NGELALE AND THE OCCASIONAL OBSTACLES OF OCCUPATION

NGELALE AND THE OCCASIONAL OBSTACLES OF OCCUPATION

By Bala Ibrahim

In every profession, there is the permanent probability of work incident. It is a dangerous event that can occur in the course of an employee’s activity, or time of service. It carries different names, depending on the nature of the work and the conditions in which the work activity is carried out. Some call it professional risk, while others refer to it as job threat. However, the generally adopted title for such professional problems or obstacles that occur in the course of duty is, occupational hazard. These hazards are classified into categories that vary according to the nature of the job. It can be biological. It can be chemical. And sometimes, it is a physical hazard. No matter the nature or type, it always comes with a consequence, the consequence of setback.

Up until yesterday, Saturday, 07/09/2024, Ajuri Ngelale was the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Media and Publicity. But, effective from that yesterday, he announced that he was proceeding on “an indefinite leave of absence from office”. I put the indefinite leave of absence from office in inverted commas on purpose, because I believe, not too far from now, the story would expatiate further. Something sensitive may follow. And the incident may dovetail to the platform of occupational hazard, encountered by the person that has resigned.

Although Ajuri had solicited the cooperation of everyone, to accord him the respect of privacy, in order to permit him pay attention to pressing family health challenge, by virtue of the position he held, and the volume or magnitude of attention it carries, such privacy may not necessarily come, particularly from his colleagues in the media, one of whom is, yours truly. Being a journalist, and having served at the Presidency, the peak of political interest, it would be extremely naive of him, to forget the action of paparazzi, whose assignment, mostly freelance, is to aggressively pursue celebrities for the purpose of taking candid photographs. And regardless of the situation, or the delicate nature of Ajuri’s problems, a paparazzi is primarily obligated to the calling of his assignment, which is sensationalization. Yes, theirs is to present information in a way that tries to make it as shocking, or exciting as possible. And they often do it with photographs.

Indeed, no sooner than Ajuri’s appeal came out, and despite the time he spent explaining how he sent the memo of his resignation to the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, alongside his plea for privacy, some of his colleagues, commenced communicating with conflicting contents. Some said they have carried out some checks, and the checks have revealed the reverse of what Ajuri wants the public to swallow, as his reasons for exiting the Presidency.

They said, right from the day he took up the appointment on 31st July, 2023, his reign was faced by turbulent attacks from some members of the cabal that are very close to the President, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This means, contrary to his submission, Ngelale did not resign. He was fired. By definition, he was dismissed. He said he resigned, to earn the sympathy of the public, but some of his colleagues have put out a hostile story to rubbish him. That is a jeopardy, and it falls in line with the meaning of occupational hazard.

When you resign from an appointment, you have time to plan for your employment transition. This can take time. But when your employer terminates your appointment, depending on the circumstances, you may not have as much time to prepare for your next steps. The situation becomes disastrous for you, and falls in line with the definition of occupational hazard.

Indeed every profession has its job hazards, but I think, probably because I am more familiar with it, public relations advisers, pollsters, or media consultants, particularly those working with high profile politicians, suffer the hazard of humiliation most. This is because, while on the job, they are made to sometimes develop, deceptive, or misleading messages as damage control, which are referred to as, spin doctoring. Yes, there is always the need for expert professional advisers at the heart of government, because government functionaries need to hear an alternative opinion to that of the civil service, especially from highly experienced media handlers. But on a number of cases, such spin doctors end up with terribly bad names. They are called experts in wheeler-dealing, shoot-from-the-hip political spin doctors, that earn a living from the taxpayers money.

And when the bubble bursts, they are clandestinely fired, while another one gets hired. That’s an occupational hazard, to which many have suffered such fate at the Nigeria’s seat of power, the Aso rock villa.

I don’t envy whoever is coming next, because the job does not have a bed of rosses. It always carries the keg of political problems, that have adverse consequences on the title holder. One of such consequences is being silently dismissed, but asked to openly say, you have resigned. Which is the occasional obstacle of occupation.

NGELALE AND THE OCCASIONAL OBSTACLES OF OCCUPATION