Aso Villa Newsletter: How presidency blows its own trumpet

The Aso Villa Newsletter, which is popularly known as “Government at Work”, is gradually making waves at the Presidential Villa. The medium is observed to have given a boost to the media network of the Presidency. The medium, which debuted in May this year, is an initiative of the digital engagement unit of the Presidency […]

The Aso Villa Newsletter, which is popularly known as “Government at Work”, is gradually making waves at the Presidential Villa. The medium is observed to have given a boost to the media network of the Presidency.
The medium, which debuted in May this year, is an initiative of the digital engagement unit of the Presidency which is headed by the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital and New Media, Mr  Tolu Ogunlesi. 
What was in existence during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan was The Villascope, an in-house magazine of the State House, published by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity. The magazine appeared anytime funds were released for its publication.
The Aso Villa Newsletter, which is currently managed by Ogunlesi, a blogger and journalist, is strictly an online publication.
Ogunlesi, who graduated from the University of Ibadan in 2004 and obtained a Masters’ degree in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, the United Kingdom in 2011, before his appointment, worked as a Features Editor and Editorial Board member of The NEXT Newspaper.
The two-time winner of the CNN Multichoice African Journalism Awards and a 2015 New Media Fellow of the United States State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Programme also worked as a West Africa Editor for The Africa Report magazine from 2014 to 2015.
Ogunlesi, in the running of the Aso Villa Newsletter, is being assisted by Bashir Ahmad, a Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media.
The Newsletter appears once a week. It provides updates on the activities of the Presidency as well as those of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.
It is circulated weekly by email and has remained committed to trumpeting the ‘achievements’ of the Buhari Presidency and operational activities of the Federal Government.
The newsletter, apart from dwelling on government’s activities in the past week, also provides information on forthcoming events and programmes of the government.
Members of the general public who want to be informed of what  is happening in the Presidency, would be able to do so through the Aso Villa Newsletter, as they could follow the medium on its social media channels. These platforms include Twitter: @DigiCommsNG/@AsoRock; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheAsoVilla; and YouTube: https:/www.youtube.com/TheAsoVilla.
The medium publishes routine stories which may have also been reported by both the traditional and social media. The newsletter stories are published without the authors’ bylines. More often than not, a story in Aso Villa Newsletter begins with the date of publication followed by a headline that is usually in a phrasal form.
Speeches delivered by the president and other top government functionaries as well as press releases are often found in the newsletter. The medium also splashes photographs showcasing government’s engagements.
Official documents which are already in the public domain are also in the various channels of the Aso Villa Newsletter. For instance, on August 23, 2016, the medium published the executive summary of the Niger Delta Audit Report which could be downloaded by interested readers.
The Aso Villa Newsletter rarely publishes news stories that are deemed uncomplimentary of the government and its ministries, departments and agencies. Neither does the medium engage in investigative stories. Exclusive stories and interviews are also hardly published therein.
What purpose does the newsletter serve? The man behind the publication, Ogunlesi, has this to say: “The Aso Villa Newsletter is intended to showcase and highlight the various activities of the Buhari Presidency as well as how the Federal Government is faring in terms of policies, projects and programmes.”
Many would want to know whether President Buhari reads the Newsletter. Ogunlesi simply says the newsletter is received by the Office of the President.
According to the presidential aide, the readership of the newsletter is open to the public by “free email subscription.”
He says the newsletter also reaches senior government officials in the Presidency as well as the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.
The newsletter is divided into a number of sections. Ogunlesi explains that while one section focuses on the activities and events that took place the previous week, there is another that highlights and explains government’s policy positions.
The third section of the Newsletter, in the words of Ogunlesi, focuses on video highlights featuring government officials speaking about their work while the last section focuses on events and meetings scheduled to take place in the week ahead.