The National Director of Social Communications of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Padre Mike Nsikak Umoh, bared his mind in an exclusive interview with our Catholic Herald correspondent, Patrick Adaba Jr., on the importance of communication in the Church, his vision on the recent appointment in the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, and other burning issues in the Church.
Padre Mike Umoh, congratulations on your doctoral degree in Communication Studies. But, how did you combine full time parish duty with your other responsibilities in the Archdiocese, coupled with a full time doctoral programme in faraway Port Harcourt?
Thank you very much my brother for having me. The only explanation to your question is grace. Only by grace, the grace of God, has this been possible. It was quite tough though, but the grace of God abounded and was sufficient. As it is said, the tougher the challenge, the more abounding the grace. You know too that God’s grace abides through the instrumentality of human agents who use their God-given position to seek and do the will of God in order to promote His kingdom. This human agency particularly refers to our very visionary, selfless, unassuming and God-fearing Archbishop Alfred Martins who believed in me and gave me all the support I needed to make pursuing the programme as less burdensome as humanly possible. Of course, that was building on the opportunity earlier given me by our emeritus Archbishop, Anthony Cardinal Okogie. I am very grateful to them and to many other human agents who played one role or the other along the way. However, for me, the degree is only meaningful as much as it empowers me to contribute my quota towards the development of the communications apostolate in the Church.
Padre, you just took that from me now, because I was going to also congratulate you on your recent appointment as the National Director of Social Communications for the Catholic Church in Nigeria. What does this new appointment really mean to you?
Thank you again. My appointment as the National Director of communications is for me a rare privilege and a call to serve the Church at the national level in an area I have passion for. Communications is a professional discipline which the Church has invested heavily in training me in, so that much as I personally do not find it that easy leaving Lagos at this stage of my life to relocate to faraway Abuja, loyalty to the Church and obedience to my Bishop takes precedence. As for the task at hand, so much has already been done by past Directors over the years but much more still needs to be done presently. By God’s grace, I believe I am trained for the task, may God take His glory through my work.
What is the major direction you are driving the communications office towards at this time; what will be your cardinal task as you commence work?
God helping me, I hope to focus on two major areas. First is to seek very concrete ways of ensuring an effective and well-coordinated digital Catholic presence. I think that is long overdue. The second, closely related to the first, is to develop an efficient and comprehensive media education programme for the whole Church and particularly for all pastoral agents. This has to do with aggressive media education programme for all Catholics across board. Talking about media education also consist of paying special attention to already existing Church institutions offering this special service, like the Center for Study of African Culture and Communications (CESACC) in the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), which happens to me my alma mater. There is the need to explore ways of establishing affiliate bodies in different regions of the country to offer simpler certificate courses in media and communications. These two cardinal points will require a media plan that spells out the objective and the set-goals towards achieving the primary vision. Such a media plan will enable all stakeholders to understand the direction we are going, so as to easily key into it. Veterans in pastoral communication and media studies have been engaged to contribute to this crucial national initiative on which communication plans and initiatives in all dioceses and Catholic institutions in Nigeria will consequently derive their form and essence. A corollary to this effort will be the production of a media-use policy for all Church ministers and personnel and for all Catholic institutions. This has become very necessary as a result of the enormous complexities brought about by the digital network and also because of the dangers these new technologies pose to the internal communications within the Church as well as her interaction with the secular society.
This sounds interesting and quite ambitious. Do you think the Bishops will support this laudable vision, and how can this help them as a Conference?
My brother, what makes you think the Bishops may not support the vision? Did it sound too fantastic or like what will cost a fortune to execute? Well, it may interest you to know that the national communications office is an organ of the Bishops’ Conference as part of their laid down structure to enhance unity in their work. In view of this, the National Director is appointed by the Administrative Board of the Bishops’ Conference on behalf of the entire Conference through rigorous scrutiny. The terms of reference give insight into the Bishops’ expectations of what the Director must do. These include: being a voice of the Bishop’s Conference, reporting the works of the Bishops as a Conference and as individuals, reporting the initiatives of the different Directorates of the Catholic Secretariat and their Departments, managing the public image of the Church, providing communication solutions to pastoral matters, defending the Church through media initiatives, and so on. It follows that there is actually nothing out of the way in all what I have shared, rather, they entail means of creating effective structures that will facilitate achieving those goals. Back to your question therefore, I have no reason to doubt the support of the Bishops. By the way, like every Directorate or Department in the Catholic Secretariat, the Communications Office has its own Bishop Chairman who oversees the plans, initiatives and activities of the office. The Director works closely with him and shares his vision for the office while he in turn liaises between the Directorate and the Bishop’s Conference. In this way, there is a good system of ensuring that each bishops understands what is cooking at the Directorate and is mobilised towards contributing his own quota towards the success of the work in the Directorate.
What challenges and heights have you experienced since your appointment as the National Director of Social Communications of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference (CBCN)?
It has so far has been eventful. Since I resumed I have held series of meetings with the Secretary General to submit myself to working with him in order to guarantee success of the general and current vision of the Secretariat as directed by the Bishops. I have also met with the different Directors and Heads of Departments to assure them that the communication office is there to serve them and enhance their work. I have met with my Bishop Chairman to share my vision which I am presently developing on in the form of a media plan for the Catholic Church in Nigeria. Furthermore, I have met with all my office staff to listen to them and to share my thoughts with them, thus we are gradually forming an understanding. We have already commenced media campaign work for some of the Directorates like the Pontifical Missionary Society and the Church and Society Office. Every aspect of our life as a Church needs communication because by her very nature, the Church is communication, just as fire is heat and the sun is light. We cannot separate these attributes without losing the essence of the subject. A Church that is not communicating effectively, may be called something else, but not a Church; it is a dead Church. Thus I am settling into the new office, studying the needs of the Church through the needs of the different offices in the Secretariat and those needs I have been aware of from my long experience as a pastor in the parish.
In your opinion, how successful has the Nigerian Bishop’s Conference through the Catholic Secretariat been in fulfilling its mandate as the visible symbol of the Catholic Church in Nigeria?
They are as successful as humanly possible. And I will add to your question: Is it at its best? To that, my answer would be that there is obviously more that can be done. The reality on ground as you can confirm is that our Bishops as a body meet twice in a year for their Conference, apart from all other levels at which they meet, like at the regional and provincial levels. At these meetings, the Bishops discuss not only pastoral matters but also issues bordering on the good of the society. They often speak to power on the ills plaguing our nation and provide guidance through instruments like communiqués and press statements. The ordinary man on the street may not understand the import of these actions, but those in government definitely know, even as they often seem consumed by their selfish interest and act against the good of the people and against wise counsel. That said, I think a more perturbing problem is the lack of a reliable platform to enable Catholics know what their Bishops are saying in order to know how to form their opinion on social issues thereby knowing where and how to align their loyalty. But when the sheep do not even know what the shepherds are saying, how can they follow them? I make bold to say, sad and strange as it may seem, in my opinion, over 70 per cent of priests are often not aware of the content of the Bishop’s communiqués, so what do we expect of the laity? This for me is where the biggest task lies for my new office. The question one must be asking is: what is the best way to ensure that the people of God are connected to their shepherd so that they are adequately informed and mobilised to act for Christ both in the Church community and in temporal matters? This is a communication problem which must be solved through communications approach. Everyone needs to understand this problem, clergy, religious and the laity so as to cooperate in order to achieve a lasting solution. Consequently, it is not that the Bishops as a Conference are not working, rather it is more of the case that their works are not adequately proclaimed, even within the wall of the church, how much less on the roof tops. This is the urgent task before us, the task being addressed through our media plan.
Is the national communications director’s office tenured?
Yes, the office is tenured. It is three years per term and renewable only once. So all things being equal, the longest any Director may stay in office is six years.
By the time you are through from this office, what would your legacy be?
Hmmmm…..at the end of my tenure, whenever that will be, by God’s grace, I pray to be remembered as a National Communications Director who sincerely struggled to love Christ and His Church and as such did put in all his God’s given talents and treasures at the service of the Church and humanity in order to create a robust network of interactions among majority of Catholics in Nigeria and beyond. I pray I would have also succeeded in creating a viable Catholic social network connecting Catholics with one another and the sheep to their shepherds, with a significant growth of media culture in the Catholic Church in Nigeria. I pray I would have helped to amplify the depth and tonality of the voice of the Church in Nigeria and engendered a coordinated voice for goodness in our society. So help me, God.
