Vote out unresponsive governments, don tells electorate

Ini Billie, Uyo

Professor of Rhetorical and Marketing Communication, University of Uyo, Prof. Peter Esuh has called on Nigerians to vote out unresponsive governments.

Speaking on Thursday in Uyo during an inter-ministerial briefing organised by the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Prof Esuh said Nigeria is corrosive to good governance, and called for responsive government, adding that the world has moved from responsibility to responsiveness.

Esuh who is also the Dean, Faculty of Media and Communication Studies stated that it was time the government woke up to being responsive, noting that so far, governments across all levels spend more time on responsibility and neglect responsiveness.

“The Nigerian society is a society that has been very corrosive in the practice of good governance. We have an inter-ministerial briefing at the national level with distorted information that would not speak out for accountability.

“But here in Akwa Ibom State, we can be the box light for the nation by maintaining what we have started today, the process by which our people: the traditional rulers, the students, the civil servants, the civil society, our men and women in the market and others can gather in a town hall to listen to how those we saddle with responsibility produce that responsibility in a responsive manner that would help us understand the dictates of government and the manner to which they govern us.

“So that if they don’t do it right, we use our PVCs we send them out, if they do it right, we use our PVCs we keep them there to make sure our society changes,” he stated.

Esuh who commended the briefing, advised the Akwa Ibom State Government to periodically update the people on its achievements to avoid misinformation and rumours, adding there was so much wrong information being peddled in the state that people have been made to believe as the truth.

Speaking during his opening remarks on the theme: “Tracking the Promise”, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Ini Ememobong said the essence of the inter-ministerial briefing was to sit back and listen to the people.

Ememobong stated that getting feedback from the people after 7 years and nine months of the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel was important as it was discovered that the citizens were still ignorant of the achievements of the government.

“For more than 7 and a half years, this administration from 2015 has held countless press briefings, and project tours, and 7 years and nine months after, people are still asking what has this administration done.

“We are going to sit back today and allow you more time to ask questions. We need to find out what is wrong with the communication. Is it the communication that is wrong, or is it what is communicated that is wrong? Today we are taking feedback.

“So that by the time we come back to you, we can be able to change a few things and see how best we can communicate. There can be no democracy without communication,” he stated.

Three Ministries: Works, Labour and Manpower Development, and Agriculture, alongside their commissioners who answered questions on their Ministries, were part of the briefing.