The re-branding Nigeria project is more like decorating a package of trash and making it attractive to prospective buyers or investors.. It is much the same as window-dressing, indeed, whitewashing the country without any corresponding drive toward social reengineering. Marketing Nigeria to the international community without fundamentally and radically changing the attitudes and notions of Nigerians in the public and private sectors may yield counter-productive results and leave the country worse-off. The re-branding project tends to treat the symptoms of the Nigerian disease without actually treating the disease. The problem with this once-great nation is not the brand name –Nigeria, but the content. When this country was branded the giant of Africa by the world, the name was yet Nigeria. So, if this country has unfortunately lost its respect in the international community, we should not hoax ourselves by chasing shadow in the stead of substance.
And the substance in this event is the cause of the distrust, disrespect, and suspicion. When foreigners are wooed into a glittered Nigeria and still suffer the vices that poisoned their impression of Nigeria, the repugnance of their impression would only get worse. The challenge of the Nigerian government should be how to accomplish positive behavioral cum attitudinal change in Nigerians.
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Such change can only be attained by massive social reorientation and reengineering and not by initiating elephant and theoretical projects as the vaunted re-branding of Nigeria. How can we invite foreigners to an ostensibly re-branded Nigeria that is still neck-deep in corruption? A country where magistrates conspire with prosecutors, police officers and court officials to obtain money from parties to a case before the court, especially mobile courts, and some stationery courts; a country where police officers confer with the heads of their stations on how much bribe they should obtain from a suspect as well as the complainant; a country where police officers flagrantly squeeze monies from motorists without the least scruple; a country where policemen impregnate female cell inmates; a country that is infamous for police brutality and human rights violation; a country where immigration officers at the ports would backdate the entry stamp on a traveler’s passport to beguile the international community; a country where fire fighters would stand in front of a burning house and demand for bribe before fighting the fire; a country where the Court of Appeal, the penultimate appellate court of the country, adjourned indefinitely a case of electoral injustice litigated before it, and was required by superior authorities to properly try the case; a country where a politician would pride on being the mastermind behind the impeachment of a state governor because the governor would not capitulate to his pressure(the politicians pressure) of ceding a chunk of the state’s revenue to the politician, and the presidency would sit aloof; a country where another governor of some other state would be abducted for similar reasons by avaricious politicians and the presidency would instruct the police force to withdraw officers attached to the abducted governor instead of providing protective security for him; a country where elections are marred by a flurry of violence; a country where examination invigilators obtain money from candidates and openly readout answers to them; a country where university lecturers copulate with students and score them highly in examinations; a country where a HIV patient would pay a laboratory to issue a report that says the patient is HIV negative and the laboratory would comply; a country where blind men are issued drivers’ licenses by proxy by licensing authorities; a country where a licensing officer would confirm that an applicant does not drive but wants a drivers’ license for bank identification purpose and would yet issue such applicant a drivers’ license; a country where a man who illicitly enriches himself is honored by is clan men; a country where public servants are derelict without reprimand; a country where mediocrity is celebrated and exalted. Would the re-branding project put an end to these ills? Would it stop Nigerians from exporting fraud? It is laughable that anybody would think we can revive the image of this country merely by embarking on international public relations and campaigns geared toward image redemption. The image of this country did not drop by sudden decent. The atrocious and horrendous actions and activities we exported through time brought disrepute, shame, and reproach to us. These same actions are responsible for our battered image. Thus, it is only a genuine change in our attitude, culture, and patterns of behavior that can truly renovate our image.
And such change is attainable not by magic but by massive and vigorous social reorientation. Of primary concern to the government, therefore, should be the social re-engineering of Nigerians before the re-branding of Nigeria; least we will end up just where we began. It is understandable that the initiator of the project, Professor Dora Akunyili, Minister of information, is challenged by her achievements in the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, to impress in this new ministry and quiet her critics. Her success in NAFDAC may have been facilitated by her background in pharmacology which is related to the services-nature of NAFDAC.
But in this Ministry of Information where she is relatively new, the opportunity to shine may not have come. Thus, foisting an impression by initiating theoretical and pedantic projects may end up in depression. The problem with Nigeria is the content and not the brand.
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