Meaning
Among other meanings, communication is the act of conveying information from one point to another, in this case, from one person to another. It could be viewed as an art, requiring skill. So the question of percentage effectiveness in communication arises. This is a measure of success in achieving the objective of the communication attempt.
Modes of Communication
There are so many modes of communication among human beings. Some of the more traditional modes are text, audio, video, etc. In today’s world, there are so many ways in which the information can be formatted and disseminated with impressive reach. Each mode of communication has its characteristics and its peculiar ways of impacting on the information recipient. The skill of its use seems to be more dominant in determining the way it impacts on the recipient. The mix of the modes is also of great value.
The Power of communication
The power of communication is all too often underestimated. Like many other capabilities or potentialities, communication can be put to many uses. It can be used to make war, as well as peace. It can be used to destroy, as well as heal wounds. It can be used to break hearts, as well as mend them. Communication is the main instrument used to recruit terrorists. Effective communication to battle-ready soldiers can mean the difference between winning and losing a war. Multinationals such as coca cola make as much billions of dollars annually in profits as they do, with the help of communication. Fraudsters(419ers) achieve their unbelievable feats by the skillful use of communication. A young man manages to take a beautiful girl home without strings attached using nothing but communication. Lack of effective and needed communication can cause undeserving isolation which itself can lead to restiveness. This is the last thing any government would ask for.
Failures in communication
It must be easily acceptable to most Nigerians that this government has exhibited communication problems right from the very beginning. For instance, the government took several months to form its cabinet, giving the impression, it was taking its time to search for never-before-seen wonderful performers only to emerge with mostly the same old unimpressive performers. I don’t remember hearing any satisfactory explanation from government for that swerve. Then came the lopsided appointment claim by many Nigerians. I don’t know why it would take government well over a year and a meeting of the president with the leaders of the South-East zone for some of the president’s appointment actions to be understood by these eminent people in a country that is supposed to be functioning, as explained by the presidential media man, Femi Adesina on TV recently.
There have been many baffling-some of them embarrassing, situations such as the president’s health situation, president’s return broadcast, etc, where ineffective or non-communication was found to be the fuel for nationwide commotion. The case of Nnamdi Kanu is another subject where Nigerians were not adequately informed even before his arrest, right up until the clash between the IPOB members and the military. We have heard of many subtle cases of information blockade often said to be traceable to the Chief of Staff at the presidency. The last straw, as it must be seen, is the case of the Minister of State for petroleum Resources and the GMD of NNPC, where the minister of state could not have access to his immediate boss for months despite trying hard to do so! This is inexcusable.
In my ordinary thinking, I would expect that the minister of state will have a direct line of telephone communication with the minister for petroleum resources who happens to be Mr President, and not begging to be scheduled for appointment to see him. It may not be completely out of place to argue that the people of Nigeria were better informed on the actions of government in the days of radio sets than now despite the avalanche of communication modes in today’s world. Here we must not confuse volume of information with accurate information. Apparently, the government has recognized the danger of negative use of communication as demonstrated by its recent words and actions on hate speech. One wonders why it has not equally laid emphasis on the rewards of positive use of communication.
Possible causes of the problem
Many of us, especially the admirers of President Buhari, have wondered in vain why this situation was allowed to emanate in the first place, let alone persist. Would anyone blame us if we speculate? This is a war-tested general who should know too well the importance of effectively communicating with the men under his command. This is a man who has been to state house before and so should spend less time learning the craft.
Worse still, he spent many years aspiring to come back as our leader and so had all the time in the world to work out all the details necessary to do an excellent job like we’ve never had before. This is a man who has been around and involved in governance and state matters in Nigeria since the sixties. So, he should be thoroughly experienced and should have a good understanding of the overall Nigerian situation better than most, coupled with the rare quality of unarguable integrity.
If he should be short of anything, not communication! He is also enjoying the rare privilege of heading the Nigerian government twice. He is the second, and may be the last to do so. He should make the best of it. We should get nothing but the very best. Inexperience? Certainly not. Immaturity? Not at all. Lacking in passion? Never! Incompetence on the part of his staff? That shouldn’t be since he has the capacity to hire the very best the country can offer and should be able to fire incompetent staff anytime.
Speculations? Why not? So why are we not getting what we should get, which we consider him capable of giving? Has the man aged faster than he should? Was he already too ill at the time he came in? Is he too ill now to give what we consider his best should be? Are people around him taking undue advantage of the situation as a result? Are there too many negative people around him as some people, including the person in the other room have been complaining? Why? Why? Just why is information not flowing freely from our dear president to us and from us to the president so that we understand what he is doing and do our best to support him and he understands how we are feeling and be able to make necessary adjustments?
Solutions
Neither honest intention nor good will is capable of taking the place of effective communication. Timely communication is effective communication. Untimely communication is not effective communication because its impact cannot be fully optimized even when all the rules of the communication mode have been fully observed. The government is a body, and can be seen as a performing or non-performing body.
The members of government have their different characters which add up to the character of the government. Likewise, they have their skills and competences. Their functions may be so distributed as to optimize the skills display of the members of the government, with the government coming out a much more performing one with the same people. An overhaul of the staffing around the president is long overdue. In particular, the chief of staff should be taken to the farthest point from the president’s office.
Performance measurability must remain in focus and the staff must be made to understand that they are not doing us a favour. An effective, self-flushing feedback loop must be immediately put in place by the president so that he never gets taken by surprise by communication lapses. The Vice President, who seems to enjoy a lot good will among many Nigerians can be put to full use in this regard. We need action, and very fast! The president needs to commence direct and regular interaction with ordinary Nigerians without further delay.
