Aside from the vexed issue of Niger Delta agitation, another recurrent issue in Nigeria today is the rebranding project of Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili. To her, re-branding is a must if the country is to be taken seriously. The re-branding train on Tuesday 26 May moved to Kwara State courtesy of the Special Assistant to Governor Bukola Saraki on Youth Affairs, Alhaji Nasir Subair.
Declaring open the one-day symposium on “Youth As Veritable Tool in Re-Branding Nigeria: The Kwara Home Front Approach,” Governor Bukola Saraki aligned himself with the Minister that re-branding Nigeria is a must if the country must achieve not only Vision 2020 but also the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. To Saraki, it is not a question of whether Nigeria should initiate or resuscitate a national re-branding campaign or not, but rather how such a campaign should be managed and guided to achieve the desired result. “The only alternative to re-branding is to continue to walk about without a sense of national pride and let other people define how we see ourselves. The only alternative to re-branding is to accept that we are only a nation of scammers, corrupt people, ‘419ners’, and drug peddlers. The only alternative to re-branding is to accept that there is nothing good about us as a nation,” the governor argued.
He opined that now is the time for Nigerians to start telling their our own stories and defining their essence as a people. While agreeing that the re-orientation and re-branding to change people’s perception about Nigerians and Nigeria should be aggressively pursued, he said it was about time the nation’s potentials, greatness and abundant natural and human resources are showcased to the entire world. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Chief Joel Afolabi Ogundeji, recalled that when he took office in 2003, the state was completely under siege while violence, cultism and thuggery reigned supreme among the youths in the state. He said the first priority of his administration was to change that atmosphere, which was antithetical to progress and socio-economic development, realising that no investors or businessmen would be interested in coming to a state where those vices exist. Saraki said: “Today, we have not only succeeded in repairing this bad image, but also re-branded Kwara youths. We have succeeded in building their capacity and making them the engine room for creativity, productivity and excellence.”
In her speech, which was delivered by the General Manager, Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, Ilorin, Mr. Thomas Gyang, the Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, while describing the idea of using the youths as the peg for this re-branding campaign in Kwara State as dynamic and progressive, opined that the youths in any country represent one of the most important target groups critical to the success of any policy or initiative. She said: “Indeed, the future of Nigeria rests on its youth and we must on all fronts and places search continually for ways of encouraging them, mentoring them, educating them and improving their lives thereby preparing them for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”
– Report By Stephen Oni.
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