FG seeks partnership with marketing institutes on re-branding Nigeria

Following global perception about events in Nigeria, the Federal government has called on the Nigerian Institute of Marketing to come to the aid of government and offer professional advice on how the country’s image can be changed.
Speaking at the 2018 annual marketing conference /annual general meeting of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah said that government alone cannot do it, stressing that the challenge is now left to the professionals to offer solutions. He said that there so much to do to sell Nigeria and to tell the Nigerian story in a positive way.
Okechukwu said many people were not focusing on the positive achievements of government and Nigeria as a country. He urged the marketing professionals to accept the challenge of marketing Nigeria, especially in three key areas where government had made progress.
He listed the areas as creating conducive environment for business and Economic Recovery And Growth Plan.
He said, “There is alot more we will love to do. We are looking forward to working with you to market Nigeria. We, as a government, we can’t do it alone and we need you folks to help us.
We want to partner with you to market Nigeria, to make progress, to tell our stories. To achieve the Nigeria of our dream, we have to tell positive stories.”
In his address, president of the NIMN, Tony Agenmonmen, said Nigeria had some of the finest marketing and marketing communications professionals in the world, stressing that while proffering some solutions on how the country could be re-branded, the professionals were in the best position to offer new ideas on how to market the country.
He said, “If these professionals cannot talk about brand Nigeria, I wonder who is more qualified to do so. Few people have asked, why “Marketing Nigeria”? And I ask why not? We are Nigerians and we are marketing people. We love Nigeria and we love the marketing profession. 
“Nigeria is a brand. We strongly believe that the marketing principles, that apply in ordinary day marketing, can be applied to market Nigeria. The starting point is that a brand must mean something to the consumer, to be relevant.
“Similarly we believe Nigeria must mean something to Nigerians and to foreign audiences. We must find that hook that can connect brand Nigeria to its audiences. That is the beginning of how to build a love relationship between a brand and its target audience.
“Let me be very clear. When we talk about marketing Nigeria, we are not talking about sloganeering, nor are we talking about jingles or some PR stunt. It is beyond all of that.
“As marketing professionals, we know that great brands were not built on such quick sand. Building brand Nigeria will not be any different.”