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Building national consciousness in Nigeria

It's a sign of Nigeria's increased self confidence on the world stage, that the Ministry of Information and Communication has recently embarked on an ambitious exercise to rebrand Nigeria. The idea according to the Minister Prof. Dora Akunyili "is not only geared at positively projecting Nigeria's image to the outside world, but also to engender attitudinal change in us; a change in our mindset; a change in our cultural values and orientation, that would inspire us to take pride in our country".

Developing pride in your country is an important part of fostering good citizenship and will ultimately boost Nigeria's international influence, but there is no doubt that people are not easily persuaded to change deep rooted attitudes and practices. This is where direct contact using AV DRUM 21 mobile video units can be so valuable.

A major organisation like the Ministry for Infomation and Communications has so many media channels it can use. With good access to radio, television and the press, it has no shortage of methods for reaching the ordinary Nigerian and for projecting the image of Nigeria to the rest of the world. But the Ministry also takes seriously the task of reaching poor communities, that live out of earshot of the mass media. So in the last three years, the Ministry has taken delivery of 16 AV DRUM 21 vehicles, as they begin to build a fleet that can reach every part of Nigeria. They have been so useful that they hope to be ordering more soon.

There are no illusions that the task of re-branding Nigeria is going to be easy, but that is what must be done to make government more responsive and accountable in the provision of concrete deliverables to the citizens. But one thing is certain; no one can criticise the choice of slogan 'Good people, great nation' because Nigerians are indeed good people in a great nation.