A communication expert and Chief Group Chief Executive Officer of Prima Garnet, Mr Lolu Akinwunmi, said that Nigeria needs to merge the current Ministry of Information and Culture and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy to achieve efficient communication with the citizens in this digital era.
According to him, the merger should lead to the creation of a new ministry to be known as the Ministry of Public Communication.
He noted that the idea of a Ministry of Information has become old-fashioned all over the world. Nigeria’s version of the Ministry dates back to the 1960s and was created as a Public Relations arm of the government.
Advocacy for change: Delivering a keynote at the 2022 Professional Graduation Programme of the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Akinwunmi expressed a strong belief that a change in the current structure will enhance the process of effective public communications in Nigeria. He said:
- “Globally, the concept of a stand-alone Ministry of Information has largely become weak. And in my opinion, Nigeria needs to upgrade as well. The background to the Ministry of Information we have now gone back to around 1960 When the First Minister of Information was the late Chief T.O.S Benson, and what became the Ministry of Information started as if the PR arm of the government and its intention was just to speak to the people, it was not built to receive any feedback.
- “So, there was no communication and that’s why until today we are still calling it Ministry of Information, which is a misnomer. We shouldn’t use that at all because, in the best tradition, you’re supposed to give information and get feedback and let the feedback affect what you’re doing to plan to budget.
- “I am, therefore, advocating the merging of the current Ministry of Information and the Ministry of communication to form a new Ministry of Public Communication. The proposed merger of the current Ministry of Information and culture the ministry of communication to form the Ministry of Public publication, will solve many current challenges and provide limitless opportunities in the area of public communication,” he added.
Expected impacts: According to Akinwunmi, the combined power and influence of the information and communication ministries will create a more effective public communication vehicle as the new ministry would be leveraging the power of technology-driven communication.
- “The current communication ministry supervises the telecoms operators; MTN, Globacom, Airtel, 9mobile and a lot of others. At the moment, their tools are driving efficient global communication and information exchange for 200 million Nigerians.
- “The proposed new ministry is, therefore, able to reach more people with speed and efficiency using the mobile phone, social media, email, and so on, relying on the infrastructure of the current Ministry of communication under the operations of these telecoms.
- “The proposed ministry can develop and manage new platforms for sharing information or critical data, receiving feedback, and managing opinions with speed and precision. It offers some amazing, exciting possibilities. And the good news is that we are not reinventing the wheel. The infrastructure already exists and is under government management through the Ministry of communication,” he said.