SOCIAL NETWORKING AND DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA.

In an article in New York Times, the rise of popularism, in which the writer, Thomas Friedman, raised question about social networking media and the democracy. He said “the wiring of the world through social media and web- enabled cell phones is changing the nature of conversation between and led everywhere.

We are going from from large one way conversation top-down to overwhelmingly two-way conversation bottom –up and top-down. This has many upsides more participation, more innovation and more transparency, but can there be such a thing as too time and tracking the trends that they become prisoners of them? I found the article interesting yet I disagreed with its overriding assertion like the President Goodluck Jonathan who states that social media and its link by Nigerian by Nigerian use this medium to criticise his government. The man who usually called for ideas on social media suddenly finds it problematic? I am positive of he is aware of Nigeria disaffection towards his administration detect slackness. Friedman missed the gist of the the age we are now, thanks to social media sites, there is more “power to the people” unlike the slogan the people democratic party that sounds like a crude joke and a mockery of political system the social media empowers political dialogue.

Communication is largely uncensored and not guided as they are wont to be even on a live media chat and nowhere is this truer than to examine Jonathan’s Facebook account two years ago, when the president invited Nigerians to enter into dialogue with him of Facebook, he had 19,000 friends. Today, that figure rose by more than 700,000 and herein springs the charge of abuse by replication. This was the same medium used the president who claimed he reversed the football ban on the nation’s football teams from international competitions in 2010 because Nigerian begged him on Facebook?

Today things have largely improved as reality has forced Nigerians to be more critical and level of surveillance is higher. Imagine how things would be different if there was a social media during the era of Babangida and Sani Abacha! Today, world leader are seeing the power of the voices of the people in a post- technology world even countries like Nigeria which have yet to arrive property at modernity gate are forced to confront questions that stage of social evolution has yet prepare them for. We know what role social played in the Arab spring.

Oppression leaders of the world have learnt their lessons, hopefully though; unfortunately, in the case of Syria, Bashar al-Assad has become more brutal. In Saudi Arabia a country that restricts women from driving for some reasons in wake of the Arab spring shifted grounds on women voting rights and also send female athletes to the Olympics this year, former Philippines President Joseph Estrada, blamed his ouster on the SMS.

In India, corruption is being challenged with the power of the web. So if the Jonathan chooses to see the power of voices on the social media as negative, it’s probably because he still expects people to act docile to be model citizens. In one of his interview in January he said he was not easily swayed by public opinion because the majority could be wrong. Well said but in a democratic government, A leaders interest is to pay attention to the people. 

                                                  President on facebook Nigeria government needs to embrace the social reality the social media is engendering and reach out to the people. People want to participate actively in government without the chain of command mediating them. One way to foster this is to get rid of the “media chat” system. It is too mediated and is as analogue as the two telephone numbers displayed on the screen. A one person interviewer is better as it allows a more fluid flow of follow –up questions. For instance, when there was an interview with the president when he said Nigerians would begin to see changes in 2013, I expected the interviewers to grill him on specific issues like the railway and agriculture revolution rather than waiting for the telephone lines that are not meant to work and whoever thought up that cheap trick should have taken questions from the social media which would have made it more challenging for the president and even more interactive between both the president and the people.

 The truth is that the president can’t run from public criticism of him and his government he should learn to aspect criticism, unless if he keeps running it will land him to the alternative highway just like president George Bush who Muntadhar al-Zaidi a journalist who tried to to speak with him then but when words failed, he removed his shoes and hauled same at Bush’s head during a press conference in Iran some time ago he should also understand that the world is a global village.    

PUNCH/ IDEGWU MAUREEN .O.