₦airaland Forum

By Jarus and Dayo Williams

Sahara Reporters, July 13, 2015

http://saharareporters.com/2015/07/13/memo-president-buhari-why-media-perception-matters-dayo-williams-suraj-oyewale


All over the world, the media exercise serious control over the politics of any country. And many a time, what the media do is to weave perception into reality. That's part of media control. In real politics, perception is most likely to be taken as reality. Even a lot of the well-read in more advanced climes fall for this trick.


This brings us to the emerging trend the Nigerian media have begun weaving about President Buhari since he began to make some key appointments. It does not look too good especially when one considers the longer implications.

Before we proceed, let us cast our minds back to the gigantic efforts it took some of us to change the negative perception the Nigerian media weaved about General Buhari for almost three decades before his dramatic ascension to power again.

It was not a small re-branding campaign. Only those who know will understand and appreciate what we’re saying here. It's easy to downplay it as some folks have started doing. When it's time again, we need to remind these folks!

President Buhari was seen as a religious zealot, ethnic jingoist, a parochial northern irredentist and many other sad metaphors. And all these were largely believable by the Nigerian voting public until a surgical re-branding was done on the People's General to become what he's today.

It's saddening today to know that while he's yet to settle into his presidency substantially, the same media that played a significant role in installing him have started calling him an ethnic jingoist, either directly or by inference.

Few days ago, what started on the Social Media, majorly by the people that never wanted Buhari as president, and some genuine supporters of the president, about the seeming lopsidedness in the appointments made so far by the president, was given coverage by the Punch newspaper (“Appointments: Uproars as Buhari Favours Northerners”, July 4, 2015). Punch basically echoed the popular sentiments on the social media. Earlier, Sun newspaper had run a news report of how northerners are scheming to take over NNPC (“North Set to Take Over NNPC”, The Sun, June 29, 2015).

This may be perception which is no reality but a lot of Nigerians believe it's real. And that is worrying to us. Personally, we believe these sensational news headlines are unfair to Buhari, but we don’t know these newspapers for frivolities, especially Punch, which appeared to be the most professional and probably most unbiased – or should we say, friendly to Buhari - of all the South-based newspapers, during the last electioneering period. Hence, we take these reports seriously, and we want the President to do too.

A good number of the people that use Social Media, especially Twitter and Facebook, are enlightened enough to know what to take from reports, but the issue is, from experience, the millions of probably semi-literate “newspaper stands analysts”, once they form their opinion based on what news headlines say, are difficult to see every other move of a leader beyond ethnic prism.

To be frank, if we were in the shoes of the president, we would not appoint a Daura as replacement for an Ekpeyong. There are some moves that no matter how sincerity-driven they are, are impolitic. We are not asking the president to be “politically correct” at the expense of good governance, but we believe there are ways to marry both. He doesn’t need to ask “how will people interpret?” before every step, but all we are saying is exercising some circumspection in some moves. Having nine of ten appointments so far as northerners, no matter how good intentioned one is, will invite uproar and negative press in a country like ours where ethnic and religious suspicion is rife. Buhari cannot afford not to give a damn.

We spent too much efforts and resources rebranding Buhari. This is why it is difficult for us to fold our arms and watch the new image go down in dirts – real or imagined - again.

This is the reality today. And the moment his media handlers realize this, the better. If the trend is not halted now, the negative name will tag along until he finishes his tenure. Whether he re-contests or not, it is sure going to affect the fortunes of the party.

Come to think of it, if there's any genuine polling that's done on the popularity of the president today, many will agree with us that it's fast waning than it was before he was elected. It's a sad reality. Only the President and his media handlers can correct this. Some of us social media believers in the Buhari project to change Nigeria, have never lost hope and are still doing our best on the social media. But they should please make our self-given roles easy.

If morning tells the day, it's not too early to reverse some of these obvious mistakes so as to restore the President's popularity. Some of us have the ability to see ahead of others. We don't know whether it's a gift or not, but it has a higher probability of happening eventually.

May the President succeed in correcting the numerous ills the PDP plunged this country into in the last 16 years!


Williams, a media practitioner, and Oyewale, a chartered accountant, are Facebook friends and firm believers in the New Nigeria that Buhari is the face of. They can be reached via akinboyotemidayo@gmail.com or oyewalesuraj@gmail.com

http://saharareporters.com/2015/07/13/memo-president-buhari-why-media-perception-matters-dayo-williams-suraj-oyewale

Atlantian:
How can you give Range Rover to artisan, na wa for you oh. I use Coscharis for your some months then I had to lobby a mechanic from the outlet to always come service mine independently at my home. Stay away from these road side mechanics.

I have actually heard about cornering Coscharis service mechanic too. Will try that too. Thanks

Atlantian:
Land Rover products are very expensive to maintain and very sensitive to little issues. I treat them like babies and these days, servicing and repairs are done in my compound these days or at coscharis while I watch every bit of it. I no wan hear stories that touch.

oh, boy. Not easy. I'm a little non-challant sha, but these guys wan run me down. LOL

jaybee3:
Do you want me to recommend one to you?

Please do (shoot me an email of facebook PM). These guys don chop me finish as if na dem I come work for Lagos.

Atlantian:
How can you give Range Rover to artisan, na wa for you oh. I use Coscharis for your some months then I had to lobby a mechanic from the outlet to always come service mine independently at my home. Stay away from these road side mechanics.

Thanks.

Not an artisan actually. It's a company, sort of one-man company with workers. The guy has not been able to fix the gear and money keeps going down the drain (got a new gear) and the most annoying thing is his attitude (posting - after paying, he will say he has another job and will come tomorrow...tomorrow after tomorrow).

I used roadside mechanics (artisans) for all my previous cars and they are the same.

robedu:
I drive toyota avensis 2007.

And my mechanic is making life a living hell for me, when the car has issue, most times i cannot be repaired once, he will repair the first, bring it and the same thing will happen and he will do it again, sometimes it takes up to 3 to 4 times to get one issue resolved.

The one that happen now is so annoying, last week the car accelerator at some point will not move fast even if you press with all your power and finally it will stop. and then i will start it again.

My Mechanic came to pick it up, fix it and bring it for me on Sunday and on Monday the same thing happen.

Will i ever be able to get a good mechanic to help me out on a low budget. i am so tired, im even crying

Oga, I just threatened to arrest my Range Rover mechanic yesterday if he fails to fix the problem this time after spending like 700k in the last one month fixing gear only!

I have had too many bad experiences with these artisans.

Company should have cleaning services companies do the disinfecting and cleaning of their toilets every 30 minutes.

Punch, two weeks ago, used Nairaland comments as main basis of its lead story on Buhari northern appointmets story.

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July edition holds July 25, 2015 at Ocean Basket Restaurant, Tiamiyu Savage, Off Ahmadu Bello Way, VI.

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UrchMannie:
Hello Jarus, I trust you are doing well. I read an article you wrote sometime ago and it was very helpful.
Kindly look into these links, they are inactive.
Thanks and regards.

Back

This is a waste of resources.

Arabs love cars. Rolls Royce is pure water in Dubai.

Freemanan:

How can such accident occur intra-town?


That driver tho.. lalasticlala come and see

God forbids. But a free, smooth Third Mainland Bridge on a Sunday morning is very tempting.

I set target for myself on that road on Sundays. I set time to use to drive the stretch. I normally do it in 7 minutes and 5 minutes my record, and tried to beat it.

But I have stopped that now that I have a family.

mkoabiola:
Even for NL,dem discriminate
Most uni graduates blv poly graduates writes poorly on NL, what a bad omen and shallow mentality.

Lips sealed.

Fola Adeola, GTB founder, is an HND holder

Taiwo Oyedele, youngest partner in PwC Nigeria, is an HND holder.

Don't be discouraged.

But I confess the dichotomy is real and won't advise anyone (that plans to go for paid job post-school) to opt for Polytechnic except he couldn't get Uni at all and he must attend higher institution.

That doesn't mean Poly grads are not smart. A good number of them are. In fact, one of the smartest persons I have ever worked with, one of my partners at JarusHub, holds an HND.

UrchMannie:
Hello Jarus, I trust you are doing well. I read an article you wrote sometime ago and it was very helpful.
Kindly look into these links, they are inactive.
Thanks and regards.

Thanks. Yes, there's a temporary issue with the website. We are working on fixing it.

MrOlai:
Well done Jarus! More power to your elbow!
However, I want to advise you add news on politics to it. You just need to be careful about it. This will surely add value to it. I wish you all the best!

Thanks, but hey, we are not a news site. We are a career blog. Have you ever seen Jobberman publish "news on politics"?

I have done up to 6 in the past, but i do 2 or 3 in most cases. Been a while i chop fufu sha.

If you don't suspect at this point:

her, he said a lady in a hotel took him in and drug him and she went away with his BB phones and his $2000. He said he brought goods english gold BB phones,laptops that he MUST sell dem before going back to his ship @apapa lagos. The other guy now said he should take us to see the goods to confirm

..


and it still gets to this point, you still don't suspect:

He gave the other guy a paper he said his father gave to dangote,

Then I'm afraid there is serious issue with you.

lol

Bollove:
You dey mind dem yeye people.
When Saraki was following dem travel up and down shouting change, change .... he wasn't a criminal and there was no Sahara Reporter
When he delivered Kwara for APC , a formerly PDP state , He wasn't a criminal and Sahara Reporter was blind

when Saraki now grab Tinubu's most wanted position , Senate President, Saraki is now a criminal by Sahara Reporter .... e o gbadun !!!

Kai, see ignorance.

So you're implying SR are sympathetic to Tinubu?

the same SR that were torn in Tinubu's flesh between 2006-2008 with many damaging reports with all sorts of documents.

neahyo:
Uncle Jarus, i don check ur blog about ten times this evening e just dey say "this site is temporarily available"...Please i want to read Wednesday's update, i don't want to pile it up with that of this weekend.........

Sorry bro. Just a slight issue that will be fixed soon.

5:You need Huge traffic to be successful.

You need HUGE traffic to be successful.I say no to this and you might argue with me on this one. This tale comes from some bloggers and there are never specific when it comes to this part. They forgot to tell that not all blog with HUGE traffic are successful.. Yes some don’t Monetize that HUGE traffic to $$$ I had a discussion with a blogger once. The blogger complained that he’s not able to generate big buck with AdSense and affiliate even with quality flow of traffic. Long story short we discover a solution and fix the problem.You might have heard of bloggerswith little traffic getting sales on affiliate marketing, personal service, eBook creation, writing, clickbank.It’s not all about the traffic but therelationship and trust you have in between you and your audience/customers….So stick to this“TRUST, GOOD RELATIONSHIP, QUALITY COMMUNICATION AND SINCERITY.That’s what you need to stand unique, if you keep having that myth in mind it’s a no going way for you.

Authority blogging doesn't need much traffic. Just quality, loyal readers.

We made more than half a million naira in revenue on JarusHub last month (our highest ever anyway) and our average daily traffic for the month was 1000 page views. Many blogs with 100,000 pageviews per day did not make such.

We don't have Google AdSense. I personally don't know jack about adsense. No external advertisement. The revenue came from patronage of the side services we offer.

Build an expertise, authority in your niche, and the few people that read your blog will have confidence in you to patronize your premium offering.


It doesn't mean traffic is not good though. It is a bonus.

However, expert/authority blogging is not feasible in some niches like news, entertainment. Revenue from those almost solely depends on traffic. But in our own niche - careers - traffic is just a bonus, trust and loyalty of readers are the key.

ndcide:
Anti- bad governance, indeed.

They should tell us about Aregbesola

So you're saying SR has not carried negative news about Aregbesola?

If Sahara reporters are on someone's case, ehn.

LOL

Meanwhile, I hope those who say SR were mischievously against GEJ have now known that SR are just an anti-bad governance, non-partisan investigative medium. It was never about GEJ personally.

EUROBOMBER:
Is this the type of government that Buhari intends to run? He wants to use the EFCC to harass the opposition politicians and leave the thieves in his party to walk free?

Why is Sule Lamido being harassed by the EFCC while Rotimi Amaechi is left to walk around freely?

I smh at Buhari.

Was Amaechi's son found with dollars in airport?

Has anyone brought any case against Amaechi?

What is telegram? Is it the one we were taught in "Means of Communication" in Business Studies in junior secondary school?

PvtParts2:
The Buharist Zombies don't know that sooner or later it will be Fashola and Tinubu on the list.

Buhari is doing what he did in 1984.

Arresting and jailing Politicians is not to curb corruption but rather to block any future opposition he may have.

Buhari hs truly hit the ground running.


He did this in 1984 and the Plebs celebrated this .

After the Politicians he gagged the Press with Decree 4 from where he took his despotism to the Plebs on the streets who by the time they realized had no politician or opposition figure to fight for their right, the press were gagged and they saw themselves living in a big barrack nation.

It took the efforts of IBB and other senior military officers to rid Nigeria of this power drunk despot.

But today we don't have that option.

Shout Change!

Like the 1983 politicians, you did not say he didnt commit the offence.

kheart:
Somewhere in London, Jarus and boo

Jarus dey hin village for Lagos o

UnknownT:
Unfortunately na even the comptroller of the prison go dey serve them, na executive cell he go get

Do you wanna swap position with him?

cheavroi:
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Engineering makes it better. Most engineering positions, even in oil and gas, don't ask for age restriction.

Study hard and make good grade.

No comparison