Public Opinion Under Attack —Isaac Asabor

In his book, Mass Communication: Theory and Practice, Ifedayo Daramola defined Public Opinion as “the consensus or aggregate views held by the public on a burning issue or about a product, service, organization, individual or government.”

Public opinion is indispensable in governance as it helps in the planning of programmes and policies, and also in designing a public relations or public enlightenment campaign.

Given the indispensability of public opinion in governance, it is ridiculous that the government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has defiantly refused to recognise the public opinion held by millions of Nigerians on the removal of fuel subsidy.

Also, he has refused to listen to a plethora of pleas made by concerned Nigerians toward the amicable settlement of the industrial crisis that arose in our educational sector as a result of the disagreement between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Worse still, it took months of tough negotiations for the minimum wage policy to be implemented. As it is, the president seemingly fought the people of Nigeria more than he fought the socio-economic problems facing the country.

You may have countered my view that the Federal Government in the past made its intention on the removal known to the public. Yes, it did! But the content of its various communication were replete with deceit, dishonesty and falsehood. If the various communication from the government to the people conveyed sincere and truthful messages, I do not think there would have been any incident of protest against the removal of fuel subsidy across the nation.

Permit me to say that we are yet to have persuasive communicators in government. This ought not to be because communication is one of the most important tools needed for an effective governance.

The truth is that the people have totally lost the trust and confidence they reposed in the government. As it seems, the people now see those in government as corporate liars. For instance, many lies have been told by the government concerning the burning issue of the removal of fuel subsidy. One of the lies the people were told before the removal of the subsidy, during the Town Hall Meeting organised by the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), was that the subsidy would be removed in April 2012, and that it would be in phases, with palliatives to cushion the effect. But alas! On the first day into the new year, 2012, the subsidy was removed with arrant impunity by the government. Given this deceitful ploy, only God knows how true the much-talked about palliative measures would be.

Frankly, our president and his advisers mishandled the issue of fuel subsidy removal. The issue was handled in the same way and manner a dictator or despot would have done. I never expected the president and his team of advisers to have handled the issue the way they did because they are all intellectuals and professionals in various fields of human endeavour.

Also, ever since I watched the president on television seeking the blessings of God through an anointed man of God during the monthly Holy Ghost service of one of the fast spreading Pentecostal churches in Nigeria, I got convinced, or rather persuaded that the president is a godfearing man. Again, I never expected that he would not be listening to public opinion on issues that concern the people of Nigeria given my perception about him. Each time I see him speak on the television, the picture that usually comes to my mind is that of somebody with a quiet mien. His disposition always comes across as someone who is plain, kind-faced and unassuming. Disappointedly, I am today seeing a different President Jonathan. Or am I being deceived by the functioning of my subconscious? Never! So many colleagues and friends shared my perception but today they are seeing a different president that is seemingly fighting against the people and their opinion.

The foregoing is not an exaggeration because today I am seeing more human vegetables, jobless and dejected Nigerians on the streets more than never before. What is going on? Poverty is today sweeping across the country like hurricane Katrina. Even this writer is not exempted from the devastating effect of policies of this government except that he has over the years prepared for it. Norman Vincent Peale said in one of his motivational works that “He who does not prepare for storms when no storms are indicated is lacking in the plain preparatory wisdom required by any rational person. The previous despotic governments we have had has prepared me to be relying on God rather than our politicians who cannot guarantee me the provision of electricity, water, job, etc.

I know our president once told us that at a point in his life he had no shoes. Paradoxically, I would say that the way his government is going, at a point, millions of Nigerians may end up not being able to afford rubber slippers. I think he can retrace his steps by making his government more people-oriented rather than always disagreeing with the people. I believe his advisers are not really telling him the truth about the state of things. No government can succeed without the people. God demonstrated this to the world through the uprisings that caught the Arab world unawares and toppled the regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

•Asabor writes from Lagos