By Jude Emeka
Who can remember the last time Nigeria had a minister of information that perfectly understood his or her job? By this, one means an official of the government at the centre who understood that the real essence of his or her job was finding that critical balance between serving as the mouthpiece of the government and being loyal to the Nigerian state by properly providing fellow citizens with accurate information in a timely and honest manner.
Well, do you remember the self effacing Chukwuemeka Chikelu? The Anambra State-born soft spoken politician was Obasanjo’s Minister of Information and National Orientation from July 2003 to June 2005. Chikelu so understood his job as the national information manager as he instituted a regime of information integrity which prioritized accurate information to citizens over spin and propaganda to curry favours from his appointors.
The current minister of information, Mohammed Idris Malagi like Chikelu, more than a decade before him is now teasing Nigerians with the same flashes of brilliance in just about one year after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed him the Federal Government spokesman. Like Chikelu, Malagi also carries himself with a gentle mien but while Chikelu is Lawyer, Malagi is a thoroughbred media professional. And he has begun to show this expertise in the discharge of his official functions.
Yes, in appointing Malagi to head the ministry of information, President Tinubu knew the onerous task of healing a fractious country after a bitterly fought election that left fissures and deep divisions among our people. He needed someone who would really communicate that message of healing, reconciliation and brotherhood (and sisterhood) irrespective of political leanings and other preferences to all Nigerians.
The minister to speak for and on behalf of all Nigerians at this critical juncture must be somebody that can be trusted across ethnic and political divides, not a chauvinist, or an egoistic and loquacious politician too eager to hear his or her own voice as we saw in the immediate past. The new era of information integrity has no room for a Goebbels-like propagandist and a cantankerous personality. What is required at this moment in the Tinubu presidency is a thoroughbred media professional as exemplified in Mohammed Idris Malagi.
From the professional side, it cannot come any better than a publisher of a reputable national newspaper, the Blueprint and Manhaja, a newspaper that publishes weekly and daily in English and Hausa language; chairman of Abuja-based Kings Broadcasting Limited, owners of WE 106.5 FM Radio Abuja; general secretary of Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria; recipient of NIgeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Milestone Recognition Media Icons Award in Nigeria; chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Kaduna State Chapter, and Vice Chairman of the Public Relations Consultative Association of Nigeria (PRCAN); and Director of Strategic Communications for the All Progressives Congress Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council.
Unlike some of his colleagues appointed at the the same time into the cabinet by President Tinubu, the minister of information has set about winning more friends for the government rather than making enemies and courting unnecessary controversies. And in doing this, he has earned the respect and trust of the public by insisting that the President had told him ab-initio not to lie to the people but to tell the truth at all times. This virtue is not only unique but also noble in an environment where most people appointed into government see their primary responsibility as defending the indefensible in government. In Malagi’s words: “As spokespersons, we need to make conscious efforts to build trust and restore hope wherever we are. Building and maintaining trust must be a collective responsibility. For trust to have value, it must be anchored on authenticity, transparency, and consistency.”
A great strategist and team person, once he was saddled with the job of minister of information, Malagi set about methodically by putting together a National Communication Team. This information think-tank is headed by him and made up of the Information, Strategy, Media and Publicity Managers in the Presidency and Director-Generals of Information and Communication agencies under the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation. The main objective of the Team is to create a healthy synergy and clearheaded information dissemination and messaging strategy for the government especially in this period of economic reforms.
It is indeed heartwarming to note that in just one year in office as minister, Malagi has maintained an excellent relationship with journalists in particular and the media in general unlike what obtained in the recent past where such relationship had been characterised by threats of closure of media houses, censorship and mistrust. It is not that there have not been sticking areas in the government-media relations in the past one year. However, this minister has displayed exemplary maturity and honesty in dealing with the issues. For instance, when the government felt aggrieved over a report by one of the national dailies, which it considered misleading and in bad faith, the Tinubu government did not go about unleashing its muscles or baying any fangs. Instead, the government chose the democratic path of approaching the courts, all thanks to Minister Malagi. A combative minister of information might have advised the government wrongly and created more enemies, which would serve no useful purpose.
After one year in office, it is clear as day that Minister Malagi had put his best foot forward. Even then, the task ahead of the minister is a herculean one. In a country that was badly governed at least in the past eight years, President Tinubu has no other choices than to take very difficult decisions. These decisions particularly the removal of petroleum subsidy may elicit some bad press and even popular unrest here and there against the government. It now behoves on Malagi and his team to roll up their sleeves, put on their strategic caps and go to work in order to convince the people that what President Tinubu is doing is in the best interest of the nation. They must communicate and live the fact that there is indeed suffering in the land; and that people are hungry. They must also convince the public of the wisdom in pushing for the economic reforms for a better tomorrow.
Make no mistakes about this, there is no doubt that the task of being the mouthpiece of a government in an era of difficult but necessary reforms is indeed a difficult one. But there’s no better professional around to take on this patriotic responsibility than the Kakaaki Nupe, Mohammed Idris Malagi.
Jude Emeka, a public affairs analyst wrote from Abuja.
