by Queen Nwabueze
The day PR forgot it was talking to a comedian
Imagine your neighbour’s goat mistakenly wanders into your compound.
Would you call the police?
Summon the village council?
Invite the press?
Or would you simply laugh, call your neighbour, collect the goat and move on?
Sometimes, in public relations, organizations unknowingly choose the first option.
And that’s exactly where my PR brain wandered while following the trending conversation involving comedian and online streamer Carter Efe and Babcock University.
Now, before anyone sharpens their keyboard, this is not an attempt to determine who was right or wrong. Universities have every right—even a responsibility—to protect the integrity of their certificates and academic reputation. That much is not in dispute.
The interesting question, however, is this:
Was the communication strategy proportionate to the issue?
Because in public relations, the real challenge is often not what you communicate.
It is how.
For those who somehow escaped the internet for a few days, Carter Efe, whose comedy thrives on exaggeration and absurdity, claimed he graduated from Babcock University with a “First Class Upper” in Biochemistry.
Now, if you’ve followed Carter Efe for even five minutes, you’ll know that his entire career is built on saying the most outrageous things with a straight face.
The phrase “First Class Upper” alone should have raised enough eyebrows to power a small generator.
Yet, as the joke travelled across social media, it began taking on a life of its own.
Eventually, Babcock University issued a public notice warning against what it described as a fraudulent academic certificate falsely attributed to the institution and cautioned against activities capable of misleading the public.
Again, entirely understandable.
Protecting institutional credibility is part of the communications team’s job.
But here’s where the PR practitioner in me became fascinated.
One of the first responsibilities of strategic communicators is something called crisis assessment.
Not every issue deserves the same response.
Communicators constantly ask themselves:
“Is this a genuine crisis?”
“Or is this simply an issue that requires quiet management?”
History has repeatedly shown that an overly forceful public response can unintentionally amplify the very conversation an organization hoped would disappear. Communication scholars often describe this phenomenon as the Streisand Effect when attempts to suppress or publicly correct information end up attracting even greater public attention to it.
And that made me wonder:
Could there have been another way?
Now imagine this.
Instead of beginning with a formal public notice, a member of the university’s communications team quietly reaches out to Carter Efe.
Not in a suit.
Not carrying legal language.
Not sounding like a courtroom.
Just… Nigerian.
The team arrives.
Everyone is smiling.
The spokesperson taps Carter on the shoulder and bursts into laughter.
“Carter! You wan pursue me from my job? Abeg now… I get family o!”
Everyone laughs.
“My Vice-Chancellor don dey para. Me, I know say na joke. In fact, when I see ‘First Class Upper,’ I laugh tire. But Nigerians come begin tag us seriously. Na there fear catch me.”
By now, Carter himself is laughing.
The room is relaxed.
No cameras.
No headlines.
No public confrontation.
Then comes the real message.
“Abeg help us do one thing. Just tell your people say na cruise. Make everybody rest. This economy hard enough. People no dey know joke from fact again.”
Notice something remarkable?
The university still protects its reputation.
The clarification still happens.
But nobody leaves feeling publicly embarrassed.
No one is pushed into defending their pride before millions of followers.
Sometimes, the shortest distance between misunderstanding and resolution is not a press release.
It is a conversation.
Of course, not every situation can be handled this way.
If there is deliberate fraud, criminal intent, or a real attempt to deceive the public, organizations must act firmly and transparently.
Public trust depends on that.
But when the issue involves someone whose entire brand is built around humour and exaggeration, perhaps the communication strategy can also acknowledge that reality.
Because here’s something we sometimes forget in our profession.
Public relations is not simply about writing statements.
It is about reading people.
The best PR professionals understand media.
Great PR professionals understand human behaviour.
The internet has changed the rules.
Today’s creators often feed on attention.
Some even thrive on controversy.
A heavy-handed response can sometimes become tomorrow’s viral content.
What was meant to end a conversation may accidentally become Episode Two.
And that’s why context matters.
Every audience is different.
Every personality is different.
Every response should be different.
Some people need a formal statement.
Others simply need a phone call.
Some situations require lawyers.
Others require laughter.
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing modern public relations is that we occasionally mistake professionalism for seriousness.
They’re not the same thing.
Professionalism is knowing what the moment requires.
If you’re accompanying your CEO to a board meeting, wear the suit.
If you’re trying to resolve a misunderstanding with Nigeria’s most unpredictable comedian, perhaps leave the tie at home.
Meet people where they are.
Speak the language they understand.
Respect the culture they live in.
And remember that communication is not successful because it sounds important.
It is successful because it achieves the outcome you wanted.
The goal of public relations has never been to win statements.
It has always been to win relationships.
Sometimes, the best PR strategy doesn’t begin with “Dear Members of the Public…”
Sometimes, it begins with…
“Carter… abeg, you wan pursue me from my job?”
