Given her passion, zest and commitment to assignments, the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, cannot be said to be afraid of challenges. With an enviable pedigree, she has succeeded where others failed. But, will she succeed this time in the uphill task of re-branding Nigeria? She provides all the answers in this interview with Sunday Sun. Excerpts:

Why would anyone re-brand Nigeria?

Thank you for the question. When people see that some products, for example, consumables or other ones are no longer popular, they re-formulate, re-package, re-brand and here we are talking about just a product. And if people re-package, re-brand such product so as to be more acceptable, one wonders why we cannot our country, Nigeria. Is our country not more important than any product? We know that Nigeria is not an enviable brand. If it is not and we need to do something about it, we need to systematically do something that can change the brand for the better. And there is no other thing that can change it for the better, no other name than to re-brand it.


In the case of Nigeria, when we say re-branding, it is not the ground slogan. We are talking about total re-orientation; from the ordinary Nigerians to groups, to communities, for us to imbibe a new spirit of patriotism, a new spirit of doing things right, a new spirit of abhorring corruption and following the rule of law and paying attention to details in whatever we do in this country. If we are working, we do our work well. If you are a leader, you lead well; if you are an ordinary citizen, be a good follower. In so doing, we are going to start changing the current situation where it appears there is some sort of confusion in the system where people behave anyhow. It will be good if we are able to get it right and re-enact our beautiful cultural values. Combination or re-orientation and bringing back our cultural values together would actually put us in a better light as citizens to project ourselves better to the outer world.

When we talk about this re-branding, it has to get hand in hand with government delivering to the person; that’s delivering democracy dividends. Democracy dividends are now becoming a very unacceptable cliché. Well, government is doing its own bit for the people (and) at the same time fighting corruption. All these can actually come together to give us a new Nigeria that we all deserve - when the world sees that Nigeria is changing, the citizens are changing for the better, there is a re-orientation of people to behave better, there is cultural revival and government is doing its work, and citizens are becoming good followers. And with them professing positively, because right now we profess negatively. You need to hear a Nigerian talk down Nigeria, you will start wondering if he has another country. So, with these things, I believe we can come together to present us better to ourselves.


We have a basic problem of trust in this country; we don’t believe ourselves anymore in the country. A typical Nigerian does not believe in him or herself; does not believe in his fellow Nigerians, talk down on the country, on everybody and looks for every negative thing to talk about. We are not saying we don’t have negative stories that shouldn’t be told, no. What we are saying is that we should stress on the positive and play down on the negative, because a cup can be half full and a cup can be half empty; the same cup. One is saying something positive while the other is saying something negative. I prefer to say that Nigeria’s cup is half empty and we can work out to fill it. I’m too optimistic about this country. I believe in this country and I don’t want to lose hope or hear anybody say hope is lost. If hope is lost, why are we alive? I still want to feel my children have a country that they can call their own; a country, citizenship they can take to the bank. Right now you and I cannot take Nigerian citizenship to the bank; it’s not a good thing. Nobody is happy about it, and do we just fold our hands and continue crying and grudging or getting angry that there’s no light, no road?


What I feel as the chief image maker of this country is let us start to do what we can do on our own. As we are doing it, even our leaders will be watching to see that something is happening. After all, did we have extra roads when we had War Against Indiscipline (WAI)? We surprised ourselves the way Nigerians behaved. We were orderly, focused, (and) we had a deep sense of community. All in a period of few months, everybody got focused to behave better, to do things the right way. So, this re-branding is a necessity and if we don’t do it now, in future, the name Nigeria will be a liability to all of us because it is becoming a liability. People are skeptical.

What kind of misconceptions about re-branding Nigeria?

People, like you said, a lot of them have given up; they don’t even know where you have to start. We are now appealing to everyone not to give up, because giving up is not the answer. Giving up to what? Give up just to complain? We must be doing something as long as we are alive. What we are saying is very simple, its not rocket science. Let us believe in ourselves; that’s the first thing. Let us stop running down ourselves and our country. Let us change our behaviour and attitude. Let the leaders lead well and the followers follow well. And let us project ourselves positively, because if you talk negatively, you project negative energy, vice versa.


There are good beautiful places in this country; we have good and educated people in different callings. Why can’t we talk about them? Do you know Nigeria is a country where if somebody discovers something, Nigerians will be quick to say it’s not true? So, I feel that this re-branding is even more important than any physical infrastructure because it is critical and fundamental to our national development. If we have all the roads in Nigeria and we have 24-hour electricity supply, it’s fantastic, but it won’t make foreigners come into the country. They will still have it on their websites all over the world that Nigeria should not be visited because it’s not safe.


That statement alone has nullified any good we might have had on ground. We are going to get some comfort with electricity and good road network but when we have the whole world portraying us as criminals and as a country where nothing works, we are unsafe; a country where you are killed before leaving the airport. So, what social amenities we put on ground will not actually impress anyone outside. We may benefit from it but it won’t get us out of the woods. What will get us out of the woods is as we are working on these infrastructural facilities, we also start making conscious efforts to change our behavior. I keep emphasizing it, because if we don’t change our behaviour and we are re-branding, it will be like re-packaging a product without changing the content. So, the content is us, the re-packaging is the totality of the re-branding.


You wonder why? All other countries keep re-branding themselves and the re-branding we are talking about is a continuous process, not something we start today and finish next week and is over. It can last for another 30 years; the longer it lasts, the better it gets. Angola for instance is just out of war, 21 years war and is still suffering from abject poverty with their re-branding. No matter how bad things are inside Angola, basically they have told the world they believe in themselves. Look at even Israel, they have been in war of struggling to have their nation state, yet they are re-branding. The ambassador of Israel came to my office to show me the document of their re-branding process.


Do you know that South Africa has more criminal record than Nigeria? In South Africa, it’s difficult to walk on the street with your bag without clutching it. But South Africa has re-branded and is still re-branding. Did they say without the crime, they will not re-brand? There are so many challenges in South Africa; some of them are even shameful to talk about. This is a place where a Vice President would tell the world he slept with a prostitute. If they have gone so low, I imagine that Nigeria is even better than them because I don’t see a Nigerian President or Vice-President making such a statement. They are as low as that but they are re-branding.


From the airports in India, you start seeing clubs; but it is incredible Indian. This is the picture that is presented to the world. It is their perfection that is reality, perfection is everything; India is saying they are incredible and when you watch your television set you think what you see in India is India. Indians are still killing their baby girls, still terminating pregnancies because they are girls; people starve in their villages, people pick food in the streets in India. The type of poverty I saw in India, I have never seen in all my life; yet it is incredible India. Go to the U.S. where a little boy will pick up a gun and shoot children in the classrooms, shoot teachers. In God they trust; they still feel very proud of themselves. I wouldn’t have known there are places like the kind of dungeons I saw there.


That brings me to our media. We should be reporting responsively as much as possible. These people wouldn’t have shown us those places if not for (Hurricane) Katrina. There was no way they could hide it because it couldn’t show part of the hurricane and not show those parts. And that was where people lived, in God’s own country. Look at South America; we have the drug barons even taking their government to ransom. But they are still the tourist destination because of the way they present themselves. So, we in Nigeria, no matter the challenges, should simultaneously re-present ourselves better.


Do you know that all over the world, when you visit a book shop, airport, you see pictures from China, South Africa, Kenya and other countries, but you can never see picture of anything on Nigeria, not one. Don’t we have the Yankari (Games Reserve), tourist centres all over this country? Don’t we have waterfalls and so on? There are lots of these re-branded countries being shown on CNN where you just see hills, mountains and grass; we have so many of them here. I want us to start telling our stories by ourselves. It can work but it is only a matter of time. We have had enough, been run down enough and also run ourselves down enough. People don’t even give us benefit of doubt. Go to some airports and see what is happening to Nigerians, then you know that this re-branding is critical. We are asked to stand aside, treated like common criminals. People hide their green passports. How long shall we do that?

There’s so much to do but what is the starting point?

We have been branded so many times in the past; the last was Heart of Africa. We have not recorded the desired success, so we decided to do things in a different way. The starting point of doing it differently was to get it to the people. We make it home-grown, get Nigerians involved, have ownership of the branding. I now reason, how do we make Nigerians have ownership of the branding? Let the branding be their own, so, they can brand it. This is because I have seen Nigerians in my work with NAFDAC. It happened with war against fake drugs. Every Nigerian became a NAFDAC staff in one way or the other. Nigerians took that fight over and there was no hiding place for the fake drug perpetrators. That was what informed the competition we had in February, in which we had the Nigerian peoples’ forum.


I don’t believe in public/private partnership. It’s an internationally accepted arrangement but I believe in the public/private people’s policies because we are talking about the people who are the majority. So, if we have public/private people’s partnership and Nigerian people bring this logo and slogan through a competition, it becomes their own and automatically becomes their own and gives them the ownership. And if they believe in it, it will sink into our conscience. It will fire us up; not the logo and slogan that will re-brand us. There’s something that we all can hold on to. The American can die holding up his national flag instead of giving it up. Let us equally hold something. Yes, we want something different that we can boast of.

How do we hand over this passion to a hungry man? How does it go with hunger and how does hunger work with patriotism?

You see, whether we are hungry or not, we still have to do what we should do. I told you the kind of hunger and poverty I saw in India. Despite this, they still tell the world they are incredible Indians. They haven’t said or talked about those Indians picking rubbish in the streets. I’m not saying I would feel comfortable for people living in hunger, no. I’m saying poverty is something that never can be eradicated but we can work on it to ensure that people have the basic necessities. I will feel happier if everybody around me is comfortable and feeding well. But we are living in an imperfect world, it may never really happen the way we really wanted it. But as Nigerians will say, let’s move on. The Ministry of Agriculture is doing its own bit of making sure we produce enough food.


The point I’m making is that if we want to get everything right before we start re-branding, it means we will never re-brand. Why is it that other countries did not wait until they get everything right before they started re-branding? Why is Angola re-branding with all the ruins of war and poverty? It is because they know that the way the world perceives them is critical to their even surviving from the ruins of war. If people start feeling comfortable with Nigerians, there will be an influx of businessmen and women that would like to come and do business here. If they come, that’s how our growth will start booming and the seven-point agenda will start getting attention.

It means there must be change both in our leaders and the following. How are we going to get our leaders; the governors, the ministers to do exactly what would make the people think that there is a change?

You see, everybody has a conscience. Even criminals have conscience. That’s why they have to smoke marijuana and take alcohol before they go to rob. They know if they don’t take those things, their conscience will not allow them operate the way they would have wanted. So, the ministers, the leaders we are talking about are also watching what is going on on this re-branding. If we as Nigerians agree and key into this project, the corrupt and bad people that are denting us will have unsettled conscience.

This thing is going to be a movement. I want it to move from campaign to movement. If we continue talking about it and we mean it, before you know it, it will be on the lips of everybody that we must change. We need to present ourselves better, just like (the) fake drugs (campaign). At a time, in the last few years, awareness became so high about anti-fake drugs. This re-branding is even a war fighting corruption because we are now going to be talking about everything. What we want to do is to start having meetings with the mini-stakeholders in the states.


When we travel to a state like Bauchi, the House of Assembly members in Bauchi and the National Assembly members will go with us. All those representatives of the people will stand by me and tell their people what they are doing for them in government. While I’m telling them about what government is doing for that state, the people from that state would also tell their people individually, because the Ministers are representing that state, the Senators are also representing them. They should tell the people what they are doing for them. So it’s a way of being accountable to your people. In that mini-stakeholders meeting, we would also be able to get from those people what they feel about government. So, there would be feedback on both sides.

Don’t we expect some kind of resistance, putting Ministers, Reps and Senators on the spot?

Well, if anybody resists, it is easy. Even without me saying a word, the people from that state would know that their son or daughter does not want to come and give account of himself. We don’t expect a gang-up in the leadership sector. When I’m doing some thing, I can be single-minded when I know that I’m doing the right thing. In this case, I’m sure that what we are doing is correct. We want to be able to reach out to the people. We want to be talking with the people; we don’t want the communication that has opened to ever die. It has opened; even this criticism, support and all that are healthy. So, if you we to a state and the Minister or Senator from that state has nothing to tell them than just message, let the grassroots people tell us what to tell the government. It’s going to involve many things. It is holistic; it’s not just one thing. You cannot say it is an attitudinal change or say it is providing infrastructural facilities or say it’s just the way we present ourselves. It is inter-connected but we can easily synchronize everything and work towards evolving a new Nigeria, a new image for ourselves.

You have said this thing is going to take 30 years or more?

No, we are not giving ourselves time limit but it’s an on-going thing. Re-branding is a continuous process.

What is the Nigeria of your dream? How do you see the education sector or health system, considering where we are coming from? What are we set out to change and what do we expect as results?

Nigeria of my dream is a situation where people will start believing in themselves and in their country. People will shed that doubt. People will learn to nurture Nigeria as a baby; will believe in Nigeria so much that they would never think of running down this country; a country and a future where everybody will be telling people our own story and start reporting the positives in this country and the negatives being reported responsibly. A country where our leaders will know their job, that the position of leadership is so sacred that when we don’t do what we are supposed to do for our followers, it’s actually a sin. Also where followers make themselves amenable to be led (and) become good citizens. A Nigeria where our children will hold their passports in the airport and nobody will humiliate them, I hope it will happen in our life-time. We keep working; I’m optimistic and I refuse to be deterred. I’m very hopeful and I pray that people will bear the strength with me, because if we lose the chance of re-branding Nigeria today, we may never muster the courage anymore and it means we are handing to our children a country, like I said before, they cannot take to the bank.

You mentioned something like WAI. Are we going to have uniformed people who will enforce some changes and new attitudes?

No, we don’t believe in that, because during the War Against Indiscipline, we didn’t have anybody in the street pushing us to stand on the queue. It’s a matter of we Nigerians keying into what you ask them to do and believing in it. Remember that even though it was a military era, the military people did not stand around to make us stand on queues. People on their own started standing on queues. But when you throw away anything in the street, people shout WAI and you pick it. That’s why I said we surprised ourselves. We saw a new Nigeria, orderly people, more responsive, having sense of community, (and) focused. I don’t remember anybody waking us in Enugu then.


I believe this movement will get to a point where even little children in Nigeria will be saying we are good people, this is a great nation. And as good people, we should try to behave better, and realizing how great this nation is, do everything to retain the greatness. That is the spirit. It’s like a spiritual revival. Maybe I’m getting too ambitious about it but I’m confident. We have no reason not to believe in ourselves because we are intelligent people.


So the question is, what is really wrong with us? We have put ourselves down for so long that we are getting stuck in it; outsiders are putting us down. It’s like you start calling a child a stupid child. After so many years, the child will be feeling really stupid. I think we have gotten to that point. But we are not stupid, criminals or fraudsters and our country is a beautiful country. The challenges, I believe by the grace of God will be addressed by various private establishments and even the public sector. I said we are going to do this thing differently because we are not hoping on government funding. We are looking at sourcing money from the private sector and from good-spirited Nigerians. We also will publish what we spent two times a year to the last kobo.


Nigerians are great people, great volunteering spirit. We (have) had our re-branding campaign flag-off. Bongos Ikwue and Idris Abdulkareem came and performed free. They are supposed to be paid millions but each of them called and volunteered to come. I wanted to call Onyeka Onwenu to come, but she had already volunteered to come perform for free. It’s just that the committee had accepted that these people would come. They felt bringing in a third musician may not fit into the programme because of time. That tells you the kind of people we have in this country. We are not saying it for saying sake but because Nigerians are good people.

What are you doing about Nigerians in the Diaspora and what they have brought to the image of the country?

It’s not just the name they brought on the country. Nigerians in the Diaspora are the worst when it comes to bad mouthing Nigeria. When you hear Nigerians overseas talk about Nigeria, you will weep for this country. I have asked a few of them if they have another country they can call their own. They don’t know that each time they talk down the country, they are diminishing themselves and running down the ordinary Nigerian. They also forget that every Nigerian in Diaspora is an ambassador. We have over 17 million Nigerians in the Diaspora. In fact, in this re-branding committee, we have one representative of the Diaspora and are prepared to have a second person. We need them to be represented. Imagine 17 million people out of our population in Nigeria! It is a significant percentage. Some Nigerians in Diaspora have brought us bad names but some of them have done very well. Doctor Nelson lives in Abuja and as soon as he announced his discovery, Nigerians went on air. Newspapers said he was lying. Because we don’t believe that anything good can come out from here.


As Nigerians are saying he is lying, an American company had signed an MoU with him. At a time when we should be joyful that our brother had discovered something, we were saying it’s not possible because diabetes has no cure. Many years ago, do we have drugs like antibiotic? Its gradually we are getting cure for certain things in this country. Drug that is for the cure of sickle cell was developed and formulated by NIPRID in conjunction with a company from Nigeria. I never saw it in any newspaper. If an American had developed the cure for sickle cell, which is marketed today, it would have been on CNN from morning till night. If Doctor Nelson were to be an American or Ghanaian, it would also have been on CNN. Why would CNN pick it when Nigerians came out to say he was lying? This is a man that had his PhD. and competed with foreigners in foreign land. So, why would you say he cannot discover something? It’s all about the image problem and the way we are perceived here.

Depends in which countries. Nigerians in Anglo Saxon based nations (US, Canada, Britain) are generally well behaved and achieve high social status within a generation.

Nigerian refugees in mainland Europe's Germany, Austria, Italy, etc are quite a threat to our "brand" (if thats what we wanna call it).

sure premadona, blame it on the faceless individual outside our shores and ignore those within.

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.

Akinyuli is making noise for her master, President Yar A'dull. The govt is using Prof. Akinyuli and her 'political credit' with average Nigerians especially her very good work when she was at NAFDAC.

The truth is that until Prof. Akinyuli get her boss to rebrand anr repackage himself and the people leading us, I can almost guarrantee that her effort will wasted.

I think prof Akinyuli has started to drink bigstouting, peppersuyaing etc in Abuja and that has begining to affect her judgement and reasoning.

She should visit any of the Nigerian embassies abroad, she will see how our ministries and govt offices function. Blaming the images of Nigeria on diasporans is like blaming the child for the ill of the father.

I have said it before and I 'll say it again, when a father smoke weeds, don't be surprised when child smoke cigarette.

The problem of Nigeria, and the success or failure of branding or repackaging lies with our leaders, they are the principal people who tarnish the brand.

I am sorry for Prof. Akinyuli, she is looking at the wrong place for the problem, and so she is unlikely to find the solutions. Children always look at their fathers/parents.

Our president promised 7 NO POINT AGENDA, and has not deliver 1 POINT AGENDA, how can he ask people to stop lieing.

I, like millions of Nigerians love Prof. Akinyuli but this time she has not only go too far but looking at the wrong people to blame for the problem with Nigeria. infact the people in diaspora are the one's that are able to give an honest assessment of how our govt is doing in comparision to what they see elsewhere, and we are thousand of miles behind in our potential.

If you go to Abuja and live in govt quarters as Minister or asst everything is rosy but not so in other part of the country and for those that lives abroad.

Anyway, in 2-4 years prof. Akinyuli will remember the popular saying ' IF YOU PUT A LIPSTICK ON A PIG, ITS STILL A PIG'

We need re-orientation from the root, and not window dressing. DIVERSION 2020 FOR 2011 ELECTIONS is all what the govt is planning. Nigerians are now far smarter than Yar A'dull and his team.

This Akunyili woman is just a complete disappointment,,all her children resides and school in the US,,,where does she get the money 2 pay for thier tuition?I also hope are children are part of the problems,,,Imagine her statement,,,

who get time to read all that crap

I was told she use to be born again before.

Can somebody tell her, that those of us he call the worst enermy put into the nigeria banking system last years N1120 billion And she claim we are bad people.

I think Yar adua should remove her. If she can not respect those abroad who put in N1120 billion. So she is better than us abi.

And she want us who she claim is bad to help her and her government ki. What she does not know that we determine investment and rating of nigeria. It is the information we give that bring investment or block it. make she continue to curse us.

I think we are taking this thing wrongly. The press will always be good at their thing, using an antention catching headline even when it does not stack-up with the content of the story. The woman said many things in the interview but the press could not find any appealing headline other than "Nigerians Abroad Our Worst Enemy". Even looking at what the woman said, there is big difference between the two sentences. The woman said Nigerians in the Diaspora are the worst when it comes to bad mouthing Nigeria, which, to me, is true and logical. She didnt said Nigerians in diasporan are responsible for nigeria woes.

An average nigerian in diaspora, having seeing how organised things works in abroad, baffled by the dire situation in nigeria and as result tends to criticice the govt more than two times than those at home.

Even though i disagree with this rebranding thingy, there are some point i have to agree with in that interview. We need to start appreciating our own things.We might not believe in the govt anymore but things like nature, our own profsRebranding has to start from nigeria leaders not from the hungry man on the street (you can not expect a nigerian gaduate who is wardering the street looking for job to be telling the world all is well). Govt should put food on the table for nigerian, give them better life and prove to them they that there is hope for them, then they can see Nigerian shouting "Good People Great Nation" ten times even when is suppose to be once.

I think we are taking this thing wrongly. The press will always be good at their thing, using an antention catching headline even when it does not stack-up with the content of the story. The woman said many things in the interview but the press could not find any appealing headline other  than "Nigerians Abroad Our Worst Enemy". Even looking at what the woman said, there is big difference between the two sentences. The woman said Nigerians in the Diaspora are the worst when it comes to bad mouthing Nigeria, which, to me, is true and logical. She didnt said Nigerians in diasporan are responsible for nigeria woes.
       
           An average nigerian in diaspora, having seeing how organised things works in abroad, baffled  by the dire situation in nigeria and as result tends to criticice the govt more than two times than those at home.
       
           Even though i disagree with this rebranding thingy, there are some point i have to agree with in that interview.  We need to start appreciating our own things. We might not believe in the govt anymore but things like nature, our culture, our own profs. etc needs to be cherished and appreciated.
     
          Rebranding has to start from nigeria selfish and corrupt leaders not from the hungry man on the street (you can not expect a nigerian gaduate who is wardering the street looking for job to be telling the  world nigeria is a great nation). Govt should put food on the table for nigerians, give them better life and prove to them they that there is hope for them, then they can see Nigerian shouting "Good People Great Nation" ten times even when is suppose to be once.

The only people interested in keeping Nigeria together are it leaders as it citizens or followers are completely disfranchised

What Akunyili said is the real truth of the matter. We all know that we have issues but all countries do. We are so fast to bring our own issues to the limelight. The good ol' saying of not washing dirty linens outside means that lines do definitely get dirty but gets dirtier when it is washed outside.
An example is sombody like *comfort looking for all crime stories in Nigeria and bringing it to the forefront without ever looking for something good in Nigeria. He or she wakes daily and searches all nigerian news for creepy things with main reference to Abia state (I am not from Abia), we should ask ourselves what is the intention of such a creepy and weird entity in an international forum like Nairaland.
Such sadist's like he or she should be rebranded. My 2C

Nigerians in the Diaspora, Nigeria's worst enemies?

Well, I've heard people in government making these kind of remarks in the past and I feel unusually energized to say something about this.

No Nigerian within the borders of our homeland can claim to love Nigeria more that those of us in the Diaspora. Frank Iweke (Jnr) sang the same tune while he was globe-trottling with his Heart of Africa project and Now, 1.25 billion naira after, we all know what came out of it.

I was in the same hall on the 24th of February, 2007 when Mr. Nweke spoke so sweetly to a listening audience of Nigerians in Houston about the need to clean up the image of Nigeria. Eventhough, a few people in the audience thought it was another opportunity to waste the resources so badly needed to fix things back home, majority still gave the then minister of information listening ears. Is it not wise then, to put on the table how 1.25 billion naira was spent of this similar exercise and the corresponding result?

Why do our leaders always act in such a way as to suggest that Nigerians are all fools? In other places, you don't just sweep a major project under the carpet and come up with another one and expect people to applaud.

If Nigerians in the Diaspora are the worst critics of Nigerian governments (emphasized), it is because they have become enlightened to see life differently.

No doubt, Nigeria is country whose image have been heavily battered and can use some image make-over. But are the negative things said about us all wrong? You don't treat eczema by applying make up over it. Are our leaders corrupt, or not? Are our people suffering in the midst of aboundace, or not?

A good business manager would tell you good branding starts with the product itself, not the packaging. Take Lagos. Three years ago, Osodi was depicted in an ABC documentary as one of the worst places on earth. But today, the transformation of Osodi is not only a pride to Lagos but the whole of Nigeria. A demonstration of who we are, if only we put the right people in government.

While, I hold Prof Akinyuli in high esteeem for her patriotic work at NAFDAC, I believe the Rebranding idea was designed to smare her record. Up till today, we still have people in government acquring choice estates in major US cities and other parts of the worls with money stolen out of Nigeria while our people back home can not boast of something close to decent living.

I know those who want to blind-fold us would say there's no country in the world where there is no corruption. I agree. But what they fail to tell us is that, more people get away with looting in Nigeria than in other decent societies we like to emulate. It is only in our land that people with serious corruption allegations are recycled from government to government. In other societies, people resigns their appointments in dignity. But loots in Nigeria will sit tight and fight to the finish, alwas claiming to do it in the interest of the people.

Rather than making sweeping remarks at Nigerians in the Diaspora, Nigerian leaders should demonstrate genuine love for our land and our people by talking less and acting more in making life worth living for Nigerians.

I guess my point is: the prof and her team should begin the rebrading idea at the door steps of these people.

I have spoken.

Tunde Akinloye (Houston, Texas, USA)

kai! Can this really be the Dora that we all use to love? I'm beginning to doubt. . .

@topic,

I can see she is learning well the politics of Obama.  Divert attention from your inadequacies by creating a class warfare.  Either pit the rich against the poor, wall street against mainstreet or in this case, Nigerians-in-Nigeria (NINs) against the Nigerians-in-Diaspora (NIDs).  This war was fought before on nairaland, and just like Biafra, the ghost won't go way.  Check out this site please: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-72759.0.html

REAL TRUTH:

This Akunyili woman is just a complete disappointment,,all her children resides and school in the US,,,where does she get the money 2 pay for thier tuition?I also hope are children are part of the problems,,,Imagine her statement,,,

i hope you know dora akunyili was already made even before she became NAFDAC boss and subsequently minister for information. Get your facts right son.

**osisi:

who get time to read all that crap

Bad Girl

Becomrrich:

I was told she use to be born again before.

Can somebody tell her, that those of us he call the worst enermy put into the nigeria banking system last years N1120 billion And she claim we are bad people.

I think Yar adua should remove her. If she can not respect those abroad who put in N1120 billion. So she is better than us abi.

And she want us who she claim is bad to help her and her government ki. What she does not know that we determine investment and rating of nigeria. It is the information we give that bring investment or block it. make she continue to curse us.

I never really thought that a day will come when I will agree with Becomerich on any sort of issue. But his statement above is totally and accurately spot on.  Dora Akunyilli has become that innocent/ clean goat that join dirty dogs on a trip and eventually eating the rubbish goats are not use to.  She has forgotten she lived abroad for many years before she came back to become a minister and also demanded her salary in dollars for a start.
As we speaks, all her children are living and going to schools abroad and probably all her cash both legitimate and otherwise are starched in foreign banks.  When she is sick, she can afford to go to hospital abraod and not the one that doesn't exist in her local govt council.

She can afford to lecture us about re-branding Nigeria.  An ungrateful goon!!!!!
She should phone and ask Okonjo Iweala of World Bank, what the money those living aboard sent every year to Nigeria meant to the Nigerian economy. I for one don't know what several members of my family will do if I failed to send money home in three months. World Bank estimated that an average Nigerian abroad will send not less than £2000 home annually and that is just an average estimate.

Mrs Re-branding Nigeria should tell the world how much her re-branding is costing the Nigeria people and unaccounted for?  How the Obasanjo and Frank Nweke own re-branding campaign fared?  She is serving an illegitimate unelected government and has the gut to lecture people about re-branding. She should start with her boss.  Yar Adua, a useless, waste of space of a president that knew nothing from his left to his right hand. She should re-brand PDP that believed in rigging elections as the only avenue to power.

Those abroad fled because Nigeria failed them and owes Nigeria nothing and Nigeria should be grateful for the contribution they had made toward their annual GDP while the likes of Dora share the oil money among themselves.  Dora was comparing her so called re-branding to that of a commodity but she forgot that when a commodity is re-branded, it is not just the label outside that commodity that gets a face lift but the quality of the actual product inside is massively improved.  When she and her friends in govt stop looting Nigerian treasury and banking the proceed abroad, stopping stealing  people’s mandate at the ballot box, stops extra judicial killings, then she can lecture about anything.

OMO IBO:

i hope you know dora akunyili was already made even before she became NAFDAC boss and subsequently minister for information. Get your facts right son.

are you implying that our Chief Re-Brander cannot rebrand Nigerian schools by bringing her children to Nigerian universities. Is it a good rebranding strategy to have every for every llocal chairman, commisioner and minister sending their children abroad (i am sure the children of the education minister are abroad). Add to this is the Rebranding of our hospitals by the fact that every headache, Diarrhoea and malaria is treated abroad.

Although i am home based, i can say that the only good brand we have are Nigerians in diaspora, they are the only group giving nigeria a good image. And i am sure a lot of them would have come to make positive contributions at home, if they not frustrated by polititians back home. I know for a fact that Diende Fernandez wanted to make some major contribution to his fatherland, but was frustrated by the last administration.

wirinet:

are you implying that our Chief Re-Brander cannot rebrand Nigerian schools by bringing her children to Nigerian universities. Is it a good rebranding strategy to have every for every llocal chairman, commisioner and minister sending their children abroad (i am sure the children of the education minister are abroad). Add to this is the Rebranding of our hospitals by the fact that every headache, Diarrhoea and malaria is treated abroad.

Although i am home based, i can say that the only good brand we have are Nigerians in diaspora, they are the only group giving nigeria a good image. And i am sure a lot of them would have come to make positive contributions at home, if they not frustrated by polititians back home. I know for a fact that Diende Fernandez wanted to make some major contribution to his fatherland, but was frustrated by the last administration.

what has rebranding Nigeria got to do with where ones children study? i can answer that question for you, . . . . . . . . . .ZILCH!

you cannot deny the fact that we all want the best things in life and studying at the best or better higher institutions is one of them. She could afford to send her children abroad to study even before to became NAFDAC boss. so the question of bringing her children back to Nigeria does not cut it. if Nigerian institutions were any better i doubt she'd have done that. and the same can be said about most of us who are outside the shores of Nigeria.


Why are are we against rebranding NIgeria? This woman single handedly sanitized NAFDAC. why is the Nigerian image any big a deal?
I personallydont give a rats ass what is being rebranded but i'd give her a chance based on her record at NAFDAC

i think this includes her husband and children coz they aint in Nigeria, and besides - charity begins at home ( a word is enogh for a wise on this).

On a lighter note, the second highest source of foreign exchange earning in nigeria is money sent in by Nigerians abroad, so, how are these pple working their arse out in order to send money home Nigera's enemy -is it because the money doesnt go to politicians via the govt coffers!!! stilll wondering

Those critisizing what she has said whould please take a few mins and actually READ THE POST! Stop reading headlines before jumping to conclusion! Like those Free Readers Association of Nigeria under Ojuelegba bridge.

What she has said is no different from what we have seen and see everyday on Nairaland. Nigerians outside Nigeria forget that we are ambassadors of our great country. Whatever we say has a great effect and even more effect than Nigerians back home because we speak to people from all over the world on a daily basis. It is irresponsible of any Nigerian outside Nigeria to speak bad of his/her country especially to a non Nigerian but unfortunately, this is what we do everyday.

I think we should read what Dora has said and attack the issues and not the persnality.

Although Prof Akunyili pointed out some truths in her discussions, there are certain things that will never aid Nigeria in this rebranding exercise. NEVER!

She spoke of poverty in India, war in Angola and a VP in South Africa, confessing that he slept with a prostitute. Does she recognize that Nigeria has a very bad image around the world? These countries she mentioned have been able to manage these negative events because they are not the TOTALLITY of what those countries are known for. They have a lot of other things that overshadow these negative things that happen to them. This is unlike Nigeria, where we are at the bottom of the most corrupt list. We are nearer the bottom of the 'poorest countries in the world' list, than the top. We have among the highest number of people seeking asylum in other parts of the world. Most countries in the world (including our fellow Africans) are on the lookout for Nigerians [green passport holders] entering their countries etc.

Does she know what india is contributing to the world? India not only has some of the richest and most enterprising people in the world, but the largest companies too. Talk of Tata, WIPRO, Infosys, Mittal Steel etc, Reliance industries etc. To put these in perspective, either of these companies can buy All Adenuga's investments + Dangote + Otedola put together (if you consider that Otedola and Dangote put together are valued at under 6billion USD and these indian guys (Ambani 10.1 billion, Mittal 19.3 billion, Ambani 19.5 billion)  are considered to be much more internationally focussed and relevant.

Secondly, we do not have a proper level of infrastructure maturity, e.g. our roads are poor, we do not have any electricity, we dont have any water, our airports are poorly maintained and so on. Our universities and schools are not performing well. We do not have one university that is considered to be among the top 500 in the world. What of our environment? Apart from places like Abuja, Ikoyi, V/I etc etc, our environment is poorly maintained. Buildings are not painted, streets are dirty and dry - with dust and dirt all over the place.

Rebranding Nigeria should not start from her, but from the President and his cronies first. Shebi even bible talk say oil will first flow down from the head to the rest of the body - abi? If the head is rotten, the rest of the body cannot function.

Epiphany, you are probably the first person on this thread who will attack issues and not personality and I respect you for that.

I also agree with sme of your points and will wish to say a few things:

1. I agree that rebranding should start from the top. The whole rebranding exercise should start from the President. But we all know who our president is and we know his croonies and the thieves around him. I am trying to put myself in Dora's shoes. I don't know her from Adam but Im trying to give her the benefit of doubt based on her work from NAFDAC. If I was Dora, Il probably be treading the same path. I am sure she knows there are thieves in Government and maybe she even knows one of them is her C-in-C but what can she do? Should she just sit down and fold her hands and do nothing? Should she resign like a lot of people have suggested? Well if I was Dora, I would do exactly what she is doing, I will do my best.
Nigerians need re-orientation. We need to believe in ourselves and have the can do spirit. The reason why a few have continued to destroy our Nation is because the majority have adopted the siddon look spirit. If this rebranding and re-orientation challenge can help us realise that Nigeria belongs to us all, then maybe its worth the effort

2. I also agree that India contributes to the global economy more than we do but think about it, we have started slowly too but surely we will also get there. You mentioned Dangote and Adenuga and Otedola. Years ago, how many people could you mention like that from Nigeria? Maybe none, not even MKO with all due respects. Rebranding should bring up more Nigerian entrepreneurs. The road and journey maybe hard but we can do it. Believe it or not, a lot of Nigerians in Nigeria are doing great things. But the key thing is, we need to believe in ourselves. Dora gave an example of the guy who discovered the cure for diabetes and how Nigerians (even Nairalanders) discredited him. Thats a guy who should be ranked amongst the top 10 most popular people in the world right now. If he was American, he probably will. Some years ago, a Nigerian claimed to have the cure for AIDS, same thing happened to him, we discredited him


Me thinks Nigerians should give Dora a chance. If for nothing at least for her past achievements. Bad leaders cannot be removed on the pages of newpapers or on Nairaland. Bad leaders will be removed when the entire populace realise that the Nation is OUR Nation and not 'their' Nation.

I think the woman made a lot of sense in that interview (the part that I read).

However, we need government to also start showing the way in terms of how we want the rest of the world to percieve us. We need government officials to stop showing such greed and start thinking more about leaving legacies than they think about their pockets.

proudly9ja:

Epiphany, you are probably the first person on this thread who will attack issues and not personality and I respect you for that.

I also agree with sme of your points and will wish to say a few things:

1. I agree that rebranding should start from the top. The whole rebranding exercise should start from the President. But we all know who our president is and we know his croonies and the thieves around him. I am trying to put myself in Dora's shoes. I don't know her from Adam but Im trying to give her the benefit of doubt based on her work from NAFDAC. If I was Dora, Il probably be treading the same path. I am sure she knows there are thieves in Government and maybe she even knows one of them is her C-in-C but what can she do? Should she just sit down and fold her hands and do nothing? Should she resign like a lot of people have suggested? Well if I was Dora, I would do exactly what she is doing, I will do my best.
Nigerians need re-orientation. We need to believe in ourselves and have the can do spirit. The reason why a few have continued to destroy our Nation is because the majority have adopted the siddon look spirit. If this rebranding and re-orientation challenge can help us realise that Nigeria belongs to us all, then maybe its worth the effort

2. I also agree that India contributes to the global economy more than we do but think about it, we have started slowly too but surely we will also get there. You mentioned Dangote and Adenuga and Otedola. Years ago, how many people could you mention like that from Nigeria? Maybe none, not even MKO with all due respects. Rebranding should bring up more Nigerian entrepreneurs. The road and journey maybe hard but we can do it. Believe it or not, a lot of Nigerians in Nigeria are doing great things. But the key thing is, we need to believe in ourselves. Dora gave an example of the guy who discovered the cure for diabetes and how Nigerians (even Nairalanders) discredited him. Thats a guy who should be ranked amongst the top 10 most popular people in the world right now. If he was American, he probably will. Some years ago, a Nigerian claimed to have the cure for AIDS, same thing happened to him, we discredited him


Me thinks Nigerians should give Dora a chance. If for nothing at least for her past achievements. Bad leaders cannot be removed on the pages of newpapers or on Nairaland. Bad leaders will be removed when the entire populace realise that the Nation is OUR Nation and not 'their' Nation.

I think that the need for orientation is our GREATEST NEED. That single job alone will get us out of a lot of the mess we are in today. Also, on the part of Dora doing her best, i dont doubt that. In fact, i think she may be going about her job with the same vigour she had when she was in NAFDAC. My only arguement and fear is that without the cooperation of the president and his cronies, all her efforts may come to naught - which in essence, may tarnish the excellent image she acquired from NAFDAC.

Dora made no point. if the south africa president is sleeping with prostitute, what is my business, are nigerian men better. even pastor adeboye , use to tell us, he did worst. How many africa men have more than one wife. millions, in africa it is not consider a big deal. nobody is a saint here. do you know any saint in nigeria. I dont think i am, i am a sinner save by grace. but the south africa economy is strong. what the man did in his bedroom have nothing to do with thier economy or name.


The issue is that Dora is showing us that she can not work with nigerian abroad. She would rather insult us , and she looks down on us. since we have not be privileges to share in the national cake like she is doing. Is that what she is saying. that what i am hearing from her.


Without nigerian abroad yar adua govt is finished. She is the one who is expected by yar adua to sell nigeria to the international community thru us. And she is insulting us. And you want us to watch , why she continue. I think it is time for her to go home. We need an open apology from this woman or president yar adua should immediately remove her or she resign her office. this should be the last time , we are taken this nonsense from any of you people in nigeria. Your image problem is cause by bad leadership in nigeria. where leaders steal money and send it abroad. Correct what is going on in nigeria, and you would stop having problem. Are we the one sending 419 emails from nigeria. NO, are we the one sending out 419 nigeria telephone number with country code 234. does that look like the USA , UK or canada country code to you. The image problem is with you people in nigeria.


Frank Nweke idea of the heart of africa was a wonderful idea. And i think, nigeria govt should drop Dora idea.

I am a person who have worked with one of the largest television network in north america. we carry over 900 television and radio station on the network.

And i even set up my own network too, which carry radio and television. if the government pays me, i would think i can help, if you know my rule now. yourba and bendle and bayelsa in republic of benin. and i would help you rebrand nigeria. I have connection, she needs. that does not mean i would change my style against the govt.

I think frank nweke idea should be used. The truth is, you can never sell the name nigeria. the name is useless name in business, immigration or anything.

even if you change the name as long as people know it is nigeria. you have problem.

Selling africa and making should that people can see that 1 in 4 africa is a nigerian, that africa is a place to do business. Even by the name nigeria, in

the useless rebranding . noone would listen to you. The heart of africa is a better sell.

People would wait and listen. So how much them want put inside this thing. Let i said without you alter or remove the Yorubas, bendle and bayelsa out of

nigeria and to change the configuration, it would not work. Google as made lies impossible. And what the white people see and hear must be in line with

google earth. Anything less than google earth is not acceptable to the west. they would believe you are telling a lie.

Look google have billion of search a day. and people over here get information from google. And google is saying that nigeria census figure is wrong

indirectly thru thier google earth and no matter how much you waste on rebranding nigeria. it would never work.

Just remove the yoruba,bendle and bayelsa into benin and now form the Nigeria-Benin. makes you look better.

And better too for business.

if you dont believe me. look at the picture. the solid red rectangle look small but do you know , it area coverage is more that the spot of red.

In geography the red spot are scatter villages and the solid red rectagles is a city. When you calculate the area coverage of the rectangles, it is more

than the many red spot.

This is how i know and say what i am saying. science wise the north can never be majority in nigeria. and it also explain why i said the yorubas are about 3

to 4 time as much as the igbos,

If what you have does not follow google earth, the west we never believe you. Look do you know google affect oil prices and stock exchange.

Just remove the yoruba,bendle and bayelsa into benin and now form the Nigeria-Benin. makes you look better. 2 country in 1.

Look i have lived with white people for many years now. they have one weakness that is trust. but when you break that trust, they would find it difficult to

believe you. rebranding nigeria. forget it. Go for the heart of africa project. I have never collect $1 from Frank nweke or anyone before or now to say it.

Even though she pointed out lots of truth in that very long interview gist, I dont see a reason why she should start pointing out the ills of other countries (India, South Africa, Venezuela, etc) to make her point. She could have made a good argument for rebranding Nigeria without necessarily "debranding" some other countries.

proudly9ja:

Those critisizing what she has said whould please take a few mins and actually READ THE POST! Stop reading headlines before jumping to conclusion!

proudly9ja:

I think we should read what Dora has said and attack the issues and not the persnality.

Exactly. . . . I just hate the choice of topics for threads or media headlines . . . . so misleading, and usually diverts attention away from the important issues.

, And Becomrrich attacks again!!

. . . it is too tempting for becomerrich not to leave his signature note behind

OMO IBO:

what has rebranding Nigeria got to do with where ones children study? i can answer that question for you,  . . . . . . . . . .ZILCH!

you cannot deny the fact that we all want the best things in life and studying at the best or better higher institutions is one of them. She could afford to send her  children abroad to study even before to became NAFDAC boss. so the question of bringing her children back to Nigeria does not cut it. if Nigerian institutions were any better i doubt she'd have done that. and the same can be said about most of us who are outside the shores of Nigeria.


Why are are we against rebranding NIgeria? This woman single handedly sanitized NAFDAC. why is the Nigerian image any big a deal?
I personallydont give a rats ass what is being rebranded but  i'd give her a chance based on her record at NAFDAC

You don't seem to understand what re-branding means.
Re-branding something is all about changing the quality, image and how people percieve a particular product, person or a nation. So re-branding Nigeria must then include telling the world that our schools are as good any school in the world, so too is our hospitals. So if they are telling the world this and then send all their kids abroad for their education or jump into Europe or American hosiptals anytime they had even a sneeze, what are they re-branding?

@topic
while i really dont see the rebranding exercise achieving much without the government doing what needs to be done vis avis the 7 point agenda,i think the akunyili woman is right on the way some diasporians dont see anything positive about nigeria,we have them on here in quantum,they will always criticize every single scheme or innovation,and the most positive they can get on any issue concerning nigeria is cautious cynism,im suprised they have not goten here yet to shoot the threadster down in flames

lol @ lucabrasi. . . am sure am thinking the same ppl u are thinking. All those ppl that if they dont make us "know" dat USA is more developed than Nigeria, dem no go rest.