The first reaction one gives when reading the Punch report below and going to confirm for one’s self is to “smh – shake my head.” It’s beyond tragic that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has been using its official webpage to promote a Facebook page belonging to an impostor of President Goodluck Jonathan.
What this means is that visitors to the website who want to see the president’s Facebok page, are directed to this fake page with over 45,ooo likes which basically promotes the activities of the blog of a GEJ impostor, Kelvin Djakor.
This lapse by the office of the SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim, is even more regrettable when one considers that the page of the president on Facebook was recently verified by the company in order to differentiate him from the almost 100 impostors who use his name and photograph to deceive unwary social media users. Despite that help from Facebook, the office of the SGF remains blissfully ignorant. Again, “smh”.
The worst part probably is the arrogance in the ignorance as showcased by the Special Adviser, Media, to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Mr. Sam Nwaobasi, who had this to say when confronted: “How do you know it’s fake. Do you have the original? I don’t know what you are saying. Besides, I am actually in a meeting. When I check myself, we will talk.’’
The website managers of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation may have been promoting the activities of one of the over 98 impostors laying claim to the identity of President Goodluck Jonathan on Facebook.
When our correspondent visited www.osgf.gov.ng, the website of the OSGF, a link to one of the fake Facebook accounts bearing the President’s name and photograph, was on its home page.
When the link was clicked, it took our correspondent to the Facebook page which had 45, 132 followers as at the time of filing this report.
Visitors to the website, who are encouraged to embrace the ‘citizens’ e-participation’ initiative of the SGF’s office, by posting “comments about projects’’ through its Facebook page, are always directed to the fan page of their President’s impostor.
Checks on the Facebook page revealed that the website managers were simply promoting the blog of one Kevin Djakpor. With these visitors, who besiege the Facebook page to lodge complaints about government programmes, projects and policies are welcomed with gossips ranging from entertainment to sports.
For instance, on Thursday, visitors to the supposed official Facebook page of the OSGF found the photographs of Cossy Ojiakor and Afrocandy posted on it with a question: “Who is hotter: Afrocandy or Orjiakor?’’
Besides, a click on the plug-in linking the website to the Twitter handle of the SGF’s office did not also respond when our correspondent tried to do so on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the website managers appear to be on holiday as some vital information, which visitors to the website may be yearning to access, are virtually not available on it.
A click on sections expected to give visitors leads to ongoing projects pertaining to the OSGF, as well as call for bids revealed articles on the transformation agenda of the President. The section for downloading the ‘’Tenders Journal’’ also contains nothing relating to tenders.
A digital media consultant, Sola Fagorusi, laments that the development is not expected of a government office that is responsible for ensuring the effective coordination and monitoring of the implementation of policies of the Presidency.
He notes that as much as government institutions are trying to hook up with new media trends as a strategic communication and engagement tool, it is important that things are done appropriately.
He says, “Government agencies need to do more than just fulfilling the basic need of being on social media. Why put up an icon promising links to Twitter and Facebook accounts only to be led to an entirely different Facebook page? To make matters worse, it’s a counterfeit Facebook account of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“As it is now, the FG is promoting the activities of one Kevin Djakpor and it does not even know it. Ministries, department and agencies should do an occasional new media audit. It will help them to check if there’s any broken link and confirm if there’s any loose end on the site. A social network is useless if it is not current. It is meaningless if not managed.
“It should also be run institutionally, else a site or social media network would become useless once the person occupying the office leaves. They should share, listen and engage the citizenry with it.”
When our correspondent called the Special Adviser, Media, to the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Mr. Sam Nwaobasi, he said he was not aware of the development.
He said, “How do you know it’s fake. Do you have the original? I don’t know what you are saying. Besides, I am actually in a meeting. When I check myself, we will talk.’’
Nwaobasi did not get back to our correspondent as at press time.
Source: The Scoop
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