Positive promotion

I hear a lot of talk of re-branding these days. The federal government touts the term aggresively, much like prior governments did with words like "reforms" and "indiscipline". Just as aggresively some citizens dismiss the term, turning it into something of a joke (the editorial cartoonists at The Guardian have certainly had fun with the whole re-branding thing).

There are many things about the federal republic that I think could be better. If I didn't believe in the potential of the people and of the country, why would I bother? If this were truly the best that we could accomplish, why wouldn't I be content? What else can you do but your best? Except this is not our best, is it?

Still, I sometimes think critics go overboard with their criticism, and create a caricature of negativity that shields the good things about our homeland from view. And if we Nigerians are bad in this regard, commentators on Nigeria in the rest of the world are worse. It is as if Nigeria is the one place in the world for of which it is still politically correct to hold negative stereotypes; in the case of Myanmar and Burma, it is the governments that get lambasted, whereas with Nigeria it is quite frequently (albeit implicitly) the people. Our African neighbours are just as guilty of harbouring fascinatingly derogatory views about us as a people.

There are good things about Nigeria, and over a hundred million normal people, no better or worse than people anywhere else.

Living in exile (so to speak), I have made it a point to have positive pictures of Nigeria around my office. It has elicited a lot of funny responses from colleagues and visitors. They all seem to think these are pictures of some fantastic, exotic place I visited on holiday; you should see the surprise on their faces when I say, "No, that is XYZ in Nigeria."

And I am not talking about "safari"-style pictures of vistas and animals, but cityscapes. One colleague from another department asked "Is that Miami?". No, it wasn't. It was lagoon-side Lagos.

I talk up Nigeria too, the food, the culture, the people, the geography, the potential. Positive promotion, if you will.

East or west, home is best.

Nigeria is not "perfect", but it is definitely HOME.