July 10, 2008

Using Star Power to Repair Nigeria’s Image

By ANGELO RAGAZA

LAGOS, Nigeria — It’s hard to rehabilitate a country — especially Nigeria, best known these days for violence in the oil-producing Niger Delta.

But Nduka Obaigbena is used to long odds. The Nigerian media mogul — part Bono, part Diddy — has been challenging his country’s often brutal kleptocracy for decades. And, in what passes for high praise from the organization that has consistently rated Nigeria one of the most corrupt nations in the world, Nancy Z. Boswell, president and chief executive of Transparency International-USA, says of Mr. Obaigbena’s efforts to clean up his country, “There is reason to be cautiously optimistic.”

Mr. Obaigbena (pronounced Oh-bayg-BEH-na) has more enthusiastic fans. “Nduka obviously has a remarkable vision, real passion and a special message,” said Naomi Campbell, the supermodel and a converted admirer. “He’s not just a promoter. The more I found out, the more I wanted to be involved.”

So did John Howard, the former Australian prime minister. “There are so many investment opportunities at present that good governance is going to be quite material in where that investment goes,” he said by phone from Sydney. “Obaigbena is striking a blow for the truer path.”

But can a party save a country?

Every year since 2000, Mr. Obaigbena has honored Nigerians who fight graft or injustice, in particular government officials and corporate executives who exemplify good governance through financial transparency, accountability and respect for the law.

But he celebrates them by hosting the likes of Ms. Campbell and Mr. Howard at star-filled events, including the ThisDay Awards, named for his media empire and the influential independent newspaper at its center. The last awards ceremony was attended by politicians and socialites, including Mr. Howard, former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of France and Paul Begala, a former adviser to Bill Clinton.

Since 2006, Mr. Obaigbena has also held a mammoth summer concert series promoting Nigeria’s economic and political progress, the ThisDay festival, luring the likes of Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Diddy and Shakira to perform in Lagos.

The next concert, Africa Rising, is scheduled to take place in Abuja on Friday, starring Mary J. Blige, Usher and Rihanna, as well as Ms. Campbell. On Aug. 1, it travels to the Kennedy Center in Washington, headlined by Beyoncé and Seal.

To some observers, the lavishness of Mr. Obaigbena and his events — he brought in a dome from Davos, Switzerland, for the 2008 awards — undermines their credibility and their message.

“All this talk about good governance does not go beyond sloganeering,” said Philip Ikita, a Nigerian journalist, sociologist and development worker. “We who have stayed connected with our rural population know that there is no progress for the Nigerian people.”

Mr. Obaigbena disagrees. “We have the longest period of democracy in Nigeria, ever,” said the mogul in March, sitting in a suite at the St. Regis in New York. “We have new leadership. We have to sustain that momentum.”

Though no one is saying Mr. Obaigbena is responsible for those changes, he has become their promoter, just as he promotes his glittery events. And his optimism is not completely unwarranted. To be sure, half of Nigeria’s population lacks access to potable water, and the infant mortality rate is 1 in 10 births. But foreign investment nearly quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Because of a financial restructuring and swelling oil prices, Nigeria has almost no foreign debt, almost $50 billion in foreign reserves and a growing trade surplus.

Sectors other than oil have grown, too: in 2007, Nigeria’s telecommunications industry was set to overtake South Africa’s as the largest on the continent. “Among our clients, particularly banks, hedge funds and investors, there is a lot of interest in Nigeria,” said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, an analyst for the Eurasia Group, a New York-based political risk analysis consultancy.

Crucial to that interest is the progression of Nigeria’s anticorruption efforts, which began in 2002 with the establishment of the Economic and Federal Crimes Commission.

With $380 billion looted from the government treasury since independence in 1960, Nigeria has become synonymous with graft. Its vast oil resources “will not be enough to attract foreign investment if there were a complete loss of confidence in governance,” said Mr. Howard.

What role Mr. Obaigbena’s ThisDay Award has had in encouraging good governance is impossible to say — it has honored people whose efforts are already well known. Winners have included Bukola Saraki, the governor of Kwara state who invited Zimbabwean farmers persecuted by the regime of President Robert Mugabe to resettle in Nigeria; and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister who negotiated $18 billion in debt relief for Nigeria and was named managing director of the World Bank in 2007.

Last year, ThisDay honored Nuhu Ribadu, the anticorruption chief who oversaw 200 convictions in Nigeria since 2003, bringing down several senators, governors and a former chief of police.

Still, Mr. Obaigbena has not abjured the trappings of power. An elegant man with a blunt, chiefly demeanor and a taste for bespoke Lanvin suits, he maintains a home in Lagos, a country estate in Nigeria’s Delta State and a penthouse at the Ritz Carlton in Washington.

He will not disclose his net worth, but says that ThisDay’s corporate parent, Leaders and Company, of which he owns 95 percent, had $100 million in revenue in 2007. He earned $20 million from real estate and stock holdings.

“I like to live modestly and discreetly,” said Mr. Obaigbena, with no trace of irony.

Outside Nigeria, paparazzi frequently snap him in velvet-rope settings with the likes of Lil’ Kim and Ice-T. “He’s a larger-than-life personality,” said Bayo Alade-Loba, head of sub-Saharan banking for Credit Suisse.

A descendant of the Ika, one of the smaller of Nigeria’s 200 ethnic tribal groups, Mr. Obaigbena began ThisDay as a weekly, then called ThisWeek, in 1987.

During a violent government crackdown on the press in the late 1990s, he was arrested for publishing articles criticizing the military regime of Gen. Sani Abacha. “Scores of journalists were arrested and killed,” he said. “The publisher of our competing paper, The Guardian, was shot and almost died.”

After a brief detention, Mr. Obaigbena went into exile for two years, returning just a month after Mr. Abacha’s death. ThisDay has continued to be a lightning rod. A 2002 editorial criticizing Islamic officials for condemning the Miss World pageant led to ThisDay’s offices being ransacked and burned; fatwas were issued against its editors.

In December 2006, the editorial board chairman, Godwin Agbroko, winner of the 1997 PEN Freedom to Write Award and a fearless critic of Nigeria’s ruling party, was found in his car after work hours, fatally shot in the neck.

The next month, ThisDay’s offices suffered another arson attack. “We get threats every day,” Mr. Obaigbena said. “But it doesn’t matter. We’ll keep speaking the truth.”

At the next festival and awards, Mr. Obaigbena plans to sound the drum for microfinance as the way to empower Nigeria’s 146 million people. As he sees it, if the sleeping giant that is this consumer market, the largest in Africa, were to rouse, “African superpower” would no longer be a contradiction.

“It’s a new country emerging,” he said. “And it’s time to showcase it.”

Robot  Villager

# 1 July 10, 2008 Using Star Power to Repair Nigeria’s Image By ANGEL...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 10.07.2008 15:03

wasco  Villager

# 2 A proud Nigerian.Mr Nduka Obiagbena is doing a great job for Nigeria and I admire his acheivement. Posted by wasco| 10.07.2008 19:01

katampe  Villager

# 3 The little gal that wrote the article that became the rallying point of mayhem from Sharia sympathizers is hidden somewhere in Europe, I think Isioma Daniel is her name, it would be interesting to hear her story and treatment in the hands of this guy that is using "Star Power to Repair Nigeria’s Image." While it is no debating that this guy has made good, it hardly debatable that he hasn't offered much in terms of direction for the youth and people that would have wished to use him as their role model. He has used his newspaper to position himself in the Nigerian political environment through endorsement of all sorts of shady characters - the people that hold the wealth and power of the state. I guess Newspaper barons have never been known to be progressive, so it is following a commonly walked path, Conrad Black was extravagant and loud, he used his newspaper stable to bamboozle a Canadian populace and the British Aristocracy that eventually awarded him a Lordship. His was more of showmanship that cared very little for social responsibility. Probably, Nduka took a page from his playbook. For Conrad, that path has led him to cool his heels in an American jail and has turned him into a caricatured criminal. The past eventually has a way of catching up with people. Conrad's past did catch up, Nduka's might be in the making. Remember, he was the image launderer for Babaginda when June 12 was cancelled. Possibly, and if we dug deep, that event was the beginning of the benefit that has catapulted his whole career. And for so much achievement that New York Times now celebrates , we should remember he is courtier of runaway models that have been known for intolerable behaviour and rappers that have being indicted for gun running. The international investment he is helping facilitate is the culture of rap and modeling , not social policies that can help Nigerian youths realize their through potential outside a culture that promotes sex and criminal activities that is associated are the stereotypical culture in inner city neigbhourhouds in the civilized world. I wouldn't bet my a-rs-e on NYT afterall, they endorsed Hillary Clinton, so solid is their judgement on issues? They equally might be turning into a celebrity toilet paper with their collection of archaic characters as journalists in a modern era where newpsaper readership is shrinking and internet has taken over. In social circles, Nduka will be getting laid more, I think that is the only service NYT has rendered for Nigerians obsessed with intangibles, no wonder this made it to the frontpage of NVS. What as shame! I would rather think Isioma Daniel, than enjoy the intangibles Nduka brings to the table. When you read the article , remember a young woman (Isioma Daniel) whose burning passion, however misguided was cut short by a mistake that Nduka should have held himself responsible for, but instead he aided and abetted the liquidation of the little gal's dream in her fatherland , and his inability to take responsibility has led the gal to confront rootlessness and placelessness in imposed exile , a harrowing experience when in search of meaning and identity in Europe. Posted by katampe| 10.07.2008 19:22

NWANZA  Villager

# 4 At the next festival and awards, Mr. Obaigbena plans to sound the drum for microfinance as the way to empower Nigeria’s 146 million people. As he sees it, if the sleeping giant that is this consumer market, the largest in Africa, were to rouse, “African superpower” would no longer be a contradiction. “It’s a new country emerging,” he said. “And it’s time to showcase it.” Music brings people of different cultures and ethnicity together to channel their mind away from their problems, and hopefully this one can bring blacks from USA closer to their motherland Africa - who knows where this will lead us in the future? It is all good for them to visit and socialize with our people who envy and support their music, art, & culture - I am wishing them the best of all that life could offer, from the bottom of my hearth. They should understand that Africa love and care about African Americans & African Europeans! Posted by NWANZA| 10.07.2008 21:50

Omowa2  Villager

# 5 Who is this Katape? Do you live in this same world? What you have contributed is a pity...I shake my head Omowa2 Posted by Omowa2| 11.07.2008 00:33

philipikita  Villager

# 6 THISDAY AWARDS: CELEBRATING MEDIOCRITY IN GOVERNMENT By Philip Ikita Tuesday, 12 February 2008 http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_mycontent&task=view&id=8526&Itemid=154 In Thisday’s parade of the “Ministerial Front-liners” on its Tuesday (February 12, 2008) daily edition, the newspaper attempted to dress up activities of “intent” or “hoping/dreaming” projects embarked upon by ministers as reasons for ‘nominating’ the ministers for ‘best’ minister award. According to Thisday, “we painstakingly monitored the performance of the ministers throughout 2007”. But what Thisday describes as a “painstaking” monitoring process is actually no more than shallow presumptuous statements that hold no substance among the veritable variables that can be factored into the calculus of good governance. What is there assess about a minister that just got appointed a little over half a year ago? What is there to assess when policies or ministerial initiatives have caused pain than pleasure to more citizens? In this piece, I will take five of the six nominees and dissect the reasons for which each one of them was nominated by Thisday: Deziani K. Allison-Madueke, Minister of Transport This minister according to Thisday “has brought a kind of freshness into governance.” What is the “freshness”? See what the daily has (emphasized italics are mine): Allison-Madueke’s “hopes are geared towards ensuring the safety of the skies for the numerous Nigerians who fly daily within and outside the country…she also hopes to ensure that the various federal roads in the country, which are in dilapidating states, are properly fixed…she said the Lagos-Ibadan and Sagamu-Ore-Benin roads would be privatized this year”. On top of these “hopes”, Thisday added another index for which they have nominated the woman for great performance as minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: “She also recently admitted that a sum of N580 billion was spent on federal roads in eight years by the immediate past regime of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo”! Pray. How can making a statement about a piece of unverifiable data or figures amount to performance and nomination as ‘best’ minister? Another clincher from Thisday: “One of her immediate steps in office was to embark on inspection of the airports in the country and the various federal roads.”! According to Thisday, “hoping” to fix roads, “admitting” billions of naira “spent” to fix roads in eight years and “inspecting” airports and roads is performance that deserves an award. Thus, “she was nominated for her vision and the broad objectives …which can lead to safety in transportation”! Alhaji Adamu Bello Bello was minister of agriculture for eight years under former President Olusegun Obasanjo. According to Thisday, “it can only be for his sheer competence in the management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that Obasanjo, who is also a farmer, retained him as minister for eight years.” Thisday listed lies that cannot be proved: that Bello is “known to have improved the lot of Nigerian farmers significantly by ensuring adequate and prompt supply of agricultural implements in addition to creating a conducive environment for the exportation of agricultural products in Nigeria as well as calling for and working towards favourable trade tariffs all for the benefit of Nigerian farmers.” Really? Where are the farmers that enjoy “prompt supply” of agricultural implements? This is a big lie. How many Nigerian farmers can afford tractors for instance? Is a policy that makes only governments to afford tractors friendly to farmers? Why are we still importing rice, a staple food that is consumed across Nigeria? In my village communities in Kaduna State, most of the local farmers have been witnessing dwindling harvests, may be the big farmers are smiling (?), but the government has failed to realize that it is the small rural farmers of Thailand, India, Indonesia etc…that cultivate the rice that Nigeria imports. No rural farmers are witnessing any “glorious” times as fabricated by Thisday. It would have made more sense if Thisday awarded Bello for being “one of the longest serving ministers under former president Obasanjo”. Alhaji Hassan Muhammed Lawal Hassan Muhammed Lawal was the immediate past Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity under president Obasanjo. Thisday says “he was one of the top government officials who regularly managed the various industrial actions by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the incessant increase in the pump price of petrol…he was said to be very effective and dynamic”. Who said he was very effective and dynamic? Where is the effectiveness and dynamism when he failed to prevent the industrial actions from starting in the first place? Another big lie again by Thisday is that Lawal “recorded a major feat in June last year when he prevailed on organised labour to quickly halt its industrial action in respect of the fuel price increase undertaken by Obasanjo on the eve of his departure from office”. Organized labor refused to go on strike because they did not want anything that would provide the old petty dictator Obasanjo an excuse to hang on to power under the guise of “instability”. To now give credit to Lawal is the height of mischief by the widely read Thisday newspaper. Mallam Nasir el-Rufai Thisday attributes the nomination of Nasir el-Rufai due to “the restoration of the beauty of Abuja and the strict compliance with the Abuja master plan”. El-Rufai tried to restore the Abuja master-plan but never did so “strictly”. He left off Aso Rock which was never in the master-plan. He also destroyed some buildings and structures in the master-plan because the owners were “enemies” of his “master”, Olusegun Obasanjo. It is also a big lie that El-Rufai “provided infrastructure to satellite towns in order to decongest Abuja City”. The man “decongested” and “beautified” the “inner” city O.K, but he did this by chasing away the poor through the demolition of satellite towns. He is an avowed hater of the poor and stated that Abuja is not for all Nigerians! In El-Rufai’s dream, he thought Abuja should be like London or Paris overnight, and he thought this could happen by eliminating the satellite towns and driving them further away from city of “Aso Rock” where international VIPs could drive straight to Aso Rock, the Hilton (etc) without sighting any poor people or ghettos on the roads. El-Rufai was also not above board in terms of the integrity expected of a public official of such high office. He sold a government house unto himself on the eve of his last day as minister, he seized lands from others and handed over to his wives who in turn, did exactly the kind of criminal things the syndicates did in Abuja. Chief Ojo Maduekwe Thisday says: “As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe unveiled a new foreign policy thrust for the nation”. Is there ever any foreign minister that did not have a “new foreign policy thrust”? So what is new about Ojo and his “new foreign policy thrust”? Ojo “announced the re-branding of the nation’s foreign policy with a focus on its citizens…to ensure that the nation’s foreign policy must benefit her citizens, while they also serve as tool to project and defend the country.” “The objectives of the policy is also to reflect the domestic, political, economy, technological, social and cultural aspirations of Nigerians in projecting Nigeria to the entire world. This major effort led THISDAY Board of Editors to nominate Maduekwe for the Minister of The Year Award”. So much for citizen diplomacy! Ojo promised to evacuate Nigerian citizens following the Kenyan post election crisis and violence. He made this promise since early January. As at the moment of penning this, no one Nigerian has been evacuated by Ojo yet! If the killings were to affect Nigerians really, no Nigerian would be alive by now. Thisday “sees” What Nigerians Don’t or Cannot See There is need to ask: what is the purpose of the awards? Of what or to whose benefit is a Thisday award? After more than one decade of awards plus “lifetime achievement awards” to some people including Olusegun Obasanjo, do Thisday editors have any moral justification to criticize the former president who has become a disgraceful villain? Did they not see the trait of a dictator when the handed him the “lifetime achievement” award? Thisday also ran fake daily opinion polls as a hatchet job for the ruling party prior to the April 2007 elections. Just one instance of this “poll”: in the beginning, they were daily giving the Lagos state Governorship to the Action Congress (AC), then right on the eve of the election, Lagos became “too close to call” between the AC and the ruling party! But Lagos, with its cosmopolitan and vibrant civic population proved too hot for the PDP electoral robbers and their rigging mahine INEC. Even kids of Ajegunle were shouting "P-D-P...PEOPLE DECEIVING PEOPLE"! And today, Thisday nominates the AC governor of Lagos State for an award! These awards are no more than an attempt by the owners of Thisday to perennially court patronage of the government. And by this, Thisday Newspapers is contributing in no small measure to the vicious cycle of mediocrity among the Nigeria political elite and the larger Nigerian society. Posted by philipikita| 11.07.2008 00:56

Ranter  Villager

# 7 "half of Nigeria’s population lacks access to potable water." Half as in 50%? Somebody is really out of touch here. Posted by Ranter| 11.07.2008 01:55

Olamide  Villager

# 8 Nduka is a pirate and a leech. He is not interested in repairing anyone's image but to strut around with people of questionable characters. We (read Nigeria) are in trouble if the morally bankrupt rappers, convicted gun-runners, sleazy international models and drug addicts are the people we now rely on to 'repair' our image. Are we not at the end of the road if Snoopy Doggy Dog, Jay Z, Jah Rule, P.Diddy, etc are coming to project our image to the world? What has Nduka done for his community, his State and Nigerian youths in general apart from importing these gangsters to the country to come and sing about bitches, free sex and getting high on drugs. Let him point at something positive he has done to uplift the lives of people in his village, not to mention Nigeria at large. Yeah, we celebrate mediocrity and that is why people who should be in maximum security prisons are always the chairmen at public occasions. Nigeria We hail thee! Posted by Olamide| 11.07.2008 03:33

Papino  Villager

# 9 @Philipikita,i agree with your post but have reservation on El Rufai and Maduekwe.May be we are just carved out to only see the bad side of everybody in the helm of affairs but this two-El Rufai and Ojo Maduekwe- did comparatively well and in my view,deserve the awards. On Rufai,there is no way anybody can follow the master plan of Abuja without looking like a hater of poor people.The absence of Okada and the accompanying social ills needs commendation and yes,he helped himself from his ministry which in all honesty,is bad.Maybe he should be awarded not for lack of corruption but for Minimal corruption.Lol On Maduekwe,note that he is NOT being awarded for everything he was under OBJ-he was many things then-but for his duties as a foreign minister.Truth be told,he put in a new life in the foreign affairs ministry.The government is more responsive to her citizens abroad than before.Taking up issues with Spain when Iberia murdered a Nigerian and Indonesia before executing Nigerians as well as reporting about Nigerians waiting for the hang-man in some countries are new develoments that should be commended.He could do better but let us accommodate the fact that he is doing good now. Lets say that Nduka is NOT a saint and doesn't engage in anything that would not yield more money for him than any benefits Nigeria as a country would get.:cool: Posted by Papino| 11.07.2008 04:56

akuluouno  Villager

# 10 I believe I first read this article in the Interantional Herald Tribune or so. I wish NO all the success in this venture and appraoch to national development and attracting international investors. However, I wish we had an elite that sing from the same hymn book. Personally I think that Nigeria and especially the young one have been over musicalised ie too much and entertainment in the system. The youths now see music and football as the only approach to becoming like the US or UK developmentally.I hope villagers catch my drift. Nigerians have our own Ushers, Jay-Z and Naomi Campbells in abundance. Infact in these areas we can export to the US.:D:D:D I would have loved NO to organise a literary jamboree whereby computers, books and latest academic and intellectual developments are brought to our youths and country. For instance he may wish to build the biggest library in the world equipped with the latest ICT gadgets in Ika or Abuja so that youths who thirst for knowledge can go there and drink to their satisfaction. This type of conviviality, some which border on the prodigal involving the use of foul words and the shaking of seductive parts of the body is too much in today's Nigeria and may becloud our sights towards the attainment of Vision 2020. I hope I spoke well.:mad::mad::mad: Posted by akuluouno| 11.07.2008 04:56

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