The image of a country is crucial to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Experts at the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) 43rd Annual General Meeting/Congress in Akwa Ibom State highlighted the role of communications in national development and nation branding, ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI, who was there, reports
At a time the Bristish Prime Minister, David Cameron, described Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’, the focus of this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Congress of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) could not be more apt.
With Communication As a Tool for National Development as its theme, there was an assemblage of experts to address communication and branding challenges.
Analysts say it is the best way to go for any government in need of the best method to communicate its policies to not only the citizens but to the outside world.
The debate on coming out with a well-accepted marketing communications strategy for the country has been futile over the last five years. But Akwa Ibom State, where the event was held, provided a case study – development and communication – for better understanding of the role of communication in national development and nation branding.
The speakers, including Governor Emmanuel Udom; the Acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Corporation (NDDC), Mrs. Ibim Semenitari; a senior advertising practitioner and the Managing Director of SO&U, Mr. Udeme Ufot, and the immediate past president of AAAN, Mr. Kelechi Nwosu, were unanimous that communication can change behaviours, entrench positive attitude and enhance national rebirth. Communication can as well enhance positive perception from external publics, especially, the international community.
Describing advertising as a veritable tool for repositioning the state, Udom said a communication campaign – Dakkada – adopted by the state has become a litmus test that could be adopted by government at all levels to achieve national development, reorientation and attitudinal change. He said such business must be handled by professionals to achieve results.
He said: “We are all guilty of the blame; we got into this mess basically because Nigerians were not interested in their own enterprises. There is an urgent need for the average Nigerian to show some level of patriotism towards made-in-Nigeria goods and patronage of our professionals in all fields. With this, we will be able to check capital flight as well as boost the naira.
“On communication, I have always emphasised that there must be connection between the people and government mechanism and the best way to go about this is to engage professionals, who understand our culture, our programmes and our target audience.”
Also, Mrs. Semenitari, a founding Editor of BroadStreet Journal, a publication of Tell Magazine, underscored the role of communication. She said there was the need for the government to provide citizens with information on programmes and activities, saying this is a vital function which underpins state-society relation.
Semenitari said further that the government, being the first brand face of Nigeria, must carry its people along, making them the first advocates for Brand Nigeria. “The result of this would be a boundless subscription by all Nigerians to Brand Nigeria, an affirmative position which is accompanied by pride, sincerity and collective responsibility, knowing that no truly big or successful brand can be built in isolation,” she said.
She noted that adopting effective communication strategy in governance would foster national pride, advocacy, behavioural changes and support for government initiatives. It will also naturally encourage foreign investors and tourist attraction. “An overall belief in brand Nigeria is just coming attractions for what the big play could turn out to be,” she affirms.
Challenging advertisers, she said communication as a tool for national development as seen through the eyes of communications experts must be seen as a task to probe new models and channels through which the people can be carried along.
“The process of competently advising, guiding, processing and executing ideas at every level is the strongest challenge for advertising agents. And why do I think it’s a challenge? Taking into consideration the peculiar challenges our government is presently tackling and considering the progress we have made in these areas, it must be stated that already one thing is clear, the present administration is not turning its eyes the other way to corruption or the menace of insurgency. Peculiar times call for peculiar models, hence, we must be imaginative; be able to gain the confidence of the people while communicating Nigeria’s ideals.
“Our offerings and response simplified, sustainable and brilliant, yet convincing,” she said.
She said AAAN could not be ignored in the communication space, particularly in maintaining an appreciable level of ethics of practice, which she referred to as the precursor of the sanity in the advertising industry.
In the “fantastically altered” perception about the country, she said, there isn’t a better time than now to collectively bring to the fore strategies towards adequately using communication for nation building and highlighing the role of teh government.
Drawing attention to the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister David Cameron’s comment, Uffot said Nigerians were responsible for the way foreigners see the country in negative light. He said Nigerians and top government officials, including the media, were responsible for demarketing Nigeria.
“There is nothing Nigerians enjoy more, both the lowly and the highly placed, than to denigrate their nation, even in the midst of foreign audiences, (washing our dirty linen (at their doorsteps). It is indeed a sad place to be, that Nigerians who are old enough to have seen, and been a part of this country in its better days, and some of whom had been contributory to the country’s sinking to the current sorry state, should be some of the loudest in bad mouthing and rubbishing the nation,” he said.
Quoting the Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, Uffot said: “Nation building is about building a common sense of purpose, a sense of shared destiny, a collective imagination of belonging. Nation building is therefore about building the tangible and intangible threads that hold a political entity together and gives it a sense of purpose. It is about building the institutions and values which sustain the collective community in these modern times.”
In the light of this Ufot, said there is need for a professional communication framework and architecture in managing government communications.
The conference support by The Nation Newspaper, according to Nwosu, was organised to articulate options and identify strategies for addressing national issues, particularly those that relate to the advertising industry and the Nigeria economy. He also said it was meant to suggest clear ideas on how government can effectively engage the hearts and minds of Nigerians.
Nwosu said for the engagement of strategic communication is to motivate members of the public. While pointing out that many governments, all over the world, retain the services of professional marketing communication partners to sell their policies, he tasked practitioners in the advertising business on the need to see their role in national development beyond offering marketing communication services to the private sector.
