreign terrorist organizations for years. Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari pointed out that Boko Haram-aligned forces are receiving US weapons and funding as they bomb, torture, kidnap, and murder people in the hopes of overthrowing the Syrian Arab Republic.
Yet, suddenly, “#Bring Back Our Girls” became the latest social-media campaign that exposes the incapacitation of the government to protect its own citizens despite the billions it is budgeting for security over the years. Like “Invisible Children” and “Kony 2012″, or the call to “Save Darfur”, Facebook, Twitter, CNN, and MSNBC were buzzing with emotional calls for US intervention in Nigeria, in response to Boko Haram kidnapping a number of young Nigerian women. The emotional frenzy comes while US-aligned terrorists kidnap children in Syria all the time, with no coverage or concern from the mainstream press.
The shrill, high pitched, emotional rhetoric surrounding “#Bring Back Our Girls” painted a bizarre, simplistic narrative of Nigerian society under Mr. Jonathan. It was as if Western colonialism, oil markets, China-US rivalry, and all other factors did not exist. Michele Obama and various celebrities acted as spokespeople. The US needed to move in and rescue the poor innocent girls, and all were supposed to celebrate and jump with glee as US drones were unleashed on the African continent. The US has now dramatically increased its military presence in Nigeria. US troops and US drones have joined the military advisers and Pentagon contractors already in the country.
The alleged reason for this dramatic western move into Nigeria is to fight Boko Haram, the latest villains in the 24 hour CNN melodrama, who have oddly never been declared a foreign terrorist organization by US officials.
In reality, these troops are there to keep Nigeria under US dominion. They are there to make sure that Nigeria’s oil continues to flow westward, not to the east. They are there to threaten the People’s Republic of China, already being surrounded by the Asian pivot, as it expands its role in international markets.
In addition, if the workers of Nigeria rise up and rebel, as they did in 2012 with their general strike, the repressive Nigerian oil state will not be patrolling the streets and killing protesters alone. There will be plenty of western military forces to help keep the regime and the colonial relations behind it intact.
As poverty and austerity grow rapidly in the western sphere of the economy, the explosion is coming. The billionaires in Wall Street and London are preparing for the fight ahead as they move in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. The battle that is coming could be struggle for their very existence. From Nigeria to Kiev, many are asking “Is a new world war about to break out?”
On the whole and whether there is actually attempt by the federal government to engage a foreign PR firm to manage and promote its battered image or not the key priority for Mr. Jonathan’s government instead of a PR job that will be futile is a more visible effort to address the key strategic issues and top public concerns. Issuing daily reports on the Chibok girls, security briefing sessions in greater frequency, public enlightenment security campaigns, greater display of empathy by the leaders to the governed with sincerity, instituting a new regime of leadership austerity measures and an increasing servant hood leadership model. The citizens also need effective government policies that will make everyone to feel the impact instead of the current government rhetoric’s base on paper and analysis that never actually works.
All these and similar demonstrably corrective moves, will add credibility to the words of Government. Only then can the Public Relations for Nigeria, (whether home based or foreign based) be transformational not cosmetic as they attempted to do now. All PR, just as all other human endeavors, must ultimately reflect the reality, irrespective of the whims and caprices of the messenger or the master if not it is bound to fail no matter the credibility or efficiency of the PR firm and notwithstanding the amount of money budgeted for it. In Nigeria, due to lack of virtually everything government should make judicious use of its resources in human capital development not on propaganda on issues that never actually exist or only exist on the wild imagination of its sponsors and promoters as the case in question.