by Ekene Ngwu

Currently, it seems Levick were also contracted to take the heat for the government, but they have succeeded in diverting and dissipating attention and blame.

The political narrative in Nigeria adjusted since reports emerged in June that international public relations firm, Levick, was hired for the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Established in 1998 by Richard Levick, the America-based public relations agency has won many awards and is reputed to succeed in difficult terrains.

Despite claims that their first brief is to manage information about rescue efforts of the Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram, a lot more is happening. It’s almost one month since they came on board and the noticeable stir in Nigeria’s political waters has been erroneously deemed as a strategy failure. While it is too early to count their successes, their usefulness to the Federal Government and to President Jonathan will be the emphasis of this article.

Both government apologists and antagonists believe that the major error committed by the presidency since the abduction of the girls in Borno state is ineffective crisis communication. Although, the government could have done better with or without the help of a PR firm, this current administration should have hired one since their inception in 2011.

Effective communication and stakeholder engagement before the removal of fuel subsidy in January 2012 might have prevented the resultant protests and the permanent reputational damage the #OccupyNigeria movement did to the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan.

The federal government’s major stakeholders are the citizens, staff, media, as well as other governments, especially in the fight against terrorism. This implies that Nigeria’s stakeholders are both internal and external and this justifies the need of an international public relations agency to help with all the aspects of public relations, such as stakeholder engagement, crisis communication, international and intra-national lobbying, media relations, external relations, internal relations, as well as corporate social responsibility.

Having listed these important aspects of public relations in federal governance, the average citizen needs to understand that public relations does not imply propaganda. There seems to be a misconception that ‘a PR firm has been hired to do propaganda for the president’ and this is because some average citizens believe public relations is simply publicity or propaganda. No, it is not.

For those who understand the difference, the grouse of antagonists might be that the inherent advantages of effective public relations for the Federal Government are by extension, beneficial to the president. The current benefits might not be very visual to the non-analytical mind as there is already a crisis, and crisis communication can only salvage a situation to an extent.

To explain Levick’s influence in Nigeria’s politics, a number of assumptions and conclusions will be drawn, some of which may be exaggerated, or may be wrong. Public relations’ functions cut across all departments and affiliates of organisations or governments, so I’d like to believe that the strategy in play for the Nigerian Government was also extended to some federal ministries, security agencies as well as the ruling People Democratic Party.

One of the first strategies of crisis communication is to accept that certain mistakes were made; and the federal government, apparently accepted advice to do so.

Firstly, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, admitted this failure and ‘vacuum’ in communication. The federal government’s ineffectiveness in communicating the earliest efforts that were made towards rescuing the abducted girls, created a negative perception that government was doing zilch about the situation, and subsequently led to worldwide protests. Okonjo-Iweala, who can pass for the ‘prime minister of the country’, admitted this flop while in London for a CNN interview with Christine Amanpour. She announced the ‘safe schools initiative’ in which the government is partnering with former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, along with some countries’ governments. Most Nigerian commentators on social media had mostly positive things to say about the minister’s interview.

Secondly, Goodluck Jonathan’s op-ed in the Washington Post is an effort towards international stakeholder engagement, to tell the president’s side of the story while seeking international solutions to terrorism. Although it was criticized, it still does not change the fact, that some foreign or external stakeholders have been engaged.

There have also been other articles published in international media endeavouring to explain the danger Boko Haram’s activities pose to the international community, even beyond Africa. The intended outcomes could be to forge stronger international ties and gain the empathy of more allies in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria and West Africa.

A former Russia presidential adviser, Alexander Nekrassov also wrote an article published on Al Jazeera’s website where he questioned Boko Haram’s political agenda, influence, links and contributions to the various groups that currently oppose the federal government of Nigeria. [READ HERE]

The Bow Group also published an article on their website, accusing the United States of ‘playing a dangerous game in Nigeria’, and sought clarification for United States’ delay to brand Boko Haram an international terrorist organisation. The group also warned Hillary Clinton of the risks of political pacts with the major opposition party and recommended neutrality in advance of Nigeria’s presidential elections next year [READ HERE]. Unconfirmed as Levick’s role in all of this may be, every sensible analyst will realise that the current control of the narrative is tilted in the favour of Nigeria’s federal government.

Thirdly, the communication on the successes of the federal government in fighting terrorism seems to have increased with Levick’s coming. This was noted in the highly publicized extradition of Sadiq Ogwuche, the suspected mastermind of the April 14 Nyanya bombing.

The president met with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage girl known for her campaign for girls’ education. He strongly assured her that the abducted girls would be rescued, and announced that they will be awarded scholarships to study in any part of the country. He went on to commission Africa’s largest rice mill in Rukubi, Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa state, staying in the news for positive reasons. Pictures were released showing the president standing next to hundreds of bags of rice arranged to form pyramids and tagged “the pyramids are back”. Control of the news in those few weeks ensured that little or no damaging criticisms of the presidency made the headlines.

In the days that followed, instead of the usual blame apportioned to Mr President, Levick was blamed all through as they were alleged to have branded some of the #BringBackOurGirls campaigners in Abuja as ‘psychological terrorists’. This tag seemed to have been implied in a statement signed by a presidential aide, announcing the cancellation of a proposed meeting with some parents of the abducted girls and blaming the campaigners for refusal of the parents to attend. Before some activists could blame the government for the cancellation, a letter from the president’s chief of staff was leaked to show that the parents had already been invited for a meeting on a later date. The presence of the letter in the public domain clearly disarmed antagonists of the federal government.

Currently, it seems Levick were also contracted to take the heat for the government, but they have succeeded in diverting and dissipating attention and blame.

While Levick was being blamed for tagging the protest group ‘psychological terrorists’, the chants and rants on Twitter clearly did not bother the firm, as they did not offer any replies on Twitter, neither did the criticism have any strong international effect on their reputation.

With regards to possible successes in internal relations, the Chief Executive and Corps Marshal of the Federal Roads Safety Corps rode a bicycle to the National Assembly to attend a ministerial screening, after which the senate confirmed him as a minister of the federal republic. The Inspector General of Police was also, unbelievably spotted, and photographed controlling traffic in Abuja. Inconsequential as these actions might sound, it is very possible and I opine, that Levick’s advice to the federal government and its agencies have inspired attitudinal change in both staff and citizens.

The president is also requesting approval from the National Assembly to borrow one billion dollars to fight terrorism, and I believe a lot of lobbying will need to be done.

It will not be far from the truth to conclude that the public relations firm has a hand in these positive strategic communication and management activities.

I had stated in a previous article that President Jonathan needs a Twitter account for timely communication [READ HERE]; I envisage that Levick will make that happen. 

Public relations is about reputation and is related to ‘what an organisation or government does, what it says and what is said about it’. These imply that good public relations will result to positive change in what government does, what is says it will do, and what is said about government. Levick is definitely advising the Federal Government of Nigeria to do the right thing and might be controlling crisis communication, as well as stakeholder engagement, media relations, internal relations and external relations. And these are what the government as well as citizens stand to gain from the contracting of a good public relations firm.

If the fight against Boko Haram gets international attention and help, and the federal government continues controlling the narrative with effective public relations and good governance, Levick’s successes will become more visible than they currently are.

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Ekene Ngwu is a digital media & public relations consultant and a documentary producer. He studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka; Pan Atlantic University, Lagos; New York Film Academy, USA and Newcastle University, United Kingdom. He has been head of research & reporter at Supersport TV and a Marketing Communications Consultant in United Kingdom.He tweets from @KenisCruise

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.