As Nigeria prepares for next year’s centenary celebration of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, a professor of Mass Communications, Idowu Sobowale, has urged leaders to make “communication” rather than “information” a tool for reaching out to the governed.

The varsity don said there would be be more openness between the leaders and the led, while the leaders would know the needs of those they lead, if this method is adopted.

According to him, the leaders will be adequately informed to serve the people better, when they choose communication over information in their interactions with the led.

The Mass Communications expert spoke at the 35th public lecture of Covenant University, Otta Ogun State.

In the lecture, with the theme: Communication, Politicians and True Democracy, the former Lagos State Commissioner for Education differentiated between communication and information or persuasion.

He said communication would not survive in an atmosphere of coercion, but where respect for the parties exists.

Sobowale explained that effective communication connotes shared meaning, adding that it must be transactional and in the spirit of give-and-take.

The lecturer noted that Nigerian leaders prefer information, the euphemism for “order”, “directive”, or “decision”, which would have been taken without consulting the masses and with little regard for how they such decisions would affect them.

He said: “Sometimes they try to persuade, in order not to reject, when they sense that we may oppose them. Neither of these is communication. While information may sometimes lead to fear, confusion and hardening of position, communication, on the other hand, engenders confidence, cooperation and a sense of belonging.”

Of Nigerian politicians, Sobowale singled out Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of Lagos State, as a leader whose tenure was synonymous with effective communication.

As Nigeria prepares for next year’s centenary celebration of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, a professor of Mass Communications, Idowu Sobowale, has urged leaders to make “communication” rather than “information” a tool for reaching out to the governed.

The varsity don said there would be be more openness between the leaders and the led, while the leaders would know the needs of those they lead, if this method is adopted.

According to him, the leaders will be adequately informed to serve the people better, when they choose communication over information in their interactions with the led.

The Mass Communications expert spoke at the 35th public lecture of Covenant University, Otta Ogun State.

In the lecture, with the theme: Communication, Politicians and True Democracy, the former Lagos State Commissioner for Education differentiated between communication and information or persuasion.

He said communication would not survive in an atmosphere of coercion, but where respect for the parties exists.

Sobowale explained that effective communication connotes shared meaning, adding that it must be transactional and in the spirit of give-and-take.

The lecturer noted that Nigerian leaders prefer information, the euphemism for “order”, “directive”, or “decision”, which would have been taken without consulting the masses and with little regard for how they such decisions would affect them.

He said: “Sometimes they try to persuade, in order not to reject, when they sense that we may oppose them. Neither of these is communication. While information may sometimes lead to fear, confusion and hardening of position, communication, on the other hand, engenders confidence, cooperation and a sense of belonging.”

Of Nigerian politicians, Sobowale singled out Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of Lagos State, as a leader whose tenure was synonymous with effective communication.