Lagos with a population of approximately 20million residents has no Chief Press Secretary CPS, to the Governor. There is a Special Adviser, Media to the Governor, Mr Gboyega Akosile; who is a member of the Executive Council.
Under him are two Senior Special Assistants in charge of the mainstream media and social media. None of these two dare send anything out or grant any interviews in the name of the government without clearance from the Special Adviser.
Until recently, the Lagos Governor has also appointed, for the first time in history, a Special Adviser on Public Relations and Documentation, and by nomenclature, the role of the office is clearly spelt out.
Nothing goes out without clearance from the office of the SA Media or the State Commissioner for Information.
But in Cross River State, my State, with a population of less than 4million residents, there are up to, if not more than 30 human beings who call themselves, this and that, to the Governor on Media and Communication. All kinds of bogus titles that I am sure even the Governor himself does not remember unless they introduce themselves to him.
Most of them have their unauthorized letter headed papers that they use to dish out discordant press releases and all kinds of bull dung in their attempt to impress the Governor.
The Governor even warned them in a press statement not to send anything out or grant interviews without clearance from his CPS, Linus Obogo or the State Commissioner for Information, but in their insubordination, they continue to disregard the directive of the Governor and keep on writing all kinds of incoherent and abusive diatribes in the name of defending government.
Our Foundation organized a training for them, yet it doesn’t appear like they learnt anything. The over-sabi and overzealous-ness to prove that “I am the best media SA to the Governor” is counter productive and creates chaos and negative image for the government.
The confrontational posturing of these neophytes is not doing the Governor any good. No one is in control of anyone in the government information management team. Everybody is his or her own boss, working at cross purposes.
But simply put, the governor has to sack most of these folks, rearrange his information management team to a lean and small coterie of professionals that will be able to manage and disseminate government messages clearly. Our State does not need such a large number of unproductive parasites to manage its information.
We don’t even have the luxury of those resources. It’s a total waste of resources and waste of government titles on undeserving sycophants who actually have nothing to offer in the real sense of the job. They can as well be redeployed elsewhere, where they can be more productive.
This opinion is strictly mine.
Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo, is a journalist , rights activist and writes in from Lagos
State.NB: Opinions expressed in this sponsored article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch.
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