Obi Asika, Senior Special Assistant to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Social Media is a serial entrepreneur with a love for the creative industry. In this exclusive interview with RITA OHAI, he speaks on his agenda as a member of the presidential cabinet.
Three months ago, Obodoechina Ukpabi Asika popularly known as ‘Obi Asika’ received a call from the presidency asking him to coordinate the nation’s social media affairs.
With excitement, he accepted the offer and since he took office, it’s been a whirlwind ride for the multi-talented businessman.
However, there’s a story behind this man who has been given the mandate to drive the Nigeria’s interactive cyberspace to greatness.
Barely two years after graduating with a law degree from the University of Warwick in 1990, Obi, with a native propensity for money making, tossed aside his certificate and set out to create one of Nigeria’s most vibrant entertainment companies, Storm Productions.
Soon after Storm began gaining traction, the itch to expand his portfolio began to consume his thoughts and the hunt for the next big idea became an insatiable pastime.
As a result, he birthed a new company almost every three years and his ability to form partnerships and close major deals ranging from real estate to the oil and gas sector earned him a reputation as the ‘go-to man’ for foreign investors.
One of his ventures, OutSource Media, single-handedly produced and activated projects such as Big Brother Nigeria, The Apprentice Africa, Dragons Den, Glo Naija Sings, Amstel Malta Box Office, among others for terrestrial and satellite television.
In recognition of Asika’s contribution to the development of the creative sector, the African Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington DC, appointed Obi a member making him the first foreign national to assume this role.
A child of war, Obi who was born on the 3rd of October, 1968 is the brain behind the now famous Social Media Week Lagos; an investment undertaken by his advisory and reputation management company, Dragon Africa.
BD SUNDAY got him to reveal his programme for the tenure he hopes to spend in office. Here it is;
For the first time in history, Nigeria has a Special Assistant on Social Media. What national goals have you set out to achieve during your term?
I am in charge of all policy for Social Media for the government in Nigeria and my focus is to sort out civic engagement primarily.
We are going to launch official Social Media handles across all platforms to create the opportunity for Nigerians to engage with their government. This is a bi-partisan process; it is not political.
Our focus is to provide information on government services, access to government information, promote Nigeria as a destination country and as a MasterBrand. I feel clearly that Nigeria has been underserved and under-promoted. This is an opportunity to change the narrative of what Nigeria has contributed to the world in a focused manner.
There are millions of Nigerians all over the world doing positive things and all we here is the negative news; we have to change that.
We have found that since the passage of the FOI Act, not much has changed. It is still difficult getting access to information from government and the bureaucracies are numerous. As one who is seeking to bridge the information gap between government and the public, how are you working to improve the situation?
The key and most important thing is that this President signed the Freedom of Information Act, that we are an open and connected society.
We all know that no African President has ever been vilified on a personal level like this [President] and I do not recall anytime anybody has been harassed, arrested or detained in any way affected and to me that is a great sign of strength, growth and maturity. This is something we should be very proud of.
Part of our work would be to get people to know how to operate public sector institutions. We all know that in Nigeria, everybody has an opinion and these opinions are valid. As a tool for feedback or sentiments social media is extremely powerful for anybody in government. And hopefully, whether I am in office for one week or one day, we will get it to be used as a tool for transparency and openness.
Policies focused on stiffer regulations and sanctions within cyberspace have been major issues for governments across the world. With you are taking up this office, what agenda do you have for cyberspace regulations?
The President just signed the cyber-security bill which will affect the digital space but will most likely come from a counterterrorism perspective especially since Boko Haram uses it to communicate all the time.
In terms of regulating the average man on the street, I do not think there is any need for that because social media is an open and connected environment. I perhaps think that people pay too much attention on the President. A lot of people should be asking questions of their counsellors, local government chairmen and governors. 90 percent of the things we all go through are coming from the decisions that those people take. The Presidency is federal and may not affect your day-to-day life.
There has been a disconnect between the man on the street and the government. There is also a lack of trust because people are not able to get the correct information on matters that affect national polity. It’s not this government’s (fault) but social media tools can change that and give people the opportunity to make informed decisions. This is what I’m going to do while in office, get people to ‘Face The Facts’ – that’s the hashtag!
