One thing that is certain about Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the Governor of Anambra is that he wants the best for Anambra and is doing everything he can to make the state the Dubai of Africa as he promised. Whether he is going about this the right way is another question altogether.
However, there are reasons to believe that Soludo’s effort to get his plan of development in the state on track is misunderstood and resisted by the people. More importantly, this has on many occasions given the governor bad names and got the people ill disposed towards his policies. Unfortunately, once the masses are biased toward the policies of a government, getting them to support that government is usually very difficult. What all these indicate very clearly is that Governor Soludo has a poorly motivated and ill-equipped media team who has failed to communicate his policies properly to the masses.
Ugwuanyi of Enugu State
While there is need to avoid excessive comparisons since the circumstances of the individualsoften compared are different, we still can’t totally eschew comparison because of the importance of learning from others. One person Soludo can learn the importance of an efficient and effective media team is Governor Ugwuanyi of Enugu State.
On a personal level, I don’t like Ugwuanyi’s policies. I believe in terms of project execution, and management of state resources, Ugwuanyi is the worst governor the state has had but one thing nobody can take away from Ugwuanyi is his foresight on the importance of the media in modern politics. Right from the first day in office; Ugwuanyi understood the power of the media in selling governments’ policies and has deployed it effectively throughout his seven years plus in office. He invested extensively in the media so much so that any media outlet that has anything to do with Enugu state are constantly bombarded with what the Governor’s activities. Everyperceived misunderstanding of the Governor’s policy is quickly rebutted and straightened. That is leadership. No responsible government should allow the interpretation of its policies to chance.
Nnamdi Kanu
Another person I admire because of his appreciation of the power of the media in influencing public opinion is Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra. Grounded in this understanding, Kanu started from the earliest days of his struggle for Biafra to prepare his followers for media wars because he understood that modern struggles are won and lost on the media, especially, the Social media. That IPOB and Kanu are still standing today despite all they have being through is because of that Kanu’s initial understanding of the power of the media.
Poor Media Outing, Soludo’s Undoing
While I laud the importance of the media and praise those who have deployed it effectively, I will never be a party to or encourage the use of the media by the state or any institution to hoodwink the public. The media is the voice of truth and to use it negatively is immoral and unacceptable.
Having made this point, let me re-emphasize again that I have no doubt that Soludo means well for Ndi Anambra and that his policies since assumption of office are geared towards making Anambra the Dubai of Africa as he promised during his campaigns. However, what has come out overtime and has influenced people’s perception of Soludo’s administration is that the Governor has a very weak media architecture that has been unable to tell the people in clear terms, what the Governor is doing. This shortcoming was clear in the way the waste management reform, teachers’ recruitment exercise, the ongoing demolitions and the problem with commercial driverswere handled. Soludo should know that no government can succeed in modern time without a formidable media.
