Rebuilding the battered National reputation was at the front-burner of discussions during the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) 2024 Conference/Annual General Meeting held in Port Harcourt.
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Joe Johnson set the tune for discussions with the paper he presented which was derived from the theme of the Conference:
“Rebuilding National Reputation Through Business Integrity And Public Trust.”
Hon. Johnson had x-rayed the impunity in politics and in other areas in the political system and averred that the Nigerian nation is in dire need of ethical re-birth and value re-orientation.
According to the Hon. Commissioner, impunity pervades the whole strata of the society, especially politics, the Legislature and Judiciary.
He said: “Politics is now played across the country with impunity, without conscience and honour.
“The Legislative Arm of Government aremaking laws that instead of accelerating and advancing our national development, have become cogs in the wheel of progress.
“It is even worse with the Judicial Arm where judicial bazaar by corrupt judicial officers offer jaundiced, unjust and irrational judgments to the highest bidders with deep pockets.”
These practices, he lamented, erodes citizens confidence in the system and calls to question the reputation and integrity on the corporate existence of Nigeria, casting dark shadows on the public trust.
The impunity in the political system, the Commissioner said, also pervades the business environment, which was why he stressed the need for total commitment to value re-orientation for easy and quick rebuilding of the national reputation.
Part of his prescriptions in cleaning the rot in the political system included his admonition leaders to possess the essential qualities of integrity, reputation and trustworthiness in all their activities and be imbued with impeccable character.
Building true reputation, he further stressed, requires consistency in intent and behavior, and by extension trust and credibility.
Holding integrity up as a key factor in the rebuilding of national reputation, the Hon. Commissioner said to achieve the goal of cleaning the rot, integrity must play a vital role, describing it as number one enabler in the rebuilding processes.
He however expressed regret that at the moment in the country, integrity had become a scarce commodity, stressing that what obtains now is that people say one thing and do the direct opposite of what they had said.
The Hon. Commissioner further surmised as follows as panacea for cleansing the nation’s battered image:
“To rebuild our national reputation through business integrity and regain public trust presupposes that we embark on radical values and ethical re-orientation by jettisoning our current way of doing things.
“We must ensure a complete paradigm shift that must clean the Augean Stable by embracing attitudinal change which entails consistency of actions and outcomes by imbibing care and respect for established and morally acceptable norms.
“It is also worthy of note to say that if we must achieve the onerous task of rebuilding our national reputation through business integrity and public trust, we have to imbibe the culture of getting it right and ensure that such standards and approach are not corrupted down the line.
“To achieve this, there must of necessity be a robust feedback mechanism that will serve as monitoring and evaluation scheme to check if it is working the way it ought to work to ensure that the right and desired result is achieved.
“And there must be constant interaction between the leadership and the citizenry in order to enhance transparency.”
At the end, he stressed the importance of maintaining credibility, describing credibility as the currency on which reputation and integrity rest.
Professor Doris Ademe-Godwin, a Professor of Services Marketing who was one of the discussants, admitted that something had gone wrong with the nation, but stressed that all hands must be on deck to put back the system in order. She stressed the need for people and leaders to take responsibility for their actions and called for transparent and accountable leadership.
Young M. Ayotamuno, the Rivers State Director of National Orientation Agency said actions were being taken to rebuild the battered national image. Some of the measures put in place to do that, according to him, included the National Anthem and the National Identity Project, which he said the Agency had launched. He agreed that value orientation was at the core of the problem, but called on the citizens to exercise discipline. He asked people not to lose hope in the country, but to continue to obey the rule of law, even as he advised politicians to practice democracy the way it ought to be practiced.
