MzAgams

Lately I started an online legal advisory. My most urgent question is how to make it profitable. What will make people use it? How will they even notice it among the hundreds of thousands of services available online? I spent hours wading through a sea of online resources, listening to numerous webinars, reading Sabri Suby’s ‘Sell Like Crazy’ and subscribing to Neil Patel’s ‘Ubersuggest.‘ I optimised my blog, updated my posts and designed a killer landing page. I tested, analysed and reiterated. It’s not a runaway success yet. After a promising start things cooled down. So what next? Patience and perseverance they said. Rome wasn’t built in a day. As an ENFP that is hard pill to swallow but we’ll go with it. Meanwhile, I decided to read some books. Joe Vitale’s ‘There’s A Customer Born Every Minute’ seemed like a good place to start. It took me down a rabbit hole.

It’s not a far stretch from PT Barnum (the primary subject of Vitale’s book) to Edward Bernays. I have been obsessed with Edward Bernays ever since I watched Adam Curtis’ documentary ‘The Century Of the Self.’ In the documentary Curtis made a strong argument that public opinion was being engineered by unseen and unregulated forces, such as Edward Bernays. According to Curtis, the public was a malleable and unaware subject that was at the mercy of these forces of control. Science and psychology had become tools used by powerful men to control  and manipulate public opinion. The documentary followed a trajectory from Freud to Bill Clinton and Tony Blair and explained how the fundamentals of human nature as identified  and developed by Freud have been used in public relations, marketing and political campaigning. 

After watching the Curtis documentary I watched some interviews by Edward Bernays. I was enthralled by his insight into the public mind and intuitive ability to manipulate it. His theories on crowd behaviour especially stood out. How does one influence the public? As a social entrepreneur, I have been fascinated by this question for a long time. Bernays calls it ‘creating consent’ even though some commentators more ominously call it ‘engineering consent.’ So I read Edward Bernays ‘Crystallising Public Opinion.’

In his book Bernays sets out the principles of public relations quite efficiently. He started by explaining what a public relations counsel, as he calls it, does and why his work is important. He went on to explain how public opinion is formed. According to him, public opinion is both a cause and an effect, it is shaped by public institutions while also shaping public institutions. He called the pubic ‘a highly sophisticated body.’ He did not see pubic opinion as a malleable tabula rasa upon which ‘evil’ men can project their will. The American public demanded to know what their leaders were up to. And why. They expected to be informed and persuaded. The leader, both political and industrial, was as dependent on public opinion as the public was on the leader.

On every side of American life, whether political, industrial, social, religious or scientific, the increasing pressure of public judgment has made itself felt.”

Excerpt From: Edward L. Bernays. “Crystallizing Public Opinion”. Apple Books

But that did not sound like Nigeria. How does public judgement affect life in Nigeria?  How sophisticated is the Nigerian public? Are there regional differences? The American public Bernays wrote about was literate. Nigeria has significant regional differences in education, religion and culture. Is the Nigerian Public cohesive? It is made up of various groups and according to Bernays, each group segment must be addressed directly and emotionally, you do not sell the same idea to different groups in the same way or with the same language, nevertheless a cohesive group needs to have some unifying characteristic. Is there one cohesive in-group within Nigeria? Is there a unifying Nigerian identity? What identifies one as a Nigerian? 

When I googled ‘what makes someone a Nigerian’ the results were all about Nigerian citizenship and how to acquire it. That wasn’t helpful. Surely there was something more to being a Nigerian that citizenship? Just to be sure I looked at, what is a nation?

Nation – a large body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.

Oxford Languages

That does not describe Nigeria. So what are we if not a nation? A state?

State – territory considered as an organized political community under one government.

Oxford Languages

Does that mean Nigeria is a state? Searching further I came across this quote from John Campbell a former US ambassador to Nigeria.

“Nigeria is not a conventional nation-state, even if that is how other foreign ministries and international organizations perceive it. It is not quite a nation because Nigerians are not united by language, religion, culture, or a common national story. It is not quite a state because the government is weak and getting weaker, and it fails to provide for the security of its citizens, the primary requirement of any state.”

– Nigeria and the Nation-State, John Campbell

At this point I was panicking. How do you crystallise public opinion in Nigeria if you can’t identify the public? It’s not a nation and not a state. Is there even such a thing as a Nigerian public opinion to crystallise and act on? I took Campbell’s quote to my Facebook page. I’ve got a diverse group smart friends, maybe someone could help me out. Here is what one of them wrote;

Which goes to show that The Westphalian System is deeply — perhaps, fundamentally — flawed. (Especially for African “states.”)

Titus Levi,  Media Studies, Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry

This was my first time coming across the phrase ‘Westphalian system.’ What?

Westphalian sovereignty, or state sovereignty, is a principle in international law that each state has exclusive sovereignty over its territory.

Wikipedia

Wasn’t that deliberately ignored in the colonisation of Africa? And justified with the argument that Africa was essentially stateless because its systems of political organisation did not conform with European definitions? Even in more recognisable states like Ethiopia and Egypt? Sure enough.

There were states, and political culture, but it was not built on the same structures and rules as the ones we know from Europe. Thus, prior to the colonies there was really no substantial state-building in Africa that could be compared to the European model.

Africa Out of Westphalia?

The European colonization of Asia and Africa in the 19th century and two global wars in the 20th century dramatically undermined the principles established in Westphalia.”

Lumen Learning

If Nigeria is not quite a nation and not quite a state, then what is it? And is the Nigerian Public cohesive or sophisticated? Public opinion created the divisions we see today in Nigeria. They existed before someone or something exploited them. Before colonialism the tribal units of Nigeria existed in distrust. Colonialism did little to foster trust and as a matter of fact fostered distrust and favouritism. Independence did nothing to heal these divisions and they were later exacerbated by the civil war. But what can be done to foster trust? The Oputa Panel was an attempt but the response to it was unequal and further entrenched distrust e.g. by the refusal of Buhari, Babangida and Abdulsalam, all from the north, to attend. I won’t elaborate further on current events in Nigeria, its one of those circular stories that never end but I will admit that the divisions on Nigeria have never seemed deeper and more profound.

Titus Levi pointed out that many ‘states’ no longer existed and reminded me of Taiye Selasi’s famous TED Talk, ‘Don’t Ask Where I’m From, Ask Where I Am Local.”

“How can I come from a country?” she asks. “How can a human being come from a concept?”

I can relate. My father was Igbo-Nigerian. My mother was an ethnic Russian. I was born in the USSR and spent my childhood bouncing around the USA with my father. We returned to Nigeria and lived in UmuAka while I was a teenager. And I’ve lived in Abuja for most my adult life. I have also lived in Moscow and the Brighton. My passport is Nigerian and gives me freedom of travel throughout West Africa. So what am I?

According to Taiye the question to ask is ‘where am I local?’ Would that be UmuAka, Abuja or Moscow? Do they meet her 3R’s, ritual, relationships and restrictions? I’m not so sure. Abuja and Moscow do not make me feel local despite the relationships I have there. As a matter of fact I feel more at home in America but I couldn’t claim to be local anywhere in that country. America is the place my childhood rituals developed yet I am restricted from living there by their immigration laws.

Taiye talked about and Titus reminded me that states are not permanent. A couple months ago I read ‘Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes’ by Ansary, Tamim. What struck me was the ebb and flow of empires, nations and states. It got me thinking about the things we fight for and over. Will Nigeria be here in another 100, 200 or 500 years?

Was this the vague uncertainty that made me focus my attention and my activities on UmuAka, that little town on the banks of the Njaba River where my ancestors lived and died. It’s older than America. It was there when the Nri came and left, it was there when the Aro came, and left and it was there when the British came and left. It survived the rise and fall of Biafra and it will still be there even if Nigeria isn’t. This knowledge gives me a great deal of comfort and purpose. Taiye defined restrictions in her 3Rs as ‘where are you able to live.’ Yet I wouldn’t live in UmuAka and despite decades of living in Abuja I do not feel at home here, I feel restricted by Nigeria’s state of origin policies.

Abuja maybe my local but I cannot expect to win an election here. At least that’s what they tell me, because I’m not an ‘indigene.’ Even though I have more to say about the state of affairs in Abuja than I could ever have to say about UmuAka whenever the idea of elective office is discussed the advice is to contest from UmuAka. The fact that I have not lived there for over 30 years is irrelevant. Representing them in the NASS does not seem to require that sort of knowledge, just tribal roots and local empathy.

When I asked if I was merely looking for confirmation of my sense of alienation Titus had this to say,

You’re looking for a name (or a diagnosis), as well as validation and justification. But remember: these are all abstractions. And it seems that they become less and less grounded over time. Think about the countries that don’t exist anymore: The USSR, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, South Vietnam. Those places went away and the world kept right on spinning.

If Nigeria ceased to exist the world would go right on spinning.

The Westphalian state system has been adopted after the independence of the African states to maintain government in the states, but has been upheld in disregard to cultural, national and socio-economic variables that dates back in time before the colonization.

It was not adopted for our convenience. Its impact has been mostly negative in Africa but ‘Compared To What?’

The Westphalian System hasn’t been so successful in the west where it originated either and so far there have not been any alternative narratives.

What I have written about is the difficulty of identifying and defining a Nigerian public. That does not mean it does not exist. It does go to say what it is not; it is not homogenous, it is not unified, it is not cohesive. So who has the public relations counsel in Nigeria been talking to? And how?

First let’s distinguish the voting public from the buying public, if we can. Here’s what I mean. Let’s separate the public that interacts with political leaders and the state from the public that interacts with industrial/commercial leaders and businesses. In Nigeria I think the distinction is particularly pronounced. The way government and industry communicate and interact with the public in Nigeria is as different as chalk and cheese. According to one article the Nigerian public has no regard for their government. The feeling is mutual since Nigeria’s government seems to have no regard for the public. The relationship between the Nigerian government and the public seems stuck in it’s colonial history.

Bernays quotes Walter Lippman who cites three ways of creating agreement among different disparate interest groups; patronage and pork, terror and obedience and education/persuasion through information which requires requires literacy and critical thinking of the public, two things that are not evenly distributed in Nigeria. The existence of a common consciousness is still a prerequisite for cooperation between large groups such as the tribal groups of Nigeria and will determine whether force, patronage or information will be more effective in fostering cooperation.

What is the common consciousness in Nigeria as a whole as opposed to the common consciousness its individual parts? 

According to Bernays “it is the natural tendency of men to separate into crowds opposing one another in point of view.” Nigeria’s political elite seem to encourage tribal and religious divisions by pandering to and manipulating regional, tribal and religious opinion.

Elites benefit from state preservation through access to revenue from state-owned oil, government contracts, and office, all of which require a formal state. Simultaneously, the elites keep the government weak so they are not challenged, and government authority is restricted geographically to islands in a sea of ungoverned spaces—an archipelago.’

– Nigeria and the Nation-State, John Campbell

The recent emergence of Peter Obi as a serious contender for position of Nigerian President seems to be challenging the status quo. Whether it will win him the Presidential election the long run remains to be seen. Whatever, the outcome of this election could be decisive for Nigeria’s future as a corporate entity. 

The Nigerian private sector on the other hand takes its public relations seriously and has been instrumental in developing the field of public relations in the state. It is important to point out that public relations in Nigeria is defined very literally and can include just about anyone that is into some sort of communications. Nevertheless, public relations is a professional field with regulations and syllabus. The growth of the internet, mobile phone use and social media has revolutionised public relations in Nigeria and produced a new generation of practitioners.

My enquiry and curiosity started with a completely self-centered desire to understand how to promote my business, its not about solving the Nigerian problem though that problem is gets in your way whatever you do in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, from what I learned about group psychology, personal or individual survival is not longer guaranteed by belonging to Nigeria. Personal and individual survival has never seemed more precarious as a result of identification with this group called Nigeria and hence these detours into Nigerian politics.  Thankfully, the business I am promoting is neither dependent on Nigeria nor dependent on my continued residency in Nigeria. It is a business that I can carry on anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection. Even if Nigeria ceases to exist, people will still need to interpret its extant matrimonial laws on marriage, divorce, and custody.

Support my business. I’m selling peace of mind in marriage, divorce and custody. Book an appointment here.