FG cautions citizens against negative remarks about Nigeria

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alh. Mohammed Idris, has cautioned Nigerians against making negative remarks about Nigeria.

He gave the caution yesterday in Abuja at the official unveiling of the Nigeria Reputation Management Group (NMRG) at a programme organised by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

Idris said a strong national brand would attract talents, tourists, and investors, which would further strengthen the country and position it to attract even more positives.

He, however, said a weak national brand would prevent opportunities to secure further foreign direct investments from willing investors especially if Nigerians continued to write and say negative things about the country.

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He said, “This brings me to the way Nigerians talk about their country. We are the ones striving for foreign direct investments to come into our land.

“On the other hand, we are very quick to say all those things that will drive away investors and those who want to identify with us.

“We must find a way to strike a true balance, especially for the media to report accurately, objectively, and with a sense of patriotism towards their country. I have always said that you can’t promote your country negatively while downplaying the positives. Therefore, there is a need to always promote our national image in a positive light.

“A strong national asset attracts talents, tourists, and investors. These combinations will, in turn, further strengthen the country. The reverse is also true; a weak national brand discourages investments and talents, depriving a country of what it needs for national development.”

On his part, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar also said false narrative and misinformation had the power to distort facts and damage reputations in ways that were difficult to reverse.

He said it was unfortunate that the achievements of the nation were not given the same visibility as stories of corruption, political instability and insecurity among others.

Earlier in his address, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Channels Television, John Momoh, warned against dragging the nation’s reputation through the mud.

Speaking at the event, Chairman and President of NIPR, Dr. Ike Neliaku said attaining reputation required a lot of hard work, careful design, deep foresight, skillful planning, and strategic implementation of well orchestrated programmes and actions.

He said the reputation of the country needed help, hence, the unveiling of the NRMG was a robust response to the call.

The Director General of NMRG, Yomi Badejo-Okunsanya, called on the federal government to declare October 15 every year as Nigerian Reputation day.