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Segun Adeniyi and E-Information Management
By Uche Nworah
It was in the days of the old Nigerian Guardian
newspaper website when it still had the chat room option
that internet savvy Nigerians usually congregated to
debate topical social, political, economic and cultural
issues. The defunct Guardian chat room attracted all
sorts of people, including Nigerians and non-Nigerians.
People came for different reasons; there were those who
came to look for love, some others for business partners
and many others simply to vent their anger on the
government. There were also some who perpetually had an
axe to grind with everybody who did not share their
world view. They would insult, abuse and attack the
‘dissenters’, hoping that their bully tactics would make
the ‘dissenters’ to succumb.
The Guardian chat room proved to be a successful social
experiment; this must have been why the Ibru clan
burrowed into their business books and attempted to
monetise the popularity of the chat room. They password-
locked the chat room, granting access only to fee paying
subscribers who could pay either in Naira or Dollars. I
did not hang around much after this was done and did not
know how successful the new business model they adopted
was, there was no need to because at that time, Nigerian
‘techies’ based all over the world had started providing
free alternatives. Many Nigerians took the free option
and jumped ship, and thus were born popular chat forums
and websites including Seun Osewa’s
www.nairaland.com.
In the latter category belongs
www.nigeriavillagesquare.com, popularly known as NVS,
regular visitors to the site and regular members call
themselves villagers. Owners of the website claim that
the website is the flagship of all Nigerian news
websites, many would readily agree although some others
would have their reservations. However, the fact remains
that NVS has increasingly played itself into reckoning
and have in so short a time established itself as a
Nigeria-focused online media brand to be reckoned with.
On a daily basis, issues of social, economic, political
and cultural importance are introduced to the village
square by the teeming NVS independent writers and
contributors. Such issues are hotly debated and
contested by other villagers; the general mood despite
the fiery and feisty debates is usually that of ‘No
Victor, No Vanquished’.
It may seem therefore that NVS’ reputation is fast
spreading, justifying the need for government
information managers to incorporate NVS and several
others including
www.nigeriansinamerica.com,
www.nigeriaworld.com,
www.gamji.com,
www.kwenu.com,
www.nigerdeltacongress.com,
www.nigerian-newspaper.com,
www.chatafrikarticles.com,
www.biafranigeriaworld.com,
www.ukpakareports.com,
www.saharareporters.com,
Nigeria2Day@aol.com etc. into their information
management framework.
This is indeed a good idea because if well managed, such
e-media portals would provide supplementary alternatives
to the traditional media channels i.e. newspapers,
television, television, radio etc particularly in
reaching Nigerians in the diaspora who are opinion
leaders in their own rights capable of influencing the
opinions of either family members in Nigeria, members of
their community who depend on them for information, and
the general citizens through informed opinion
commentaries in the newspapers. Such a two-step
communication flow is still relevant in today’s world
despite the increasing sophistication and
socio-political awareness of the general citizenry.
These e-media portals could therefore serve as
amplifiers of information or as base stations or
platforms for starting certain information campaigns; a
case in point is the political campaign of Professor Pat
Utomi, the presidential flag bearer of the African
Democratic Congress (ADC) who one may argue flagged off
his presidential campaign on the internet using blogs,
own website and other websites such as NVS to articulate
his campaign manifesto.
The main challenge for government information managers
however is how to go about harnessing the potentials of
these emergent new media in information management
without actually harming both the source, message and
messenger i.e. the government officials whose
information are being communicated, the information
being communicated and the media spokespersons otherwise
known as special advisers (SA) on media and
communication.
In embracing these new platforms, ability to navigate
the traps or information management landmines set all
over these e-media platforms including on NVS may be
key to successful information management in the new
e-media world.
News travels fast on the internet; the rise of blogs and
e-forums thus provides opportunities and also portends
danger to government information managers. Unfortunately
several government information managers having come up
through the traditional newspaper ranks before finding
themselves in government either do not yet understand
the dynamics of e-media, or they are still grappling
with the challenges like everyone else fairly new to
this new all consuming e-world.
As an emergent new media, NVS can serve both as friend
or foe to government information managers. In choosing
to adopt NVS or any other e-media as an information
platform, the four most important factors which should
be considered by a government information manager are:
The Profile of the E-Media Platform, Source Credibility,
Message Validity and finally The Target Audience.
These factors may seem simple but they are very loaded.
Beginning with the first – The Profile of the
E-Media Platform, it is appropriate to engage the
audience (based on segmentation) using the particular
platform used mostly by one’s target audience. Whereas
some of the other Nigeria-focused internet websites may
be unique since their audience comprise mainly Nigerians
from particular ethnic and geographic regions, NVS on
the other hand seems to cut across all ethnic regions
and could therefore reach multiple audiences from all
the ethnic regions. The name alone (Nigeria Village
Square) suggests that it may be the right platform for
reaching all Nigerians. The owners describe the website
as a marketplace of ideas.
Knowledge of the audience profile and their
characteristics/tendencies is also very important.
Bearing this in mind, a government information manager
should not therefore expect to release information at
the village square, and receive pats on the back from
all the villagers for the information passed on. Coming
to NVS has often been likened to ‘someone wedging his
neck in between industrial pliers’. What this means is
that the staccato of verbal or written attacks that may
follow information materials or articles not considered
by the villagers to be ‘up to scratch’ could as also be
likened to bursts of gun fire at the war front. Thus in
coming to NVS, Segun Adeniyi should have seen the
attacks coming. It is wrong to have assumed that NVS is
peopled by cheerleaders who are ever in the mood to
concur and rubber stamp government information without a
bit of scrutiny.
Another important factor in this process is source
credibility; this includes both the credibility of
the principal and that of the messenger. Using Segun
Adeniyi’s recent stopover at NVS as an example. As the
Senior Special Adviser to President Umar Yar’Adua, one
can rightly assume that his principal is the president
of Nigeria. People that knew the President when he was
the Governor of Katsina state speak highly of his strict
financial discipline, a virtue Nigeria needs at this
time.
People that know Segun Adeniyi from his This Day
days also speak highly of him as a fine journalist.
However, both principal (Umar Yar’Adua) and Spokesperson
(Segun Adeniyi) now find themselves embroiled in an odd,
or rather unusual circumstances. The principal has
benefited from a corrupt electoral system, and the
spokesperson must try to sell him to Nigerians who think
they know the facts of his election, or rather
‘selection’ as Nigerians chose to describe the April
2007 elections. The challenge or rather question of
source credibility which is strategic to an effective
communication process is still outstanding and has not
been passed by either the principal or his agent,
particularly for Segun Adeniyi who is now considered as
a full part of the system which he has been criticising
for years.
This outstanding issue of source credibility has
invariably gone ahead to also taint; or rather distort
the message coming from the spokesperson. It has
seriously weakened the validity and acceptability of the
message that Segun Adeniyi brought to NVS.
Finally, understanding the target audience is key
to the success of any information management campaign.
Applying the rule of thumb, one can assume that
villagers or visitors on NVS are graduates with a
minimum of a first degree. Some of them may have
travelled widely, may live outside Nigeria or even in
Nigeria. They may also fall under the classification of
professionals meaning that they may be considered people
of above average means. Such people are usually well
informed about social, political and economic issues.
They would also have several agenda which they would
pursue using their comments on NVS.
Why is it necessary to understand the target audience
before attempting to plug one’s message?
Understanding of the target audience helps inform on
timing of release of information. At the moment, it may
seem as if Nigerians have generally acquiesced to the
April 2007 election shenanigans, but they have not. Some
of them particularly those that visit NVS may only be
hibernating or lying low waiting for an opportunity to
‘pounce’ on those who perpetrated the misdeeds or
‘electoral acts’ of April 2007, on their minders or on
those remotely connected to them, Segun Adeniyi became
the perfect target and stood out like a sore thumb. In
exposing himself through his ‘cameo appearance’ on NVS,
he made himself and his principal vulnerable and
Nigerians took advantage, particularly those that have
been lying in wait
Segun Adeniyi presented this perfect opportunity with
his recent article on NVS.
The first one perhaps not intentionally as it was
courtesy of Laolu Akande’s Empowered Newswire. But
obviously, by penning the second essay titled,
why the hell am I here? he was inviting trouble.
How then could Segun Adeniyi have gone about it? Well,
first Segun Adeniyi was not well advised by his minders
or associates who advised him to state his case on NVS
in the manner that it was done. That should have been a
no-no. I understand that he was influenced by some
villagers including the likes of Taslim Anibaba to write
his own account of his capacity building tour to
America, I don’t know how true this is but it is still
early days for Segun Adeniyi’s tour of duty memoirs.
Nigerians are still licking their wounds so there is no
point in scratching the wound at this time, let the
wounds heal first.
Segun Adeniyi is the person the people know; therefore
he should operate more through other people in his
communications office at Aso rock. Such people may not
attract the type of venoms he attracted. And there is no
need to attempt to defend himself always, or even the
president anytime someone criticises him or the
president. He should know that people are not buying
such feeble defences. Sometimes in communication, one
should hope to ride the storm rather than utter a
rebuttal. Rebuttals encourage more criticisms, let
actions speak.
Segun Adeniyi should consider assuming a pseudonym at
least for now when next he is stopping over at NVS, or
even on any of the other Nigerian media channels where
he has been defending the government, and his reasons
for accepting to serve in the government. Pseudonyms
and monikers are commonly accepted and standard
practices in several of these Nigerian e-media
platforms. That way, he could easily slip in and out
without attracting much attention. From such undercover
vantage positions, he could easily feel the pulse of the
Nigerian internet community, the issues that are
important to them, what they think of the government and
its policies, then he would be able to advice his
principal appropriately.
Finally, he should go ahead and enjoy his ‘good
fortune’, he does not owe anybody an apology or
explanation for accepting to serve as the President’s
spokesperson, it is entirely his prerogative.
September 2007.
http://thelongharmattanseason.blogspot.com/
posted 24 September 2007 |
