‘My Oga at the Top’: Is Obafaiye Shem’s Mistake Worth The Fuss? - by Dave Agboola

Over the past month, the most popular slogan in Nigeria has been ‘my oga at the top’, a meme generated from the ill-fated interview granted by Mr Obafaiye Shem, the former Lagos State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), to Channels Television during its breakfast show on March 6, 2013. Comedians and musicians can’t crack a joke or sing a line without referring to it. T-shirts, baseball caps and movies have been inspired by it. Worst of all, the unfortunate man was replaced last weekend, all for the mistake of not knowing his organisation’s website!
I don’t see anything particularly bad about it, especially if one considers the social realities of Nigeria. Agreed, he did not handle the interview well, but I still believe that those making the noise about the interview are not being fair to him. How many of our National Assembly members know the country’s national anthem, let alone its official website? Ijeoma Bristol, the current Ambassador of Nigeria to Portugal, could not sing the national anthem during her ambassadorial screening. When asked to explain the Geneva and Vienna Conventions, she said she was “confused”. And yet, she was confirmed by the senate! Because knowledge of the internet is advancing quickly, it seems as if everybody in the world is up-to-date with its latest advancements. But this is untrue: in Nigeria, the level of internet penetration usage as of 2012 was just 28.4%. Mr Shem did not grow up in the internet age. Who knows? – he might not know anything about Google, let alone any type of social media. His address book and diary may be what he uses to sort out his daily schedule, as opposed to a BlackBerry. I'm sure that if he was asked for the physical address of his office, he would most likely know it. Why? He grew up learning physical addresses – not web addresses. What is the real difference between him and today’s youths who know a thousand websites addresses, but are dumbfounded when asked for their house number? There are people out there who are educated, but do not know how to send you a message on their mobile phone. So tell me: is there a difference between such people and Mr Shem as far as technology is concerned? This man showed that he is not computer-literate. But is this only his fault? Or is it not also that of his organisation, which did not train him, a member of its top management, to use computers, nor tell its entire staff what their website’s address is? I think what is missing from the conversation is the state of information technology, not only in the civil service, but across all of the government-run entities in the country. How many of them have maintained and functional websites? The other day when my driver’s licence expired and I went online to find out how to renew it, I was stupefied to discover that both the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) do not keep a computerised database (neither, for the record, does the Nigeria Police Force). Mr Shem’s replacement shows that the ‘ogas at the top’ are a bunch of hypocrites. Why should a person’s job be affected because he does not know his organisation’s website? Top government officers do worse things than this and are allowed to keep their positions. Replacing him does not change the fact that the NSCDC (as well as other government bodies) are in need of serious work. Furthermore, NSCDC needs to get to the root of the matter that brought about the interview: job racketeering on the NSCDC website, a far more serious problem than a television blooper. It is also clear the Channels Sunrise Daily interview team manipulated the situation. Although they clearly knew the man did not know what the NSCDC’s website was, rather than change the subject, they resorted to exploiting his ignorance. I consider this unprofessional and a very low sort of comedy. More than anything else, they have succeeded in generating further distrust between journalists and public officers (who will surely think twice before honouring invitations from the press going forward). I think Channels Television owes Mr Shem an apology. While I am not totally in support of Mr Shem, we all need to learn a lesson from his stumble rather than continue to deride him. His mistakes underscore the importance of self-learning: remember that it is not everything you need to know in life that you will be taught. Especially in Nigeria, more people need to focus on building their personal knowledge bases up no matter the challenges involved or the jokes circulating on Twitter. Do you think that Mr Shem should be given a break? Let us know in the comments.. Image source