[9/2, 11:02 PM] Dr Marcel Mbamalu: I agree with you 100% on the communication gap.
But my own reading of the ruling APC since it took over power from the PDP in 2015 is that an opposition mentality has never left its psyche.
It is still behaving like the main opposition rather than a ruling party that should set the agenda and constructively communicate its policies and reforms. A huge amount of energy and national resources is spent trying to identify and checkmate perceived “enemies,” reacting to the opposition, and fighting yesterday’s battles.
Since 2015, we have rarely heard the APC sound like a winner. What we hear instead is defensiveness. Leadership is lacking in the circles of the ruling APC. Its media foot soldiers mostly behave like attack dogs rather than strategic communicators working for inclusive leadership and a sustainable hold on power for economic development.
That posture has also rubbed off on media. The situation has exposed even hitherto respected media professionals as divisive and, in some cases, openly bigoted.
You’re right — the policies you listed are real and they deserve to be front and center: NELFUND, Ounje Eko and other state food interventions, CREDICORP, the CCT under the social register, NHIA/VGF. But if citizens don’t know about them, the vacuum will always be filled by outrage.
Until the APC shifts from reaction to agenda-setting, from attack-dog media to strategic, solutions-based communication, the presidency will keep losing the narrative — no matter how much money has actually been disbursed.
We need winners who govern like winners.
Dr Mbamalu
[9/2, 11:12 PM] Kole Odutola: You’ve hit the nail on the head, and I share that deep concern for where communication practice is heading in Nigeria.
The recurring mistake governments make is assuming that being a brilliant investigative reporter or editor qualifies someone to be an effective public spokesperson. Journalism and strategic public communication require entirely different mindsets. Journalists are trained to investigate, interrogate, report, and react to breaking events. Strategic communicators, on the other hand, are trained to set the agenda, anticipate crises, shape narratives, and build trust proactively. When you put a reactive mindset into a proactive role, you get fire-fighting instead of strategic leadership.
To your larger question: this isn't about defending administrations or sanitizing state failure. It is about practical citizen survival. How do citizens subvert a broken, opaque system? By democratizing access to the very information the state fails to deliver. When we demystify public programs—whether it is student loans, consumer credit, subsidized markets, or health insurance—we transform abstract policy into tools people can actually exploit to navigate economic hardship. Subversion in this context means weaponizing civic literacy: extracting every single resource, subsidy, and entitlement from the system so ordinary people can survive while holding power accountable.
[9/2, 11:34 PM] Dr Marcel Mbamalu: You’ve also hit the nail on the head.
And to add to it: I think the ruling party is still dogged by the long years it spent in opposition pre-2015. That opposition DNA hasn’t left as I said earlier.
In fact, it’s gotten so bad that even after the government itself realized the combative, divisive communication model deployed by Lai Mohammed was only good for an opposition disposition — not for inclusive governance — and sidelined him from future participation in APC government, the new sheriffs in town are still deploying the same Lai Mohammed-style playbook: attack, don’t listen, and don’t allow “them” to be heard.
Yes, governments all over the world use positive propaganda and even subtle blackmail to shape narratives. That’s politics. But absolute negative propaganda, the constant war-room mentality, is a no-no for any progressively minded government that actually wants to govern.
You’re absolutely right that journalism and strategic public communication are two different jobs. Journalists are trained to investigate and interrogate. Strategic communicators are trained to set the agenda, anticipate crises, and build trust.
Right now we have a ruling party with a reactive opposition mindset trying to do a proactive governance job. The result is what we see: panicky fire-fighting, outrage cycles, and real policies like NELFUND, CREDICORP, Ounje Eko, and the NHIA safety nets getting drowned out because no one is telling the story.
If the APC wants citizens to survive this period and also judge it fairly, it has to weaponize information the way you said — not against citizens, but for them. Demystify the programs. Put them in people’s hands. And retire the attack-dog model.
A government that governs must sound like one.
Dr Mbamalu
[9/3, 12:02 AM] tunji oketunbi: Now you are treating the core of the matter. Journalists are not usually good public relations officers. As you noted, they have different mindsets. Journalists are usually combative and have little or no tolerance for criticism. They easily get on the edge once their principal is criticised. They get pwrsonal and even employ personal abuse vehicle to deal with critics. A public relations officer wants to get his message out and correct the narrative to his own favour. I have played the two roles. So I k know what I am saying. Just look at all the people that have been holding the post of Aso Rock spokesman. They exhibit the same traits. They also display some form of arrogance and I know it all attitude. They are employed because they are believed to be in control of their primary constituency, which is an asset but not the end. This administration lacks strategic communication policy and strategy. Although it has done quite a lot of life impacting projects it is still daily vilified and ridiculed and you are just a few months to the elections.
While it may not be out of place to meet the opposition on their turf, it is important to be focused and not make that your major strategy. But will they seek or take advice?
[9/3, 12:48 AM] Dr Marcel Mbamalu: Yes o. One of the most identifiable lows for Nigerian journalists who, by accident or design, find their way into government or politics as spokesmen or communication strategists is pride and arrogance. And I see that as a cover for weakness.
They don’t listen to opposing views. There’s always that “I know it all” energy. But my experience in both — as a journalist and as a communication strategist, in the private sector of late — has taught me that you can’t get it wrong with listening. Even to people who appear to rank lower than you in the profession. I’d say it’s 70% listening, 30% talking, if you want the talking to actually get home and achieve the desired effect.
I’ve also noticed that the media today focuses more on activities than on impact. How many traditional media organisations today run audience surveys to test the veracity of their editorial policies, content choices, or even marketing? Very few. We assume, we don’t measure.
My PhD thesis in 2018 was on _Renewable Energy Communication in Nigeria_ and its impact in Lagos and Ogun States, specifically looking at print media coverage of the subject over time. You’ll be shocked at what I found. The gap between what we publish and what actually moves public understanding and behavior is huge.
And to add to that point on measuring impact — an excerpt from that thesis was actually published in the globally indexed journal, _SAGE_, in 2020. Another version also appeared in a popular Nigerian journal — the _Covenant University Journal of Communication_ — in 2019. I can share the links with you if you wish. It says a lot about our work and the impact we have, or don’t have. More importantly, it speaks to the need to measure.
So my overall submission is this: we as journalists really need to come down from our high horse and relearn communication. Journalism is not communication. It’s just a tool. Arguably so.
You’re right about the Aso Rock spokesmen. That combative, thin-skinned, “get personal” reflex doesn’t translate to governance. A PR officer’s job is to get the message out and correct the narrative in your favour. A journalist’s reflex is to fight, interrogate, and react. When you put that reflex in power, you get exactly what we have now: good projects being vilified daily because there’s no strategic communication policy or strategy to carry citizens along, and we’re just months to elections.
Meeting the opposition on their turf is fine. But it cannot be the major strategy. The major strategy should be agenda-setting, listening, and translating policy into citizen benefit.
Will they seek or take advice? That’s the bigger question. Until pride steps aside for humility, we’ll keep having brilliant reporters making poor communicators, and good policies dying in bad packaging.
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