(Opinion Article)
By
Anas Sani Anka
___________________________
I want to start this analysis by calling the attention of the Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal to as a matter of urgency organized a special training on corporate information management for his media aides including that of the Deputy Governor.
The trending video of the Deputy Governor of Zamfara state Mal. Mani Mal. Mumini at the opening of an induction training for Zamfara Commissioners in Kaduna over the weekend has clearly demonstrated the simple fact that the media aides of the Deputy Governor who were present during the event are clueless and not capable of managing the flow of information of their principals in a very corporare way it is expected of them.
I did not blame them so much because their training and experience has never been build on that complex job but political destiny brought them to wear the regalia.
However, despite the fact it was a destiny, government should not allow this embarrassing moments to be characterizing it’s public functions because that will help build a permanent bad image that will remain undiluted on both the government and indeed the people.
Ordinarily that trending video should have not been allow to go to public and the Press Secretary of the Deputy Governor or whoever is in charge need not to be told that one of their corporate role as information managers is “gate keeping “.
“Gate keeping” in information management beneath that the information manager decides which media covers his principal and at what point he takes control of embarrassing moments and how such moments are permanently prevented from the public show.
I am sure if the Press Secretary of the Deputy Governor is professional enough he should have ensure that the trending video has been withdrawn from circulation among the media practitioners present during the event right at the venue.
A professional media aides always ensure that he regulates the number of media practitioners that covers his principal on the podium and in public function and he decided which of his principal’s best outing goes out via videos platforms for public consumption and which one got transmitted through normal print or publication.
It is a rule that an information manager must study and understand the strength and weakness of his principal and decide the best path to chose for him when making his activities public.
I was expecting to see more of published stories about the retreat than the humiliated video and as one of the practitioners up to the time when I am writing this piece, I have not seen one of the stories on the commissioner’s retreat at Kaduna that was published via any professional print media platforms.
This mean, the media aides of the Deputy Governor are careless about the consequences that may befall their principal after the speech and for obvious reasons political opponents are using it for politicking now.
So, it is normal if a media aide choses to abandon his jobs in the hands of social media handlers who are mostly unprofessional the bad side of the event about his principal will take precedent on the public domain and getting it controlled would be difficult.
No sensitive Zamfara citizen should be happy to watch his number (2) citizens making such an embarrassing public address and on the global platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp and in my candid opinion the failure was not that of the Deputy Governor because “that is the highest he can give”.
As for me I blamed the media aides because professionally they can go to the extreme end by ensuring that the video is not made public and in this case they failed to do that.
I will say with all sense of humility that, the executive Governor Dauda Lawal need to subject his media aides to rigorous training so that they can be thought the basic rudiments of corporate information management or else he should expect more of these public embarrassments.
What his media aides are given his government is per below the public expectations and the outcome speak low about the type of government he proudly tell people he wants to run.
Unless this is corrected, embarrassing moments like what happened in Kaduna may continue to surfaces GOD FORBID and with negative effects on the imagery of both the government and people of Zamfara as whole.
Capacity not political affiliation and identity shall always be the major yardstick for selection of competent media aides and information managers.
I rest my case… .. . .
