Ezenwa Echefu | April 28, 2022
Abstract
It seems one of the havens of information disorder is confined within the domain of recurring cases of abduction of school children in the Nigerian academic institutions. The seeming tacit approach of the Nigerian government towards such malady and the consequent societal agitations for a restructured security architecture of the country tend to precipitate two prong apprehensions: whether the government is deliberately under-informing Nigerians about the intensity of insecurities in the country or whether the societal transformations triggered by the increased social media exposures has transferred the duty of honest information reportage to the society.
Reporting through the Financial Times about government dishonest communication style in respect to the covid-19 pandemic, Kelly (2020) held that so far, the tendency of the government has been to try to pretend everything was under control when it’s not. Kelly’s reports highlights dishonesty in government information system using the example of how most government communicated the incidence of COVID-19 pandemic as a base to elaborate the inherent dishonesty in most of government information system. Kelly speculated that the need to give the masses hope in uneasy times seem to pose a strong bait to malign information by government and wondered if the lack of communication skills among the leaders was not the real reason that fuel information dishonesty in the public-sector runed activities. Kelly exemplified in specific terms how President Trump and his administration repeatedly lied about the COVID-19 virus in a much more obvious and concerning way than the British government.
Aside Kelly reviews, it is yet to be determined whether information dishonesty is a convention that is sacrosanct among governments of the world or an inherent retainership inducement of leadership. In Kelly’s writing “There’s a fine line to be trodden between delivering simple, upbeat messages, and not telling the truth.”
