Marketing communication practitioners are not happy with Labaran Maku as Information Minister. They express disappointment, particularly because of his background as a former journalist and editor, who had also cut his teeth as a junior minister before mounting the saddle. Goddie Ofose writes on the grouses.
Labaran Maku
Nigeria’s image suffers at home and abroad and the Ministry of Information appears helpless and tactless on how to handle it.
The fortunes of the Nigerian brand have dwindled overseas since Labaran Maku became Information Minister. The local media, advertising, public relations and allied industries too have not helped matters.
Also, the media have come under attack from the military in the past few days without an official statement from Maku, a former journalist.
Unlike other sectors such as banking, manufacturing, oil and gas and aviation where a minister would have stated official position, the Information Ministry has kept mum.
Stakeholders frown at Maku’s handling of several industry issues, which include the appointment of Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) chairman, support for industry activities, lack of funds for government agencies and silence over the confiscation of newspapers by the military.
Maku’s pedigree and predecessors
During his career as a journalist, Maku, an expert in democracy and governance, had been a reporter, political editor, member of the editorial board of two newspapers and deputy editor-in-chief.
He had also been a head teacher at a government school from 1981 to 1983.
Prior to his current appointment, Maku had worked as Nasarawa State Deputy Governor, and was Minister of State for Information during the tenure of the late Dora Akunyili as Information Minister.
Jerry Gana, who was appointed Information Minister in 1999, did not record any meaningful achievement but his successors created the platform to market Nigeria to the outside world.
Chukwuemeka Chikelu, who became Information Minister in 2003, initiated the Heart of Africa campaign to revamp the image of the country battered for several years by military misrule.
Several consultants were engaged to craft a policy template for the campaign. However, the project hit the rocks when Chikelu was replaced by Frank Nweke, who focused on educating Nigerians and the international community on economic opportunities.
Nweke’s tenure never witnessed any marketing communication strategy but industry stakeholders saw him as relatively active.
Akunyili took over and drove the “Good People Great Nation” campaign. Though critics knocked it as a white elephant sound bite, the majority of Nigerians reckoned it an eye opener to what the nation can achieve with a good image.
Apart from a lack of effort by Maku to market the positive side of Nigeria – Africa’s most populous country and largest economy – stakeholders also complain about the failure of the ministry to encourage local players.
Going foreign on PR handler
It was widely reported in the media that the government had concluded plans to hire a foreign public relations outfit for $800 million to manage the country’s perception and image.
Instead of Maku approaching the industry he supervises to explain the matter, it was Presidential Media Adviser, Reuben Abati, who spoke up to deny the report.
Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) President, Chido Nwakanma, said the alleged decision to engage a foreign public relations firm is neither strategic nor advisable and is an additional gaffe to the many avoidable missteps of Abuja in handling communication and reputation.
“The purported search is premised on a wrong foundation of white washing Nigeria before foreign media and audiences. However, the real challenge before the federal government lies elsewhere and that is at the home front with its citizens, representing the primary stakeholders,” Nwakanma added.
APCON in leadership limbo
Another sour point is the delayed appointment of an APCON Chairman to replace Lolu Akinwunmi, whose tenure expired seven months ago.
Maku broke his silence on it at a public event where he announced Ngozi Emioma as APCON Chairman, to the disappointment of practitioners.
According to reports, Maku congratulated Emioma on his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan and pledged to support him and all the parastatals under the Ministry of Information to achieve national transformation.
However, Akinwunmi denied knowledge of the appointment of Emioma.
And APCON Head of Corporate Affairs and Research, Ralph Anyacho, said: “I am not aware of any appointment or formation of new APCON council. It is news to me as it is to you.”
Stakeholders plan to petition Maku over what they call the arbitrary appointment of Omioma.
Lack of respect, funds for parastatals
Maku is also criticised for not showing respect to industry related functions.
A respected member of ADVAN, who pleaded anonymity, noted that “Maku is unlike his predecessors. He does not attend industry functions, unlike his counterparts in communication, trade and commerce, finance, oil and gas and aviation. He shows that he lacks respect for the industry.”
Government agencies under the Information Ministry lack funds to carry out their operations.
“Our operation is stifled because of a lack of funds, something that rarely happened when the late Akunyili was Minister,” a source in APCON confided in TheNiche. Another said “APCON subvention is N125 million per month but we rarely receive this money.”
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) also faces the same problem.
Efforts to reach Maku for comment were unsuccessful. Calls to his telephone line were not answered, and text messages not replied.