The heavy dose of skeptism that greeted the idea of re branding Nigeria is one of the points one could use as justification for the campaign.

People greeted the announcement of the campaign with a yawn of boredom. They have heard it before. It is an impossible assignment, the country can not be re branded, it is a waste of time and resources.

Given the depth of the problem and assuming that one is genuinely interested in doing something, where do you begin? The Minister of Information and Communications, Professor Dora Akunyili, provided some of the answers in her speech at the launch of the re-branding Nigeria Campaign and unveiling of the slogan and logo. The event which was attended by dignitaries from all walks of life held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on March 17 2009. The Minister said 'the negative perception about Nigerians was largely because Nigerians allowed others to tell their story and it stuck. But more importantly because a few Nigerians through their activities gave our country a bad name. Gradually as a people we are approaching a point where many people feel that there can be no redemption. This is scary and unacceptable .Though Nigeria is a country with problems, it is also one with countless opportunities. It has many brilliant minds and experts who can hold their own in virtually every field of endeavour.' The Chairman of the occasion was former President General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and he gave the event the leadership touch it required.

When the Committee on Rebranding Nigeria was appointed, people asked the members even before the inaugural meeting what they were going to re -brand. Of course the wise thing to do was to wait until a mandate was given to the Committee before getting a clear picture of what the Committee is set up to achieve. The Committee met and elected Chief Pete Edochie as the Chairman with members drawn from various professional organisations. The Committee deliberated on the concept of re-branding and arrived at a common understanding. It also explored other issues such as putting the in context and assessing the link with previous efforts, the strategy to be adopted for implementation. The outcome of the Committee's work was brilliantly presented to the public at the launching ceremony by Professor Isawa Elaigwu. It was indeed a paradox that Professor Elaigwu's telephone was removed from his pocket as he was trying to enter the venue of the launching ceremony! What more confirmation do we need to embark on re branding Nigeria and Nigerians? The Committee had identified many of the factors that serve as brand eroders which should be taken into consideration in drawing up an agenda for re branding the country. They include endemic corruption, unresponsive government that does not meet its obligation to citizens, inadequate and ineffective service delivery, gross demonstration of indiscipline by the citizens, problems of law, order and security of lives, cultural schizophrenia among the elites.

Nigeria also has some brand strength which includes the highest population in Africa with diversity of its people and natural endowments. It has the largest market in Africa. Nigeria has active and energetic people and very active in peace keeping and maintaining global peace. It also has a formidable well trained experts who members of the Nigerian in the in the Diaspora (NIDO) who are linking up with people at home and supportive of laudable development projects. In arriving at a contextual understanding of re branding, the committee noted that a brand is the totality of consumers' experience, perception, benefits and values. A national brand refers to the tangible and intangible asset/value of the country as perceived and experienced by its various stakeholders. Rebranding therefore is a planned systematic and sustained effort to reposition an existing brand from what it is to what it should be in the minds of the consumers. National Re- branding is there fore a planned systematic and sustained effort to reposition a nation's image reputation in the minds of its various stakeholders. The internal objectives include: reconnect Nigerian people with the Nigerian nation, make Nigerians own and be proud of the Nigerian brand, fashion Nigeria as a modern, democratic, disciplined and accountable nation, encourage civic conscientiousness and community participation.

The external objectives are to change Nigeria's and Nigerians negative perception among foreigners and external stake holders, leverage on the passion of the Nigerians in the Diaspora to make Nigeria globally attractive and globally competitive. The Committee explored the EG model which posits that a country could reposition its image and reputation through various ways such as Experience, Governance, and Communications and Service delivery. The internal includes citizenship, progress, sense of equity and equal opportunity while the external is made up of visitor's perception before, during and after visit; ease of doing business, entry, pleasantries, and hospitality, cultural and social experience. Governance is made up of policies, processes, actions, programmes, stakeholder involvement and participation. Communications has both internal and external components while service delivery involves both private and public sectors. For the public sector it includes the following: the citizen as a customer, service charter which translates to timely, efficient and courteous service and non discrimination in access to service. For the private sector the focus is on service delivery deals with customer guarantees, fair pricing, value addition, fair use, global competitiveness and promotion of Made in Nigeria goods and services.

The rebranding project is a national project that should be promoted by every Nigerian but it is obvious that its success would require the highest political will from the highest level of government. This was guaranteed by the President Alhaji Umaru Musa 'YarAdua in his speech while launching the logo and the slogan for the re branding campaign. The President who was represented by the Vice President Goodluck Jonathan said the project was long overdue and it should engender in all Nigerians a pride in the nation. He said all citizens have a stake in promoting a better image of the country and said all hands must be on deck to give the project the unalloyed support and endorsement of all. Goodwill messages were delivered by the Governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Isa Yuguda. All the speakers kept emphasizing that to succeed, the project must receive the buy-in of Nigerians. Other issues raised emphasized were the need to ensure that the programme should incorporate the domestic components of the Heart of Africa Project and that the re-branding should focus more on leadership. The crisis of lack of commitment to the Nigerian state amongst Nigerian citizens relates to the failure of leadership to inspire trust and believe in the nation. To succeed in changing citizens' attitude to Nigeria the project should focus also on the grassroots population, governance and development issues such as poverty eradication, social security, job creation and security.

The Minister confirmed that special emphasis would be focused at the grassroots so that ordinary Nigerians would not be left out of the campaign and it would not be elitist in its approach. She also made it clear that the re branding project would be intersectoral and multisectoral. Clubs will also be set up in secondary schools. Other suggestions made include ensuring that the campaign process would be executed with the adoption of multiple stake-holding platform involving civil society organizations (CSOs) including professional services groups. Additional suggestions include: civic education and ethical reorientation of young Nigerians should be a central part of the re-branding project. As part of the advocacy strategy, it was expected that for the re-branding project to succeed, government should provide credibility by developing effective processes of public communication that restore faith and trust in governance in Nigeria.

The next stage of the ceremony was the launch of the logos and the slogan of the re - branding. The process of selecting the logo and slogans was done in a participatory method. There was a call for submissions and members of the committee reviewed the logos and slogans sent by hundreds of Nigerians and shortlisted the best. From that shortlisted group the final choice was made through voting. The ones selected were finally unveiled. For the logo it was Nigeria written in green with a yes sign in red as the dot on the I in the word Nigeria. For the slogan, it was Good People, Great Nation. As the logo and slogan were unveiled by the President, represented by the Vice President, the audience responded with applause. The parting tone for carrying re - branding message far and wide by the Minister who said funds will be prudently managed and 'we will publish what we pay on the re branding project twice a year in Nigerian newspapers. We will engage Nigerian consultants and depend on local inputs. Because only Nigerians can only Nigerians can truly re-brand their country.'