Two weeks ago, in the typical grandiose manner of many failed projects in Nigeria, the minister of information, Dora Akunyili, launched a project, aimed, we are told, to make Nigeria a “better nation”. The project came with a new logo and slogan “Good People; Great Nation” and is meant to launder Nigeria’s image; to prove that we are not a nation of 140 million fraudsters and cheats. We all agree that every nation has its fair share of criminal elements. If Nigeria produced Emmanuel Nwude; America gave the world Bernard Madoff! So, why should every Nigerian be painted with the same brush and made to suffer humiliation and indignity at airports and embassies around the world because of the bad behaviour of a few?
The minister ought to be commended for the catchy slogan and for reminding Nigerians, and indeed the entire the world, that Nigeria is a great nation with good people. But beyond the catchy slogan, there is little or nothing to the current assignment undertaken by Mrs. Akunyili. Nigerians must feel a sense of déjà vu. We have seen it all before, haven’t we? Ethical Revolution, WAI, MAMSER, Heart of Africa, etc., yet our great nation remains third-rate. This time around, we have been assured this is nothing like the past efforts at whitewashing the image of Nigeria. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who represented the president at the launch, described the latest campaign as a ''genuine attempt to re-orientate Nigeria towards believing in themselves once again”.
So how “genuine” is this attempt to rebrand Nigeria and Nigerians? Those who question the genuineness of this multi-million naira project understand that at every juncture in our tortuous history, our leaders cook up some hogwash, either because they take us for granted or simply for want of what to do. For a country where everything seems to go awry because of the incompetence of its leaders, it is difficult to take the current re-branding exercise seriously.
Nigerians do not need to be reminded that they are good people or that they live in a great nation. What they want to see is their leaders working for them. They want a leadership that will rekindle hope and harness the country’s abundant talent and resources. Nigerians have lost faith in their leaders, understandably so! Citizens build their own roads, generate their own electricity and provide their own security because the state has failed to fulfill its obligation to them.
“Nigeria cannot wait until solving all its problems before repairing its image. Our development is tied to our image,” the honourable minister of information said in response to critics of her image laundering project. But if we cannot wait until solving all our problems before repairing our image, we should at least solve our basic problems before attempting to repair our image!
There is an Ibo adage, one which I am sure Mrs. Akunyili is familiar with, which admonishes that it is from home that you prepare yourself to appear beautiful to the public. Our image is tied to our development, not the other way as the minister would want us to believe. Once we harness our resources as a nation and put our house in order, the world will be forced to take note and give us the respect we deserve. They will remember 419 – if we still have that in our repertoire -- but their focus will be on our contribution to the advancement of humankind. As it stands, Nigeria is not a contender!
As Chinua Achebe succinctly put it, “the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. Nigerians are what they are only because their leaders are not what they should be”. About two years ago, a president, one whom Nigerians rarely see -- was sworn in. The expectation was that with the deplorable state of the country, the new government will be on overdrive. Each passing day, Nigerians see less and less of their president. Indeed, he was a no-show at the mother of all efforts to remake Nigeria.
We may not like the analogy, but we can draw some lessons from President Barack Obama of the US to see what happens when a country is in dire straits and what genuine leadership can do. Mr. Obama is on the road every day, either consulting with Americans whose homes are about to be foreclosed or those who have lost their jobs while at the same time launching programmes that will put America back on its feet.
What, for example, is our president doing about the childhood and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria which was the subject of a public spat between his information minister and officials of UNICEF during the presentation of UNICEF’s annual account of the state of childhood and maternal health? The Guardian had reported last month that the report released by UNICEF placed Nigeria eighth among the 198 countries with the largest number of under-five deaths in the world.
“According to the 2009 State of the World's Children report launched by the wife of the President, Turai Yar'Adua, at the United Nations House in Abuja, one Nigerian woman dies every 10 minutes from complications of pregnancy and child birth, while over 500 newborns die daily.” This is Nigeria in the 21st century! Corruption is still rife. Those who just a little over a year ago were fugitives are now the president’s men, running the show in Aso Rock.
Akunyili’s project is an unnecessary distraction from the genuine problems confronting Nigeria. To be taken seriously, Nigeria has to be a contender; no amount of sloganeering can change that.
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