Gov Mohammed Bala is always proud to identify with his colleagues in the media having grown from the newsroom. In this report, NAJIB SANI writes on his relationship with the media in Bauchi state and beyond.
Establishing and maintaining good media relationship is a huge and herculean task that cannot be done by anyone except those called.
That is why anyone saddled with the responsibility of handling the media unit or public relations section in any organisation needs to be prepared well ahead as such individual would contend with sensitive issues.
There is no doubt that no government or any organisation be it public or private that can succeed without a reliable and functional media relations unit managed by a good media officer. Such officers are the spokespersons and image makers of their principals and the organisations at large.
In the course of image making, it is inevitable bthat media or public relations officers deal with both internal and external publics who have different perspectives. It is your duty as the image maker to project your organisation and principal at all times in the form of defending your boss or that organisation in the event image is at stake.
Therefore being a hot seat, media aides especially of governors and presidents need to be people who have wealth of experiences in the media, they should be people who are friends to journslists and have good human relations acumen.
This is because no matter the state of their principal, if they do not have good image makers, they would be portrayed in bad light.
The gov’s example
In Bauchi state, it is on record that Governor Bala Mohammed has good relationship with the media and journalists perhaps because of his journalistic backgrounds. He was one- time a reporter before he left for the admintrative cadre in the federal civil service. Yet, he is always proud to be called a journalist and identifies himself as a colleague to journalists.No wonder he often says at every function, “My colleagues, gentlemen of the press, do you have questions?”
What interests all journalists in Bauchi is that the governor would be the one asking newsmen to ask him questions whenever he had functions or made a speech even if copies of the speech were made available to pressmen. “My colleagues, any questions?” He asks. This is contrary to the actions of many politicians who dodge interviews with press men to avoid being pressed to a corner or asked difficult question that might force them to make unguarded or negative comments.
Aside giving them opportunities to ask him questions on how he runs government in the state, Bala also arranges interviews for the media men with visiting governors and very important persons he hosts. He does that to make the works of his colleagues easier.
The governor also encourages his fellow journalists to not only restrict themselves to reporting but to diversify and contest for political positions saying as jack of all trades, they can perform if they hold executive offices like president, governor or local government chairman.
“Journalists know something about everything; they have written on politics, science, technology, environment, agriculture, education, health etc and can solve many problems because of their knowledge and experiences,” he says often.
According to him, one of the principles that guide him to deliver good governance in Bauchi state is his journalistic experience.
The governor is also tolerant to journalists, saying he would not witchhunt anyone, no matter the level of provocation. Although investigation reveals that at times, he complains about a damaging report done against the state, but never sued or molested any media person as he believes they are discharging their constitutional responsibilities.
“I am happy that in this documentary, you did not only showcase my achievements but also included people’s complaints on our shortcomings. Yes, we are doing well, but it is good to advise us where you think we are not getting it right. We are human beings and cannot be perfect 100 per cent,” he told members of the state correspondents’ chapel during their recent press week where they presented a video documentary on his stewardship.
A lover of newspaper
Another thing that encourages reporters to write on his government is that the governor is a fan of newspapers. He carries copies along even into an aircraft so that he would be updated about happenings in his state. He believes that newspapers bridge the gap between the government and the governed as they report to the public government programmes and also tell those in power the yearnings and aspirations of the masses.
Blueprint could recall an incident last year when a national newspaper newspaper reported that an old man from Alkaleri local government was liable to die following COVID 19 lock down as doctors were not available to treat his hernia, after reading the report, the governor traced the whereabouts of the ailing old man and instructed his personal physician to attend to him thereby saving the man from death.
Bala reads newspapers despite the tight schedules of office.Extends solidarity with media
As a governor that embarked on massive infrastructural projects including roads, schools and construction of housing estates, the governor also promised not to exempt the union he was once a member as he pledged to reconstruct the Bauchi state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to make it befitting like that of other states.
In it, he promised to build a bigger conference hall that can contain more people. He already sent engineers to survey the secretariat so that work would commence.
According to him, when he was minister of the FCT, he built secretariat for the union there. “Whatever I would become in life, I would not forget journalists because I was a one-time journalist too, “he said.
Also has reliable media aide
Apart from the governor, another person that complements the efforts of the governor to provide enabling environment for the media to operate is his special adviser on media Mukhtar Gidado, a veteran journalist, unionist and experienced public relations officer being a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
Mukhtar was appointed into that capacity at the beginning of this administration and recently elevated to the position of special adviser and member of the state executive council.
The promotion of Mukhtar followed his satisfactory performance as SSA having been able to maintain good relationship with the media and the public who troop to his office on daily basis even though it is not the office of a political adviser.
One wonders how he copes with the little imprest of his office to carry out his media relations tasks and attend to politicians, praise singers and the needy who come to seek for assistance.
There is no disputing the fact that two of governor Bala’s cabinet members, the commissioner for local governments and the special adviser media are the most heard members of the cabinet in the media especially on radio programmes.
Mukhtar was a one-time chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Bauchi state council; North-east vice chairman of the union and currently deputy national president of the union.
He held the positions consecutively and had wanted to resign as deputy national president when he was appointed media aide to Gov Bala but the members of the union rejected the idea as he is a good comrade.
In his recent interview with our correspondent on Blueprint’s 10 years anniversary, Mukhtar said the challenge he faces is that his boss reads newspapers everyday and sometimes papers do not publish stories that are sent late. So, if his principal holds a function that ended late, he would complain bitterly if it is not published.
The other challenge, according to him, is that not all newspapers publish all their stories in hard copies. Also, hard copies of some newspapers do not come to Bauchi regularly, saying his boss however prefers hard copies.”Anything in hard copies, my governor appreciates it because he can read it in the office and even in an aircraft. But five newspapers including Blueprint are doing well for us,” he disclosed.
