"Is it our abundance of agricultural produce or the millions of oil barrels we export annually? Is it the contributions of Nigerian technocrats home and abroad or the ignominy of having corrupt officials? Or maybe we are simply known for our poor development...

From the sixties we have tinkered with all manner of programmes all aimed at creating a Nigerian brand…with the civil war after the military came into government and even the Gowon administration came with the 3Rs, Restructuring, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction to put before the citizenry a nation that we all could say that we are one and to put the effect of the war behind us.

...At every opportunity, we talk about the need to address the problem of corruption. It is a dialogue we carry out at the highest level of this government and we recognize there is a problem. But I think we are deploying resources to assist the government of Nigeria to address this problem and it is part of our public diplomacy message.

What Dr Okonjo-Iweala's candidacy has brought to the fore is that the country still needs to invest in soft-power-enhancing structures in Africa - or 'playing Big Brother' so that it can leverage the goodwill of other African countries in moments like this to enhance its objectives. National interest is much more than immediate economic gratification.

Nigerian government and people have been called upon to buy into the concept of nation rebranding and affirm the idea...Governor Amaechi says Nigerians sense of aculturisation is strong but Nigerians must be ready to be pragmatic and deliberate in the act of nation branding.

In reality, a country’s brand image has direct bearing on its economy. Country-related intangible assets in many ways influence the market-shares of brands and their marketing effectiveness, which is why no subnational or even company can be rated above its sovereign. But this could also be vice versa. For instance, Japanese cars and Japan’s global ratings.

The institutional efforts that have been made so far to integrate African nations politically and economically have so far failed to materialize any formal strength and lack any enforcement mechanism to uphold their rules... in the future, the regional economy would be organized on both voluntary (soft power) and coercive (Nigeria’s UN military commitments and South Africa’s financial prowess) bases.

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, High Chief Edem Duke has emphasised that most of the challenges confronting the country are as a result of the breakdown of our cherished cultural values.