An Open Letter to The Nigerian Government: A case of Nigeria’s Branding

It gives me great joy to be writing this because I consider it a valuable resource, and I hope it is well implemented.

I am a Masters student currently studying Tourism Management at Royal Roads University in Canada.

In preparation for one of my papers in school, I did extensive research on branding tourist destinations.  In the process, I discovered Anholt’s book on “places” which discusses branding extensively. Simon Anholt is an authority in the field of Place Branding. 

With over 20 years of experience, the author has written several books on the subject of branding and has advised the Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs and governments of nearly sixty countries, cities and regions, helping them to implement strategies for enhanced economic, political and cultural engagement.

About the Book

The book I read focused on how he distances himself from the idea of National branding because he thinks it’s untrue.

He says you cannot brand a nation because a nation is not for sale. You can only brand a product.

Amongst all the books and journals I read for this research, his book stood out to me because I found his book very funny, practical and relatable.

As I continued reading, I said to myself, “let me take down notes and actionable steps we can implement in Nigeria when I get into a position with more influence tomorrow”.

This is something I have been doing for quite a while, where I write down a few ideas I believe will serve as a great policy to bring about the good changes I want to see in Nigeria’s tourism industry.

However, as I continued with my research, I wondered, instead of waiting for an unknown time or period, why can’t I share the knowledge I have discovered now. So that it will help shape the current direction of our policies and actions as a country today?

So here goes my first open letter to the Nigerian government and Nigeria as a whole.

By the way, if you are a regular reader of my blog and you are used to my informal writing style, permit my new writing style.

Being a master’s student changes the way you write and think, but I would try to be as informal as possible.

As Anholt mentioned, there is no such thing as a Nation Brand, but a country can work on building its reputation instead.

Reputation helps people make a decision on whether or not a person or a country can be trusted. You build a good reputation by earning people’s trust and respect.

And it is on this reputation that people make a decision on whether or not to visit a place or buy a product.

 For me, I chose to study in Canada because of the great reputation it has – the quality of life, the exposure I get, peace, order, access to greater opportunities, prestigious universities and more.

It was a given. Canada already won my trust since those were the factors I was using to measure my interest in studying for my Master’s degree.

Anholt’s Recommendations

Based on my findings from Anholt’s books, these are practical steps Nigeria can adopt to build our brand identity, reputation and trust:

1. Conduct an analysis of Nigeria’s perception in countries that Nigeria considers to be of importance, and understand how their perception affects Nigeria’s interest in these countries.
2. Collaborate with these countries to tell one story that truly reflects the culture in that nation.
3. Create innovative products, services or policies that meet the expectations set by the story shared about Nigeria.

In addition to this, Anholt argues that PR and campaigns do not always get the expected result, policies have to be enacted to keep the strategy resilient (stand the test of time) with measurable results.

During my research, I discovered that Kenya has done a good job in building a great reputation by implementing all these strategies above.

Before the pandemic, Kenya grew from 848,906 international yearly tourists in 2006 to 2,048,834 international tourists in 2019 despite the political/election conflict experienced.

What we have been doing wrong

While reading the book by Anholt, all I could think of is how as Nigerians, we contribute to the bad brand image that Nigeria has with every word we share on Social Media. 

To be fair, this is a reflection of the everyday experiences of Nigerians.

If we have good experiences, we share them. If we have bad experiences, we share them.

The question is, how can the Nigerian government encourage Nigerians to increase the rate of the good news shared about the country to build goodwill about Nigeria across the International Market?

Goodwill helps build our reputation.

Remember we build a good reputation by earning trust and respect.

Anholt mentioned that trust can either be learned or earned.

What this means is, you either trust a product because you tried it and you liked it, or you trust a product because someone else trusted it and introduced it to you.

This learned trust is how trends or hypes start.

You go to a restaurant, eat food, visit a place or watch movies because one of your friends did and told you they liked it, so they referred it to you. Then you try it. If you like it too, you recommend it to a friend and the trend continues.

Win my trust back

Your trust was earned and your expectation was met.

This encouraged you to spread the goodwill. That is how a reputation is built.

How can Nigeria win the trust of its people and meet the expectations that the government promises?

I will speak for myself.  To win my trust, the government should do the following;

1. Live up to the expectations set in our national anthem and pledge
2. Protect your citizens (a reference to #ENDSARS)
3. Make public education prestigious again. My mother has told me that there used to be a time where going to a government school in Nigeria was a thing to take pride in. 
4. Pay all public servants their salaries; health care workers, teachers and university lecturers. Do not owe people salaries. This leads to an increase in crime and vices in the state.
5. Provide opportunities for the youth and small businesses to grow. Partner with other countries to provide opportunities to the youth for sport. 
6. Do not make operating legally in Nigeria difficult. Start by making it easy to register a business in a day.
7. Your goal as a political leader in Nigeria should be to see every Nigerian or constituent succeed. Do whatever you can to make that happen, that is why you are in office. To serve the people.

I can keep going to list a couple more things as to what I would want Nigeria to do to build my trust again, which will, in turn, build her reputation.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog posts, I am passionate to see growth and positive change in my motherland, hence these suggestions and burden on my heart.

Tell me in the comments section, what would you want Nigeria to do to build your trust?

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