Is ‘brand Nigeria’ losing spot in Africa?

…Hobbled democracy poses serious concern

…Its passport now a challenge

…Sports tournament organisers ignore her

…Loses respect of small neighbours

Last summer, a group of holidaymakers were embarrassed in Honduras, a third world country, just because of their Nigerian passport.

The group, which was in Honduras to join a luxury cruise line, was not allowed to enter, denied visa-on-arrival, detained and threatened with deportation despite having green cards, which other nationals presented and were allowed, just because the Nigerian passport is rated ‘Category C’.

While the Green Card privilege does not apply to Nigerian Green Card holders, the only option left to the group was to travel to the Honduras embassy in Houston, Texas, in the United States of America, to get the visa at additional cost, stress and risk of losing money paid for the luxurious expedition.

Though the Honduras immigration was harsh to the Nigerian tourists, who were transiting through their gateway, the reality is also obvious. The Nigerian passport ranks really low globally as passports of countries like Gambia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Zimbabwe and even Niger and Cameron allow their citizens to travel to more countries without a visa than the Nigerian passport.

Sadly, the Nigerian passport is only better than five other countries in Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, Libya and Somalia, while it ranks at the same level with Ethiopia and DRC Congo.

“It is sad, but that is the reality based on the situation in the country currently and an assessment of development in the country over a period of time,” Adeniyi Munir, a travel agent, explained.

“No country’s passport is categorized low because it is Africa, black or third-world, but on some key parameters like safety, infrastructure, stability of the economy, good governance/leadership, visa openness and easy access”.

Munir noted that Ghana’s passport is among the top 10 in Africa and also ranks very high globally.

“Ghanaians can visit over 50 countries in the world without visa and they are our neighbours, Africans and Blacks too. There has been sustained stability in the country across many indices, and intentional efforts to draw people to their country and the world recognises that and is responding to it. Nigeria needs to work on so many things, starting with our leadership crisis,” he noted.

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But beyond the Green Card discrimination, visa denials and low ranking of the passport, brand Nigeria seems to be losing it, amid waning influence in Africa, and little regard globally.

Some observers say that the less regard for the country and its citizens globally is a reflection of the realities in the country over the years and currently.

“Nigeria as a country has not made stable strides since independence. It has been one step forward and two backwards. Look at the mess in the political scene today. We are degenerating into a one-party system,” Ujuri Amkpe, a political scientist and analyst, said.

Amkpe recalled that in the late 50s and early 60s, when many countries were gaining independence, Nigeria, Brazil and India predicted to take the world by storm in a few years to come due to their immense potential.

“But we keep lagging, while our mates keep flying higher, despite the tremendous wealth from our natural resources and huge human capital.

“So, it is natural for brand Nigeria to decline when the country is not competing at par with its supposedly mates even in Africa,” he said.

Citing an instance with the fight against corruption, Amkpe pointed that if the many anti-graft agencies have been effective, the recurring cases of corruption would have been declining and the world will easily notice it and respect us.

“If the EFCC follows a past governor alleged of corruption, prosecute him, send him to jail, recover the looted fund, then the government bans the guilty from holding any political position in the country and deploys the recovered funds into meaningful projects, corruption will decline to the barest minimum and brand Nigeria will rise because the global community will attest to our commitment,” he insisted.

He also queried why brand Nigeria will be respected when all the corrupt need is to switch political party and ‘his sins would be forgiven’.

“Adams Oshiomhle said it and people thought he was joking then. Has anyone who left a party and joined Oshiomhle’s party been arrested or his corruption case mentioned again since the defection.
“So, why will the global community that sees all these still regard you as a country, your leaders and your people. Japanese say good thinking, good products, so also bad people, bad reputation, poor image and low-ranking passport. But we can reverse it, it is all about change across the board, from Aso Rock to market places,” he said.

In his opinion, Chijioke Umelaghi, an Abuja-based lawyer and a former Abia lawmaker, apart from corruption, brand Nigeria is on steady decline globally due to the staggering poverty ranking.

“When a country is ranked very high in corruption and poverty, it loses respect in the community of nations because it is assumed that it should go and purge itself, put its house in order and start recovery journey others will see, commend and assist if necessary before it will start rising again,” Umelaghi said.

Citing an instance with Rwanda, the lawmaker said that the East African country took the world by storm after its crisis about two decades ago; rising from the ashes of genocide, poverty and low global rankings across all indices to become a thriving economy, stable democracy and place to visit in Africa today.

“Who knows about the United Arab Emirates and Rwanda in the 80s and 90s. Today, everybody goes there because they got their leadership right and have made stable commitments at lifting the lives of their people, and by doing so, boosting the image and global perceptions of the countries.

“It is not rocket science, Nigeria can boost its image. Asian countries did it and today are recognized globally for their individual country’s developmental strides and collectively as Asian Tigers,” Umelaghi said.

He urged Nigeria to imitate them in rebuilding its image, while pointing out that from China, Japan, the Koreas, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand, the Asians are up there despite efforts of Western world to belittle them.

But from the security perspective, Bem Hembafan, a retired security personnel, noted that countries are respected because of their ability to handle their issues amicably, as well as decisively face external aggressions.

“It will be difficult for Nigeria to talk in some quarters, especially the global community, when it is not able to assert its sovereignty back home. Countries are not fools, they assess you based on realities in your country. They will not regard you if you cannot put your house in order or handle internal things without asking for external help,” he said.

He noted that if the country can tackle its insecurity challenge, even half way, the brand will rise and the citizens will begin to gain respect at immigration points across the world.

“If we flush out terrorists, stop the killings, and regain control of hostage communities, our brand and image will rise. It is doable and we can,” he insisted.

Some observers also pointed out that insecurity is top among the reasons organisers of sports tournaments are not considering Nigeria.

Kelvin Arushigwe, a youth and sports promoter, decried that CAF and other sports bodies are taking their tournaments to other African countries, which they consider safe, even if the infrastructure there is not world class.

“Which Nigerian football club will travel to Borno, Plateau or Kaduna for a match. Many are also scared of Abuja. So, what do you say to international bodies, whose perception of the country is already dented.

“CAF will keep going to Morocco and South Africa for infrastructure, Senegal, Ghana and even the Benin Republic for safety, bypassing Nigeria. It is all about the safety of the athletes and fans and Nigeria cannot guarantee that for now, even in Lagos,” he decried.

He argued that when organisers, whether sports, entertainment or even religious crusades, are not sure of the safety of the attendees, the country bidding to host naturally loses that opportunity.

“We, as a country, have lost many events hosting rights because of the escalating insecurity here, poor and inadequate infrastructure and little regard to brand Nigeria.

“So, at a typical bidding for a sporting event coming to West Africa, Ghana and Senegal will position because they know that the organisers will not go for Nigeria because of our challenges. All these keep negative pressure on brand Nigeria,” he decried, saying that North Africa will keep winning hosting rights in sports because of Nigeria’s brand decline.

But many believe that brand Nigeria can rise again, even to an all-time high if the country gets its leadership right, which in turn tackles poverty, corruption and insecurity decisively.