Nigeria's First Re-branding Exercise
A Cursory Glance at the 2004 Nigerian Heart of Africa Project
Jun 3, 2009
Corruption, drug smuggling and fraud are often synonymous with Nigeria. To counter this negative perception, in 2004 the Federal Ministry of Information & National Orientation developed an image management programme for the country. This programme was known as the Nigeria Image project and/or the Heart of Africa Project.
Yushau A. Shuiab 's 2004 article 'Building Nigeria's Image: The FAPRA OPTION ' which appeared in the August 2 issue of This Day newspaper . The "Nigerian Image Project" was launched in July 2004 with over N600 million. The project was initiated by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu , with the purpose of improving Nigeria's internal and external image. Shuiab pointed out that the difficulty with rebranding Nigeria externally has to do with the fact the foreign media often prefer African stories that relate to war, hunger and disease.
Uche Nworah's October 2006 article, 'Critical Perspectives on the Heart of Africa Image Project', critically examined the Nigerian rebranding exercise. Nworah's analysis employs the framework put forward by C Brymer. He quotes Brymer as saying that "[c]reating a branding program for a country demands an integration policy that most countries do not possess-the ability to act and speak in a coordinated and repetitive way about themes ...are the most motivating and differentiating [steps] a country can make."
Why the Heart of Africa Project Failed
The 'Heart of Africa', the project was abandoned by the current Information and Communications Minister Professor Dora Akunyili. It has since been replaced by another image programme which hopes to avoid the pitfalls of its predecessor.
Adetutu Folasade-Koyi's 13 March 2009 article in the Daily Independent',Nigeria: Heart of Africa Project Was a Failure - Akunyili', noted that Professor Akunyili admitted to the National Assembly to the Heart of Project was a failure "despite costing the taxpayer more than N1.05 billion." Part of the problem with the project, according to Akunyili, is that the concept used for the project was not uniquely Nigerian; the name of the project was initially used in Malawi and a number of countries claim to be the heart of Africa.
When the overall project conceptualization and implementation is examined it is clear that coordination between government and the private sector was sorely lacking. Perhaps this relates to the fact that the Federal government failed to get the buy-in of all the stakeholders in the business world, the education, media, the public, and Nigerians in the Diaspora.
Following Brymer's framework, Nworah highlighted the fact that the coordination and integration required for 2004 Nigerian branding exercise was lacking due to the following:
- Nigeria's 'top heavy' government structure which impeded coordination of the Heart of Africa project.
- Nigeria's multi-ethnic, language and religious composition which has been a source of conflict in the country
- The battle for oil resources that has seen the emergence of militia such as the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force (NDPVF), and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta People (MEND)
One hopes that the Heart of Africa's replacement is not further fruitless expenditure that the country can ill afford. Only time would tell if the Federal government would learn from its mistakes and create one the best turn around stories in history.
