President Muhammadu Buhari last week Monday broke another jinx especially in the fourth Nigerian Republic starting from the period when democratic rule was restored in the country in 1999.
As part of marking the first 12 months of his democratic administration, Buhari hosted State House correspondents to a Presidential Lunch at the seat of power.
That was novel as the previous administrations never saw the need to bring the media as the fourth estate of the realm closer in such gathering.
Last week Monday was also the second time President Buhari was formally meeting the State House correspondents in such a gathering within one year. No past President or Head of State of Nigeria did that.
Those past leaders were always shielded from journalists and most often made to believe that it was a taboo to meet with the group.
To them, journalists were just in the Villa to cover and report any open public function in the State House.
But President Buhari as a true democrat saw journalists as partners in progress and felt the need to engage them beyond their official reportage of activities and events in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, despite the group being the watchdog of the society.
He sat for about two hours through the Presidential Lunch to dine with the journalists after brief speeches by himself and the Chairman of the State House Press Corps, Kehinde Amodu.
A member of the State House Press Corps, 84 years old photojournalist, Ladan Abubakar, popularly called Baba Ladan, was specially presented to the President during the lunch.
Baba Ladan, who has put in about 42 years as photojournalist with the Triumph newspaper, has been combining his career with tailoring.
His joy knew no bounds as he was called out to pose for snapshots with the President along with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, and Kehinde Amodu.
It was the first time Ladan was called out for such recognition since he started covering the seat of power from the regime of Late General Sani Abachi in 1994.
A Director and Head of Department of Media and Publicity at the State House, Mr. Justin Abuah, who has served 8 Presidents and Heads of State since 1986 was also specially presented to the President by Mallam Garba Shehu, who served as the Master of Ceremony at the event.
Abuah is often seen as a technocrat needed to make the engine room of the media office operate effectively from one government to the other.
He has not only been a dependable hand in the concise and timely press statements the administrations have churned out, but he ensured members of the State House Press Corps, who needed to work on the statements, get them.
To get the work done, Abuah has also severally followed some late night press statements with telephone calls to members of the Press Corps.
The gathering was also the first time Abuah was being recognized by a sitting President at such a forum.
At the end of the Presidential Lunch, President Buhari also stood to shake hand and posed for photographs with each of the 88 members of the Press Corps that attended the dinner. About 20 accredited State House correspondents did not attend the lunch.
Many members of the State House correspondents present were elated by the President’s novel gesture and will not forget the experience in a hurry.
Like stated above, the Presidential Lunch was the second jinx President Buhari was breaking as far as State House correspondents were concerned. The Lunch also broke a third record being the first time a sitting President will meet the Press Corps twice within a year.
The first one he broke was his first meeting with State House correspondents on his first working day in the Presidential Villa, Abuja on 22nd of June last year after operating from the Defence House for about three weeks.
Journalists were not just stunned by President Buhari’s sharp memory about each publisher or owner of any media organization introduced to him at that first meeting, but they could not help but compare him with the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, who did not find time to really fraternize with the group throughout his six years sojourn at the seat of power.
Like Oliver Twist, majority of the journalists still want President Buhari to find time from his tight schedules to take the new gesture to the next level.
They are looking forward to a regular interactive session like those held by the President of the United States of America, Barrack Obama with correspondents covering the White House.
As such meetings, Obama not only fielded questions from the journalists but also expressed a good knowledge of the journalists by calling the journalists by their names and organizations.
With time, we will definitely get there.
Envy or Rivalry
The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps last week Monday also had what can be referred to as its bad side.
It brought to the fore a sort of rivalry or envy from some other workers in the Presidential Villa.
To digress a bit, some of the other categories of workers at the seat of power apart from the media include protocol staff, security personnel, cooks and stewards, and drivers.
Some of those workers who were envious of the journalists could not understand what made them special to enjoy such Presidential Lunch when they have not had such privilege.
Apart from their sadness clearly showing on some of their faces, some of the workers made some unpleasant remarks in low tunes as they served journalists on their tables during the Presidential Lunch.
Before last week Monday, they were used to having journalists stand or hang around to cover open public functions, but never at the centre of the President’s focus.
The Presidential Lunch for State House Press Corps however ended on a good note that afternoon.
But some of the envious workers became alarmed when they saw journalists again arriving to attend the Presidential Dinner for National Assembly members on that same Monday night.
At the dinner, speeches were made by President Buhari and Senate President, Bukola Saraki, from which many newspapers published stories the following day. It is important for those workers to know that above every other consideration, journalists’ main role at such function is to get the news for the public.
Many other happenings even under past administrations have shown the need for a kind of training or workshop to enlighten every category of staff on the roles being played by the various workers in the Villa.
This, no doubt, will ensure harmony among workers in the Villa and also prevent any kind of rivalry or envy.
Apart from journalists being the fourth estate of the realm, there is nothing wrong in dedicating and reserving some tables and seats, as the case may be, for journalists covering an open public functions, especially at the big old Banquet Hall of the State House.
The era where non-journalists take the front seats while journalists stand during press conferences or other media events in any part of the country should be a thing of the past. Journalists should be accorded their deserved respect.
