Nigeria: An Image Battered Nation
November 1st, 2006 | Published in Governance, Nigeria | 1 Comment
The recent air crash in Nigeria may have successfully killed and buried the foreign investment initiative of the Obasanjo administration.
When Mr. Obasanjo - who’s at the final stages of his mandate as the Nigerian president - assumed office some seven years ago, he embanked on an unprecedented PR mission for the country. He literally visited all nations with diplomatic relations with Nigeria, even those that bear little or no political or economic relevance to the nation. Despite harsh criticism from several quarters, the president doggedly pursued his agenda.
And this somewhat paid-off; several billions of dollars owed foreign lenders were re-negotiated and paid off. Even if foreign investments haven’t increased as expected, government officials have continued to find ways to weave into their public statements, all sorts of sales pitch with the sole purpose of wooing foreign businesses and investment. However, the latest crash in Nigeria, the fourth in a series of airliner crashes in 12 months, may have ‘deep-sixed’ the foreign investment drive of Mr. Obasanjo.
Afterall, there are fews investors out there who won’t mind playing Russian roulette with their lives for a profit quickie in the Nigerian market. The United States issued a travel warning to its nationals in August because of the deteriorating security in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. And I won’t be surprised if the US issued another travel warning following the recent airliner crash in Nigeria. It is also expected that several European Union countries will follow suit.
Since independence from the British in 1960, Nigeria has constantly found itself grappling with one negative events after the other; bad press/publicity from sectarian violence, political assassinations, human right violations, corrupt and unethical practices of high-ranking political office holders, and lately a multiple of air crashes.
Aside from the debt pay-off, it remains to be seen how Nigerians will benefit from the government-sponsored foreign investment/image-laundry drive - an initiative that has accrued millions of hard-earned dollars, in bills.
November 17th, 2006 at 9:56 am (#)
An already battered image I will say, not just now because of the air crashes, it has always been.
You cannot hide your character for so long, the goverment has done so much about Nigeria’s reputation but our character(just as ones sins)has a way of finding us out.
Enough of this cosmetic treatment given to the nation battered image.Cutting off a cancerous growth on the body of a patient doesnt remove whats in the bone marrow.
Those planes have crashed since they were bought, it was just taking time to manifest.The question , was the inspection officer blind to these facts that these planes were bad.
I hope God can even me mercificul on some of our leader.