President Jonathan’s surprise visit to the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos, to inspect its dilapidated and run-down facilities in the aftermath of a damning documentary by Channels TV was probably the best news of out of Aso Rock in recent times. Even then the visit was slightly marred by the typical Jonathan misspeak, a habit that has so repeatedly dogged every one of his unscripted public remarks. Channels, the nation’s most professional TV station, had run a report on the 73-year-old academy, showing the monumental decay of its facilities and the squalid living conditions of the trainee cops. The nation was held spell bound as the documentary showed students eating from plastic buckets like animals and the food looking more like animal feeds. No human being will survive life in that place and retain his sanity. No wonder our policemen behave the way they do. Thankfully, the President watched the programme and was equally scandalized by what he saw, just like the rest of the viewers. A few days after, Dr Jonathan dropped quietly into the college, on his way out of the country. The picture of our president looking mouth agape at what was once a hostel, but now a pigsty, is worth a thousand words. Reports say that throughout his three-hour flight to Cote d’Ivoire, Dr Jonathan remained stunned and sad. I do not know if he still had appetite for his favourite goat-meat pepper soup that night.
The TV programme, and more especially the president’s visit, must have been a big embarrassment to the police authorities in Abuja. The IG, who has been going around talking tough and boasting that he would clean the stable, has been subdued and dumbfounded since the programme aired. Mr Caleb Olubolade, the Minister of Police Affairs, who is the president’s personal friend and is wont to defend him at every turn, has probably gone on exile. He has not said a word on this matter. The police authorities therefore owe the nation an explanation on what has been happening to all the funds voted for the maintenance of this college. I must commend Channels TV and its owner, John Momoh, for an exemplary act of professional journalism. The film is a clear testimony to what professional journalism should achieve. In an era in which journalists have become contractors and political consultants giving out awards to governors and promoting showmanship and buffoonery, Channels TV has stepped ahead of its class and distinguished itself from the maddening crowd. Programmes like NTA’s Newsline were conceived to do investigative journalism and offer insights into the dark areas of our society. But unfortunately, it has become a show for social events. NTA itself has lost whatever respect it had in the early days. When I was a reporter with this newspaper in the 1980s, a dedicated desk was set up for investigative reports. It was such investigative journalism by The Guardian that that unravelled the infamous Koko Waste and the Ita Oko secret detention centre in the 1980s. Investigative reporters broke the Watergate story in the US which eventually toppled the Richard Nixon presidency.
Nowadays, a lot of Nigerian journalists spend their time chasing supplements and advertisement commissions. Reporters wait endlessly at Government House across the country for the Press Secretaries’ news release on the routine of governors.
I should also thank the President for responding so swiftly to the report. His visit demonstrated that he is indeed in touch with Nigerians and deeply connected to the plight of the people. But on the other hand, Dr Jonathan’s remarks at the college that the documentary was designed to embarrass his administration depicted him as a defensive and diffident leader who is more interested in the image of his administration than the rot in which Nigerians find themselves daily. Jonathan seems to be besieged by the thought that he should not be blamed for any problem that predated his ascension to office. He is too sensitive to criticisms and worries endlessly about what Buhari, Tinubu or Bakare think of him. It is the mentality of a small leader whose has a limited world view of his place in history. Of course, nobody will castigate the president for the shame of the police college, but we will expect him to change the situation. At the college, as in many of his public outings, the president missed an opportunity to appear presidential, evoke emotions and draw passion from the people. Instead, he questioned the College Commandant on how the TV crew came into the school, when the filming happened and how long it took. In other words, Dr Jonathan turned into an investigator, trying to establish the veracity of the report. This clearly subdued the nobility of the visit. He should have immediately after the inspecting the school thanked the TV station for a professional job well done, recommend such approach to other media houses and then announced plans for investigations on how and why the place had been so mismanaged and offer immediate remedial measures.
Despite the presidential PR misstep, the lesson here is that the documentary is just a tip of the ice berg. I therefore support the government’s probe of how the finances of the police, especially monies allocated to the police colleges, were utilized. Many of our public institutions like prisons, police stations, hospitals, schools and even markets stink. Until recent renovations, our airports actually looked like cattle sheds. The President may have to do regular spot checks on a sample of these facilities if that is what would spur the authorities into action.
Jonathan on CNN
I was quite dismayed to see President Jonathan standing in freezing cold in the resort town of Davos, Switzerland, answering questions from Christian Amanpour on CNN on Friday night. It was very unpresidential and undignifying. I do not know of any president of an important country, even an African country, who would be interviewed in such a circumstance. Couldn’t Amanpour have travelled to Davos to talk to the President, or better still, be scheduled to visit the president in Abuja for the interview? A president is not an ordinary citizen. He is the symbol and authority of the people, and his conduct, public appearances and statements should convey the pride of the nation. The image of our president standing in a freezing weather to answer questions from a reporter sitting in a warm studio in far away New York is simply ridiculous. Whoever arranged this interview for Jonathan should tell me which other president in the world had been interviewed in such a ridiculous manner. We may have our challenges (many nations in Europe and even the US) are currently experience severe difficulties), but they are not enough reasons for our president to be pushed into a demeaning interview session. A few months ago, a bank chief executive came to Uyo for business meetings. As he rounded off and was getting set to leave for the airport, reporters swarmed around. He declined, stating politely, ‘gentlemen, I am not ready for interview now. Please arrange to come to Lagos and we can have a long session’. The CEO figured out that the setting was just not right for an interview. Why couldn’t somebody in the president’s delegation determine that the setting for the Amanpour interview would be a damn poor outing?
By Etim Etim.
