My Oga on Top and Matters Arising
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Trust Nigerians to go overboard on the most inane issues. What's the big deal about a civil servant saying he needs to clear information from his 'Oga' before sharing it?.I watched the video which has gone quite viral and l was really disappointed by the conduct of the three Channels TV interviewers because l hold Channels TV in high esteem due to their winning the News Channel of the year award for three consecutive years.
Every Nigerian understands the 'Oga' syndrome. Oga is the big boss,the one that decides whether you get promoted or not and can decide to boot you out of the organisation just to show who the 'Oga' is. You cross your 'Oga' at your own peril.
There are many levels of Oga, the Oga's secretary, the Oga's Madam, the small Oga, the acting 'Oga', Oga police. Even the gate man is also an 'Oga' in his own right, as he can decide not to let you in through the gate to see the big Oga.
And as every married Nigerian woman knows there is the original Oga on top- husbands. And those Channel presenters definitely have their own 'Oga'.
Sure, the representative of the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps did not know the website of his organisation but then, how many Nigerians are Internet savvy?. That wasn't enough reason for three journalists to turn on him and taunt him with their superiority complex like a pack of hounds.
They had the responsibility to treat their guest with dignity and respect, instead they choose to embarrass and make him a national joke. They made us laugh for a moment, however, they have set back the campaign for access to information from public institutions.
More than before, public officials will be afraid to share information with the media.
And that is no gain to a nation that needs to popularise the use of the Freedom of Information Act.
I despise the idea that we need to suck up to people to access public information; we might as well repeal the FOI law. Secondly, the interview was about employment scams alleged to be taking place on the website of NSCDC; the least the official representing them could have done was to ask his subs to brief him. The vibes I got from him is that he did not take the matter seriously. Thirdly, the time has passed to excuse ignorance/mediocrity especially when we ought to know better....the official did not seem to take the matter seriously at all and did not provide any significant response to the issues raised. If oga at the top is standing in the way of progress, that is the syndrome that has to go and not the need for public servants to know that they would be held to public scrutiny. You may want to check the allocation that goes to NSCDC and maybe you will change your mind. We all are accountable.
ReplyDeleteYou're saying that instead of officials to know what they're talking about i.e TO BE COMPETENT at their jobs, we the people, should not criticize them? This attitude is why we're not progressing.
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