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Nigeria On-Going Rebranding Project: The Reality By Segun Imohiosen
“Each of us will one day be judged by our standard of life, not by our standard of living; by our measure of giving, not by our measure of wealth; by our simple goodness, not by seeming greatness” William Arthur Ward.
They say attitude determines altitude. The right attitude will no doubt bring you to the realm of success, even if it is not immediate, given time it will eventually birth a good result. As I have learnt that “what goes into your mind affects your thinking, your thinking affects your performance-and your performance affects your future”. These are crucial facts that come to play in the matter of rebranding whether of an individual in terms of its image, a corporate organisation or even in the case of a country as the case may be, even then a product at some level. “Over The Top” was an eye opener when I flipped through the pages to discover that ‘attitude’ plays a very vital and critical role in the life of any person and even a nation at large. It is not possible for you to go through this bestseller of Zig Ziglar without your thinking change positively.
Tradition abhors change, so, to rebrand subsumes attitude as a cogent factor in realizing it ultimately. In spite of the fact that rebranding may be partial or total depending on the situation that warranted the need, the simple truth is that without the right attitude, rebranding is arduous to achieve. The stereotypical approaches to issues and matters pertaining to national interest should be downplayed, relegated to the background, or be annihilated totally. In fact there is a need for total and thorough overhauling in the system. And I mean in the entire facet of our, social, political and economic life. It may sound a bit far away but I tell you that to follow due process is an attitude and that attitude is the seed that can help make rebranding a reality. The anti-social behaviour so recurrent in the people and in the polity should be addressed, after all charity they say begins at home.
There is no better person known for now within the system who should play the role of a crusader in the project like Dora Akunyili because her credentials and attitude gave her the initial office that subsequently brought her to where she is presently. Of course there are other people in the system of proven integrity as well but this is one person that is clearly seen to have been recommended for an appointment by dint of unwavering integrity. And I think the entire people both within the system and outside should follow. There is this loathsome, vile and very shameful attachment about corruption that is associated with the service and system that has to change in the operation of officials within the service. This is a key factor on attitudinal change that can make this new brand acceptable to the world. If only things would be allowed to run as a matter of course, I strongly believe that it will not be too long before the desired results will be achieved. It is not in doubt that the complaints of a lot of Nigerians about the failure of several sectors of the economy and the lack of basic infrastructures like the power, roads, pipe-borne water, and a host of others put the project in a jaundiced state, however the fact remains that if the same government focuses on the rebranding today, the other sectors will and must borrow a wandering leaf from Akunyili and follow suit by rebranding from within in their respective areas that need to be improved upon. On this note a holistic rebranding is what we will have and all will be happy for it at the end.
A reputation may have been so damaged that it will need a face lift or in a situation where there is the need for total overhauling for an image that has gone so derelict or even in worse situation where a country might have lost its values and considered to be criminally minded to the point that it is seen outside its bothers as an outcast, especially regarding the shabby treatment meted out to Nigerians once they are seen carrying the green passport at the immigrations can change with the right branding in place. The in human treatment will change with time when the rebrand begins to yield dividends. Re-branding in its functionality may be immediate, gradual or take time, in fact in some real tough situations; rebranding may not even yield any significant or appreciable result. But the bottom line is that lip service must not be paid to this project, it is a campaign/project that has to be concerted, continuous and sustained. This is why it is so ridiculous to hear on TV the other day a guy from one of the house committees making uncouth and very clumsy statement about the previous project on rebranding by decrying and castigating the idea of doing image making in other countries. He intoned it was a waste of money to do campaign on rebranding in a foreign land. If these people don’t understand basic tenets of branding, they should ask questions and don’t come on air to make blunders. The world is watching while they exhibit intellectual bankruptcy and fiasco. You don’t come out to the world that you can dance when you have only danced to yourself in the room without coming out into the open to dance. How then would you be rated as being a good dancer or not? Rebranding transcends the shores and bothers of the nation.
To correct that guy who was castigating the former Project about spending money abroad on image, he should be educated to know that in communications, branding is one of the most expensive aspects. From the angle of integrated marketing communication/concept, to rebrand a product will make you do all that is possible to give a change of attitude to the former and this entails the use of large sum of money and other materials. Why do you have foreign missions if you don’t want countries to know about you? All the Nigeria foreign missions are to be involved in this project because they all represent the nation overseas. Everything available that shouts the goodness of Nigeria must be employed to carry out this project. In fact the African Informatics Olympiad, first of its kind that the hosting right has been given to Nigeria to be the first African nation to host it should be another platform by which the new brand can be projected. Professor Sam Ale of the National Mathematical Centre should liaise with the ministry of Information and communications concertedly to leverage on the on going re-branding project.
There may be the need to point out to some of us, if truly there is any particular nation that is really free from any internal problem having to do with miscreants both within the people and in the officials in government. But the way these problems are managed in these countries to a large extent free them from insults that could ordinarily be meted out to them by outsiders. Unfortunately the challenge we have here is sometimes borne out of immaturity on the part of our people who feel so good with themselves and get a kick by making mockery of their country in the sight of other nationals. When some people brought accusation against a character in the ‘Word’, it was reported that the Master asked the person who is free from blame to cast the first stone, but at the long run, all the accusers of the woman left one by one. That is to simply say that no one is totally free from one blame or another. No nation is really free from blame but in a case where managing this crisis is becoming tough; it has to be handled in such a way that the country can still raise its head out of shame with time, hence rebranding comes to fore.
Going by some criticism levied against the authority of the country, as pointed out in the part 2, some refer to Nigeria as failed, hopeless and genocidal, it further brought to fore an extraneous case that could help unravel some nonsense being peddled against Nigeria. Could it be said that because a Pastor who is a General Overseer/President of a church with millions of followership worldwide in agreement with his daughter sued his son in law to court asking for interlocutory injunction and judicial separation because the son in law put his children into school in his new station where he was deployed just because this overseer does not want his daughter away from his reach in order to control his son in law, the man was bold to the point of telling the son in law “ that a person can suffer on what belongs to him” that he could be punished for taking his own children away and the wife of the President of the church also said to the son in law that ”a dog cannot take the cub of a lion”, for the authority and power at their disposal sued the son in law. It should be noted that these are custodians of the word of God who went to the court to be judged by unbelievers according to the ‘Word’.
Consider this too, a Pastor is caught in an illicit act like adultery, and the Chief Imam was caught in idolatry and in another case the man was caught to have concocted some ‘portion’ for a man looking for money, the question here is that in the case of these people highlighted, does it make other men of God to have failed in their calling? Or could that be used as a yard stick to say other men of God are failures, hopeless or genocidal? No, it is all about what your judgment is, after all, the likes of Pastor E. A, Adeboye of the Redeemed Church, Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith are Overseers and President of churches making waves and beautifying the image of Nigeria abroad through their calling. These are men who have given aids to different countries and institutions through their churches, with proven integrity, who have never been particularly associated with any scandal or crisis as to position, title and others on church issues or anything but have been invited by different government of other nations to help them out both spiritually and in socio-economic and political affairs in governance of these countries. And for this reason in spite of what Nigeria must have faced or facing presently, it is not enough to consider Nigeria as a country that has failed. Rebranding is the key thing at this point and the image of Nigeria can be bettered in the face of the on going project. Rebranding is a wake up call for all of us to go back to status quo ante in order to bring about sustainable stability, success and significance to the country that is the live-wire of so many other countries of the world. Our value system has to be reconsidered to the point that the idea of following after the substance and not the shadows be ingrained and inculcated into the people afresh.
The ministry of Information and Communications may be in the fore front of this project, but cannot be left to handle it alone. All other ministries and parastatals like culture and tourism, the art gallery, youth development, the national troupe, National Orientation Agency, the Nigerian Export Promotional Council, National Assembly and many others like that are to come together to work out pragmatic modality and approach to handle this project. Even the Nigerians in Diaspora are not to be left out. In fact kudos should be given to Nduka Obaigbena on his ‘ARISE’ project overseas; this is one platform that has been doing branding for Nigeria abroad for some time now. It will be right to incorporate him and his team in the entire rebranding project.
Segun Imohiosen writes from Abuja. |