By Our Correspondent in New York.
African governments should be very careful the way they handle governance issues and try to adjust their actions with the demands of their compatriots in and out of the country. With the advent of online journalism including video production, social media (Facebook, twitter etc) and other relatively new forms of expression including staged and professionally executed videotaped protests, African governments have to be alert and be ready to face the new challenges in order not be taken by surprise as the following event which happened two years ago in New York, January 18, 2012, illustrates:
When the Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Adaku Onwuliri (centre in photo) attended a meeting in 2012 with members of the Nigerian community little did she expect what was going to happen.
According to sources, she honoured an invitation from an international NGO and the Nigerian community to give an update on what is happening in the country and to answer to questions the community might have.
But things suddenly turned into a very unpleasant situation when members of a group that call themselves Occupy Nigeria suddenly launched a verbal attack on the Minister, alleged to arrive 90 minutes late for the meeting.
The attack came after the singing of the Nigerian national anthem and the meeting was about to start. It was at that moment that one of the leaders of Occupy Nigeria took the microphone of the planned question and answer session and condemned the Minister for turning up late. Then the whole meeting was plunged in chaos and New York police had to be called to restore order and to remove Occupy Nigeria members for the meeting to proceed.
The Minister remained calm and unruffled throughout the commotion to the admiration of some Nigerians and other guests present. The meeting later went on, the Minister spoke and the question and answer session went well followed by food and drinks for all the remaining attendees.
Professor Viola Adaku Onwuliri, a scientist, taught at various universities in Nigeria before her appointment.
Here is a video of the unsavoury incident:
Photo credit: www.nigeriavillagesquare.com.
Comments