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Government appointees who are to pass through senate screening
might do well to henceforth consider cross check their facts thoroughly before
dishing it out to the lawmakers, because the folders we see most senators
clutching onto nowadays may just be an iPad.

Last Tuesday, an iPad would have ruined a potential minister’s
career – if the lawmakers had taken a lie seriously. Rasheed Adedoja, a former
Oyo State education commissioner who is now a minister, would have been the
victim of the iPad revolution in the senate but for the magnanimity of the
senators.

Mr Adedoja, a professor of education, was in the red senate
chamber to perform a ritual his peers did a few months back. He stood at the
podium, with his CV, piece of papers to jot questions, and a cup of water the
senate offered.

He was intelligent, but he was somehow unfortunate compared
with his colleagues because he was the only one to be screened in one day. So
the senators had the luxury of thorough questioning. The questions kept
pouring.

He responded to them smartly, but unknown to him, some tech
savvy senators were double checking his statements on their iPads.

He slipped up when he told the senators that Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology, which is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun state, is the
7th best university in Africa by global rating and the best state university in
Nigeria by a National University Commission rating. He referred the senators to
the Internet to confirm his claims.

That university is currently a subject of dispute between Oyo
and Osun state and has been shut down for a long time while the disagreement
simmers. The senators found Mr Adedoja’s fact hard to believe.

George Thomson Sekibo (PDP River state) decided to log onto a
search engine and the global university rating page was soon staring at him
from his iPad. He called James Manager (PDP Delta state) who was just sitting
beside him to have a look. In next to no time, four heads were over the little
computer.

Facts on fingertips

Mr Sekibo walked up to the senate president and passed the iPad
to him. For a moment, the senate president scrolled up and down while Mr Sekibo
and Manager stood by his side grinning. Meanwhile, the professor was responding
to other questions on the podium.

“Prof, that is not what the net is saying,” the senate
president cut in.

He read out the African universities’ rating and the first
Nigerian university on the list was University of Benin (Uniben), which ranked
67th in Africa. It was followed by University of Ilorin, 77th and University of
Ibadan, 81st in Africa.

The senate president passed the iPad to the professor. He was
startled when he took it; but he reviewed it and passed it back to the senate
president without saying a word. Some senators were startled too, while others
just laughed it off.

The screening continued and he was confirmed a minister.

In other climes, that might have been enough to turn him away. However, the
new minister will definitely not give out unconfirmed facts next time he is
called by the senate. Others would be advised not to either because, these
days, the lawmakers have gone tech savvy and iPads is the new social trend
amongst senators.