Thursday, November 05, 2009              

Negative publicity is not Nigeria's problem

SIR: The allegation of negative publicity about Africa, or about Nigeria in particular, has never appealed to me. A television cameraman exposes a dungheap in a city centre, and you call it a negative publicity. What are you talking about? If you hide your dirty linens, the smell, cockroaches, and bacteria will consume you.

The antonym of negative publicity is propaganda, a situation in which you say only the good things, and dress-up what is not good to appear good. Naturally, many world leaders (not the least Nigerian leaders) prefer propaganda. But, when a blind person pretends to be asleep, what does she see when not sleeping? We should not treat ringworm when the disease is leprosy. Doing what is right, rather than self-glorification, should be our watchword.

No condition is perfect in Europe, America, Asia or Australia, but hiding our difficult areas should be highly minimised; rather, we should identify and tackle them. At this point, with particular reference to Nigeria, I can mention fraudulent elections, gross low supply of electricity, too many bad roads, inadequate refineries, importation of fertilizer, rulers going abroad for their health restoration and neglecting medical facilities in the country, embezzlement of public funds, political office holders over-compensating themselves with public funds under their care, etc.

These and others should be exposed and criticised, toward repositioning the nation. Spending money and energy on propaganda or cover-up is counter-productive; it may serve the rulers' purpose, but detrimental for the masses and the nation at large.

Pius Abioje,
University of Ilorin.