Journalism icon, and former governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, who made this call in an exclusive interview with Saturday Sun during the week, said accountable governance and security would polish Nigeria’s image and make the country to dazzle in the comity of nations.
He was commenting on the latest public relations stunt by the minister in charge of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, named Fascinating Nigeria.
“There can be no repackaging without the leadership. Leadership is crucial. And that repackaging must come from the leaders who must first of all repackage themselves for the majority of Nigerians to follow”, he stated.
To make Nigeria a business and tourism destination of choice, according to the former governor, goes beyond mere sloganeering that guzzles billions of taxpayers’ money. Making the country a beautiful bride in Africa and beyond, Aremo Osoba said, “has to be actualized by the action of the leadership. Whatever the packaging you want to do must start with the leadership of this country.
“I will give you example. General Murtala Muhammed (the late Head of State) came into government and took major actions that totally repackaged Nigeria. He directed and focused on what he wanted. He told us we should consider Presidential system and he addressed the constitutional committee, packaged by eminent Nigerians. Another example is that of Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Babatunde Idiagbon. I was very close to General Idiagbon who was a major brain behind Buhari’s government. Idiagbon knew what they wanted. He knew that for Nigeria to make progress, there must be attitudinal change. Their government, therefore, launched the war against indiscipline, and the attitude of Nigerians changed. The campaign was honest and well focused. It wasn’t mere slogan.
“In 2013, I was watching a picture on the internet where Nigerians were struggling to board a plane in Abuja. They hardly allowed those who were to disembark to come down when they stormed into the aircraft. Whereas in Buhari’s time, the culture of queuing was strong and effective. We all went against indiscipline of any form and Nigerians immediately obeyed. There can be no repackaging without the leadership. Leadership is crucial. And that repackaging must come from the leaders who must first of all repackage themselves for the majority of Nigerians to follow.”
Bringing the point nearer home, Saturday Sun asked Aremo Osoba how President Goodluck Jonathan should ‘repackage’. The former Governor of Ogun State’s response came almost automatically, as he declared: “He must have a focused product. I will give you two examples. We used to think of Murtala Muhammed as an easy-going person. But when he became Head of State, he was a different person.”
So, does he not believe that the current public relations campaign of the government, Fascinating Nigeria, would enhance Nigeria’s efforts at generating more goodwill from its various publics? Again, Osoba was brutally frank in his reply.
“I don’t believe in slogans,” he said matter-of-factly. “They don’t even need to sloganise. What steps have they taken to show fascination? What does fascination mean? I don’t understand. They are the ones to explain. See the security issue that the country has been facing without any solution in sight. Once upon a time, my wife and I used to walk round Ikoyi. Now, you can’t do it anymore because people have started kidnapping. And they can kidnap a whole local government chairman and nobody could explain.
“When we talk about security, are we secured? Let them show us evidence, not by sloganeering, of a secured life. Like when I am in England, I walk round everywhere at anytime of the day without bothering myself about security. If you do that here, you don’t need a slogan before I would be convinced that we have security. What about power supply? I have not had power in Ikoyi here now for almost a month. We spend an average of N36,000 every other day to buy diesel in this house. I draw water from my own borehole, and so on. These are some of the things we need to repackage urgently, not mere slogans like Fascinating Nigeria.”
No comments:
Post a Comment