Last week, Mr Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari was our Guest on our Weekly Instagram Live Video chat titled “A moment with Icons”, and he revealed shocking things about his experience in government.
Speaking with Citypeople revealed that there are many people who don’t want things to work in Nigeria. He revealed how people like to speculate about what they think they know, but don’t know.
He also spoke about the present government and Mr. President. He further revealed the plan of the Government to revive the economy after the Covid -19 lockdown. He revealed how someone within the system in the Presidency leaked the draft of Pres. Buhari’s last speech to the social media and a wrong speech was published.
Let me start by asking you how has it been, working in government?
Well, it’s been a challenging time in the country, not just in the country but all over the world. But I want to believe that we will survive.
What are the lessons you think we should learn from this Covid-19 pandemic?
This very first lesson. This has taught us is that, God is the one that rules in the affairs of man. It has taught us to learn to depend on God.
It has got to a point that even western countries don’t know what to do. Africa is faring a lot better than the Europe/America and all that so, it shows that there is no master in this kind of situation.
Another lesson I got from this is as a country we need to put many things in place especially the health sector, it really caught us un aware we were not ready. So going forward, after this emergency we will learn never to play with the health infrastructure. We should upgrade our hospitals, upgrade the capacity of our health care and make sure that we are ready for anything.
How do you see all the efforts that the government has put in place. Would you say we are making progress?
I believe we are making progress because if the infection is still at this level, it is now in Nigeria and the deaths, (though unfortunate) is still at the level they are, I think we have done well compared to America, France, Italy and Spain. I think Nigeria has done very great
.
Can you share with us your pains on Fake News you have been battling over the years. How do you always feel when you read it?
The fact is there are some Nigerians who don’t want their country Nigeria to work. They just want to sabotage everything and anything. But why would any Nigerian not want Nigeria to work? Just two days ago, there was supposed to be a presidential broadcast or airing, as early as 4pm the rough copy of the presidential speech had already been circulated on whatsapp.
But how does this happen?
Off course it was passed from the origination to correction by a number of people and then they transmit it to the presidency. When it is transmitted to the presidency the president goes through and decides if he agrees to everything in it or not and then the final stage is the office of the special adviser and it came to me on Monday before we recorded the broadcast, I worked on the script and signed it as ready to go on recording.
I was surprised to see it at 4pm circulating on social media. And what gave it out immediately was the paragraphing. The paragraphing was different from what we have on the final copy that had gone through lots of hands. The content had changed, the paragraphs had changed, date had changed, and somebody now lay hands on that first draft and started circulating it.
So it caused a lot of confusion. Whoever did that is an enemy of the government, because he wanted to cause trouble and he succeeded in causing it.
You will see that a number of media houses even traditional media houses feel for it, they used that as a basis for their stand but you know this is the age of technology, through computer the person has been trace and he is already facing the consequences .
How have you been coping and dealing with the media space with social media added to the traditional media?
It’s a global challenge anybody that does this kind of work has to contend with that larger media space. In the past, once you have taken care of the radio, the television, newspaper, you have been successful as a media taking care off. But this time around you have to contend with lots of media particularly the social media where we have many platforms, so it’s a challenge
Talking about COVID19,it has affected the economy no doubt, how do you think the government is going to cope with its effect?
That’s why the president set up the Economic Sustainability Committee headed by the Vice president.
The mandate of that committee is just to respond to COVID-19 interims of the impact on the economy. just yesterday president trump called our own president and the discussion was based on the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, so it shows that almost every country in the world will have to cope.
Fortunately the prognosis we have for Nigeria is that yes it will affect our economy the economy my go into recession but definitely by 2021 the economy will revive.
How do you see the Health sector after COVID-19?
I believe all the facilities we’ve built in the isolation centers that have been built now would still be there. Nigeria will have those things we used, all the health professionals, that have been developed now will be retained. They will retain the capacities that are been built now.
I would love to give an example; look at the road leading from Ikeja to the International Airport in Lagos. You and I were at the Concord Press then. Remember that it was a one narrow road, always very congested, getting to the office was usually a problem.
Then, Nigeria had to host a Junior World Cup “Nigeria 99 and the road had to be dualised. After the World Cup, was the road blocked or folded up? No, the road is still there. So, whatever capacity we developed now weather in human or infrastructure will still be available for Nigeria and Nigerians to utilize after Covid-19.
Looking at the figures of the casualty of Covid-19, can we say this is frightening or still within acceptable limit?
Well, No death should be acceptable, not a single one. I think as at this morning we had death rate close to 40. No death should be acceptable; everybody that can be kept alive should be kept alive. I think Nigerians should continue to strive to ensure that more souls are not lost.
You have a very challenging job. How do you cope? How do you continue to be on top of your game?
I’ve learnt to take so many things in my strides. I make sure I do my best. And if some people think that best is not enough, no problem. I have done my best.
Are there times you get angry when people misquote you, or how do you cope with it?
Like I said, I’ve learnt to take it in my strides, not really get angry. For instance, there are many things that I have said, the next time I will see those things particularly on Social Media I won’t recognize them again.
I will be asking myself “when did I say this?’ People deliberately twist it for people to start attacking me. I have learnt to live with it and ignore.
You are one of those who is very close to Mr President.
How best can you describe him, compared to what we see out there?
I think the portrait of Mr President that a lot of people have, particularly those on social media is not a right portrait. This is a simple, very easy going man. Somebody that loves Nigeria passionately, that just wants the best for the country.
Somebody that is not hung up on any religion, giving it preference over the other. He’s a Muslim, I’m a Christian, but I know how much we relate in terms of religion. My very first Xmas in Government in 2015, he called me a week before Xmas.
He said “ Adesina, I know you are a church person like the Vice President, so, when Xmas is about 4days take some time off, go and be with your family, same thing with V.P. when you people come back in January I will go and rest too”.
A religions bigot will never do that, yet, the impression that some people have created about him is that he doesn’t want to hear about any other religion apart from Islam. He’s a simple easy going man. He’s a man I considered not just my President but a senior colleague, and I want to say that is why I’ve come to serve him and serve the country.
Mr President is a man of few words, how do you manage that aspect of him?
You are the way you are, and I think the different types of human characters we have has been long determined by psychologists. We have some who are Sanguine; some are phlegmatic, Different categories of human beings. Mr. President is the way he is. You can’t change it, rather we are the ones that will need to understand him and accept him the way he is.
What has changed in your perception about Nigeria since you came into government?
A lot. For instance, I’ve seen that there are some Nigerians who don’t want Nigeria to work. They are plenty. Anything good the government is doing doesn’t interest them; They don’t just want things to work. They criticize it, they sabotage it, forgetting that if Nigeria works it’s for the benefit of us and our children. But, there are people who don’t want this Nigeria to work. Their mindset is that APC opposed our Government so we too must oppose their government to the last day, but they forget that if the country it’s for all of us. There is a lot I have learnt.
You are the one that announced the unfortunate passing away of Mallam Abba Kyari. How did you feel before you broke the news?
On that day, very unusual of me I went to bed at 8pm. normally I listen to Network news at 10pm before I go to bed. It was one of the senior aides that called me around 12:05am that Mallam Abba Kyari had passed on. Immediately I lost my sleep, asked necessary questions about what happened. I made the necessary arrangements for his burial and around 12:30am I issued it and also twitted it. It was a mixed feelings for me and Ironically, because I was the one who announced his appointment and also I was the one who announced his death, but it’s one of the paradoxes of life.
How do you feel being SA to the President?
I feel quite fulfilled, being S.A to the President. It is not just a job. I see it as a responsibility. If it was a job I wanted, in 2015, I wouldn’t have come in because I believe I had a great job that satisfied me, I didn’t need a job when I was offered the appointment, I was in a comfort zone. But I came to serve him and I came to serve the country and I’m happy I’ve been doing my best in the little way I can.
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