‘Lalong will perform better in his second term’

The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, Mark Longyen, has said that his principal will perform better in his second term. He spoke with reporters on his experience as a media aide. He said Plateau is fortunate to have Lalong as governor.

According to him: “The second term is for consolidation. In this second term, the governor will break new grounds in governance.”

Longyen said his experience has been instructive and inspirational.

According to the governor’s spokesman, the ability to absorb shocks and adapt to changes comes as a key requirement.

He says this is because changes can occur at any given time, but it is the duty of the media aide to adapt immediately and become an expert at that instant to explain the change.

“For instance, I was not informed that my governor would contest for the  chairmanship of the Northern States Governors Forum, NSGF, but based on experience, I had tried to work out on my mind the possibility of such, and when it happened, I quickly fitted into the role of not only speaking for the Governor of Plateau State, but for the chairman of the NSGF as well,” he said.

Due to this, Longyen who started his journalism career in 1992 in Government House, Calabar, where he did his NYSC primary assignment in the Press Unit of the Governor’s Office and later became the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Periscope International Magazine, now rested, which he founded in 2001, says being a spokesman to a governor in Nigeria requires high level of creativity and pro-activism.

Recalling his experience in the media before taking his current appointment, Longyen says he has worked in various Nigerian private and public sector media organizations, including the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) where he was, prior to his taking a political leave of absence to serve his state since 2015.

A prolific writer, an investigative journalist and political cum diplomatic analyst with a knack for facts and details, Longyen says he initially never wanted to be a journalist, but rather wanted to be a career diplomat.  He said, as a teenager, his life ambition was to become the UN, AU, or Commonwealth Secretary-General or, at least, Nigeria’s ambassador to one of the five Super Power nation-states, but fate dealt him a big blow!

He recalled that he was shocked one early morning when a friend called to tell him that he had seen a statement announcing him as Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media. “The Governor didn’t inform me about the appointment, in fact, 24 hours after the appointment was made and announced, I was in Abuja, nobody informed me, so I decided to call the Chief of Staff to officially confirm the story and, surprisingly, he simply said he too heard it in the media,” Longyen recalled.

Longyen says the challenges of being a media aide are enormous. “First and foremost, you must be very good at your job. This is where your experience must be brought to bear on the job to enable you to prove your mettle. Besides, to succeed, you must have a network of connections in the media industry, locally and foreign. You have to be on a level where you can pick your phone and call editors or media owners anytime, anywhere to get things done for your principal and not a “fish in the well” journalist.

He says among the retinue of a governor’s Principal Aides, the media aide is by far the busiest as he does a lot including writing  speeches, issuing statements, writing condolence letters and goodwill messages, granting interviews, monitoring and marking newspapers for the Governor, monitoring public comments, gauging the pulse of the public giving media reactions on a myriad of issues, traveling around with the governor, carrying out proactive media agenda-settings, handling the Government House Press Directorate and Crew, as well as effective managing of relationship with journalists generally, etc.

“Most times, whereas other aides are in their beds sleeping and snoring at night, the media aide is busy browsing the internet and/or working on the Governor’s speech(es) for an event or two  events the next day. Many people do not know about this stressful aspect of the job,” he stated.

Longyen says one of his pathetic experiences is that, in a political setting like this, there are some people, who may not just like you for no reason, except, perhaps, for the fact that you are very good at your job and doing the impossible.

“They work day and night seeking to rubbish you, to undermine your job, to pull you down through all sorts of things like encroaching your schedule, fabricating lies against you and blackmailing you to your principal.

“From my personal experience, in order to survive such intrigues, you have to be focused on your job, ignore such distractions without reporting them to your boss, just pray to God to handle them for you,” he says.

Longyen says another major challenge he faced in the four years that he served, is inadequate funding  because the media office is by and large capital-intensive and without funds, a media aide cannot do much. He said that financial inadequacy is synonymous with disability.

“Also, if you want to succeed in your job as a media aide, you must cultivate an excellent rapport with journalists at all times and ensure that the atmosphere for them to do their work is made conducive enough.

“Above all, you must earn the confidence and trust of your principal. As a spokesman, my candid advice to my colleagues is that once you realize that your principal no longer trusts you or has confidence in you, don’t wait for him to sack you, honorably resign! That is the way to go because this job is by and large predicated on not only your competence but trust,” he added.

Longyen revealed that working for a governor is not as rosy as people tend to view it and disclosed that he almost resigned on two occasions.

He says the first time was when he collected his letter of appointment and saw that the pay was not near what he had expected and the second time was when a media adviser was appointed exactly one year after his appointment.

“There was conflict of schedules and I also sensed the attempts by some powerful forces to muzzle me into irrelevance.  I do not like being marginalized or witch-hunted. Besides, I thought, perhaps, I did not earn the confidence of my principal or impress him in my first year,” he recalled.

Longyen says he had never had any problem with his boss.

“One funny experience which I have had with my principal in our almost four years together is that he has never commended me for doing anything very well, neither has he ever for once criticized or complained about what I may have done wrong, which I guess is a subtle statement of confidence in me. He keeps everything to himself and so, understanding his mindset on any issue is a matter of my own conjecture.

Longyen was born about 50 years ago in a village called Ngwanzam in Shendam Local Government Area of Plateau State.

He attended prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, South West, Nigeria. He holds an OAU Bachelors Degree in International Relations and did his Post-Graduate studies in Journalism, Law and Diplomacy  at the International Institute of Journalism and University of Jos, respectively.

He is married with 3 sons and a daughter, says humorously that he wants to have more children to beat his father’s record!