THE Federal Government's project to re-brand the country yesterday drew criticism from the Action Congress (AC).

The AC described the re-branding launched on Monday by Information and Communications Minister Prof. Dora Akunyili as "another wasteful jamboree."

In a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party lamented that the campaign was conceived by those seeking an avenue to embark on another spending spree, even as the impact of the millions of naira wasted on the ill-fated "Heart of Africa" image laundering project was yet to be felt.

It said the best way to re-brand Nigeria was for the government of the day to work hard to turn around the fortunes of the country through laudable programmes like creating jobs, building roads, providing decent health care, lifting the standard of education, ensuring security of lives and property, ending power failures and stamping out corruption, among others.

"The Minister of Information and Communications, Dora Akunyili, is right to be concerned about the image of our country. But she is wrong in her prescription. Nigeria's image problem is the product of successive inept governments, which have done perhaps more than any group or individual to make Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations. That's why the 'Heart of Africa' project failed, as the Minister has admitted.

"Corruption, which has yet to be frontally confronted by any administration, gives Nigeria a bad name; unemployment, which has not received any attention from government, throws up desperate youths who would stop at nothing, including engaging in condemnable activities such as 'yahoo yahoo' and '419', to survive, thus giving Nigeria a bad name; and sham elections, through which all sorts of crooks get into leadership position, give Nigeria a bad name.

"Poverty, which is a grim reality in Nigeria, and hopelessness due to lack of purposeful governance, push our youths into visa queues at all manner of embassies, only for some of the few 'lucky' ones to engage in drug trafficking and all manner of shady business, giving Nigeria a bad name."

The party continued: "Therefore, the government should desist from frittering away our hard-earned resources on any image laundering project, disguised under the fancy name of re-branding. Let's start by doing what is right at all levels of governance.

"Nigerians are not bad people, Nigeria is not a bad country. Our image problem is a fallout of years of bad governance. No manner of re-branding will turn things around unless Nigeria itself is re-shaped by purposeful leadership, which will engender purposeful followership. That is sorely missing today.''