Penultimate week, the Minister of Information, Prof. Dora Akunyili launched a project known as Re-branding Nigeria to make Nigeria a better nation.  The Project came with a logo and slogan “Good People; Great Nation” and is meant to launder Nigeria’s image.

Ethical Revolution, WAI, MAMSER, Heart of Africa etc has been introduced in the past, yet our great nation remains third-rate. This time around, we have been assured this is nothing like the past efforts at white washing the image of Nigeria.  Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, who represented the President at the launch, described the latest campaign as a “genuine attempts to re-orientate Nigeria towards believing in themselves once again”.

Those who question the geniuses of this multi-million project understand that at every juncture in our tortuous history, our leaders cook up some hogwash.  For a country where everything seems to go awry because of the incompetence of its leaders, it is difficult to take the re-branding exercise seriously.

Nigerians do not need to be reminded that they are good people or that they live in a great nation what they want to see is their leaders working for them.  They want a leadership that will rekindle hope and harness the country’s abundant resources.

 “Nigeria cannot wait until solving all its problems before repairing its image.  Our development is tied to our image”, the honourbale Minister of Information said in response to critics of her image-laundering project.  But if we cannot wait until solving all our problems before repairing our image, we should at least solve our basic problems before attempting to repair our image.

Once we harness our resources as a nation and put our house in order, the world will be forced to take note and give us the respect we deserve.  They will remember 419- if we still have that in our repertoire – but their focus will be on our contribution to the advancement of humankind and as it stands, Nigeria is not a contender.

As Chinua Achebe succinctly put if, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.  Nigerians are what they are only because their leaders are not what they should be”.

About two years ago, a President, one whom Nigerians rarely see-was sworn in.  The expectation was that with the deplorable state of the economy, the new government will be an over drive.  Each passing day, Nigerians, see less and less of their President.

We may not like the analogue, but we can draw some lessons from President Barrack Obama of the US to see what happens when a country is in dire straits and what genuine leadership can do.

Mr. Obama is on the road everyday, either consulting with Americans whose homes are about to be foreclosed or those who have lost their jobs while of the same time launching programmes that will put America back on its feet.

Therefore, to be taken seriously, Nigeria has to be a contender no amount of sloganeering can change that.

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