Princewill Ekwujuru  takes a look at the move by Akwa Ibom state to instil new thinking in the minds of the citizenry. It takes a new route to rebrand the state with the ‘Dakkada’ campaign instrument of change. Just like everything else, in time, a brand image gets tired and dusty, no longer able to rise to    customers’ expectations and even to its own. And when that happens, it’s time to let go of the past and start believing in ones future: then it is time to think about rebranding.

Udom Emmanuel

However, we all agree a logo says so much about our brand identity and reviving it is definitely a step forward, but   re-branding is more than rethinking your logo design: it has everything from logo and package design to marketing campaigns and strategies for re-exposing the new product into the market.

Unique, but without being over-designed, a logo has to speak for itself, translating the brand identity into images, being simple and memorable. Meanwhile, as Akwa Ibom state beat the drums to celebrate 28 years of its existence, there is a sense of satisfaction among the people of the state that the journey has been so far, so good.

The race that started on September 23, 1987 has seen the exchange of baton of governance, with Udom Emmanuel handling the baton presently.The current situation of the nation’s economy and the lean purse of the state, like other states, will not allow for elaborate celebrations though.

But the milestone that has been achieved in the last 28 years is worth celebrating, even if on a small scale. Perhaps a moment like this is what the state needs to take attention from the bickering and acrimony that have threatened the peaceful existence of the state, from the run-up to the 2015 general elections, and up till now.

Akwa Ibom has, in the last 28 years, moved from the backwaters of underdevelopment, poverty and illiteracy to a state that holds a lot of promise to its people and attraction to investors and tourists alike.

It is a state that today has a new face; a state whose indigenes can proudly stand up and be counted among their compatriots from other parts of the country; a state whose indigenes no longer have inferiority complex in the midst of others, for the simple reason that they come from the wrong part of the country.

According to Governor Emmanuel Udom during the celebration of the 28 years of the state, the fundamentals of its growth and development are strong and resilient. “We have evolved from a capital city that was for all a glorified village to a modern metropolis with perhaps the most modern road network in the whole nation,” he said.

A new story:

The state has gone away from a State where the people looked forlorn, to a land where people now brim with infectious air of confidence. The state has moved from a place where people carried hopelessness as a badge, to a land where they now glow with the “can-do” spirit. Significantly the state has metamorphosed from an atomistic society perpetually at war with itself as once been defined to an orchestra playing the symphony of togetherness.”

Barely four months into the life of this administration, A new story is been written, work is ongoing on 137 kilometres of road courtesy of Udom’s administration.

These roads include: Dualization of 21.7km- Uyo-Etinan Road, construction of 39.4 km Etinan- Ndon Eyo Road   with two bridges and spur.  Construction of 7.3 km Ikot Ebekpo – Ikot Ebidang Road to aid the sighting of a clay    refining factory.  Construction of 3.5km Ikot Udom Road with 15m span     bridge in Ibiono Ibom Local    Government    Area.

Resumption    of    work at Ikot Ekara/Ikot Ibritam road in Oruk  Anam LGA and more. The moral challenge of today is that the indigenes have committed themselves to not allowing the labours of  their  heroes go in vain.   Collectively, the owners are steering the state into the path of moral transformation and spiritual re-birth. The uniqueness of this  story is the    ‘Dakkada’ campaign.” ‘Dakkada’, meaning Arise, is  about attitudinal rectification, mental reformation and economic re-generation.

‘Dakkada’ Philosophy

The Governor had stated that the ‘Dakkada’ campaign was a clarion call for all Akwa-Ibom people to rise to their true potential of greatness, spiritual rebirth, moral transformation and re-orientation. The campaign is a call to the faith that with God all things are possible, that we can rise above our primordial biases, ethnicity, hatred, anger, bigotry and the exclusionary tendencies. The campaign is a call for all Akwa Ibom people at home and in Diaspora to deepen their value – sets; to re-invent the spirit of creativity and chart a new course for the present and future generations.”

“For too long, our core value of honesty and integrity became our undoing. Nigerians could only trust Akwa Ibom people with their homes and kitchens; children and jewelry. So we served the rich and the powerful and took care of their culinary needs. Servitude became a badge pinned on us by the nation. But times have changed and the new Akwa Ibom identity has emerged: bold without being obnoxious, confident without being condescending, self-assured without being arrogant and above all, loyal and deeply inspirational.

He said: “this is the new Akwa Ibom spirit, a spirit that is aflame with greatness, a spirit that is not willing to play a second fiddle, a mind that is conditioned to achieve success in spite of odds that may be stacked against him. If America had their American ‘Exceptionalism’, we, too, can have our own.

The logo depicts the continued transformation, rebranding and repositioning of the state which showed the five fingers, all naturally together and infused with the state’s map for unity of purpose.