Re- Branding Nigeria

RE-BRANDING NIGERIA: POSERS FOR PROF. AKUNYILI

By

COMRADE ALOYSIUS ATTAH.

Since early February 2009 when our professor of pharmacology turned information minister began her campaign for re-branding Nigeria, many citizens of our “great” nation have aired their views about the ill-fated project. Even though our governments in Nigeria have not been good in utilizing of public opinion, I never took Aunty Dora serious until I read her interview on the Sunday Sun of March 29th 2009.

I felt pity for Dora on her passion for a new Nigeria and was almost hoodwinked by her analogies, but try as much as I could to keep away from writing, my thinking faculty couldn’t let me be.

I asked myself, was Nigeria a brand ab initio? We all know as pa Awo said that Nigeria is a mere geographical expression, the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorate by Lugard in 1914 which later gave birth to Nigeria was an action purely taken on economic considerations and nothing more, many years later after independence, we are still one Nigeria only on lip service and in written papers. The Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa Agenda’s have not ceased to reverberate in our polity.

We’ve witnessed all forms of military dictatorships in Nigeria before the advent of our “democracy” in 1999. During the military era, various slogans and activities were used to re-brand our country, going into the depressing details here will be unnecessary but suffice it to say that the whole measures were complete failures. Nigerians welcomed the civilian administrator in 1999 with exhilarating excitement as the beginning of our moment of glory, the restoration of good leadership and the answer to all the desires of our heart, unfortunately, how wrong we were, our hopes have been dashed by one government after the other for the past ten years.

Now, for us to brand and re-brand our nation, we must tell our selves the truth, we must admit that we have a fundamental problem and thereafter decide to confront our problems headlong so as to achieve solutions. Do we need a soothsayer to tell us that the ruling party is our problem in Nigeria? A political party that is democratic only in the spelling of the word but undemocratic in all its affairs need to be re-branded first before we get things right. The first step to take is for our “selected” leaders to come down and tell us that they have wronged us, admit their failures and resolve to turn a new leaf in order to do things right.

Prof. Akunyili as a card carrying member of the PDP is selling a bad product and therefore cannot succeed in the marketing.

Agreed that she is an Amazon that shone like a never fading star in her fight against fake drug cartels in the country while her stay as NAFDAC DG lasted, but even some of her actions while in the office still left much to be desired.

I still have a copy of a national daily newspaper report where it was revealed that the much publicized assassination attempt on her life in Anambra State was not really so but a shot fired by a security detail attached to her convoy.

Those interested in market politics at Bridge Head Market Onitsha allegedly cashed in on the opportunity and before one could say Jack Robinson, it was all over the news that she has escaped an assassination attempt on her life. In the course of effecting arrest, the prime suspects were arrested alongside some other traders in the market whose offence was that they were met chatting with the targeted people.

The innocent were taken into detention for almost one year, one of the victims, Mr. Attanasius Anyiam was to go to the altar in the next month only to be roped into the mess, the wife had a miscarriage in the process and even now that he had been released, no apology was tendered to him and the family yet to recover from the traumatic experience.

Akunyili will also be remembered as a woman that waged war against her people in order to remain on top as a fake drug fighter. The invasion of the Bridge Head Market in March 2007 with 500 armed personnel’s of the police and army and closing the market for four months in the name of searching for fake drugs remains an operation described as good intention, bad method.

Nobody dared to question the rationale behind such action which portrayed every trader in the market as a fake drug dealer while NAFDAC officials are supposed to be in our various sea ports and airports inspecting drugs imported into the country. Does the world know that while the operation lasted, several innocent traders died out of high blood pressure and starvation, what of those armed personnel’s that became guards at daytime and burglars at night as every drawer locks, safes and vault in the market were broken into and all valuables seen including cash were stolen? It was when Akunyili and his team went to Kano to replicate the same feat and met stiff resistance through the Emirs that she hurriedly came back and gave conditions for the reopening of the Bridge Head Market.

Now that we are talking of re-branding Nigeria, the professor should do well by starting her campaign/movement from her party hierarchy and those in authority in our nation Nigeria. There are various spectacular things that happen only in Nigeria, such actions are regarded as abomination in saner climes and I think the very moment we tackle these anomalies and official mess perpetrated by our leaders, then we can now start the real step to re-branding.

It is only in Nigeria that a former deputy governor standing trial for the murder of a former minister of justice will be ‘selected’ as a senator even while in a detention, today, the man is not only a senator but a committee chairman. Is it not only in Nigeria that $16 billion dollars was allegedly spent on power projects but yet we can’t have one hour of uninterrupted power supply while all the principal characters involved in the phony deal are walking freely in the streets?

It is only in Nigeria that a man will supervise an election described as the worst in monumental fraud and yet beats his chest that he has performed excellently well. It is only in Nigeria that election disputes drag on indefinitely in the courts while the occupier of the stolen mandate uses state resources to prosecute his case adinfinitum.

It is not only in Nigeria that a political party will issue a paid advert of names of individuals drafted to return a sacked governor into office in their coming re-run election. Among the names included is a former governor of the state allegedly impeached for corruption & embezzlement of public fund and the other, a former chairman of Nigeria ports authority also presently facing trial for looting and other financial crimes, the list is endless.

Most times, I pity our information managers and image makers, often times, they are drafted into the job just to white wash issues and cook up lies to maintain their masters image at all cost. Just like the other day in Anambra Broadcasting Television, where another Prof, Stella Okunna, the information commissioner in the state lied that she tuned to the ABS radio in her car stereo and received clear signals from Awka to Nsukka where she went to represent the governor in a public function yet, this is the same radio that doesn’t send clear signals to Onitsha.

I can see the passion in Prof Dora’s movement but like they say “the best way you can show your children is to go that way yourself” we can do better by asking those at the helm of affairs to show us the way by practical examples. Even Mr. President’s physical outlook presently needs re-branding so that he can inspire us as the president of the most populous black nation in the world.

Yes, let’s re-brand by re-branding ourselves first if not, this project will become another wasteful spending jamboree and opportunity for some Nigerians to enter the millionaires club from the 150 million naira earmarked for the project.

Comrade Aloysius Attah
Chairman Civil Liberties Organization (CLO)
Anambra State Branch
08035090548
princemmy@yahoo.com