President Bola Tinubu currently has 13 people running his media team, the most bloated in the history of Nigeria's presidency since
President Bola Tinubu currently has 13 people running his media team, the most bloated in the history of Nigeria’s presidency since the return of democracy.
This is just as re designated the positions of two recently appointed officials in the State House media and communications team to enhance efficiency within the government’s communication machinery.
Sunday Dare, hitherto Special Adviser on Public Communication and National Orientation, is now Special Adviser, Media and Public Communications while Daniel Bwala, announced last week as Special Adviser, Media and Public Communication, is now Special Adviser Policy Communication.
“These appointments, along with the existing role of Special Adviser, Information and Strategy, underscore that there is no single individual spokesperson for the Presidency,” said the President.
He said that all the three Special Advisers would collectively serve as spokespersons for the government.
He said this approach would ensure effective and consistent communication of government policies, decisions and engagements.
He said, “For someone who has built and invested heavily in the media and who has enjoyed significant support from the media, especially during his run for the presidency, it beats me how he is suddenly so confused and disorganised with a straightforward task of putting together a coherent, light-footed, fit-for-the-purpose media team. Just look at the cacophony of strange fellows he has appointed, from the rather too-old-for-the-era Methuselah to the turncoat minimal value blabber. They are too many, the job description is all over the place, and some of them have neither real access to nor an understanding of how the Nigerian media space works.
“If the President cannot put a simple media team together, can anyone be surprised how he will motivate them to get the job done? What is even their job? He mistakes media management for public relations. He muddles this up with a spokesperson interface, with media firewall speaking heads, and with social media optimisation. He imagines some ‘attack dog’ role as useful in an era where believability is key and young people are catching cruise as they call it, where rudeness and deliberate misdemeanours are the currency.”
Showunmi urged Tinubu to quickly reorganise the media team and ensure that there is an appointed leadership with cabinet status to coordinate and lead the media team other than how it is now where the three appointed Special Advisers operate independently as spokespersons for the presidency.
He opined that having an identified team head with a cabinet status would also make it easy for the media, especially the international ones to know who to call on matters affecting the government.
Showunmi said, “Former President Buhari had just two main drivers. The one and only Femi Adesina was leading with Mallam Garba backing him with clearly defined roles. I urge the president to designate one of them as Special Adviser. The others should be Senior Special Assistants, Special assistants and PAs because the bulk must stop on one of the tables, not on multiple tables.”
