Social media is the perfect platforms for brands be it government activities, corporate organisations innovations or individual prowess to inform and engage their clients, customers or targeted audience (electorates) in real time or online. With the ability to actively listen, engage, and respond to clients, customers or targeted audience, social media has become the primary channel for ultimate engagements especially in this 20th century.
With mobile telephone and data in the hands of average Ekiti man/woman, all sorts of information are competing to be the first to get to the electorates when it comes to government. Opposition or enemies of the government will always wish to fabricate, be the first to get to the electorates and disseminate whatever information just to demarket the government and people in government so as to be reckoned with.
The pressure to be “first” and the demand to continually produce content, sways the minds of the electorates etc provides many opportunities to infringe others’ intellectual property rights. Whereas, if social media is a part of any government administration governance strategy, especially the present administration in Ekiti, the need to be the first to be reckoned with must follow the simple rule of engagement of providing contents before, during and after government activities before the opposition get out to the people.
So far, the social media arm of the present administration of Ekiti State Government has a lot to do in been the first to educate and inform the wide world of the activities of the present administration of Dr. Fayemi/APC in Ekiti. They need alot to do in been swift in placing rebuttal to the lies and fabrications of the enemies of the government, they need strategic policy of been defensive and offensive as the case may require.
So far, the social media arm of the administration of Fayemi has always tended towards just dropping government activities without the required contents of been offensive and defensive.
Series of activities of recent has laid credence to the above submission. The attempted humiliation of her Excellency, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, the First Lady and mother general of Ekiti during the FUOYE imbroglio that led to the demise of promising young boys where it took hours to rebut the painful and distended event, the not too long ago fabricated visa refusal of the Chairman of governors forum which happened to be the seating governor of Ekiti, the not too long ago media concorted and fabricated story of the Deputy Governor to be a drunkard who happened to slap and drag guns with serving officers of Nigeria Civil Defence Office of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the presence of his superior officers and lately the unsubstantiated rumour that Governor Fayemi plans to retrench another round of 10,000 workers from the State workforce are just few of how the media arm of the present administration urgently need holistic overhaul.
All these lies and fabrications are a mere smokescreen to generate crisis, incite the people against the government and above all to create anarchy and make governance difficult.
Relying on social media simple rules of engagement as the internal rules or directives among military forces (including 20th century social media and individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of actions which might be construed as provocative, offensive and defensive may be applied.
This provides authorization for and/or limits on, among other things, the use of propaganda, force and the employment of certain specific capabilities. In some nations, social media rules of engagement has the status of guidance to military forces and the wide world social media, while in other nations, ROE is including but not limited to social media is a lawful commands to showcase the activities of government or corporate organisations.
Rules of engagement do not normally dictate how a result is to be achieved as to what your audience as a seating government is viewed but will indicate what measures may be acceptable before the opposition get to the market.
There is no doubt in my mind that the present administration in Ekiti needs urgent overhaul of her social media arm to be offensive and defensive.
The disgrace we faced in diaspora and within Ekiti on tagging the first lady as killer of those unfortunate young boys of FUOYE, the inundated and concorted news of denial of US visa to Dr. Fayemi, the deliberate embedded news of tagging the Deputy Governor as a drunkard, the rumoured Fulani herdsmen invasion of a portion of the State and the recent fabricated rumour of planned retrenchment of 10,000 from the State workforce without swift and timely rebuttals of these lies by the media arm of the present administration is not acceptable and a collective disgrace and mismanagement of our little resources to protect our collective image in Ekiti.
The people of Ekiti own the sovereignty and commonwealth of the State, the government and people in government are answerable to the people, they are paid by the taxpayers money to do the job, any attempt to create information lacuna whereby fake news, propaganda etc fest with the aim to not just to ignite crises but to incite the people against the government so as to create anarchy in the State without swift and timely rebuttal by the people employed to do so is unacceptable and a total let down that will create a great danger for the APC as a party in no time and a direct challenge to the economic prospect of the State.
The situation can still be salvage, the situation can still be improved, competent hands with freely given authority and responsibility to the electorates is urgently needed to safe the party, the government and the State against been plunged to crisis as a result of unchallenged fake news and propaganda.
With this, once again,
l remain ……. HC Ade