Former Nigerian Minister and former Nigerian deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Usman Sarki, has identified the need for media organizations and foreign relation department to prioritize strategic communication and fact-finding analysis in the reportage of the Coup in Niger and the consequent ongoing loggerhead between the Nigerien military junta and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Mr. Sarki made this call during an interview on the Television continental (TVC)’s night show, ‘”Politics Tonight” on Friday evening. According to the former UN diplomat, promoting ill-baked reporting of the management of the crisis has severe implications not only for Nigeria and Niger but also for many other African countries.
Therefore, Mr Sarki believed it is high time traditional media organizations and relevant government agencies weighed in more on strategic information sourcing and communication to avoid a situation where the people have to continue to depend and act based on rumours and conspiracy theories being spread on the social media.
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‘’In crisis situation, the first casualty is the truth. Nigerians should be very conscious about what they consume on the social media.
‘’Information is very critical; it is the bedrock of diplomacy and the bedrock of interstate relationship. So, whatever information is being released for the consumption of the public or the attention of the regime has to be precise, accurate and to the point,’’ Mr. Sarki said.
Mr Sarki remarked that ‘’the problem that has arisen out of this saga is that the president of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wants war and there is no basis for us to think that war was the first option.’’
Mr Sarki stated that it is erroneous to think that the ongoing crisis is a war between Nigeria and Niger or between ECOWAS and Niger. Rather, according to Sarki, the crisis is a battle of legality vs illegality — legality as represented by President Bazoum and illegality represented by the usurpation of a democratically elected government by the Military Junta.
He added that the Tinubu-led ECOWAS is very clear about its ‘’sentiment of zero-tolerance to coup and unconstitutional changes in Government’’.
‘’ECOWAS is using the instrumentality of its statutes and protocols in order to assert the prerogative of the regional organization to establish order and bring back constitutional rule in Niger as it would in any other member state that has taken the path of military rule at this precise moment’’ Sarki said.
On how ECOWAS, the Nigerian government and the media can harness information and ensure strategic communication in the management of the crisis in Niger, Mr Sarki made the following recommendations:
- ECOWAS must establish a communication system whereby its messages could go to every member state of the community through the traditional and non-traditional media.
- The Nigerian Government should engage in complementary approaches by embarking upon constructive false ride, truthful and timely release of information not necessarily through the president’s spokesperson but through the Ministry of foreign affairs.
- The Ministry of foreign affairs should be allowed the exercise of its prerogative in the field of foreign policies in informing Nigerians about the objectives of the actions and policies of the Nigerian Government.
- Media organisations and Government agencies responsible for public information should also contribute by way of asking questions and conveying answers to the Nigerian public in order not to keep people in anxiety or in the dark about the purposes of the measures, the intentions behind the measures and the ultimate objective that is being sold by the measures.
On July 26, 2023, General Abdourahamane Tchiani led a military coup in Niger that overthrew the democratically elected President of the country, Mohammed Bazoum. Following that, Tchiani declared himself head of the National council for the safeguard homeland and placed president Bazoum and some members of his families under house arrest.
Despite several appeals, threats and sanctions to the military Junta by ECOWAS, the mission to establish constitutional order and restore democratic government in Niger has remained in a state of impasse.
However, on Monday, August 14, 2023, the leader of the Military junta, General Tchiani, said he’s open to diplomatic conversations with ECOWAS. This was after a meeting with the intervention team of Nigerian Islamic scholars in Niamey.