Not many people had heard about the website richestlifestyle.com until last week. In a marketing coup they have now directed a lot of traffic to their hitherto obscure site. Kudos to their marketing savvy.
Lack of regulation allows them to make utterly ridiculous claims such as listing our President Goodluck Jonathan as the sixth richest African leader. Preposterously he was said to be worth $100 million by the United States medium. In a country with a minimum wage of 18,000 naira a month if one can get hold of the wage and no safety nets, this is bound to cause disaffection. It also unfairly appears to confirm a perception that the country is riven with or perhaps driven by corruption.
Obviously not having a reputation to protect, richestlifestyle.com does not appear to be fastidious about explaining its methodology. No one is privy to the methodology employed to come about this figure. Unfortunately the fault lies in us and not the website.
This is the point that the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati appeared to have unfortunately overlooked in his response. If the contemptible rag sought to unjustifiably portray the president as a corrupt leader and ignite public disaffection against him, who allowed this to happen in the first place?
If the President had followed the example of the late President Yar’Adua and publicly declared his assets without prompting or grumbling, no one would have taken this hitherto obscure headline craving website seriously. It is not too late to do so now. Otherwise every opportunist seeking attention will follow suit and lead attacks on the president’s wife, his family and associates.
In addition, a public declaration of assets will percolate all the way down to the local government level and set a worthy template for all times which no one will have to deviate from. Let’s do it now.