Rebranding Nigeria Through Positive Reportage
Rebranding Nigeria Through Positive Reportage
Everywhere the world over, nations and peoples have realised the need to portray themselves in a good light before the rest of the world, which is one of the reasons countries of the world establish external or foreign affairs ministries to mediate relationships between them and other nations as well as launder the country's image at the international scene. Nigeria is no exception to this general trend.
Over the years, however, Nigeria's image, which became bad during the long years of military dominance in Nigerian politics, continued to worsen. Nigeria earned many derogatory names, and Nigerians were treated as outcasts in many parts of the world. At a stage in history, Nigeria practically became a pariah state and was suspended from participation in some international organisations like The Commonwealth. It was in an effort to redeem Nigeria's battered international image that the country's Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili, instituted the Rebranding Nigeria Campaign, which has the slogan "Nigeria: good people, great nation". The campaign has gained acceptability in many quarters across the country, especially in the media. Undoubtedly, the mass media has a pivotal role to play if the project is to succeed.
It was in recognition of this vital role of the media that the minister has consistently cautioned the Nigerian media against reporting Nigeria negatively. In an address to journalists sometime ago, she condemned in its entirety the tendency among the Nigerian media to report negative things about Nigeria. She therefore admonished Nigerian journalists to concentrate on the good stories and not the negative ones. In other words, they should change their news focus away from the man bite dog' viewpoint where only negative, queer occurrences are projected, but rather try as much as possible to balance their reports.
Citing an instance with the foreign media, she reported how her bag got missing at a foreign airport during one of her trips to one of the First World countries. Her visit and activities in that country were elaborately reported, but all the electronic and print media in that country diplomatically omitted the story about her missing bag. What's the need singing about it, telling the world that a visitor to their country lost her bag at the airport when such a thing could have happened elsewhere, when bag snatching is not peculiar to them? It was better to drum about the grand reception given to her, which may have made up for her lost bag.
I listened to Prof Akunyili and saw sense in her reasoning, but I did not immediately take it to heart until sometime later. I was on a bus travelling from Abuja to Owerri. Expectedly, over ninety percent of the passengers on board were of Igbo extraction. The bus was air-conditioned; so the glasses were shut. We got to Onitsha and as usual, hawkers ran around frantically in an effort to display their wares and possibly make some sales. In the process, they tapped at the glasses. One passenger, an Igbo, shouted at them to get off; then to his fellow passengers, he said: "Onitsha is a very terrible place. All these boys are thieves; those wares are just a smokescreen. If you open those glasses, they will snatch your bags and your valuables."
I was shocked beyond words. If an Igbo son could paint such sordid picture about Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Igboland, and Igbo boys who are trying their best through legitimate means to make ends meet in the face of harsh economic realities, then what would people of other ethnic nationalities say? And what about the myriad other good things going on in Onitsha and the quality Onitsha indigenes that are making mark at world stage, like Philip Emeagwali? They play those ones down. The same applies to the larger Nigeria and Nigerians.
One basic truth is that nobody is wholly good. In every land and clime, good people and bad people coexist. Every human being is prone to the basic human vices. There is crime in all the continents of the world. There are corrupt officials in the most advanced countries of the world, including the United States of America. There are prostitutes even in the Vatican. There are beggars even on the streets of New York. (I may not have been there, but Majek Fashek sang about it). There are armed robbers, drug addicts, and petty thieves even in the most developed cities of the world, from Asia to the Pacific, and from Europe to the Americas: Paris, Washington DC, London, Jerusalem Moscow, just name them. But we hardly hear about these negativities, nor are they ever in the front-burner of news items from the cities. Yes, because the presence of bad people in a place does not make the place totally bad. Why then is Nigeria's case different? While other countries play down those negative and ugly aspects of their daily existence and project the good ones, Nigerians play down their strengths and project their weaknesses. Many Nigerians do not see anything good about Nigeria. As far as they are concerned, Nigerians are evil, and there is no remedy to it; that Nigeria can never get it right.
I once read somewhere that the first rule in a Mafia family is: never speak ill about the family. It is the primary responsibility of every member of a Mafia family to protect the name, image, and interest of the family, everywhere, every time, against all odds, and no matter the circumstances. It does not matter whether all the members of the family are cannibals; it is obligatory on each member of the family to defend the family, even at gun-point. Thereafter, the erring member of the family could be cautioned, or even severely dealt with, as the case may be, without letting it out to non-members of the family.
While not extolling the ideals of the Mafia clique, I do sincerely think that there is a lesson in that disposition. A good mother, when she gets complaints about her errant child from an outsider, does not condemn the child before the outsider, but rather says: "I've heard your complaints; I'll ask the child when he comes back". In the same way, if the Rebranding Nigeria Project is intended to create a good image for Nigeria, one way of achieving that is for Nigerians to begin to speak good about Nigeria and Nigerians. Even if we are not doing marvellously well, we must not be the ones to advertise before the world how poorly we are performing. Just imagine a situation where a man's first son goes to court to witness against his father in a murder case, knowing fully well that his father would be sent to life imprisonment or given a death sentence.
Finally, so much as we try not to speak ill of Nigeria and Nigerians, let us also try to do away with negative attitudes and embrace positive ones, eschew those characteristics for which the international community brands Nigeria evil, and live out qualities that would make Nigeria fully acceptable and accepted as an equal player in the comity of nations. When this is done, the Rebranding Nigeria Project would become a success story. Nigeria: good people, great nation!
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