ABUJA (Sundiata Post) “If you make a mistake,…admit to the mistake. People will think much better of you if you make an admission after a mistake.”—Keith Boyer; Matt Riley
Having waited all day in anticipation of a response from our Agriculture Minister to Thai Ambassador’s media statement, denying claims by Mr. Audu Ogbeh that seven Thai rice mills have closed down on account of Nigeria’s drastic reduction of rice imports from the Asian country, I think it is safe at this point to say something on the needles controversy.
According to the Thai Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Wattana Kunwongse, no rice mills have closed down in his country and that, contrary to the claims, Thailand’s global rice exports have expanded rather than declined. He published facts and figures to back up his statement. And he hasn’t been contradicted as yet.
At this point, our Agriculture Minister should admit the error and move on and learn from the mistake. If you want to salvage your reputation as part of damage control effort, you should immediately admit your mistakes and apologize for misleading the public with wrong information. The public may admire your humility to admit your mistake. Doing so would show clearly you are human and, therefore, you are liable to errors. What infuriates the public is for a public official to pretend nothing happened even when his “facts” are found to be unreliable. Misleading the people with wrong information is damaging to one’s reputation, but immediate acknowledgement of error can portray a public official in more favourable light than stubborn refusal to correct one’s mistakes because of ego or whatever other reasons. There is no shame in admitting a mistake. It however takes courage and humility to do so.”
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