ThisDay-Arise Publisher To FG – You’re Not Communicating By Example

The Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the THISDAY-ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, has told the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration that the Federal Government is not communicating by example as its actions have fail to communicate to Nigerians the dire straits the country has found itself.

This was as he took a critical look at happenings in the Northern part of the country and stressed that if Nigeria truly desires social cohesion, we have to do something about poverty in the North.

Obaigbena, who stated these when he played host to the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris, during a press parley at the ARISE Corporate office in Lagos, said that there was the need for government actors’ communication mechanism to be by action and to show that things are bad.

The high-powered government communication delegation included Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Lanre Issa-Onilu – Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Tunde Rahman – Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, and Temitope Ajayi – Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.

In the words of Obaigbena; “People say you are not communicating, you are communicating, you are here but, the communication you are not doing is communication by example.

“Look at National Assembly, the way they live, the way they conduct themselves, does not show that we are in trouble. So, at least, you had no car when you came here, but there are people who come with outriders. So, let our communication mechanism also be by action – action of government actors to show that things are bad”.

Obaigbena noted that the current economic hardship being experienced under the Tinubu government was as a result of the announcement by the President of two major reforms at the same time.

He explained; “At ARISE, we believe and agree that subsidy must be removed. We believe and agree that there must be a market-driven exchange rate. But not at the same time.

“The strategic error was removing subsidy and exchange rate at the same time. We needed a stable exchange rate to modulate the subsidy, because the subsidy responds to market prices.

“So, had you even sequenced it, had you now told all these IMF and co who say they support your reforms – we have removed subsidy to cut waste, now we need the ammunition to have exchange rate management… but, we did the exchange rate without ammunition, without the dollar reserves, with oil plunging.

“That is why we are where we are. But, it is a beginning, and so, yes, the government needs more time,” he enthused.

The media mogul also reflected on the failure of local government in Nigeria which he noted further compounded a lot of issues, saying; “A key issue is local government. Why do we have insecurity? Because of the failure of local governments.

“Governors, especially in the North, collect their allocation but it doesn’t even go to their states, and they go abroad to Dubai. The failure of local government, the failure of economic activity at the local level is one of the things that has led to the insecurity.

“So, restoring local government is a key point, but it will take time to review.”

“We have very poor people. We are supposed to have a social register. I don’t know what has happened to it. If all these student loans, they are okay, but the key issue is how are we taking care of the poorest of the poor? Put them on social register, give them stipends against what is happening.

“And I must say this, as a Nigerian, I’m very concerned about the poverty in the North. You can see the riots and the rioters, no education and all that stuff, and yet, the North has governed this country more than anybody else.

“So, there is no nexus between political power and helping your people. So, we also have to focus on the North. Like Awolowo said, illiteracy, hunger and co are the biggest things that come, you have to face them squarely, ruthlessly,” he said.