2015: It’s violent communication devoid of issues

Currently, Nigeria is going through a momentous time. The country is faced with issue of insurgency by Boko Haram that has killed over 16,000 people and displaced over a million others. There is also the worry that Niger Delta militants are watching the scenes. The price of oil is sliding in the international market with its attendant economic consequences on manufacturing and the populace. Electricity supply is still epileptic, averaging about 4,000MW, a far cry from about 50,000MW required in the country. Insecurity and unemployment are still high and institutions weak.

In the face of all these challenges besetting the nation, what have occupied the minds of candidates campaigning for votes from hapless Nigerians who hardly ask questions and when they do, don’t carry them through, are irrelevant issues that are insignificant to national discourse.

A political observer notes that majority of those seeking for elective positions in the 2015 elections have not addressed those socio-economic challenges confronting the nation and “when they do talk about them it is on the surface without a roadmap to address the issues when elected into office.”

The campaigns are not different from the campaigns of old when politicians make empty promises in order to win votes, he says.

According to him, what people hear are “creation of jobs, stopping insurgency, building of roads and growing the economy without concrete plans explained to Nigerians on how these will be achieved.”

The observer also regrets that the electorates have become emotional over the campaigns, instead of weighing the candidates based on their pedigree and ability to fulfill promises based on concrete strategy. “Could any Nigerian today tell you what plans each of the presidential candidates has on electricity, to boost the sector which is a major driver of economic growth,” the observer who does not want his name in print, asks, saying that “this is how naïve some of us are and after two years, we start crying, crucify him, crucify him.”

In his article in BusinessDay last week, Olu Fasan, a London-based lawyer and political economist, observed that the campaign was still devoid of debates on issues. “Beyond the discordant din of political point-scoring, there is no coherent sense of what the partiesa re offering to Nigeians in return for their votes. Not even from their communications. Take a look, for instance, at the main parties’ websites. Most of what you will find there are internal party matters. The parties are simply talking to themselves and not to Nigerians.”

Worried about such violent campaign communications, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) recently issued a statement on political advertisements published in some of the national newspapers and the controversies they generated.

It appealed to election candidates and their supporters, political advertising consultants and owners/managers of mass media organisations to exercise restraint and comply with relevant laws and regulations on political advertising, especially during this critical period leading to the 2015 general elections.

“A keen observer of electioneering campaign communications in recent times cannot but feel worried by the pedestrian, combative, provocative and insensitive messages, language and style of several of the campaign communications, which portend grave danger for Nigeria’s democratic process and national security,” APCON said.

APCON, which has the responsibility to vet adverts before they are published, said: “What we see today is a clear manifestation of mindless abuse of freedom of speech and flagrant breach of these regulations, which, if unchecked, is capable of plunging our country into an orgy of violence and anarchy.”

The council further said that it was appalling that the publishers and managers of some of the national newspapers had grossly compromised their patriotic and professional ethics to the lure and lucre of advertisement patronage by political candidates. “They have brazenly abandoned their gate-keeping duties and accepted all manner of insensitive, irresponsible and spurious advertisements in contravention of the nation’s advertising regulations and in disregard of several preemptive engagements with APCON.”

Also worried about the provocative campaigns, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, recently advised President Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari to conduct their campaigns based on issues and devoid of religious sentiments.