Text of a
speech by Ayeni Adekunle Samuel, Founder/CEO of BHM
Group
At public
presentation of Nigeria PR Report 2015
Friday January
29, 2016.
Something happened in 2015.
A poor 72-year-old, unpopular, retired army-general ran to be
president of Nigeria, an oil-rich West African country with population of about
200 million people.
His opponent, the incumbent, was a 57-year-old Ph.D. who, three
years earlier while he was VP, was so popular and favoured that influential
citizens marched the streets protesting, when it appeared some powerful
interests were determined to prevent him from becoming president after it was
clear his boss, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had passed on.
That election, to elect the 15th president of
Nigeria, finally held on March 28 and 29, 2015.
But it had been won and lost months before. Won by General
Muhammadu Buhari of the Action Congress of Nigeria who comparatively, had
little money and plenty obstacles, but deployed an almost-excellent political
strategy and reputation management.
The defeated sitting president as we have since discovered, had
limitless access to funds and other resources. But his campaign strategy was
lousy. As lousy as some of the people who were the faces and voices of his
re-election project.
One party found a big idea (Change) and rode with it. The other
was hijacking a campaign to bring back kidnapped schoolgirls from Chibok, a
little town in Borno, South-eastern Nigeria. One party proactively used
research data to develop PR strategies for youth and citizen engagement, the
other, as we also have now seen, used cash and mercenaries and sophistry, until
the last minute.
Buhari was a mean military dictator, despised by many discerning
Nigerians. He was an old, eighties man who, as many agree, was out of touch
with the tools and trends required to transform a paralyzed country like
Nigeria. Yet about 15,424,921 million
It's not fiction.
The role of public relations in politics and governance in Nigeria
cannot be over emphasized. The ‘Buhari-GEJ’ story would have been remarkable if
it were rare. Yet if you look deeply into the affairs of the private and public
sectors in Nigeria and indeed elsewhere across Africa, what presents, is an
increasing intervention by PR to help communities and organizations and
governments solve problems they thought were insurmountable. In Buhari's case,
he had contested and lost three times in 12 years.
In 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin completed an
orbit of the earth, effectively becoming the first man in space. If there had
been no records of the event, if there were no pictures taken and circulated,
no reports made, did he really make the trip? Did he accomplish the
feat?
A historic moment becomes myth, fable even, if there are no
evidence and facts to support claims and silence sceptics. Who here will call a
party to celebrate a child’s excellent result without first laying hands on the
report card?
There's little data, if any, on the role of public relations in
the last national elections. Little data, if any, on how in-house PR teams and
external consultancies are helping local and international brands make sense
out of a chaotic business environment like Nigeria. You will go very far to see
case studies on all the great work I’m aware have been done by Nigerian
professionals on brands like Wole Soyinka, MTN Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries,
Dangote, Indomie, Etisalat, GTBank and Airtel.
We complain regularly that the quality of our work can be better.
We excuse clients' lack of trust and investment with the belief that we really
haven't shown value. But how do we get better if we do not have records of the
work we do - the good, the bad and the ugly? How do we train beginners? How do
we engage globally, in a space where the lingua franca is billings and case
studies?
The global PR Agency industry revenue is put at over $13 billion.
I can assure you Nigeria, which by BHM estimates, makes over $68.75 million, is
not in that calculation.
We all know why.
That’s why our company BlackHouse Media created the
campaign #PrisDead in 2015. That’s why we decided, after relevant
consultations, to begin this hopefully annual report on the Nigeria
public relations industry.
Of course it's inspired by The Holmes Report's World PR Report,
which, I hope, starting 2016, will begin to feature great Nigerian agencies
doing amazing work.
We have a lot to do, to make that happen. We have even more to do,
to accomplish our dreams of increased billing, attracting and retaining super
talents, and becoming big regional and global players.
The ball is in our court.
It is possible.
Ayeni Adekunle Samuel
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