Dele Momodu
16 August 2008
opinion
Lagos — The latest craze in Nigeria is the mad rush by Nigerian companies and government agencies to appear to sponsor specific programs, or advertise on CNN. While I can excuse and defend a few of them, I beg to declare that most of it is absolute hogwash. I do not know what statistics gave these sponsors the confidence that CNN would best serve the purposes of their intended target. I even doubt further if Nigerian experts in advertising and public relations were ever consulted before they hurriedly signed off the expensive invoices. Many of them have refused to patronize the local media with the same degree of religious fervor, and where they do, have refused to pay the same premium rates.
While banks may claim to seek international customers and telecom companies may claim that theirs is an international product, what do you make of the otherwise likeable Lagos State Government that has chosen to waste its scarce resources by engaging Pastors, Imams, ex-Commissioners, and others on CNN to preach to citizens on meeting their tax obligations?
Tax is meant to be paid by the locals. Why are we running ads that would be watched mostly by non-Nigerians and non-Lagosians? Why do we also want to wash our dirty underwear in public by telling the whole world that we are a nation of defaulters and crooks? Someone should tell me if such ads have been run before by even countries like Great Britain and the United States where tax laws are very strict and rigid.
Nigeria, being a country of the bandwagon effect, every local government chairman, or Councilor, would soon find one flimsy excuse or the other to jump on this train of irrationality by advertising his face on CNN when indeed he has nothing to offer.
Also, I'm flabbergasted by a few of the banks. Why would Zenith bank waste its hard-earned dollars on sponsoring a much weaker and stupidly negative, 'Inside Africa', that shows uninspiring, and unflattering, footages of Africa - the usual stereotypes that sell like hot cakes in the West. Of what relevance, or worth, are those nonsensical stories to any bank? The bank was even cruelly short-changed when the program was practically broken into two and the other half christened "All about Africa", or whatever, was sold to a beauty company. Worse still, yet another contraption was sold to yet another Nigerian Bank, Intercontinental Bank Plc, the new face of leadership, as its slogan goes. One of the banks even forgot to add that the bank is located somewhere in Nigeria, assuming that all CNN watchers know its address, or country of origin.
We are fond of belittling whatever is ours. The Nigerian Media has come of age and it can carry our campaigns as far as needed. Most homes in Africa are hooked on Nigerian movies and entertainment magazines and newspapers - that's the reason the THIDAY STYLE section carries the most expensive advert pages in Nigeria today. I would be most delighted to see most of those funds go to the promotion of qualitative Nigerian movies on local television and on Mnet and African Magic, that air these programs all over Africa. Most Nigerians in Europe are hooked on BEN TV and AIT. They relish the Bisi Olatilo Show. Funmi Iyanda's talk show on NTA has the largest followership amongst the women, and can be seen as far as Canada.
Mo Abudu's Moments with Mo is catching on, on Mnet and other syndicated channels. Our music is hot potato every where, and such content providers as Soundcity, Naigezie and Hip TV, are spicing up the lives of our youths and inspiring them to greater heights. Pat Utomi's PATITO'S GANG raised critical issues about Nigeria. These great works could do better with sponsorships from our mega-rich banks.
On a personal note, I can confidently attest to the fact that we have more to offer the foreign media than they are willing to give us. Why can't I see a Kanu Nwankwo on the cover of Hello magazine when he is nearly as popular as David Beckham in the world of football? Why can't I have a Richard Mofe-Damijo or Eyimofe Atake on the cover of GQ, when in fact they dress better than some of the so-called fashion icons in Europe and America? Why can't MTV Europe or MTV America play the music of Lagbaja, Asa, Tu Face, D'banj, P Square and others, but are happy to play the confused noise called Ragga, Rap and Rock?
Why can't I find the pictures of Subomi Balogun, Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Femi Otedola, and others on the covers of Forbes and Fortune magazines, when these great Africans are indeed major players in world economy, by whatever yard-stick? Why can't CNN feature the achievements of Jim Ovia and Erastus Bankole Akingbola in the world of banking? A Nigerian, Dr Mike Adenuga, is single-handedly building a submarine cable from Nigeria to Europe, and all the way to America. What achievement could be greater than this? Sir Gabriel Igbinedion was the first African to buy a Boeing 747 in the world, yet such a monumental feat would never make the cover of New York Times or Newsweek. But a Donald Trump would command media frenzy for erecting skyscrapers and shagging the hottest babes in America.
I believe the fault is always ours. We are a nation of consumers. We love to gobble up ready-made products and hate to sweat for anything. We carry the heaviest luggage in the world, because we love to buy even what we don't need. Foreigners know us too well and understand that you only need to massage our egos. I'm aware that there are Nigerians who have the competence to market us to the world, without wasting so much fortune.
I remember when Hakeem Belo-Osagie brought MONEYGRAM to Nigeria, during his tenure as the Chairman of UBA. He had invited me to a couple of meetings at the MONEYGRAM office which was initially at Bond Street, and later moved to Belgravia. Keem, as we fondly call him, never engaged any expensive foreign media agent or agency. Once I assured him I could handle it, he left me to simply do my job. I even surprised him when I took him to a live interview on SKY NEWS free of charge. All I told the guys at SKY was that this young man, ex-Oxford, ex-Cambridge, and ex-Harvard, controlled one of Africa's biggest banks.
Jobs must always be shared between competent locals and distinguished foreigners. We engaged a famous Scottish photographer, Colin Ramsay, for a grueling photo-shoot at the Belgravia office and released a bazooka of a media blitz that ricocheted everywhere. The hype was so deafening that other rival companies were forced to advertise in Nigerian publications. Just imagine the revenue that came the way of Nigerians because one man believed in his people.
We achieved the same results when we were encouraged by the government of Ghana to market Ghana to Nigerians as their best tourist destinations. The Ministry of Tourism bought pages in Ovation several times and even bought hundreds of copies that were sent to the Americas to showcase the tourist potentials and destinations of Ghana. Today, Ghana is reaping bountiful rewards for its vision and wisdom by understanding that the country didn't have to travel far to attract big spending tourists. In the process, those who came as tourists began to invest in properties and other types of businesses.
When we build our infrastructure, like smaller African countries have done, and we begin to sell Nigeria first to Nigerians, we'll become like the Americans who do not need foreigners to sustain their tourism. We have the population to drive our tourism. Most Nigerians hardly know Nigeria. How can we then preach to foreigners to come to us?
We must find a cure for our inferiority complex. Charity must always begin from home. Our acute propensity and taste, for everything foreign must be curbed. No nation can ever prosper when members of the 'privilegentsia' are looking down on their own people. The violent crime in Nigerian is largely borne of the lack of opportunities for our youths at home. You must know someone who knows someone before you can eke a living. There are too many frustrated brilliant youths roaming our streets. By promoting the local media, and encouraging our own advertising agencies, some of which are affiliated to some of the top agencies in the world anyway, we would have created more jobs for our youths who are desperately in need.
Between Virgin Nigeria and the Nigerian Government
It was a bad week for the embattled Virgin Nigeria and its eagleflier like me. The long-drawn battle between the airline and the agents of the Federal Government came to a crescendo when the government that goes by the rule of law, chose to ignore court injunctions and practically forced Virgin Nigeria to relocate its local operations from the international terminal to the new local wing built by Wale Babalakin.
I was one of those who felt that the government of General Obasanjo should not have granted the concession that made it possible for a local flight to originate from the international wing. But once it was granted, I believe as a lay man, that the agreements are binding on all parties, until otherwise determined by a competent court of law. And there must always be continuity in government, as Sir Richard Branson has rightly noted.
But the ways of government people are not the ways of ordinary mortals. They can justify murder, when necessary. For me, Virgin had come in to Nigeria to save us from the shame and indignity that Nigeria Airways had become. Doing business in Nigeria is not always easy and Virgin must have sought to protect itself by seeking special concessions, which I consider legitimate. Once our government in its wisdom, or stupidity, signed the papers, so be it. We must always be seen to honour our agreements.
On a parting note, President Umar Musa Yar'Adua should give our Minister of Transportation a performance order about the very atrocious state of our airports. She should leave her gilded cage in Abuja and take an office at the Lagos airport until she can fix the rot at the place. The Murtala Mohammed International Airport has become a major embarrassment to Nigeria. The shamelessness of our FAAN is so terrible that Virgin passengers from the West Coast now have to crawl through the right front door of the aircraft, which is supposed to be a service door. Several passengers have hit their heads against this low door which was never meant for disembarking passengers. We are forced unto a bus, which takes us to the front of a stinking toilet, then forced to climb the stairs to departure, and forced once more to climb down an epileptic escalator into the arrival hall. Why must we be subjected to such punishment by incompetent officers? The conveyor belts are packing up again and the cooling systems have gone comatose.
I have decided to raise the matter of these disgraceful acts for as long as it takes until something is done about our airports - the worst I have seen in the world. Foreigners and Nigerians alike hissed in unison as we disembarked last Tuesday from Ghana. Shame!
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
