I had two great meetings yesterday, one was the Future Movement’s steering committee meeting, and the other one was a New Nigeria Club Online Conference. I’m so thrilled at the key issues we were able to trash out in both meetings yesterday. I’m particularly impressed with how much we are achieving with the online conferences, technology is sure making things easier.
There was an interesting eye opener during the NNC online conference though, and I think it’s an idea I should quickly bring back on board and re-communicate. With so many great heads brainstorming together, we were able to obtain a good variation of personalizing our issues with our leaders’ name concept. I was thrilled with the additions and have decided to capture it as Rebranding Nigeria, Reloaded! Rather than sound abusive or use words that might ultimately lead us nowhere, we have decided to add an interesting positive tweak to the personifications. Here are the thoughts.
1. Rather than make careless and unguarded statements, we have decided to end every comment with a prayer for the personified issue. Here are a few examples.
For Electricity which has been christened Yaradua.
Yaradua has not be constant in my area, May God help Yaradua.
May these issues with Yaradua in Nigeria come to a permanent end.
The absence of Yaradua is creating troubles for Nigerian business community, May God help Yaradua and help us.
We figured that it might be pointless to just keep on stating the facts without making any comments that can help us change. It seems a good idea then, to identify the problem, and still put our leaders in prayers to God, that they will get help and make use of it. This way as well, we get to have many people praying for our leaders, and many people eager to have change.
2. Rather than allow everybody to say anything in the name of personification, and to avoid lack of consistency.
We have also decided to craft a Wordbank. This will identify who to personify as what issue, and ensure a consistency. It will also define the parameters for using any statement. One of the key parameters for adopting a word for example is that it should be capable of showing negative when bad, and positive when good.
For example, if we say Yaradua = Electric Light from NEPA grids, then when there is no light, the comments will sound negative, and once it starts getting fixed, the comments become positive. We cannot afford to use a word, that will still connote negative even when things are changing for the better. If someone is personified with scam for example, when scams become a thing of the past, will we say that the person has been eradicated? Hence the good term to personify will be anti-scam and in most cases the good term to personify will be the positive things. The things that if fixed has the capacity to immortalize the person.
Since Nigeria’s number one PR problem is scam, I don’t think it’s a bad idea to Christen our minister of information anti-scam. So that for example, people can embark on a Dora campaign, we can complain about how ineffective the Dora campaign has been, and how people are making Dora’s work painful. It can also help us pray for Dora, that she’ll be able to put an end to this plague. So that when things begging to progress, we can say that Dora is winning at last. Up Dora, Nigeria is a great country again!
I think the key word here is, let’s only personalize the positive. Any thoughts or word samples you can give in this area are welcome.
3. Online Scam is a Real Menace.
It’s a real menace every Nigerian must be passionately against and passionately reveal. I also feel the law enforcement agents need to be educated, cos there are also legitimate people who do business online, and they need to know the difference. We must not take half measures as this is currently the external perception of our nation. Kayode, brought it to my understanding that 99% of the time the word Nigeria is used on twitter, it’s connected to scam! I recommend that we move a motion to the senate, on way forward and strong consequencies for scamming. I also think New Nigeria Club can pick up some of Kayode’s recommendations (he’s one of us) and pull it together. We need to chase those crazy bad eggs out of town!
Rather than make positive comments alone, I’ll really appreciate if we can use this post as a dumping ground for our thoughts and ideas on the wordbank, and sample statements we can make that won’t make us appear rude, rebellious or less passionate about the future of our country than we are. If it has to be, it’s up to us.
70 thoughts on “Rebranding Reloaded”
I agree that Dora be called Mama Anti-Scam or something cos like you’ve pointed out – the biggest headache for Nigerians is being portrayed by the world as the Scam People/Country + Corrupt People/Country.
A la Mama Bakassi, Florence Ita-Giwa, this particular “wordbank” if well honed and given the right sound bites, can actually help galvanise Nigerians who have no avarice in their blood to continue believing in Nigeria and to also change the mind of those involved in the illicit activities. I still sing “Fashola…baba ni governor…baba ni governor wa o, Ba’tunde Fashola….” Cos he’s doing a good job, we will always sing that. Say, how many of us cannot still still the campaign song for MKO? U’ll be surprised you still can – cos that campaign made an impact.
In other words, a Reloaded campaign needs a sing song to help Dora, let people get tired of hearing it, however when we see the good deeds being carried out, we will always remember her with such songs. Does this make some sense?
I must say here that it was painful to miss 2 online conferences in a row, the exchange of ideas that come in this forum is usually very heart warming.
I suggest the state of our Federal roads be tagged on Madam Madueke.
Madueke from Lagos to Benin is something else or a nightmare.
Madueke is only good in Abuja…etc
During the reign of Nuhu at the helms of EFCC, scam was seeing to be going down but since the new madam took over, there has been a resurgence of scam so in my opinion, madam EFCC should be equated to Scam
Cyber crime is a menace that must be dealt with.
Force is however unsustainable as EFCC’s failure using force has shown…but value re-orientation viz-a-viz creating alternative channels for young people’s energy is perhaps a sure way out of the mess and this requires all our efforts.
You may view ongoing work in this regard by clicking on my name above or following this link: http://www.pinigeria.org/isspin and http://www.microsoft.com/africa/stories/curbing_cybercrime.mspx .
‘Korede
Rebranding Nigeria Reloaded !
Nice one.
Yaradua has been epileptic this days. may God help yaradua.
Soludo should be the slang for Naira Slide.
Can we really re brand Nigeria, if our leaders cannot rebrand themselves. May God Help, it is really a good idea and i pray it will be successful.
NNC Online Conferences has been going great and producing positive results, a number of Nigerians spread across the world has been participating with excitement, the positive use of technology is definitely a sure way make progress in this age.
I second the idea of creating a song/songs as Bringitbay suggested but i will like to go with Anti-Scam title attached to the EFCC Boss as Otolorin has highlighted, because the international community will change their minds mainly if we fight the perpetrators and bring them to justice, during Ribadu’s regime the slogan in the Scamming community use to be “FEAR OF EFCC IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM” but now alas there seems to be laxity.
We will definitely laugh last
How about the use of the name ADAM for all governors.
In that way we have the ADAM in Lagos ,ADAM in Cross River and so forth.
Iwu for a Non-Free and Fair elections
Yeah! Some one’s brain is just beginning to work more! and er… methinks ,this madness will yield positive outcome! See, the need to be deliberate about our Nigeria calls for urgent attention..imagine a baby crying in church? that child needs to be taken outta church immediately! THis SUBTLE but forward looking crusade will sail! Clean one!
I wish we could have a the name New Lagos for Fashola in the wordbank…but how about Baba Eko for Fashola (if it would sound too raz or mean an area father).
Oshotimehin for anti-AIDS campaign…still thinking though
I pray that works. Let us see how it goes. God can use the legs of a leper
Now, this is an absolutely deliberate attempt at sanity! I am in for this! This rather ‘SUBTLE’ crusade will sail! We will get there! By the way,I have already started saying it…and lol! ,I again have been so ”puzzling” to members of my family and friends around but I will take time out to explain the whole idea behind this to them too! It is a crusade…we will get there! Sure,expect some mix up here and there,but we will get there! This requires URGENT attention! like a baby crying out loud in church and needs to be carried out!
Is this in any national newspaper yet? Get it there asap!
good stuff. I have something to say.
I am usually appalled by the level of naivety displayed by Nigerians when this issue of Scam or 419 is mentioned. I will advise us all to do a search (Google/Yahoo/MSN etc) for the top 20 scammers in the world today and I can assure you there is not a single Nigerian in the lot. In fact, MSN brought out a list of scammers recently with their pictures and profiles and there was not a single Nigerian in the top 100! In fact, the top American in the list agreed to pay back taxes on his loot to avoid going to jail. There were Russians, Serbians, Turks -mostly Eastern Europeans on the list.
I will not try to absolve some of our countrymen who still indulge in this nefarious pastime (we are 140 million for GOD’s sake) but with the efforts of the governments in the past and the level of awareness amongst the populace, it is a largely passing/passed fad. It is not as widespread as it used to be. Mugu don wise. Guyman sef don born again. We do know that most of those emails and letters still circulating on the web do not originate from Nigeria anymore.
Besides anyone who still believes that there is a ‘HRH Miriam Abacha’ with a $20 billion stash looking for a foreign account to keep it must need serious help or might even be beyond help. Where have you been living for the past 15 years? Under a rock?
We need to understand that those who use the number 419 to describe fraud are usually Nigerians themselves. The number is actually the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code that deals with Advanced Fee Fraud. Now that law was meant to protect Nigerians from foreigners who were all over us particularly in the 70s during the Oil Boom when we had so much money, our problem was how to spend it.
When people -like Oprah- call Nigerians scammers or call Nigeria the land of scams, it is meant to be an insult! DO NOT CONDONE IT. Take it as an insult and deal with it as such. Demand an apology.
I have no apologies for being a Nigerian. It is difficult enough being one without you telling me how stupid you were to fall for an anonymous email. Do you want me to tell you how my Uncle was swindled in 1974 by a white boy who said he was the son of John F. Kennedy? 1974? Exactly. Gerrout of my face!
Last time I checked, Bernie Maddoff is not a Nigerian.
After that rant, I feel better already. LOL!
I have decided to use the last comment as a post on my blog.
Follow me to http://anannimmos.blogspot.com
@NIMMO I like your contribution.
Let’s rebuild (or is it ‘let’s build” ) Nigeria, and the brand will take care of itself! Let’s take care of our national character and our reputation and how we are perceived will not be very difficult to manage…..
CM…I’m so pained for missing the NNC Online conference. I didn’t even see the mail until today. No thanks to Yaradua and bad internet connection i’ve been experiencing of late. God will indeed deliever Yaradua from the spirit of epilepsy. May Yaradua become better before 2012..
I got a clue from your topic..Nigeria needs rebranding, rebuilding reloaded, unbranding in order to make a ‘showforth’ out of her.
@NIMMO..Good contribution…The Scam thing is an image named with Nigeria and we all must unbrand that name and rebrand a name for ourselves..
Oh God bless our land Nigeria, may she rise and prosper now ; Similarly, strenghten “YARADUA” from frequent break down in his nervous system ,so he”YARADUA” could start Exporting energy to the hinter lands in Africa.Energy bussiness involves huge capital that runs in billion of dollar. ” NO BE BOLE AND GUGURU AND EKPA”
@ N.I.M.M.O
Can you please validate this link http://anannimmos.blogspot.com.
Thank you
@ N.I.M.M.O
That was quite hearty! LOL! I love your style man!
My perspective to the scam thing is actually three sided.
We don’t really need a great deal of people actively scamming before we are tagged “a nation of scammers” we only need a handful to be named as such by those who are eager already to put an ugly name on us. And just to be clear, we’ve got some of these bad eggs among us. So I’d say we need to flush out, expose, discourage and snuff-out the Achans in our camp by ALL means we know to!!!
Secondly, I think there is also the aspect of the past and present contributions of the western/advanced nations to global scam. This does not make everyone there crooks.
By and large, we need to start a heavy campaign against these scammers and also for the reorientation for those who would label anything bad Nigerian.
Lastly, there is the issue of those who claim Nigeria once they are caught in nefarious acts. That is one of the things we must tackle too.
@ N.I.M.M.O,
you are a gem. For once I see someone not joining the bandwagon. For crying out loud, I have always said Nigerians know very little about scamming. Agreed the few amongst us give us such a bad name, but we ourselves have done more than enough harm to our image by accepting the tag put on us. Internet dirty biz is not about Nigerians at all, and that includes scam mails. There are other things we are not good at and I believe the worst we have is credibility….this is what we need to work on. If we can take care of this little problem, we would have taken our righful place amongst the comity of nations. I am proud to be a Nigerian and will say it loud anywhere, all the time. I’m outta here!
Rebranding nigeria needs to start from the mind of all citizens.
It starts with a new attitude and a new belief in oneself as a Nigerian, because the people make a Nation. By the time we all do this, we shall see the results ourselves.
As for me am tired of hearing the same campaign theme every election year.
Since !960 Good water, good road, good electricity is all we hear. Aint You Tired?
@N.I.M.M.O I think you miss the point entirely.
1. Nigerian scammers use their identities to scam the world, others scam in their own countries. While Nigerian scammers carry the flag of Nigeria when they go on their scamming spree.
2. You are saying we should ignore the problem because others scam too? Or what exactly are you trying to say? That it is ok for Nigerian scammers to scam because Americans or Russians, scam too?
3. How many times do you open your email box and see people from this countries saying something like I am the son of the ex president of USA or even Russia and I want to share my wealth with you, so pls help me do that?
4. We should fight against any crime done by our own people in our name, instead of trying to be patriotic.
Please don’t ever try to be Patriotic through supporting crimes Perpetrated by your countrymen, 419’s or yahoo yahoo are traitors to Nigeria, and they should be brought to book.
Using benchmarks is like trying to say its ok, to defraud others.
@Kayode..Nice one..
On the issue of scam, we all must know the truth. Whether we like it or not, Nigeria has been tagged with Scam whether by self or by other people. That is it but we will continue in this negative image if we do nothing about it…We need find a way out of this. I believe one of the best way to minimize or eradicate this is by increasing the number of people who will increase the positive image of Nigeria. This set of over 5 million people (The Future) will be people of integrity, honesty, righteousness and people who has the right set of virtues and values. When these people (living within Nigeria and outside) are known for the right things they do, the image of Nigeria will become better…
I will say it again. WE ALL NEED TO UNBRAND THE NEGATIVE IMAGE AND REBRAND THE POSITIVE IMAGE for Nigeria (i mean Nigerian)
I’m patriotic
@ N.I.M.M.O.
Nice perspective. The truth is that every nation of the world have both good and the bad just like some people have been duped by so called “Christians or Moslems”. In every setting there is always a Judas Iscariot. But the point is that we should not magnify the Judas over the other 11 disciples or better brand others by the act of one.
If we do not speak good of our nation, who will do so for us….I AM PROUDLY NIGERIAN
@Ifects: I sincerely dont know if I need to add a ‘www’ in the URL given but most times this usually takes me to my blog. Pls try adding ‘www’ and see.
@Kayode Muyibi: When I was writing O’Level English several years ago, my English teacher taught me that the way to pass WAEC English Comprehension is to read the passage/article very well -at least twice. Then I will find that the answers to the questions are within the passage. In fact, the answer to Question 1 is usually within the first paragraph and so on like that. The answers to ALL your questions are within my comment, if only you would read it again – like everybody else. Unless of course you have another point ……
@ N.I.M.M.O
I will check it out and get back to you
No matter how white a shirt is, the stains will be spotted first.
we need to stop our over-value for material things and the unnecessary respect we accord to ppl of means, without verifying their sources.
No Nation can be greater than the values that it’s ppl hold dear. it is our collective values that has brought us this far. It was not always so.
That’s the first step.
Deolu Nice piece.
Have a great Day
@All.
Please, does anybody have an idea of the tenets of the Minister of Information and communications model of rebranding Nigeria. I guess everybody in Nigeria should be able to know what she wants to do and achieve so that we can work hand-in-hand with her.
We all seek a better Nigeria and i believe the slogan GOOD PEOPLE GREAT NATION should not be in words alone but in actions too.
We have all said good things as comments in here but let’s live what we practice and at the end the future we desire will come to reality.
What we want to HAVE determines what we DO which on the long run say who we would BE.
@ DON AZUBIKE ONYEGBU
I feel you
I got a wind that some part of UK has been in darkness for some hours yesterday and today. I hope all is well with Gordon too.
Where in the name of God has Mama Biddy been?
Maybe Yaradua visited the UK yesterday 🙂 He must have infected dem with his virus . 😀
UK’s darkness was actually intentional. several UK landmarks were plunged into darkness as part of a global climate change campaign. It was a campaign to mark the Earth Hour. But things are back to normal now.
@lfects: Maybe after all said and done, this ‘power holding’ by PHCN is part of the ‘global climate change campaign’ in which case we can claim that Nigeria started it first. Abi?
Yes o! Nigeria started it and over 50 countries joined. We are the pacesetter in that aspect.
@DON AZUBIKE ONYEGBU: ‘No matter how white a shirt is, the stains will be spotted first.’
Very true.
How then do we eat or play without putting stains on our white shirts?
I think what you suggest is more important than washing the shirt with bleach to remove the stains or with ‘blue’ to cover up the stains (a.k.a. re-branding). Or else, after some time the shirt will fade and then our hitherto white shirt which we used to dazzle the world would become the rag of ridicule.
Have we come to that pass yet? I pray not.
I am shamed to say that I have not conciously sat down to listen to the network news in over 5 years….what am I sitting to watch? Abacha family birthday, a bandit brought out of jail to be sworn in as senator, a hero turning villain ala third term, a non performer winning the presidency in the face of some many better alternatives like Donald Duke (my opinion)….Hmmmmm, I wonder how i will ever explain these to our children. My chase for ignorance of the goings on of our government has not inured me from the defects of their ways oooo….but still i have HOPE. With fora like these and young self motivated people let us pray things can indeed get better. Kudos Deolu…and thanks.
@Kayode and N.I.M.O
I think i understand where bot of you are coming from.
It is neither patriotic to cover up the evil deeds of one’s coountry men nor is it patriotic to accept whatever label or name thrown at one’s country hook line and sinker.
However, the problem is that while the government and generality of these other countries do stand up against any form of corruption, our’s seems to be doing the opposite. How do u think these guys would perceive naija when they read and hear of instances where the FG eats and dines with looters of the treasury and the masses remain as quite as ice? This I think informs thier perception.
I got the following email from a foreign company i had contact for a price quote:
Dear Sir,
We regret, that due to the number of fraudulent transactions emanating from your country, it is Company policy to refuse all such requests. If this is one the very few genuine enquires, we apologise for any offence caused, but our decision remains the same. We suggest that you urge your Government and National Police Service to be more pro-active in tackling organised internet Fraud.
Please note that this mail has been forwarded to the EU internet fraud office.
Kind Regards
Mick McGuirk
————————————————————————————————————–
I was bot surprised because this was the first time I am receiving such emails and at the same time greatly annoyed bcos anyone with halve a brain could tell that my mail wasn’t a fraud. I actually wanted to reply back in very hard terms but for obvious reasons I decided not to. But thank God i didn’t keep quiet. This was my reply:
Dear Mick,
We understand the issues raised in your email below and though we sympathize with you, we beg to differ. It is quite unfortunate that your company as a result has refused to consider enquiries from Nigeria.
Be that as it may, be informed that Yale Controls Limited is a reputable organization with presence in the UK and has been in business for over a decade now, a fact easily verifiable from the information provided on our website.
We are the Nigeria representatives to industry leaders like ASCO-JOUCOMATIC-NUMATICS, MILTON-ROY EUROPE, HONEYWELL PTY, RICHARDS INDUSTRIES among others.
The requested items are little items of a few hundred Euros and our decision to source them internationally even though we know we could get them in Nigeria, is because we want to be sure of the quality.
We will advise that when next you receive enquiries from a Nigeria company of our calibre, you shouldn’t be in haste to brand them as fraudulent because there are reputable companies over here, many of whom represent European OEMs.
THE POSTERITY OF THE NIGERIAN NATION LIES IN THE HANDS OF THE NIGERIAN YOUTH. THE ISSUE OF RE BRANDING NIGERIA IS A WELCOMED INITIATIVE BUT THE ROLE OF THE NIGERIAN YOUTH IN THIS VENTURE MUST BE CLEARLY SPELT OUT. THE NIGERIAN YOUTHS ARE A GROUP OF PEOPLE POSITIONED FOR CHANGE AND LEAVE LASTING PRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME. I BELIEVE SO MUCH WITHOUT AN INCH OF DOUBT THAT IF ANYTHING WILL WORK OUT IN THIS DEAR COUNTRY OF OURS, YOUTHS WITHIN AND IN THE DIASPORA MUST AS A MATTER OF NECESSITY JOIN HANDS WITH ONE ANOTHER TO TAKE NIGERIA TO THE ZENITH OF A POSITIVE NATIONAL IMAGE.
IT IS ONLY A FOOL THAT COMPARES HIMSELF WITH ANOTHER PERSON THAT DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME PROSPECTS AS HIMSELF. EVERY NOW AND THEN, NIGERIANS COMPARE NIGERIA WITH OTHER COUNTRIES, FORGETTING THAT WE ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. NIGERIA IS UNIQUE AND CON ONLY SUCCEED ON THE PLATFORM OF TRUTH AND PATRIOTISM FROM ALL AND SUNDRY. TOGETHER WE CAN CHANGE NIGERIA.
@Royal_Price,
It takes an experience like that to actually understand my pain and frustration. Our defensive, does not help our case, but I guess some Nigerians located in Nigeria wouldn’t see it that way.
I am sorry that you had to experience such a rejection, I have made it a policy never to use my Nigerian connections when doing business overseas, as I learnt it the hard way.
My worries is that, most people don’t care, and those that do, suffer in massive proportions.
Nice one there, Royal_Prince, we need to start calling it as it is. We are not all criminals!
@Royal_Prince: I believe you did right by responding to the veiled insult in that so-called correspondence. It is ANNOYING!
The last time I got such a mail was sometime in 2004 from a Canadian company and I replied instantly telling them how stupid their company policy was because there are hundreds of Canadian companies doing business in and with Nigerians at the same time and doing so profitably too. Surprisingly, I got a nicely worded reply from the company CEO apologizing for the earlier mail and asking me what I wanted again. I have done business going into hundreds of thousands of dollars with that company to date and we still do business.
As at date, I have done business with about 22 companies from the US, Canada, UK, France, UAE, Germany, Poland, China and India. Two of their CEOs have actually visited our modest offices in Lagos as part of their ‘African Partners/Resellers’ tours. I have done my businesses with integrity and honesty. They have given me credit and I have given them credit too. We have NEVER discussed anything about Nigerians or Americans or French or Arab scammers or fraudsters because that is not the basis of our business. We have mutual respect for each other.
I have never traveled outside Africa before and my company letter head bears ONLY our Lagos address. I do business with those who will do business with me. I don’t apologize for anybody’s stupidity and I don’t bear a name that my father did not call me on the day of my sunna.
Only the guilty are afraid.
@Kayode_Muyibi: Raise your head and be a man! Stop making excuses for who you are!
Eni to je gbi lo ma ku gbi!
@NIMO. Being on the defensive to you is being a man about a problem? Grow up brother
@ Royal_Prince and Ikotun Adebisi.
Nice one there.
@ NIMMO and Kayode Muyibi
Abeg, make una take am easy.
Nigeria will be great again!
@lfects: I think I’ve found out the problem with the blog URL given. The spelling is wrong.
The correct spelling is http://anannimos.blogspot.com (double ‘n’, single ‘m’) while the email address is ‘ananimmos’ with a single ‘n’, double ‘m’. I guess I mixed it up.
@Kayode_Muyibi: What exactly are you afraid of? That you will say your truth and nobody will believe you? That you will be called ‘defensive’? Say your truth and let it be. I repeat, only the guilty are afraid.
If the ‘testimonies’ shared above by myself and others do not convince you, then I wonder what will. What you accept becomes your destiny. Its that simple.
Let me preach the gospel of patriotism to you brother. You should stop apologizing for being a Nigerian. The good Lord knew you even before you were formed and He thought it best for you to be a Nigerian. Do you want to know more than your GOD? There are no ‘accidents of birth’, my friend. It is what it is.
Say it after me ‘I will not join them to point to my father’s house with my left hand’.
You know what that means.
In the eternal words of Chief Obafemi Awolowo:
‘Tis a duty that we owe
To our great dear motherland
To enhance her and to boost her
In the eyes of all the world …..
The rest of that poem/song is on my blog.
@ N.I.M.M.O, I am feeling your comment so much that i am high fiving you! brother catch it!
My exact sentiments a couple of days back when i told some Americans that i do not judge them based on Benard Maddoff and other scammers, so why should any one raise a nose that i am a Nigerian!..i use to say, na brother of thief dey shame ,no be thief..! so if Americans can still hold their heads high despite all the scams from fellow Americans then it is well cos all our scammers combined have not reached the ones their own people have done to cripple their own economy/country!..am not supporting scam o, but stating a fact! God will help us to rebrand Nigeria indeed and include everyone. I DEMAND AN APOLOGY ON BEHALF OF THOSE IVING OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY, THAT WE ARE THE ONE BADMOUTHING the country? whoever said this should pls apologise..if i vent here e go worse pass NIMMO OWN O! LOL!
@Deolu, pls lets know the context in which the person said it and help us, as some of us are more patriotic than those of them in power spending tax payers money for themselves and their families! while those of us here support our people back home with genuine means!..ops! enough o..! lol
@ NIMMO
I got the correct URL already. Thanks
@ N.I.M.M.O.
You are really venting o! Take it easy o bros!
@ All.
Let me speak that I may be relieved
1. We have a problem, let’s not act as if it doesn’t exist. It’s folly in the ostrich to try and hide itself from it’s problems by closing it’s eyes. Just last year, our only VISA free country started requiring VISA’s from us. We are VISA free to no country, and for perspective, South Africa is VISA free to about 95.
2. We are on the black list of a few countries. The countries mandate their immigration departments to do a double search on Nigerians. I have been on many queues in international airports where all passports pass, but mine needs a microscope.
3. What we are up against is not a battle we can win as individuals we must act collectively, the fact that I have many foreign contacts that trust me, still does not preclude the fact that they think I’m a special breed of a corrupt race.
4. About issues, no matter how thin we cut it, it always has two sides. But as with all lasting solutions, it’s inside-out. If we fix the inside, the outside will be easy. Internally, we need to chase out our crazy bad eggs, we need to be seen to be taking the few miscreants to justice. Not celebrating “mugu don pay” with hallelujah shouts or glorifying “yahoozee”. We need to make our statements internally, make a few people scape goats, and let the world see that our policies and police do not support or condone these few. In the bear palour act of war, the man that takes a bottle and first cuts himself, announces to his opponent, that he is committed! With our eyes on the internal, we need to look at the external as well. One of reasons we created the New Nigeria Club was so that we can cultivate a base where by association we can begin to collectively let the world know that there are New and good Nigerians.
5. Our people in Diaspora are really trying, and we need to support them from home here. They stomach a lot of rubbish from a lot of people. Imagine the fact that the average person on the internet has received one mail before from someone claiming to be a Nigerian trying to dupe him. They don’t know where Nigeria is, they don’t know what side of the world even Africa is, but they know two things about Nigeria… a footballer, and an email. Externally we need to do a lot of work to showcase our great people, our great characters and achievements and make a firm statement about our views about scammers.
6. I’ll rather Nigeria has the top 100 scammers in the world, and no more. Than almost a million jobless graduates and students, who think a fast way to make it in life is hang around a cafe, day and night, hoping that one day.. maga or mugu will pay. A South African associate I met in Egypt was joking with me that he thinks someone needs to start a school of scamming in Nigeria… but that the first thing people will discover after paying their school fees is that the school was all a scam… that will be lesson 1. Irritating conversations and jokes we get to hear from time to time. It’s their fault and it’s not their fault. I have always learnt that you never solve a problem by focusing on someone else, you solve it, by asking what can I do differently.
Let’s put our energies together.. NIMMO, Kay, Biddy, Ifects, Omooba and all… let’s create a new identity for ourselves and our nation, and celebrate the people that have made us proud. Let’s educate the world about how Nigeria really is, and be it’s ambassadors within our spheres of influence. It’s not all about profit, it’s values. And no matter how great the deal looks, being a Nigerian is a show stopper for many companies and countries today. We can’t change it all in one day… but we can start, and our end can be guaranteed.
@ Deolu, Truth talk.personally, i and my familyhave gone through a lot outside the country because we are Nigerians..There was a particular case, i can never forget..after being subjected to a search at one country’s airport..My daughters were told to remove their socks and belts as we were taken aside, by the time we got to another screening point..my young daughter that was 3 years old at that time, started taking off her stuff without being told, it was not required at this point but the experience of the first screen had conditioned her mind to that!..sad..sad..sad! Trinidad and Tobago a third world country like ours..with Nigeria being more endowed..will take Nigerians through hell literarily because you want to get a visa! all because of a few bad people..The only help from Nigeria is from God as we have been labelled by others but God has a good name for us..then those of us that have the platform to let people know that we are a different breed of Nigerians, should keep doing it until we are made a praise amongst the Nations of the earth!
@Deolu: I really cannot resist this parting shot much as I tried. This is my take:
These people know Wole Soyinka, they know Philip Emegweali, they know Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, they know Chinua Achebe, they know Nwankwo Kanu, they know Austin Jay Jay Okocha, they know Deolu Akinyemi and the thousands of hard working Nigerians who run the academics and economies in their own home countries, yet all they can compare you with is a faceless email from someone who may or may not even be Nigerian?
Nigeria e je ka ro’nu. (Let us think)
Why don’t they call us a Nation of Nobel Laureates or Football Wizards or Fathers of the Internet’. Nobody will credit you with the good you have done (except when they want to collect your money). Self promotion is the key. Like the lizard said, ‘If you don’t praise yourself, nobody will’.
Let us stop apologizing. Nigeria has done nothing wrong!
@ Papa Emmanuel..Your sister dey Kampe!, as a Missionary, the wind blows in so many directions where i cannt get on the net sometimes! lol..any ways nice to know someone out here notices my disappearing and reappearing acts!!! lol
@ Deolu
Heavy Words there.
@ All
To change Nigeria, I must first change myself. Create a new identity for myself. Change my family and the people around me. Then my family and the people around me with myself can go ahead to change our neighbourhood then our state and then our nation.
The change must come from Inside – Out. That is why the bible says after you have received power for yourself, then you shall be His witness in Jerusalem (local), in all Judea and Samaria (national), and to the ends of the earth (international). Acts 1:8.
Chairman, your round-up on this is quite fitting. Those who are doing good should continue – we will get there!
And for the traitors among us, they will get to their destination too. It’s a matter of sawing and reaping.
We wont stop doing our best with integrity and honesty. We have to pull together to bring about a positve change, inside-out!
God bless Nigeria
WOW! See passion! I’m sure that if we harness the energy generated from all these comments we wont be needing any Yaradua from the national grid to sustain our economy.
We need to understand that we have an image problem with the world. Despite the many good people in this country, some bad eggs have certainly cut us a bad image. We cant run away from that. We cannot do the work of rebranding Nigeria in isolation. No individual effort can make much difference except we all work together. Agbajowo la fin soya. I’m a strong advocate of critical mass and once we can achieve critical mass with our individual efforts we can be sure there will be change.
We must also know that lasting change can only begin internally. No external change will last if we dont provide an internal structure that can sustain it.
God bless!
its so sad to all of us as nigerians that the president of the most populous black nation in the world wasnt invited to the just concluded G-20 summit.What that means is that we as a people dont have anything to contribute to the world, and being frank, we dont have the qualification to be there without mincing words.sometimes, i just feel like giving up on naija because of how worse things keep getting but there is always something telling me to just keep on being my best that someday we will get there.
for like minded people like me,please remember that there is hope for the nation.God bless naija
@Deolu Akinyemi: Those were thoughtful comments from you.
@All: Let’s all work on ourselves inside-out.Let’s not put a new wine in an old wine skin.No matter what they call us,we are who we call ourselves.Nigerians,think!
i totally support deolu on this one jare! at least NBC woke to banning a music by a very popular young musician. others should some hammer too. thanks
re branding Nigeria is a broad terms. it spreads to even environmental issues like degradation and the likes. Nigeria’s re-branding cannot be done in isolation of an urban renewal programme designed to make the nation’s towns and cities aesthetically appealing and habitable. There are more shanties and slum dwelling areas in the country than there are of regenerated settlements. Few towns like Benin City, Abuja, Abeokuta, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Kano as well the Federal Capital City, have master plans…THISDAY NEWSPAPER 02 052009.
rebranding is a project every Nigerian must embrace.rebranding is generic and include self-identity,attitudinal re-orientation, cultural regeneration. Nigeria is a grat nation.there is no too ways about, but I want to appeal to fellow compatriots that until we see ourselves as such nobody will see us as a great nation.we are good people leaving in a great nation.lets stop henceforth corrupt practicee and other compromises.please, fellow Nigerian be the change you want to see in your country. Thank you. UBONG DAVID, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, REBRANDING NIGERIA YOUTH INITIATIVE, 40 RCC ROAD, EKET,AKWA IBOM STATE. 08027657015
Hey – whats up. Thanks for the blog. I’ve been digging around for info, but i think i’m getting lost!. Yahoo lead me here – good for you i suppose! Keep up the good work. I will be coming back in a few days to see if there is any more info.
Yaradua: For the Sake of your health, and your family, quit governance because I love u and I wish You Long Life of sound Health, prosperity and Goodwill.
Hi!. Thanks a bunch for the blog. I’ve been digging around looking some info up for shool, but there is so much out there. Google lead me here – good for you i suppose! Keep up the good work. I will be coming back over here in a couple of days to see if there is updated posts.
iam de national president of de rebranding nigeria youth initiative[campus base] i am a student of Alvan ikoku Federal College Of Educcation Owerri,Imo sstate.my phone number is +2347069266792 0706926679.email go4rebranding@yahoo.com We started our operaration in Imo state since early this yr 2009 in n secondary schools and tetiary insittutions,but we want to extend this to other secondary schools,tetiaries and other states of the federation.contact us today through the phone number and the email addrss above
re-branding nigeria is like a theorical thing, which is very diferent form practical thing. it is possibe to use an emply hand to cut down iroko tree within a second, we want to rebrand in the misdt of hunger, poverty, illiteracy or ignorance. if people can not make ends meet legally, they make it meet illegally. our leaders know what they are doing. it is the rich people that travel abroad. They know the masses in Nigeria cannot do them anything, but the international community will not forgive them, they should reap what they sow abroad. The leaders in other countries made their people discipline through given them their rights and spending the countrys resource to the satisfaction of their people.
i believe in changes but changes does not occure without practical efforts that yelds conctrete structures that are capable of removing poverty, ignorance and sufferings from our country.
I agree with Salawu on what he said and i quote “re-branding nigeria is like a theorical thing, which is very diferent form practical thing”.