Yar’Adua orders improved publicity of govt activities
By Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja
Published: Monday, 13 Apr 2009
President Umaru Yar’Adua has directed heads of ministries, departments and agencies to reorganise their information departments to make information on government activities more accessible to the public.

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President Umaru Yar’Adua

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, said the directive followed the realisation that critics of the government ‘were taking advantage of the inadequate publicity of the administration’s efforts.’

Our correspondent recalls that the poor information on government activities have been impacting negatively on the administration’s efforts to deliver on its mandate to Nigerians. The claims in opposition circles have been that the government is inactive.

Examples of such negative impact include the blame laid by critics on the administration over the poor state of infrastructure in the country, following alleged non-publicity of government’s efforts.

To correct the perceived imbalance, Adeniyi, while presenting a paper titled, “Communication in governance: The pitfalls, the prospects” at the second Global Communication Summit organised by Timex Communications Limited, in Abuja on Saturday, said the government had agreed that there was a vital need for a continuous engagement between public officials and the media to ensure the success of the administration.

“As a deliberate communication policy, government is taking steps to encourage more openness in the conduct of public affairs.

“Consequently, ministers and senior government officials have been mandated to reorganise their information departments and units with a view to making them more accessible to the media, which has the constitutional responsibility of holding the government accountable to the people.”

Adeniyi, however, admitted that the perceived under-reporting of the Yar’Adua administration’s activities stemmed largely from the disposition of the President himself.

Yar’Adua, he said, “believes that government should concentrate more on service delivery and refrain from what he often describes as ‘making noise in the media,’ believing that what counts at the end of the day is what the people see and not what they are told.”

He said the flipside of Yar’Adua’s disposition on the matter was reflected in the current situation, whereby government officials, including ministers, had become publicity- shy in their quest to copy the President.

He added, “While this may be a correct position in an environment where empty propaganda has become the norm, it has had its adverse effects as ministers and heads of government agencies have become too quiet even to the extent of not talking about their work plans as well as the progress being recorded under them.”

Part of the reorganisation expected in the information departments in the MDAs will include re-orientation programmes for the information officers, who will be made to jettison their bureaucratic disposition.

The presidential spokesman noted that as bureaucrats, the information officers felt they were compelled to restrain the release of any information unless when authorised to do so by appropriate supervising officials.

He said, “As project implementation becomes more visible and government officials deal more transparently, the logical tendency is for the people to be better informed about what is going on as they rely less and less on idle speculations that are most often politically motivated and make their own value judgment on the meaningful progress that are visible to them amid the challenges of the global economic recession.”

He said criticism from the opposition concerning national problems, including epileptic power supply, decaying infrastructure, youth unemployment and poverty, were threatening the image of the Yar’Adua administration, despite the efforts to enhance service delivery through strategic planning.

“It has come to the knowledge of the administration that these criticisms and demands could obscure the efforts being made to deliver sustainable development in the face of dwindling resources,” he said.

He said Yar’Adua, from the beginning of his administration, had recognised that some of the greatest problems that afflicted governance in the past were lack of planning, utter disregard for due process and procedures as well as the rule of law.

The new policy is coming in the wake of some perceived lapses in the management of information concerning the activities of the President himself.

A major example was the controversy that surrounded his trip to Saudi Arabia in August 2008.

The official reason for the trip, according to the Presidency, was that Yar’Adua travelled to perform Umrah, the lesser Hajj.

But it was widely believed and reported that the President actually traveled to undergo medical check-up in Saudi Arabia, following a previous trip for the same purpose in Germany.


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200904136112315

Has it been up to 6 months this same administration got ministers to swear to an oath of secrecy?

Is this another policy reversal to join the already long list?

When will the President reverse his oath of office and resign?

mikeansy:

Yar’Adua orders improved publicity of govt activities
By Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja
Published: Monday, 13 Apr 2009


Adeniyi, however, admitted that the perceived under-reporting of the Yar’Adua administration’s activities stemmed largely from the disposition of the President himself.

Yar’Adua, he said, “believes that government should concentrate more on service delivery and refrain from what he often describes as ‘making noise in the media,’ believing that what counts at the end of the day is what the people see and not what they are told.”


http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200904136112315

WT. . . Strict adherence to the rule of law, declaration of state of emergency on power sector, seven point agenda, blah, blah - if all these don't qualify as noise making, then I really don't know what does. . .