Lai Mohammed faces task of weaning self from propagandist role

Lai Mohammed, the newly sworn-in minister of information, has been urged to shelve the toga of a party spokesperson and begin to see his job as a call to serve the Nigerian people irrespective of party leaning.

The advice was given by some analysts who spoke with BusinessDay shortly after he was sworn-in yesterday alongside 35 others.

Mohammed, a lawyer, who was until yesterday, the national publicity secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was seen by many Nigerians as a propagandist who defended his party by every means possible through spoken and written words.

The Kwara State-born politician matched word for word against the main opposition in the land, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

A legal practitioner, who gave his name simply as Anthony, said: “I think the major task facing Lai Mohammed is to draw a line between seeing himself as a party defender and pushing the policy of government for the good of the entire country. It is no longer the usual altercation between him and Olisa Metuh of the PDP which sometimes tends toward impugn on the personality of an individual. He must now know that it is not politicking for the sake of blind defence of government or his party.”

Anthony further said: “I read some of his reactions to the methods adopted by the past administration in tackling the Boko Haram menace. He suggested that the ‘Federal Government needs counter terrorism policy. What they are doing all along is uncoordinated, chaotic and ad-hoc; you must have a well-defined policy on how to go about it.’ Those, for me, are just propaganda; I expect him now to work with all Nigerians, regardless of party affiliation in the interest of moving the country forward.”

The new information minister has also been charged to borrow a leaf from the vibrancy that characterised the stint of the late Dora Akunyili in the ministry.

“He must see to promote Nigeria through the entertainment industry, particularly Nollywood, as Akunyili did.

Coming from a job where propaganda was the potent weapon, Lai Mohammed must always ensure he tell the world the truth about government policies and not propaganda. This is because as a new government seeking foreign investment, once they begin to read lies in the information that is being pushed out, they will be skeptical,” an observer said, adding, “He must as a matter of urgency upgrade NTA in terms of programming. Now that it appears that the outside world is confident of President Buhari’s integrity, he must leverage on this to push Nigeria’s image forward.”

Mohammed has also been urged to ensure a coordinated flow of information from all ministries and parastatals. He must also see to it that the National Orientation Agency (NOA) is energised to perform its functions. Must always carry along the Nigeria people to ensure they are not kept in the dark of government activities. He must liaise with the Communication ministry to ensure that the dream of digital migration is realised.

Mohammed was born into the family of Mohammed Adekeye in 1952. He earned a bachelor’s degree in French from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1975 and Law degrees from the University of Lagos and the Nigerian Law School in 1986 and he co-founded the legal firm of Edu & Mohammed as a Senior Partner in 1989. Mohammed is an astute businessman and an active politician. He served as the chairman of Optmedia Limited, a subsidiary of Afromedia Plc since December 18, 2008. He served as a director of Afromedia PLC since May 2011. Mohammed is also a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and worked as Public Relations Officer for almost 10 years with the Nigerian Airport Authority, now Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

In October 2002, he was a gubernatorial candidate in the April 2003 Kwara State elections on the Alliance for Democracy platform.