By ‘Sola Fagorusi
2015 may questionably go down in Nigeria’s post-independencehistory as the most enchanting political year. In my few decades of existence, I am yet to see the political firmament so uncertain like we presently have it. I have also never seen an incumbent democratin keen competition for the presidency as we presently have it. It is a good sign; maybe our democracy does not deserve the prefix – ‘nascent’ again. If you are a young person, please keep your interest in politics alive. This is a passionate plea and I plant this on the words of the late Bertolt Brecht; a dramatist per excellence of German extraction. According to him – “The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.”
His words remain true even today. Illiteracy in this regard is not about reading and writing. It is about sustaining interest in the polity and its politics. It is about questioning leadership and forcing answers out of leaders. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria set the ball rolling decisively. His ‘novel’ as my friend calls his recent essay on the electioneering is a delight to read not because all his views are watertight but because he raised the bar and quality of conversation. He has received unsolicited replies from several quarters since the article went out. Tweets and statuses have been updated with reactions to the Soludo article. One recurrent news in social media space has been updates from campaign grounds. Pictures and videos are being shared by political parties for various reasons. What social media enthusiasts with the necessary skills can do is to grab contents and promises being made in each of the states being visited by the campaign trains of the presidential aspirants and keep for the records.
There is a chance that the campaign promises of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan sounds like a repetition of what he said in some places in 2011. There is also that chance that General Muhammadu Buhari may be making emotional promises given the crowd chanting his name and praise at some of the places he has campaigned. The politician afterall has been described as a rock star; performing at best when in full glare of a receptive audience! This is where the job lies for social media users and close followers of happening in the polity. It is important that anyone who eventually wins understand that he or she (Prof. Remi Sonaiya of KOWA Party inclusive) will be answerable to the Nigerian people. It will make an interesting study for civic engagement if Nigeria’s social media crowd have a reference they can always pull out and use for citizen engagement purpose.
The new social media crowd is a mixture of various sets of people. There is the group that loves to read and would return back with analysis and share thoughts with people. This set of people seems to be contributing substantially to the conversation. I have seen young professionals throw facts and information into the social media space and indirectly challenge the notion that social media is all about glitz and no content. It is however not enough until the other set whose eyes get lazy upon seeing several words are also brought up to speed. This is where we can get the balance. No one should be left out. If infographs and videos are what will work for this audience, then we had better get started. The excitement in the air will only be sustained and will profit all if we continue to engage political office holders this way.
There is also a binary interest out there that is dangerous. The interests seem to lie in just the individuals contesting for gubernatorial and presidential offices. This needs to be extended. The men and women asking for votes to occupy seats in the House of Assembly also have to quizzed about their plans and these have to be documented in preferably video forms for posterity and the people to judge and decide. The power of recall still remains visibly in our constitution.
It is further interesting that you do not have to be an ex-CBN governor to engage with the system. All you need do is squeeze the button of your phone and send out an update or for just a few Megabytes put up a blog that can serve as a point from where one serves his or her opinion on national and personal issues. There is a gap for video blogging, also called Vlogs that needs to be filled. A video, not just a picture, is worth more than a thousand words. That it also leaves space even for transcription in local languages makes the video option a delight. Engagement never got better with social media tools being handy. It is simple. Nigerians should be able to ask – what are you promising to do for us? And also add to it – this is what we need from you; is it possible? On the flipside, it also would not be out of place, if public office holders also begin to address issues regularly through video forms via Youtube Channels. It is cheaper and easier and the convenience is not debatable. Accountability in governance is the new world order and no longer the secrecy that the business of governance has always been shrouded in.
There are mounting evidences that government institutions now respond to issues generated via social media. The video of the year will be that which will bring together clips of all the promises made by the eventual winner of the 2015 presidential election in video form and make it available for the public to engage with. That is one easy way Nigerians will be able to judge performance on the job and not wait for 2019 before another politics of governance take over the governance of politics. It will be one more plus if citizens can also engage in Vlogumentary, Video documentary on a quarterly basis to also score the performance of the incoming government.
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Sola‘Sola Fagorusi is a social entrepreneur and a prized freelance writer with a bias for youth and rural development. He started off as a youth staff with Action Health Incorporated in 2001. The Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife alumnus currently manages the programmes of OneLife Initiative, Nigeria. ‘Sola is a DESPLAY Africa (Africa’s foremost and most consistent annual youth democracy academy) fellow and has been on its faculty since 2011. Keenly interested in governance and pan-Africanism, he volunteers as online editor of YouthHub Africa; a cyber-community for young Africans involved in social change. He believes in the efficacy of oratory and writing as tools to drive developmental engagements. As a freelance writer, he spares time to pen thoughts on contemporary societal issues and is a weekly columnist with Nigeria’s most read daily ? Punch Newspaper. His training and capacity cuts across democracy and governance, leadership, micro-enterprise, ICT4D, SRH, value chains, development communication and policy issues. He tweets @SolaFagro and blogs at www.kadunaboy.com
