Recently,  the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) conferred on  some  members of the institute with the Icons, Fellows awards as Achievers in the marketing profession. Below is the address by Chief Lugard Aimiuwu, President and Chairman of Governing Council of NIMN, is served undiluted  by Vanguard Media. Read on.

This occasion is a celebration and is not meant to feature long speeches. However, as October I approaches, Nigeria shall be celebrating its Golden Jubilee, without much Gold in the kitty. Indeed, relative to competition, Nigeria is in Stone Age in a number of spheres. But does this mean that Nigeria is doomed? No. Can Nigeria work? Yes.

Can Nigeria be managed? Yes; and very, very well too. But this will not be done by just fasting and praying. It is na’ive to pray God, who has already overstocked Nigeria with miracles, to guide our every step, but then we refuse to move our legs! He should also move our legs for us? “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you become is your Gift to God.”

Marketing As Catalyst of Transformation We, of the Marketing Profession, are determined to move our legs, in sure, steady steps, and accordingly have been reformulating and repositioning our Institute, NIMN, as a veritable catalyst in Nigeria’s strategic transformation.

We believe most unequivocally that NIGERIA CAN! The array of stars and talents on display here is convincing proof, if anyone requires one. There is no short cut to greatness, or GOLD.

It will not come by wishful thinking, but by dignifying and elevating hard work, focus, performance, delivery, merit, quality, standards, equity, fairness, and discipline in our national psyche and logic. Value attracts value; rubbish attracts rubbish! Today’s event is a celebration of excellence, the Triumph of Value, personified by our Fellows, our Achievers, our Life Members our Icons!

These are the very best in the world, a post meltdown globe, competing increasingly on capabilities, fuelled by professionalism based on skills, shaped by competencies, and driven by best practices.

In the words of Achimedes on ‘inventing’ the lever, “da mihi locum standi, et terram movebo”, translating “give me a place to stand and I will move the world”.Give Marketing and what marketing represents a place to stand and we would partner most productively to cata(vze the geometric transformation of the country, and actualization of that most elusive Golden Dream! Marketing is ready.

The global soap opera, the economic meltdown, has exposed to the world what marketing had always known
-that economic fortunes are driven by market performance. However, what is still not fully appreciated, particularly in Nigeria, is that no one knows markets like marketing!

Globalization is here, for real, announcing its presence daily, through its hallmark features- interconnectvity, communication speed, instantaneous information, dotcom and geesm, logistics speed, massive financial flows, disappearing trade boundaries and fiscal barriers, competition, hyper competition, mega competition.

You can feel it, see it, hear it experience it.
PCs bought in  Arondizuogu are creating jobs in Bangalore. There is more variety of jeans worn in  than at UniLondon. There is perhaps more segmentation of Nigerian Ogi (pap) in local  markets than in many Nigerian markets. London is competing with the remotest village in Nigeria and vice versa. Basically, there is no point denying globalization, or pretending Nigeria is  peculiar’ arguments  made to justify untenable behavior and actions such as;

*Military tyranny
*Enthronement of mediocrity over merit
*Intellectually lazy contraptions, seeking easy wins, quick fixes, quite often confusing strategy with tactics, and most fatally compromising the very interests they set  protect  I am not denying the existence of peculiarities lndeed the globe is made up ofpeculiari Every nation, every town, every village, every street, every home, every room has its peculiarities.

However, the winner, in the fiercely aggressive competition of the post-meltdown borderless world, will be those who are able to think globally, whilst managing their local peculiarities professionally, for competitive advantage.
*No one will manage your ‘peculiarities’ for you
*The world will not wait for you. The market waits for no one
*Advantage belongs to thosewho exploit tail-winds to propel themselves, not thos thrive on running against self-inflicted
head-winds.

*Standing still amounts to going
backwards in a world on the forward
march
*A developing country that is growing slower than developed countries will, over re-colonized, comprehensively!

The New Competition ass a nation, Nigeria must wake up to some market realities –
A first class brand will never come from a third-rate brand manager, just as a mediocre customer service manager isincapable of providing world class service delivery. Excellence cannot be conjured. It has to be achieved; notonce, not most of the time, but all the time
Excellence is the oxygen of the new competition standards, If President of A is semi literate, parochial, innumerate and still counting beads, suspicious of the computer as ‘the work of the devil,’ whilst President B is on ] is analytical, and can see the global picture, the market contest is, ab initio, 10Sl won, in a world driven by the power of deas!

If all that President A stands for are (unquantifiables) that he is ‘peace loving’, fearing’, whilst President B, in addition, has a clear vision, quantifiable plans/tc process discipline, and outcome focus, the victor is clear!

If Parliament A is avaricious, self-serving, pre-occupied with trivia and distracti( whilst B is serious, cost-effective, and focused, the outcome is clear. Escapist e: and claims of ‘peculiarities’ like ‘Nigeria is a nascent democracy’ keep us dow are what we accept!

Nascent democracy at 50 is like an undergraduate in diap; Wrestling was a parliamentary sport in 1965, and is still so 45 years later!
If factories in A are on life-support whilst competing factories in country B are fully productive, benefitting from uninterrupted power supply, water from public works efficient transport etc, outcome is obvious. Moreover, if country A subjects imports from ports to dozens of checkpoints (both legal and illegal), the prohibitive cost doing business invariably induces factory relocation! No propaganda can stop the drift

The Economic World Cup
Globalisation has raised the stakes, and is increasingly intolerant of failure. You cannot expect those who cannot handle a pole to do well at pole vault. The Globe is now technically on market, and this market waits for no-one! There are lessons to be learnt from the periodic cup, the Football World Cup
*Victory is sweet and defeat is painful. Victory is therefore worth investing in.

*The whole world is watching you, forming an impression, and making judgments cheer you when you score and boo you when you commit a foul.