BY EMMA UJAH, Abuja Bureau Chief

ABUJA—The Minister of Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, has said that there was a global  media conspiracy against Nigeria with a view to vilifying her and Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.

He spoke, in Abuja, yesterday, while launching “Nigeria Our Heritage”, an initiative aimed at the restoration of a positive perception for Nigeria as an emerging international business hub.

His words, “Nigeria is under a global media conspiracy. The objective of this conspiracy is to bring indignity to our leadership and humiliation to our country and Nigerians.  We can’t allow the world to see us through the eyes of a few people who are bent on destroying our nation and Nigerians.

“There is need to tell the global community a new story of Nigeria by Nigerians.  We can’t allow a population of over 160 million people to be cowed by the perceptions of a few people who have chosen to give us a negative outlook. Why should 160 million people lose their voices?”

The minister said that the challenges in South Africa and Rwanda had been forgotten because the people chose to concentrate on the positive developments in their countries.

“We must find people who can tell positive stories about Nigeria. Let us change the story of Nigeria. Let us raise our voices in the interests of the rest of Nigerians and Nigerian generations yet unborn.”, he appealed to the  Nigerian media.

Chief Duke stated that changing the negative perception of Nigeria was the responsibility of all well- meaning Nigerians and that the Nigerian media, especially, must lead the way for what he described as “Nigeria global image overhaul”, through commitment to a re- invigorated hope in the nation.

“If we are not pleased with the way Nigeria has been in the last century, what are we doing, what is our plan for the next century to ensure that it is better and become the nation of our pride?”, the minister queried.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Board of “Nigeria Our Heritage” initiative and former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof George Obiozor,  said there was urgent need for all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to raise to the occasion of changing the current global negative perception of Nigerians.

According to him, “if anybody disrespects your country, he can’t respect you. When your country is down, you are down; when your country is up, you are up.  We all must resist the negatives about the future of Nigeria”.

He advised that as a nation, Nigeria must develop policies on good image, adding that “no country has a permanent good image and that image was relative but that it was a serious issue in international relations, because, “in international relations, perception is taken as reality”.

Also speaking, another board member and former Minister of Education, Prof Tunde Adeniran, the political elite to stop creating image problems for the nation, irrespective of their political leanings.

According to him, the common good of Nigeria and Nigerians must be paramount in both conduct and words such that everybody who genuinely called him or herself a leader must protect the image of the country and resist the temptation of dragging the name of the nation in the mud just because such a person wanted to wrest power from those in government.