By Elizabeth ADENUGA
Mr Olabamiji Adeleye, the Managing Director of Addefort Ltd., says there is need to evolve a strategic approach to addressing the reputation challenges of ‘Made-in-Nigeria’ and promote the best of Nigeria to the world.
TBI Africa quoted Adeleye, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos, said that public and private sector partnership was required to articulate communication strategy that would showcase Nigerian brands.
He said that Made-In-Nigeria was not just about products and services, but the totality of what the nation represented.
According to him, the firm is evolving a Made-in-Nigeria Ambassadors (M-I-NA) initiative to bridge the perception problem facing Made-In-Nigeria as a brand both within and outside the country.
“M-I-NA is inspired to change the negative narratives about Made-In-Nigeria and set the stage for the promotion of the best of Nigeria to the world by identifying credible individuals annually through popular opinion poll from various sectors.
“The individuals will be drawn from entertainment, banking, ICT, energy, agriculture, automobile, manufacturing, sports, SMEs, fashion and government; they will fly the flag as Made-in-Nigeria Ambassadors for the year,” he said.
He said that M-I-NA was a product of research and public opinion survey that recommended concerted efforts to promote the best of Nigeria to the world.
Adeleye stressed the need to identify with the quality products from Nigeria and celebrate them to the world, saying the country must promote and patronise Made-in-Nigeria products to encourage survival of local producers.
“Government should lead the way in patronising Made-in-Nigeria products; we need to promote institutional standardisation to get the best out of our local production.
“Nigeria should articulate a communication strategy on how we are going to brand Nigeria and as citizens, we need to speak positively about ‘Made-in-Nigeria.”
He said that patronage of Made-in-Nigeria goods would boost domestic production, create jobs, promote technology transfer and impact positively on the country’s Gross Domestic Product performance.
