President Bola Tinubu joined other dignitaries, former ministers, statesmen, royal fathers, leaders from the corporate world, friends and family to officially unveil a book entitled, “Nigerian Public Discourse: The Interplay Of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole” written by the immediate past minister of works and housing, Raji Fashola.
The book, which has 236 pages, x-rayed the nuances in public policy and issues in governance and attempts to proffer solutions to what confronts us.
Tinubu who was represented by the chief of staff, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila at the book presentation held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, commended Fashola for writing a book that is germane to public policy. He noted that Fashola is known for tackling knotty issues of the country and has shown this again by writing on a public discourse and issues that confront us.
He noted they have an obligation as leaders in politics and government to engage in evidence based discourse and data-informed solutions.
“I want to commend BRF for this great work as he is known for unraveling tough issues in our polity. As the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, I attempted to curb the menace of social media. The ninth assembly was resisted very vigorously by civil society. And they have come to roost and I believe we’re all on the same page now.
“Social media is a mess. On behalf of His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu GCFR, I was asked to represent him. We are living through all of the most difficult periods of our history. The world is changing all around us. Amidst these challenges, we are confronted by difficult policy choices and decisions that must be made to insure our children’s future and our country’s prospects.
„Now in this historical moment, as we confront and overcome the challenges that threaten our future, we have an obligation as leaders in politics and government to engage in evidence-based discourse and data-informed solutions.
‘’The obligation is even more significant to ensure that our engagement with each other springs from a shared agreement on one‘s truth is what is real. Politics is good because emotive arguments and objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion, than appeals to identity and personal belief.
‘’In this new world, we find our public discourse is driven by alternative facts, dropped with reckless abandon on social media and technology, including artificial intelligence tools, allowing for the creation of false realities to confuse and deceive people and distort perceptions of what is real. And what is. The challenge we face and must meet head on, is to return to having a public discourse on policy and decision-making process,“ he said.
The book reviewer, Opeyemi Agbaje noted that the author, Babatunde Raji Fashola, has given us a body of work that will aid public discourse in governance and other issues, he confronted as former governor of Lagos State and immediate past minister of works and housing.
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