Government should concentrate on fixing Nigeria, not lecturing Nigerians abroad for discussing what they experience at home.
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS
The Presidency’s accusation that some Nigerians in the diaspora are “demarketing Nigeria” deserves serious interrogation.
President Bola Tinubu’s message, delivered by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila at the Nigeria Diaspora Economic Conference in Toronto, urged Nigerians abroad to invest in Nigeria and cautioned against narratives that damage the country’s image. The Presidency simultaneously praised the diaspora’s achievements and contribution to Nigeria.
There is nothing objectionable about asking Nigerians to speak constructively about their country.
But there is a fundamental difference between maliciously inventing falsehoods about Nigeria and Nigerians truthfully discussing Nigeria’s problems.
That distinction is crucial.
YOU CANNOT DEMARKET A REALITY PEOPLE CAN SEE
Why would millions of Nigerians living in London, Toronto, Houston, Johannesburg, Dubai, Berlin and elsewhere wake up every morning determined to destroy the international reputation of the country in which many still have parents, siblings, investments, properties and emotional roots?
The proposition makes little sense.
Diaspora Nigerians are often among Nigeria’s most consequential economic stakeholders. They send money home, support extended families, pay school fees, finance healthcare, build houses, establish businesses and maintain economic links with Nigeria.
Their criticism should therefore not automatically be interpreted as hostility.
In many cases it is precisely because they remain emotionally and economically invested in Nigeria that they are so vocal about its failures.
THE WORLD DOES NOT NEED THE DIASPORA TO DISCOVER NIGERIA’S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
This is perhaps the biggest weakness in the “demarketing” argument.
Nigeria’s economic difficulties are not secrets being whispered by disgruntled Nigerians in foreign countries.
They are documented by international institutions, financial markets, multinational corporations and the Nigerian government’s own statistics.
The World Bank acknowledges that Nigeria has made important progress in macroeconomic stabilisation. Growth has improved, revenues have strengthened and external balances have become healthier.
But the same World Bank says the gains have not yet translated sufficiently into improved living standards, while food inflation and poverty remain high.
That is not diaspora propaganda.
That is economic analysis.
Reuters reported only days ago that millions of Nigerians continue to experience a severe cost of living squeeze. It noted that the combined consequences of subsidy removal, exchange rate reforms and electricity price adjustments have sharply increased household expenses, even while the reforms have improved investor confidence and attracted capital.
Again, Nigerians abroad did not manufacture those realities.
THERE HAVE BEEN REAL MACROECONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS, LET US ACKNOWLEDGE THEM
Credible criticism must also recognise progress where it exists.
The Tinubu administration inherited serious structural economic problems and undertook reforms that successive governments had postponed.
The World Bank forecasts Nigerian economic growth of roughly 4.2% in 2026 and has acknowledged improvements in fiscal performance.
Foreign exchange distortions have been reduced.
Government revenues have improved.
Investor sentiment has strengthened.
Nigeria’s external position has improved.
Inflation has moderated from its previous peak.
These are legitimate accomplishments.
But governments do not ultimately govern macroeconomic spreadsheets.
They govern human beings.
The relevant question is therefore not merely whether GDP is growing.
It is:
HAS THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN’S LIFE BECOME BETTER?
Can his salary buy more food?
Can she afford transportation?
Can the family comfortably pay rent?
Can parents afford school fees?
Can a pensioner buy medication?
Can a graduate find productive employment?
Can a small business obtain affordable credit?
Can a Nigerian travel safely between cities?
Can electricity be relied upon?
Can a sick citizen obtain decent healthcare without financially destroying the family?
Those are not attempts to demarket Nigeria.
Those are the measurements of governance that matter to ordinary Nigerians.
EVEN GOVERNMENT NOW RECOGNISES THAT MACROECONOMIC STABILITY ISN’T ENOUGH
Interestingly, the Federal Government itself appears to understand this problem.
The government recently announced plans for a “shared prosperity” scorecard intended to track multidimensional poverty, real income per capita and inequality, effectively attempting to measure whether macroeconomic reforms are actually improving citizens’ lives.
That is an important development.
But it also implicitly concedes the central argument:
Economic reform cannot be declared successful solely because investors approve of it. Its benefits eventually have to reach households.
THE DIASPORA IS NOT NIGERIA’S ENEMY
There is another uncomfortable contradiction.
Government understandably celebrates diaspora remittances and asks Nigerians overseas to invest more money at home.
But it cannot simultaneously treat those same Nigerians as patriotic stakeholders when they send dollars home and troublesome “demarketers” when they ask difficult questions.
Citizenship cannot work that way.
If government wants diaspora capital, it must also tolerate diaspora scrutiny.
If Nigerians abroad are expected to invest billions into Nigeria, they are entitled to ask about:
security, electricity, infrastructure, exchange rate stability, property rights, corruption, judicial efficiency, taxation and the predictability of government policy.
An investor asking these questions is not demarketing Nigeria.
He is performing due diligence.
COUNTRIES ARE MARKETED MOST EFFECTIVELY BY THEIR PERFORMANCE
Singapore does not require its diaspora to conceal Singapore’s condition.
Dubai does not need citizens abroad to persuade investors that Dubai has infrastructure.
London does not become a financial centre because British citizens are forbidden from criticising Britain.
Countries ultimately market themselves through:
functioning institutions, security, infrastructure, reliable electricity, enforceable contracts, efficient ports, quality healthcare and education, predictable regulation, political stability and opportunities for productive investment.
Build those things and Nigerians abroad will become Nigeria’s greatest unpaid marketing department.
They will boast about Nigeria without anybody instructing them to.
PATRIOTISM DOES NOT REQUIRE SILENCE
There is a dangerous tendency in political communication to confuse criticism of government with hostility towards country.
Nigeria is not the government of the day.
Nigeria existed before President Tinubu.
Nigeria will exist after President Tinubu.
Government is temporary.
Country is permanent.
A Nigerian can love Nigeria deeply and simultaneously believe that its government is performing poorly in a particular area.
Indeed, demanding better governance can itself be an expression of patriotism.
FIX THE PRODUCT AND THE MARKETING WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF
Instead of asking:
“Why are Nigerians abroad demarketing Nigeria?”
Government should be asking:
“What are Nigerians saying abroad, and how much of it is true?”
Where it is false, rebut it with evidence.
Where it is exaggerated, correct it with data.
But where it is true, fix it.
That is the difference between public relations and governance.
You cannot permanently spin away the cost of food.
You cannot press release away unemployment.
You cannot rebrand insecurity.
You cannot advertise away unreliable electricity.
You cannot accuse people of demarketing an exchange rate.
You cannot silence the experience of families whose purchasing power has collapsed.
And you cannot successfully market a reality substantially different from the one citizens experience every morning.
THE PRESIDENCY SHOULD SEE THE DIASPORA AS A FEEDBACK MECHANISM
Nigeria’s diaspora possesses something enormously valuable.
They live simultaneously in two worlds.
They understand Nigeria, but they also experience countries where public transportation works, local councils function, electricity is largely taken for granted, emergency healthcare responds quickly and governments are subjected to relentless public scrutiny.
Naturally, they compare.
Rather than resenting that comparison, Nigeria should exploit it.
Ask Nigerian doctors abroad how our hospitals can improve.
Ask Nigerian engineers how infrastructure procurement can improve.
Ask Nigerian entrepreneurs what prevents them from investing.
Ask Nigerian academics why our universities struggle.
Ask Nigerian professionals what would persuade them to return.
Turn criticism into policy intelligence.
That would be infinitely more productive than labelling uncomfortable voices “demarketers.”
OBLONG MEDIA POSITION
Nigeria deserves to be marketed.
Nigeria deserves investment.
Nigeria deserves international confidence.
And Nigerians everywhere should resist deliberate falsehoods that unfairly damage the country’s reputation.
But Nigeria also deserves truth.
The Presidency should therefore resist the temptation to treat legitimate criticism as economic sabotage.
The administration’s reforms have produced some genuine macroeconomic improvements. Those achievements should be acknowledged.
But the administration must equally acknowledge that multi millions of Nigerians continue to experience profound and severe economic hardship.
The answer is not to lecture the diaspora. That is insulting and should stop
THE ANSWER IS TO MAKE NIGERIA EASIER TO DEFEND.
Give Nigerians security.
Give them functioning infrastructure.
Protect purchasing power.
Create productive jobs.
Make electricity dependable.
Strengthen healthcare.
Improve education.
Make public institutions accountable.
Fight corruption without political selectivity.
Create an economy in which hard work can once again produce a decent life.
Then watch what happens.
The same Nigerians accused today of “demarketing Nigeria” will become some of its loudest ambassadors.
Because ultimately:
FACTS CANNOT BE SUCCESSFULLY DEMARKETED.
REALITY CANNOT BE PERMANENTLY SPUN.
AND THE MOST POWERFUL PUBLIC RELATIONS STRATEGY AVAILABLE TO ANY GOVERNMENT IS GOOD GOVERNANCE.
FIX NIGERIA, AND NIGERIANS WILL MARKET NIGERIA TO THE WORLD FOR FREE.
OBLONG MEDIA GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE
Facts
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