PR & Crisis: Why Nigerian Crisis Comms Teams Keep Fumbling (And What Needs to Change

UBA’s Afriland Towers fire exposed something we’ve always known but rarely said aloud: Nigerian crisis comms is broken.

It’s not just one bad press release. It’s a culture. A pattern. A system that treats crisis as reputation protection instead of human response.

Let’s break it down.

The Nigerian Crisis Comms Playbook (And Why It Fails)

Step 1: Deny association
Before facts are confirmed, the first instinct is to distance the brand: “It wasn’t our HQ.”
Problem: You look defensive, not human.

Step 2: Downplay severity
Words like “minor fire,” “under control,” get thrown around even when lives are lost.
Problem: The public knows the truth faster than you. Now you look dishonest.

Step 3: Release cold corporate text
Short, stiff statements with no emotion, no empathy, no humanity.
Problem: People don’t remember your grammar. They remember that you didn’t care.

READ ALSO: Problems with Nigeria’s Crisis comms

Step 4: Go silent
After the first vague release, updates vanish. No follow-ups, no transparency, no accountability.
Problem: The silence breeds rumours, and your brand is now the villain.

Why This Keeps Happening

1. Comms teams fear bosses, not the public
   The first audience isn’t customers, it’s executives who want “damage control.” The truth comes second.

2. No alignment with leadership
   When CEOs like Tony Elumelu have to contradict their own press office publicly, it shows there’s no crisis chain of command.

3. Legalese over humanity
   Too many Nigerian statements are written for lawyers, not people. Safe words, not true words.

4. No preparedness
   Crisis manuals either don’t exist or gather dust. Teams improvise in panic, then rush to social media.

What Needs to Change (The Hard Truths)

• Empathy first, facts second, brand last
  Start by acknowledging the human cost. Facts can follow. The brand protects itself when it looks human.

• Align before you release
  A crisis statement without CEO sign-off is a grenade. One contradiction, and credibility is gone.

• Have a red team
  Pre-draft worst-case scenarios. Run simulations. Who speaks, who signs, what’s the timeline? Don’t wait for the fire to burn before you test your fire drill.

• Speak like a person, not a PDF
  If your statement can’t be read out loud without sounding robotic, scrap it.

TL;DR

UBA’s Afriland Towers crisis wasn’t a one-off. It’s a mirror of Nigerian PR culture: deny, downplay, detach. Until brands flip that script to empathize, clarify, own, every crisis will end the same way—a CEO cleaning up the comms team’s mess.

SoroSoke Brand Tip: In Nigeria, infrastructure will fail, accidents will happen, crises are inevitable. But trust only fails when your words do.