Propaganda as tool of governance
By Levi Obijiofor
IF you listen to President Olusegun Obasanjo and his ministers speak impressively about the achievements of the federal government, you would be forgiven for thinking that Obasanjo and his team have been transformed into overnight miracle workers. On the ground, however, there is nothing to support the bogus claims. In fact, Nigeria today is worse than Nigeria five years ago. The further you go into the past, the more depressing the comparison becomes.
When you hear the federal government say it has built new roads in one part of the country, you are likely to find the roads littered with new potholes and bumps. When you hear the government say it has constructed boreholes worth millions of naira to improve rural water supply, you will find the boreholes are little foxholes that produce no water but serve as shelter for rats and all kinds of rodents. When the government says it has liberalised the aviation industry, it actually means near indiscriminate granting of operating licences to an ever growing and ambitious band of airline operators with decrepit flying boxes bought from countries where they have been found to be no longer airworthy. What is non-functional in overseas countries is put into full function in Nigeria, even if it is to the detriment of the Nigerian people.
When the government says it is committed to poverty reduction, it actually implies the government has announced the setting up of the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP). We are experts in acronyms. When the government says it is reviving national interest in agriculture, it actually means the government has set up the Small and Medium Enterprises Agency (SMEA) - another acronym. Every government programme must have an acceptable acronym before it is established officially. There is an emerging and lucrative industry made up of acronym copywriters.
Last year Obasanjo told Nigerians that his government had given the greatest priority to agriculture and that the results were encouraging. It is a claim that really flew in the face of bare facts. The government might be giving utmost priority to agriculture but that attention has not yet trickled into the rural markets and the prices of goods. When it comes to commitment to agricultural revival, Obasanjo and his ministers must take the back seat and let the evidence speak for or against the government.
In the past one year, there has been a systematic trend by federal officials to talk up the achievements of the government even when supporting evidence is unavailable. But the more you peer into the list of achievements and compare it with the achievements on the ground, the more you feel convinced that Obasanjo and his ministers have perfected the art of double talk as an instrument of misgovernment. Indeed, propaganda is the chief instrument with which federal government officials mislead the people.
On Monday this week, everyone watched the Environment Minister beat his chest in Enugu while announcing the federal government has spent N50 billion to check erosion and other ecological problems since 1999. Although the minister, Bala Mande, admitted the amount was inadequate, he also failed to admit that there were many communities in the southeast - victims of serious soil and gully erosion problems - that have not benefited from any federal efforts to address erosion problems in the country. In Anambra State, to cite just a few examples, some communities face the threat of extinction owing to the devastating impact of soil and gully erosion. Among the communities that come to mind are Nanka, Oko and Agulu.
For many years, federal environment officials ignored urgent calls by the residents of these communities for government to save their lives, their land and their property. Now that the Environment Minister has revealed how much the federal government has spent on erosion and ecological problems, the appropriate question should be: how much of that money did the government commit to anti-erosion measures in these long-forgotten communities. This is why there will always be a wide gap between government claims about completed projects and the reality on the ground. It is one thing for federal officials to claim achievements and it is another for the ordinary people to identify those achievements as projects that impact positively on their lives. If the purported beneficiaries cannot support federal claims of achievements, the claims must be regarded as nothing but red herring.
From one empty claim of achievements to another. At the 10th National Economic Summit held in Abuja in early September 2003, Obasanjo claimed: "we have made progress in deregulating and liberalising the economy as is borne out by the Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) revolution, which had quadrupled the teledensity of Nigeria in less than four years." Before Obasanjo makes claims such as this, he should make an effort to talk with mobile phone users in the country about their experience with the new technology. The mere number of mobile phones in a country should not be seen as a measure of the effectiveness of the telecommunications industry.
In Nigeria, many people lock their mobile phones on their hips as if the little gadget has become a talisman against armed robbery. But when it comes to receiving or making calls with the mobile phones, you will find that the so-called revolution in the telecommunications industry has become a source of migraine for many mobile phone owners in Nigeria. Mobile phone owners literarily go to unimaginable heights to make or receive calls. Some climb treetops. Others prefer rooftops. Just to make or receive calls. And yet others climb mountains and hillocks in search of the elusive network service. And Obasanjo wants us to believe the global system of mobile communication is a revolution. This is certainly an Old Stone Age revolution in 21st century Nigeria. It is not a revolution for mobile phone users in Nigeria to shout and swear and shake their gadgets whenever they want to make or receive a call. Surely the operators of the mobile phone service in the country can provide much better service than what they are currently offering their clients in the country.
Obasanjo perceives critics of his government as sceptics. At the 10th National Economic Summit held in Abuja last year, he said: "We are aware of the skepticism that some people may have regarding government's policies and programmes. Some would question whether the New Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) is not just another empty acronym or whether it would succeed. Well, to those who have already made up their mind that it won't work, I have to say: in the last four years, this administration has been consistent. There is no reason why it should not be consistent in the next four years."
Obasanjo is an optimist but even optimism has its limits. Faith cannot be built on a vacuum.
