We wish and God Bless this Change to Change lot of things around us. We have the power to change our lives at any moment, we should not forget that. We cannot change our destination overnight but we can change our direction overnight. There are three C’s of life Choice, Chance and Change. Unless and until we select the proper Choice and Chance the Change will never happen. My question is which C is to be blamed for our present situation in Nigeria, direction and destiny.
Is it going to be ONE DAY ……? OR DAY ONE.
We don’t need astonishing achievements which are highly poetic but the basic things of life like Food, Cloth and Shelter are not a greedy need of an average citizen of Nigeria. Let us take an example of a low income individual and observe the Change in his life for Changes.
Still many of them living in urban areas considering cooking is expensive. When i came to know, their monthly budget can’t afford kerosene stoves and challenges of keeping them safe in self contained rented house. Almost 20 to 25% of population is consuming packaged small chops to manage hunger up to dinner. Being a Bread Winner is still the best in our families. The choice of food selection is availability and affordability but not nutritional values.
After the hunger quenched we won’t worry about the causes of those waste packaging materials. All our choked drainages and refuse landfills are the evidences. A big Change is a must on our Food.
Many textile companies vanished in past two decades in Nigeria. Why? How much of cotton do we grow? How good our cloth is to this hot climate? Did our ancestors use this kind of cloths that we wear now? Are those synthetic imported clothing good for health? Do we need to support fancy or fact? Do we really need bleaching to hide our skin tone? are these much make ups really necessary for our beauty? Is beauty physical or mental entity? Why are we behaving like copy cats? Are we copying the same goodness in other areas of science, technology and infrastructure? Let us Change.
We buy expensive Cars to show up how we enjoy life in rented apartments. We show up on Sundays to our church members that our life is colourful and luxury. Donate to church and forget to send small money to mother and father in the village. We are the best in fitness test for cars.
We enjoy World’s expensive cars on world’s worst roads with personal road safety regulations. Tukunbo makes our land as a dump yard. We won’t raise voices against fuel prices. Who cares how transportation affects my hard earned money? Which economist can explain how go slow affects the productivity of fellow Nigerians?.
How many of us know that We are well trained “early to bed because of NEPA and early to raise because of Traffic?
A small step can bring a big change.
Let us copy Japan and cultivate a society where people are mindful of others. Life is better for everyone. A small video by a common student in Japan shows the values and culture of a JAPAN. Its just a video for 1 1/2minutes but the value it is stretching to the people mind is mind-blowing. The video will surely and strongly motivate people to follow the values even the ones who are immoral. The title of the video is The best of Japan. It portrays that everyone in Japan automatically does the right things and not like other country people.
One can even find the scooters with key on the road and no one will mind to take it. Mindfulness of others. In japan people act with keeping others in their mind instead of only thinking of themselves. You can nap on a public place because people are quiet. You can feel like royalty because people will serve you with a smile and a bow. In a busy cafe you can leave your phone or laptop and not have it stolen. The video ends by saying when you cultivate a society where people are mindful of others life is better for everyone. Its a lesson that the rest of the world can learn from Japan
Let us replicate the country Finland ‘s Nation Brand initiative in 2009 and its achievements in World’s Best education, Healthiest Mothers, Press Freedom, Global Competitiveness, Least Corrupted, environment. Finland’s nation branding strategy sets an assignment for all Finns.
The report calls on all Finns to involve themselves and participate, even grandparents passing on manual crafting skills, chefs developing dishes and the nation branding group report lays out over 50 tasks for different players: ministries, companies, local governments and organisations as well as private individuals. According to Ollila, while the group was working on its report, ordinary people often asked what they can do.
“One grandmother came and asked what she could do. There are things in the report for grandmothers to do, too, said ollila. The committee took out full-page advertisements in 30 newspapers imploring Finns to read the report and take the tasks to heart.
Its a long way to go but let us start now to achieve something in near future. That one day that fellow Nigerians will have their basic needs without hustle that is day one for our success story.
A comprehensive brand audit is needed for identifying and understanding: what are the core pillars (culture, heritage, creativity, etc.) of the country; what is unique; who the stakeholders are; what actions to undertake; how to identify target segments etc. A nation brand plan and strategy should be developed once the brand audit is completed.
The plan has to focus on internal and external stakeholders and outline how to deliver value. Any small confident steps will have a positive impact on the improvement of Nigeria. Research and data are important, communication is a joint responsibility.
Nation branding should be a collaborative process between government and the main economic sectors, like agriculture, tourism, maritime sector, etc. An innovative public-private partnership fairly committed to a purposeful brand, seeking to collaborate, empower and make a meaningful difference in the daily life of the citizens, should lead the way.
Send out messages of unity and recovery. It is fundamental to send out a message that will link past images to the future. Messages to send out should be carefully thought and tailored based on the target audience. It is necessary to make messages clear, concrete, free from jargon and connect them to particular human needs and expectations. A clear political commitment to act together is one of the cornerstones of achieving success in communicating Nigeria.
I thank the management and board of Top 50 brands and indeed the great citizens of this country and other stakeholders for the this opportunity to share my feeling through this article. Let see Nigeria – Good People Great Nation.
