The federal government’s decision to pay a whopping $1.2 million to a Washington DC-based public relations firm, Levick, to launder its image and change the Boko Haram narrative in the aftermath of the international condemnation that trailed its belated response to the kidnapping of 234 schoolgirls from Chibok, is an ignominious and reprehensible act of disrespect for the Nigerian people. How are the livelihoods and capabilities of 163 million Nigerians, especially the poor and hungry in the war-ravaged northeast, enhanced when their government pays US$ 1.2 million to an American firm to help fix its lagging reputation? The monumental embarrassment came without prior notice and things like this can only happen in Nigeria. The government should rescind the contract and seek a better way to rebrand Nigeria. Such a reversal is in the public interest, and constitutes due respect for the Nigerian people.
Technically, the contract is between Levick and state-run News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN). According to documents filed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, Levick began charging the Nigerian government at the monthly rate of $100,000 over the course of the next year for its services beginning June 16. According to the contract, Levick will provide “government affairs and communications counsel with the primary objective of changing the international and local media narrative” on a number of issues. These include, as quoted from the contract: the Nigerian government’s efforts to find and safely return the more than 234 abducted schoolgirls; assisting the Nigerian government’s efforts to mobilize international support in fighting Boko Haram as part of the greater global war on terror; communicate President Goodluck Jonathan’s past, present and future priority to foster transparency, democracy, and the rule of law throughout Nigeria. In addition, Nigeria is also engaged Perseus Strategies; a law firm as a subcontract of its work with Levick to the tune of an additional $25,000 per month. This is a scandalous and inexcusable waste of public resources which is provocative and insulting to many Nigerians.
Just days after signing the lucrative contract, Jonathan did himself no favors when in apparent naivety, he made himself a laughing stock of the international community with an op-ed in the Washington Post, in which he derided criticisms that his efforts to find the missing schoolgirls have been lackadaisical. “I have had to remain quiet about the continuing efforts by Nigeria’s military, police and investigators to find the girls kidnapped in April from the town of Chibok by the terrorist group Boko Haram,” Jonathan wrote in his op-ed. “I am deeply concerned, however, that my silence as we work to accomplish the task at hand is being misused by partisan critics to suggest inaction or even weakness. My silence has been necessary to avoid compromising the details of our investigation. But let me state this unequivocally: My government and our security and intelligence services have spared no resources, have not stopped and will not stop until the girls are returned home and the thugs who took them are brought to justice.” Eleanor McManus, who will be working on the Nigerian case for Levick, confirmed that her firm placed the President’s op-ed in the Washington Post.
The labored explanations by Mr. President are hardly credible, and remain largely unconvincing; if just for the simple reason that the girls are still missing. Jonathan needs a switch in mindset to avoid scoring own goals in the battle against Boko Haram. What is this secret plan – which the President says he has to “remain quiet about”? Either way, what should have been a plus assumed negative connotations when the President instead, read politics into the criticism of his handling of the Chibok abduction. This is petty and worrisome. In this age of unprecedented revolution in information and communication technology, such partisanship was totally unnecessary. It portrays an unhelpful mindset that should be discarded forthwith.
Certainly, there is everything wrong with the $1.2 million deal. First, it portrays a reluctant President, and his team; who are either unable or unwilling to trust their own people. If the President had a correct reading of the mood of the nation, he would have sorted Nigerian PF firms to do the job. Outsourcing the job to foreigners for whatever reason is an obvious display of impudence, which portrays the President as unpatriotic. By the way; what happened to the project to rebrand Nigeria? Why is it that whenever history furnishes Jonathan the opportunity to roar, he whimpers? Why does the President tiptoe when an unmistakable stomping around would do?
The Chibok tragedy and its consequent embarrassment to the pride of Nigeria; underscores the need for better information management, but a discordant note still plays from the administration in terms of unguarded utterances, leading Nigerians to wonder who really is in charge. The height of such recklessness came from the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Barde, who blatantly claimed security forces knew where the Chibok girls were being held by Boko Haram. This flippancy certainly calls to question the presence of strategic thinking within the operational command. Even if the information were true, should it be for public consumption? And made in front of TV cameras? Will that statement not further jeopardize the safety of the abducted innocent girls?
Making such information public was certainly a big gaffe that betrayed ignorance about what the responsibility of a chief of defence staff should be in the scheme of things. Badeh’s gaffe brought Nigeria to further ridicule as a people unable to get their act together despite the huge resources and manpower the country enjoys. Apart from underlining the low quality of leadership in the country today, it simply reinforces the cynicism of outsiders about Nigeria’s capability of keeping a sealed lip on intelligence matters. To Nigeria’s utter shame, the US contradicted Badeh’s statement. So, how would wasting $1.2 million engender discipline and coordination within the chain of command?
The current war on the insurgency calls for a high sense of responsibility, not marketplace chatter or newspaper column diplomacy. Hiring an American PR firm to launder government’s image and change the Boko Haram narrative at home and abroad will not bring back the girls; neither would it change the fact that the President is yet to visit Chibok over two months after the girls were abducted; and this reflects the moral burden his administration is now saddled with. This apathy was fittingly demonstrated by Jonathan himself; when, in an embarrassing turn-around, he cancelled the widely publicized planned trip to Chibok, where he was supposed to sympathize with the families of the abducted girls; and in concrete terms, give the best gesture of re-assurance to Nigerians and the world that he is still in charge of all of Nigeria. You just cannot spin that!
The irony of it all is that this is one administration that simply refuses to learn, even from its own mistakes. The shoddy manner in which state officials have handled matters so far, especially information management, leaves much to be desired; leaving Nigerians to wonder how the highest quarters of the administration can be so imprudent. Presidential spin-doctors, notwithstanding, the buck stops on the President’s desk. If the war on terror, now hard enough in the trenches, would not be lost in the minds of Nigerians, Jonathan must hold the gavel to stem the current of pestilential perfidy, made worse by the image-laundering deal.
There is no question that in advanced democracies, such a deal would have provoked, at the very least, an apology from the President for having let the people down. To redeem himself and garner some credibility for his administration, Jonathan must cancel that deal; however he plans to do it. The President should be encouraged that rather than being a show of weakness, it is an act of courage for a leader to, upon recognizing the error of his action, reverse his decision. The government must begin to do things appropriately. May we suggest that they attend the Nigerian security summit at Harvard University next August 8, 2014; on the way forward for Nigeria.
