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Matters arising from Chikelu’s pitch
ANDY IKE EZEANI
Every prime
public office holder defines his tenure by the ideas and policies he dwells on.
Cabinet ministers are not different. By the very nature of their office,
however, ministers manage a challenging dual profile. On one hand, they are
chief executives of their assigned domains. On the other hand and stripped of
accoutrements, they are no more than tools in the hands of someone else.
Measuring what a minister truly represents
or what he is capable of in office could, therefore, present a tricky
undertaking, for the truth of their existence remains that ministers are in the
main, agents chosen and deployed by the head of government to achieve his policy
objectives, whatever these may be. That is to say, a minister may be a big man,
or a man of ideas, but he is, when all is said and done, no more than the
handmaid of his master. Of course, it is better than that in many senses.
How each individual who finds himself in
office as minister manoeuvres or organizes himself to simultaneously carry on
both the voice of his master and his own distinct personality or ideas often
determines what comes out of a minister’s tenure. Minister of Information and
National Orientation Chukwuemeka Chikelu seems determined to emerge out of this
political crucible with something distinct attached to his name.
Chikelu has always come across as a man
with an eye on history and legacy. You can say the same thing of the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nasir el-Rufai.But that is where the
similarities end. Unlike his cabinet colleagues at the FCT and the Works
ministries, inveterate pugilists of varied professional swings whose
proclivities to throw punches seem so naturally aligned to the tendency of their
common boss, Chikelu seems on the contrary to be determined to defuse tension
and differences wherever they occur around him. In him interestingly, there
seems to be a mix of pacifism and a streak of quiet activism. This mix has
marked his tendencies and agenda at the Information ministry.
Late last week in Lagos, Chikelu took the
podium before the media, in a pitch that at once drew commendations and sharp
reactions.Naturally, he moved to dissuade differences and assure all and sundry,
but that is besides the point here.
The project which the Information minister
is passionately immersed in at present and over which he was courting the media
industry last week is an initiative to re-create Nigeria’s global profile dubbed
The Nigeria Image Project. As schemes in brand re-launching or marketing
go, this image project is manifestly ambitious. It just has to be so anyway,
considering the depth of Nigeria’s rounded decline over the
years.Remarkably,Chikelu who says he is not oblivious of the enormity of the
challenge seems determined as it were to have his tenure as Information minister
(or part of it) defined by this image expedition.
Backed by a very elaborate document on
Nigeria’s image problem which he has set his focus on and exuding a
characteristic confidence in his ability to make a difference, Chikelu’s
optimism can be contagious.Oh yes, Nigeria’s image problem both abroad and at
home is as bad as its debt problem, also abroad and at home. But who says there
can be no way where there is a will and a method? And Chikelu manifests both.
However, there are nagging questions
dogging The Nigeria Image Project. Beyond the questions, there are basis
to suspect that the initiators of this project do not have total appreciation of
the very nature of the issues that engender and sustain the country’s image
problems over the years. Or if they do, they want to pretend it can be
surmounted. Put succinctly, the problem is internal. Whatever the negative
foreign media report about Nigeria has been and however ignobly Nigerians are
treated abroad reflect essentially how Nigerians fare at home.
The dimensions of approach to the image
problem which Minister Chikelu presented are multiple and varied. So also was
the definition of the problem elaborate. A comprehensive review of his
presentation is clearly beyond our space capacity here. We shall, however, take
few samples from his presentation to buttress the argument here that the pitfall
of this project lies in the very nature and poverty of policies of governments
in Nigeria, the one that is promoting The Nigeria Image Project
inclusive.
A primary theme in the Image Project
is Pride. The aim is to build up pride in Nigerians about themselves and
about things Nigerian. Fair aspiration! But how do you promote pride in a people
whose rounded environment and standard of living continue to plummet daily? The
very architecture of the present Nigerian society hardly supports the people
having pride in themselves. In one of the clips the minister culled at his
presentation to show samples of other nations that have successfully pitched to
attract foreigners to rediscover their potentials, he focused on an Indonesian
advertisement which declared among other things that the country boasts of solid
infrastructure.
The minister saw a lot that Nigeria had in
common with that country and its pitch. Without doubt, however, he could not
have seen the commonality stretching to solid infrastructure. Nigeria does not
have even basic infrastructure. Worse still, it is not making any meaningful
effort to address this damning handicap. How in any true sense of it can
Nigerians who fight through daily commuting in all cities of the country exude
this pride that is being promoted?
Virtually every other country in Africa,
from the so-called poorer ones on the West coast to the ones in Southern and
East Africa have roads that are relatively well kept and in many instances with
side walks. In most of these countries, at least the ones I have been to (and
they are some) power supply is not much of a daily ordeal. In these societies,
the citizens live a life that is not so uncertain and as brutish as is the case
in Nigeria. So where is the foundation of the pride the Nigerian will now be
asked to put on?
The Cameroonian gendarmes or the police in
most other African countries are often known to be mean and ruthless. But that
is often to foreigners. To their compatriots they are epitomes of civility, even
as they remain firm and uncompromising in maintaining the law. The citizens of
those societies have their pride respected and sustained. Is that the same with
the Nigerian at home and the police around him? If then the Nigerian police do
not respect the humanity of their fellow citizens at home, what is the essence
of a campaign for foreigners to do that? More importantly, what is the intensive
programme of the government to change this situation?
To be fair to Minister Chikelu, he
acknowledges that some of these institutional frameworks will need to be
developed to assure success for the image scheme. The point here is that the
institutional framework development needs to be well ahead of the image project
for it to post the result the minister seems to aspire to.
In one other instructive example of the
planned approach of using individuals to combat brand eroders and uplift a
country, Chief Chikelu cited South Africa and Mandela. You call Mandela and you
have said South Africa and the South Africans find immense pride in this icon.
The minister proceeded to note that President Olusegun Obasanjo is recognized
internationally as a statesman, which accounts for his been elected to chair the
African Union, The Commonwealth of Nations and the Group of 77 and the such. So
then, Nigeria is also blessed with a leader who can be a rallying point to give
pride to his people and appeal to foreigners, he said. Right? Not completely so.
There is no doubt that President Obasanjo
has acquired an impressive international profile. What the President and the
Minister have to work hard to address is why this very personality, respected so
much abroad is not exactly admired or even accepted at home by most of his
people. It is possible that the problem is not with what Obasanjo has done as
with how he has done them. It does seem on this score that the image project can
be taken home at the highest level and really be worked on seriously. The truth
is that unless for a campaign that is restricted to outside, any public campaign
at home that features President Obasanjo as its pitching head faces a prospect
of cold reception, if not outright rejection. It is very far yet from the
Mandela magic. This is the truth.
There may be no point here talking about
the virtual disappearance of the middle class in Nigeria, a situation which
testifies to the misery and bleak future of the country.
Without taking anything away from Chief
Chikelu on the image project initiative, it bears stating that the very
foundation of sense and success in the project lies in the rehabilitation of
Nigeria and Nigerians at home first.
The minister says the President and
Federal Executive Council are fully behind the project.Great.This support, what
does it amount to in terms of resource outlay for effective rehabilitation of
the infrastructure that will change the essential architecture of the Nigerian
society? The reference here is not to the quotidian annual ritual of national.
budget. Or for that matter to this other omnibus and contentiously pursued
programmes called multi-sectoral reforms. The reference is to an intensive, well
focused Marshall Plan for infrastructural development for Nigeria, all of
Nigeria, the type that will offer Nigerians an environment suitable for human
beings of even mid 20th century. Until this is achieved and authorities at home
evolve a culture of respect for life and citizens at home, such well thought out
projects as The Nigeria Image Project will be hanging. May be Chief
Chikelu should really take this programme one bit at a time, starting from
leading an internal pressure group to get the government to start from the
basics.
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