Rebranding and Nigerians

Every now and then, certain words and phrases assume a greater currency than usual in Nigeria.

For example, during the 1982 era, there was the word austerity. This was as a result of the cuts in spending by the Shagari government, brought about by the collapse in world oil prices (and some may uncharitably add, the government's mismanagement of the economy).

Then in 1984-85, there was the phrase essential commodity (aka 'essenco'). This typically referred to goods such as rice, oil and sugar whose importation was licensed by the Buhari regime and which were sold at controlled prices. I'm not quite sure why they were regarded as 'essential' - perhaps it's because of the artificial scarcity of such products after they disappeared into the black market produced by attempting to control prices.

The Babangida government introduced quite a few phrases, such as human face (referring to his promise to soften the 'harsh' face of his predecessors' War Against Indiscipline), a little to the left, and a little to the right (referring to his licensing of two political parties which were supposedly slightly conservative and liberal) and credibility gap (arising from the perception that there seemed to be a difference between what he said and what he did). There were also other words and phrases like parcel bomb and radiculopathy, but I won't go into those.

Fast forward to 2009, and the word that seems to have gained currency is rebranding. Presumably, this is because of Information Minister Dora Akunyili's declaration that she would reform Nigeria's image. Predictably enough, Nigerians are seizing the word and using it in all kinds of strange contexts. For example, instead of telling a lie, people now rebrand the truth. Or instead of spraying air freshener to disperse a bad smell, they now rebrand the scent. Name changes are now personality rebrandings; and news broadcasts are really just a rebranding of current affairs.

In fact, Nigerians are really much more expert at rebranding that you might think. I remember that when I was still in uni, my battered sandals would tear and I would have to send them for re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-rebranding. Even up till now, I still have a bit of the old rebranding spirit, as I still find it difficult to throw away torn or broken things - but since it's costly repairing these things abroad, I've had to reform that aspect of my behaviour...