SUCCESS HABITS... May EDITION

Repositioning Nigeria: Way Forward In Reputation Management

In Nigeria today, every aspect of the country’s national life is faced with the challenge of bad reputations made possible by multifaceted factors. According to a recent report in the Tribune newspaper, Sunday (21 April, 2013) edition, captioned “Fake drugs, unaccredited varsities, illegal buildings... Nigeria in carnival of counterfeits”, Nigeria of today finds it difficult to curtail the ravenous ruins caused by the army of quacks and counterfeits in various segments of her national life.

The big question before every concerned citizen and stakeholder is: “what is the way forward for the country?” The obvious dent on her national image has generated series of debates among scholars at home and abroad. Several suggestions being made over the years, up till date, narrow down to one unique task: Rebranding Nigeria.

In plain language, to reposition, rebrand or repair simply means to change people’s perception about a brand and attract positive affinity to it for the benefit of all stakeholders, particularly the promoters of the brand. Nigeria is a brand among the committees of nations. Therefore, whatever marketing professionals may call it; repositioning or rebranding Nigeria must connote only one fundamental ideology- a change from negative to positive perception.

Branding is all about perception and that is what differentiates a good brand from the rest of the pack in the category. No doubt, the brand Nigeria project has been an ongoing project since after the Nigerian civil war; the missing link has been a big idea that is driven by a consistent strategy. General Yakubu Gowon, in what seemed like a masterstroke to heal the scaring wounds of the civil war, initiated a sort of rebranding programme.

To weld the country back from the brink, Gowon introduced the three Rs namely: Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. He also declared that there was no victor or vanquished at the end of the war. Gowon was lucky. His regime coincided with the beginning of the oil boom era in Nigeria, thus he was able to spend money to prosecute the three Rs agenda. Gowon embarked on several capital projects especially roads, bridges, estates and edifices befitting a country like Nigeria.

On the diplomatic and international plain with its new found fame and fortune, Nigeria played the big brother role for the less endowed African countries and the country was respected for it. But like most African leaders of that era, Gowon soon lost focus when he imbibed the ‘sit tight syndrome’. The moment Gowon said 1976 was no longer realistic for a democratic handing over, the brand equity of his regime and the country began to ebb.

After Gowon came General Murtala Ramat Mohammed (late). Murtala along with his team came on board with vision and patriotic fervor. With zero tolerance to corruption in both public and private sectors, Murtala vowed to take the Nigerian brand to the apogee of glory and respectability both nationally and internationally. Transcending beyond Nigeria, Murtala made Africa the centre piece of his political agenda internationally. Within a short time that the regime lasted, Nigeria as a brand scored a diplomatic bull’s eye playing prominent role on the continental platform in the independence struggle of countries like Zimbabwe, Angola and even South Africa. But the Murtala regime was short-lived. The man died!

Perhaps one of the most ambitious and most expensive rebranding efforts ever embarked upon in Nigeria was initiated by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1987. Tagged, MAMSER, Mass Movement for Self Reliance Social Justice and Economic Recovery, it was introduced as part of the transition programme of the regime. With the sole aim of giving Nigerians and Nigeria a new beginning, MAMSER had on board eminent Nigerians who have excelled in their various areas of calling in both private and public lives. Till date MAMSER remains the longest internal rebranding effort ever embarked upon by any government in Nigeria.

Ironically, despite its laudable objectives and high caliber personnel, MAMSER ended up a colossal failure. But why did MAMSER fail? Historians and students of political history contended that lack of sincerity and transparency on the part of the leadership was responsible for MAMSER’s failure. The failure could be best illustrated by the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election that almost tore Nigeria apart. However, before MAMSER was WAI. WAI which means War Against Indiscipline was launched by the General Muhammad Buhari (rtd) and the late General Tunde Idiagbon when the regime came on board in 1983. WAI espoused discipline in both public and private lives and Nigerians were fast adapting to some aspects of it before the regime was overthrown.

In problem-solving, adequate root cause analysis is essential. Therefore, it is needful to further examine the link between the past and the present, in the effort to manage the nation’s reputation. When President Olusegun Obasanjo regime took off in 1999, instead of embarking on internal rebranding like the examples mentioned above, it chose to externalize the rebranding project. In an effort to market Nigeria on the international scene, Obasanjo during his first term toured different countries of the world selling Nigeria abroad.

During his second term, Obasanjo also launched the Heart of Africa project, a continuation of the regime’s external rebranding campaign. The Heart of Africa project too achieved little because it is difficult to rebrand externally without doing same on the internal realm. Like shaving a man’s head in his absence, Nigerians (the brand ambassadors) were not carried along the project design and execution hence it ended as another false start.

When the Honorable Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, a few years ago unveiled a new rebranding agenda to reposition and reinvent Nigeria, her efforts attracted both wide criticism and at the same time applause within the country and even beyond. She was criticized because most people felt the timing was wrong and given the current challenges of the global financial meltdown, they felt it was inauspicious for the government to embark on another spending binge in the guise of rebranding (a sign of deep seated distrust of government intentions).

Those who applauded her, no time can be more auspicious than now to rebrand under a civilian regime after a decade of uninterrupted civilian rule. Besides, they felt Nigeria needs urgent repackaging in order to attract investors into the country. However, before analyzing the merits and demerits of those for and against the minister’s initiative, I would want to take a look at the examples of the countries that have successfully rebranded and identify what they did right to reinvent their countries.

Despite the fact that the United States has one of the highest crime rates in the world, the country successfully rebranded and is today seen (perceived) as an epitome of transparency socially, politically and economically. The emergence of a black man in the Whitehouse, President Barack Obama best exemplified how successful and workable America’s rebranding project is and can be. Yet, indeed there are still a lot of things wrong with America. Like every society, there are corrupt businessmen and corporate players who cook the book in the US. Despite these shortcomings, America is still called, ‘God’s own country, beacon of democracy’.

Also, countries like Dubai, Singapore, France, Malaysia, India, China and even Ghana have successfully rebranded and repositioned on the global plain. However, I will use Singapore as another case study in successful repositioning. To tell the Singapore story I will quote a few lines from the book, From Third World to First, The Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yew. Prior to independence in 1965, Singapore was just a small British colony of just 2 million people and it had practically nothing. But under the leadership of Yew who was Singapore’s first prime minister Singapore emerged the 8th richest country in the world in 1997, with per capital GDP rising from $400 in 1959 to more than $12,200 in 1990. In fact by 1995, Singapore’s per capital GDP of $26,000 surpassed that of Britain at 19,700. But how did Yew do it?

Let’s hear from the horse’s mouth:

   "My experience of developments in Asia has led me to conclude that we need good people to have good government. However, no matter how good the system of government, bad leaders would bring harm to the people. When we started in 1959, we knew little about how to govern, or how to solve our economic and social problems. All we had was a burning desire to change an unfair and unjust society for the better. I sought out able men and placed them in positions of authority to administer an honest, efficient system and be responsive to the needs of the people. We learned on the job and learned quickly.

      If there was a formula for our success, it was that we were constantly studying how to make things work, or how to make them work better. I discovered early in office that there were few problems confronting me in government that other governments had not met and solved.  So I made a practice of finding out who else had met the problem we faced, how they tackled it, and how successful they had been.”

Despite the fact that Singapore had no single drop of oil, it became the world’s third largest oil refining centre. Does a country like Singapore offer any branding lesson for Nigeria? I am sure it offers useful lessons for us. That for a successful rebranding effort to occur, there’s an urgent need for the leadership to be focused, sincere, transparent, disciplined and humane in all strata of the society. Besides, the political leadership too should offer an enabling environment for entrepreneurship and investment to blossom through the provision of basic infrastructural amenities like electricity, good and effective communications network.

Repositioning Nigeria requires an urgent and deliberate focus on the practical application of advertising and public relations. As it is impossible for a bird to fly with only one wing, reputation management can only be thoroughly maximized when a good knowledge of both advertising and public relations are put to use. Public relations and advertising are both corporate communications addressing the challenges of reputation and commercialization.

Whereas there may be a theoretical awareness of the foregoing issues in repositioning Nigeria, the current leaders and other stake holders in various sectors of our national life should first consider leverage on public relations to truly establish the new Nigeria brand. Reputations are usually built on lots of efforts or hard work, but can be destroyed in a very short time. The understanding of this fact should guide and also inform the operations of the modern rebranding projects to avoid making the old mistakes as highlighted above. Public relations often involve cooperative efforts to create good will within a community and enhance public image. The lessons from the developed nations should not be ignored in this case.

Strong character of its leadership, honesty and good governance coupled with the faith of the followership in their leaders have made America to be seen as one of the best places to live in the world. Indeed, the task before the emergent leaders of our land is not a small one. The challenge before those who wish to lead Nigerians in the future is an enormous one. Thus our long hangover in a tyrannical mind-set must quickly give way to a pluralistic and democratic society which alone will survive the challenges of the twenty-first century. Limiting leadership to campaigning for political positions and perquisites is a futile exercise in social inertia and economic stagnation. Nigeria is yearning for leaders with the necessary charisma and integrity to champion the cause of channeling into productive enterprise, the many able-bodied but unemployed youths who are presently engaged in street thuggery, political banditry, and drug peddling and secret cults must not be left out.

The misconception that corporate reputation can easily be managed through publicity, propaganda and a corrupt relationship management process is indicative of a gross knowledge deficit in this area of engagement in corporate Nigeria. The extant order must yield way to new processes and a renewed commitment to adopt a knowledge and competence driven strategy to reputation management and brand identity promotion. Corruption is of course a major issue.

A BBC Global survey has indicated that corruption is the most talked about issue in Nigeria for it circumscribes both corporate and governmental life, and in many ways is taken for granted. Not enough effort is being made to tackle the scourge of corruption, particularly corporate Nigeria corruption given its implications for sovereign reputation. Nigeria instructively is one of the poorest countries in the world for doing business. Advertising the Nigeria brand without first finding solution to the challenge of high level of corruption is like spreading our dirty linen in the public.

The war against the menace of corruption must start with the public office holders through a thorough review of national policies that inform the operation of political offices. The content of policy review should include drastic cut and reduction in the remunerations and allowances accrued to the public office holders. This will help to deal with the gluttony appetite of the politicians and interest in public services will only be left to those who are truly interested in serving the interest of the nation but not as avenue to amass sudden wealth.

The followership of Nigeria poses a very little challenge in the fight against corrupt practices. War Against Indiscipline campaign bears testament to this submission. If the leaders can be tamed, then the followers are left with no choice but to sit tight in compliance. Furthermore, if we must use advertising as a means to restore the image of a truly desirable nation that will serve as a centre of attraction for investors and tourists as well as a good haven to her citizens, it must reveal the new Nigeria as a nation with zero tolerance to corrupt practices and operations of quacks. We must understand that for this project to work, it must ride on the vehicle of: spare no defaulter!

Advertising should be considerably used to promote how strict the nation has become against the production of counterfeits, operations of quacks, fight against terrorism, and sub-standard operation in ministries: especially the ministry of education, health and judiciary system. If all these cannot be addressed, then the measure of advertising is merely a waste of time and money. Meanwhile, when this is done, a change in the redefinition of expectations, engagement imperatives, performance measures and platforms can be balanced through methods, skills and competencies of experts in public relations and reputation management services within the new Nigeria.

References

Akin Osewa (2012): How to Rebrand Nigeria, reported at www.ugochukwuezeagwula.com

Sulaiman A. Osho (2011): African Outlook report

Tribune: Sunday, (21 April 2013) edition; pages 2-3.