Five days after President Goodluck Jonathan appointed the immediate-past Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, as Chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, its management has yet to effect the change on its website.
The position of the Chairman of the Governing Board of the NRC had been vacant since the factional chairman of the New Peoples Democratic Party, tagged ‘New PDP’, Kawu Baraje, tendered his resignation before Tukur was appointed.
Checks by iPUNCH on Sunday showed that the space for the name and designation of Tukur atop the list of board members of the NRC was simply left vacant on the website.
However, the website managers included the names of the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Engr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, and 18 other board members on the site.
The manner in which the NRC maintains its online presence has also shown in the outlook of its Twitter and Facebook pages which are barely updated. The management of the NRC only recently moved to update its social media accounts which had been out of use for many weeks, following a publication by iPUNCH on January 13.
Ever since May 2013 when the NRC signed up for Facebook, it has not had any cause to post a message on its timeline. The NRC’s first post appeared on its Twitter feed on January 20, which it used to promise its 41 followers that they will henceforth be kept up-to-date about train services in the country via the medium.
The tweet read, “The Nigeria Railway Corporation will like to wish all our clients a wonderful 2014.We will keep you all updated on our activities. God Bless.”
Besides, the website managers of the NRC appear to have forgotten to include the details of the corporation secretary/legal adviser, Mrs. Ifeoma Onyeabo, despite imputing same for the other nine members of the management team, who were described as a “crop of seasoned and industry-recognised professionals.”
The last time a “News Update” appeared on its website was on December 12, 2013 when the corporation announced plans for a retreat for its senior management staff.
It is worthy of note that the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force have all made necessary changes to reflect the appointments of new service chiefs on their respective websites.
The pictures and basic profile of the new Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Usman Jibrin; Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal Adesola Amosu ; and Chief of Army Staff, Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Minimah, have been updated while those of their predecessors were removed from the respective home pages of each of the military services.
The Nigerian Army moved a step further by intimating its social media followers with the activities leading up to the change of hands at its top echelon. The army’s culture of regular deployment of its social media accounts has made it command the highest number of online following when compared with the other two military services. The Nigerian Army now boasts a following of 2,771 on both Facebook and Twitter.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence appears to be less concerned with its digital presence. Many sections of its website have remained empty for several weeks running. The sections for the overview, vision, mission, functions and structure of the ministry have been left unattended to by the authorities at the ministry.
One wonders if the absence of a substantive minister for the defence ministry is responsible for the apathy being shown to the management of the website.
Nigerians and foreign nationals seeking such basic information online will have no choice other than to visit the Wikipedia page created for the ministry.
However, the free encyclopaedia should not ordinarily be a valid source of information online, for a government ministry in the standing of the defence ministry as anyone can edit and add unverified details to it.
But a visit by our correspondent to the website of the South African Department of Defence shows that it maintains a functional and updated website where information about its functions and activities could be found.
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