By ‘Sola Fagorusi
Depending on who your friends are on social media, it is possible to skip listening to the news. To get a hint of happenings around you and the world, all you need do is log on to your Facebook account for instance and read through the updates. With this, one is assured not the leave the house that day ignorant of changes and happening in the last 24 hours or less. Not only will a reader on social media space get the news, one would also be inundated with comments and analysis that would follow the status updates bearing the information of interest.
Followers of the history of communism would remember the underground press that the printing press technology allowed to prevail in the soviet bloc and part of Europe in the 70’s and 80’s. Information and participation is the bedrock on which any democracy is built. One of the key ingredients of democracy which includes the freedom of speech is what continues to regulate the activities of those holding power on behalf of the people.
With the social media age, there is an incredible abundance of information and opinion today. Never before in the history of Nigeria for instance has any government had to battle with such overflow of criticism and information overflow from all directions. Before now, Nigerians only used to imagine if musical figures like Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was alive to sing about the ills of the government. This was so especially as he was one of the few who could look the government in the eye ball and dare the sometimes unpalatable consequence. Of course, we also had the Gani Fawehinmi’s who continued to rattle government with their public commentary. While we miss the input of these pro-people souls, the presence of the social media ecosystem seems to have put on us a garb similar to what these great men wore back then. Now Nigerians have that uncommon opportunity of talking at government. Whether it is a conversation between the deaf and the dumb is another thing entirely. That these opportunities to talk and make comments about national issues exist is not because government so wants it to be that way, it is just because it would be almost impossible to clamp down on everyone in social media space justifiably hitting hard at government.
Prior to this moment, it was the telegram, then the printing press, the radio and then the television and they all had certain attributes; their contents were carefully produced for public consumption. And the audience were disconnected from one another. Last week’s shooting at the State Security Service Headquarters makes for a fine analysis. About a decade ago, it would have been possible to ensure such news does not find space in public spaces. It would have been easy to suppress it. Not any longer as people close to the location simply tweeted and former activists who had spent nights in that particular detention offered analysis as to how faulty the release from the SSS was. Since the audience are no longer disconnected from each other, it is now easy for them to communicate with one another and offer thoughts and commentaries with approaches that had never been heard before. Even China, the most successfully social media repressive society, is not finding it all perky.
Nigeria’s present administrations at the state and federal level are leaving something vital out. They are missing out on what can make their administration truly people centred. Of course, my assumptions are within the safe parenthesis of thoughts that they are all there to work for the people and not for their own pocket. The information revolution available today can be their tool for proper engagement with the people. Even a benign and innocuous status update and the comments that follow same can be used by the government to feel the mood of the people concerning a proposed policy. The seeming organised chaos that the social media is is enough proof to any serious politician that governance is no longer business as usual. Take twitter for example, in January 2009 there were only about two million tweets per day across the world. That figure is now two million tweets in less than six minutes as of January, 2014. This means there are about 500 million tweets per day. And the first tweet was sent just in March 2006.
If anything, what the government needs to do is proactively listen in on these conversations and genuinely assemble from the quality of discussion there when shaping policies. Following the Academic Staff Union of Universities strike and eventual call off, it would have been possible for even government to get direct feedback from students on whether quality of education has improved following the government meeting the terms of ASUU. I simply imagine a student who regularly blogs about his or her lectures and everyday life on campus, of course anonymously knowing how vindictive the system can be, he or she would give the public first hand insight into the quality of activities on the campus. He or she would tell us if anything has changed and this perhaps would also form part of government’s content for continued interaction and demand on improved education.
More media means more ideas come into circulation. It means more argument and it also means more volume in terms of dissenting opinion. In social media space, what happens is cooperation of sort between users and with little coordination. Can Nigeria’s parliament give Nigerians more information about their activities? Can we have an online log of all office holders with details about all their works in the parliament – how many bills have they proposed, how many committees have they sat on and what are their positions to critical national debates? Basically, something that gives us a huge repository of parliamentary activities, knowing how important oversight functions are to the check of executive power. These folks work for us and they therefore need to be held accountable with respect to our expectations. Amazon started the ideas of product reviews, there is need to incorporate same into democracy and its operators.
Social media is the new form and it is large, cheap and compatible with the ideals of democracy; especially if we continue to emphasise that democracy is about participation. With social networking and digital tools, we can reinvigorate democracy and also trigger responsible governance. If anything, I am even hoping that social media literacy would feature on the manifesto of at least one political party as we head to the polls later next year.
‘Sola Fagorusi
Sola Fagorusi is a youth development advocate, freelance writer, accomplished debater cum coach. The Obafemi Awolowo University graduate has about 10 years experience in social entrepreneurship which straddles leadership, good governance cum anti-corruption and adolescent reproductive health. The Leap Africa alumnus is also a trained peer educator, a DESPLAY alumnus and co-facilitator. For 2 years now, he has been a technical consultant and lead judge on the Intra-Faith Peace Youth TV Debate Project facilitated by Youngstars Foundation and the British High Commission. To read his full profile, click here. Follow Sola on twitter: @solafagro
