Interviews

Nigeria: My Book Renews Nigeria's Image -Zimako

Yemi Adebisi

27 July 2009

interview

Lagos — Many Nigerian authors have used the media and their intellectual works to address national issues in the past, and many are still in the practice of this patriotic task. Zimako O. Zimako, lawyer, political analyst, motivational speaker and philanthropist, in this interview with Senior Correspondent, Yemi Adebisi, unveils his intention to change Nigeria,s image through his book among other national issues.

Excerpts:

Your profile indicates you hold a PhD in International Affairs. What precisely do you do for a living?

I am a lawyer by profession, a teacher by vocation. I hold LL.B and JD degrees in Law, while both Masters and PhD are in International Affairs. I am an alumnus of University of Nigeria Nsukka.

Then you must belong to a number of professional organisations?

Yes, I am a member of Nigeria Bar Association, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Chattered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), Fellow, Institute of Strategic Management and the World Information League.

What other vocations thrill your statures?

I am a motivational and inspirational speaker, a writer, and political analyst. I have written a lot of scholarly articles published in many academic journals.

Do you have any trace to political appointment in Nigeria before?

I was just a member of presidential economic mission to several countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Venezuela among others.

It was gathered that you sometimes brought some medical doctors for free medical services in some villages in the east.

Yes, as a community person, for some years now, I have been coordinating the visit of medical doctors from Europe that visited Nigeria to give free medical services to people in many states including Imo, Abia, Anambra and Ebonyi States. Apart from this, as a lover of sports, who enjoyed long distance and three legged races, I am the sponsor of the Annual Cyprian Zimako Memorial Football Cup competition for secondary schools in Imo State. I also sponsor the annual Augustina Zimako Singing Competition in the Catholic Church. Since 1990, my scholarship scheme has trained a lot of indigent students, while I have a scheme for widows too.

It was also gathered that you are planning to launch a book. Tell us the title, and your intention for the publication?

The title of the book is Face of A Nation. It,s part of our contribution to move this country forward from my own perspective and in my own way. The book is structured into three parts. It deals with democracy in Nigeria to foreign relation and national image. The book is an analysis of the past, a diagnosis of the present, and possibly prognosis into the future. That is, where we are heading to as a nation in terms of proffering certain solutions.

Many people have written on such information before. What makes your contribution different?

Most people have failed, refused, and neglected to speak through book to talk about national image. The book dwells much on Nigeria image and expresses concerns about our image management.

Did you dwell primarily on the local image of the nation?

No, the book speaks on both local and international images. It talks about how the country is perceived in the world.

At what point does the book stresses or criticises the current rebranding project in Nigeria?

I suppose, rebranding is talking about how to make us look beautiful and how we are, in terms of the way we conduct our affairs. The book has x-rayed the image problems and our national challenges. It also moves forward to suggest the way these things can be controlled.

How many pages and chapters are we talking about?

We have 16 chapters of 326 pages.

How long did it take you to write the book?

It took me three years. Some people told me the democracy aspect of the book is appetising. Some would tell you the image chapters are more enticing to them. The bibliography is much. It is really interesting.

You said you stress much on democracy, are we really under democracy?

We are under civilian rule. You can say there is democracy though arguable. It depends on what perspective you want to view it. People define democracy the way they view it. It may be difficult to answer whether Nigeria is under democracy or not.

But as a political analyst, how would you analyse the present stature of Nigerian democracy?

We are in a process, by His grace we will get there.

Do you want to score the present administration of Yar,Adua?

Yar,Adua is doing his very best, though has the opportunity to do better.

The title of your book is Face of a Nation, which of the faces do you think is not beautiful enough? Education sector is suffering, ASUU is on strike; Niger Delta issue is there, among others.

These are the major headaches today. All these you have mentioned are well encapsulated and captured. There is no country without his problem. I think efforts are being made by the government to address most of these problems in Nigeria. The book is part of the solutions to the problems we are talking about.

Which of the problems would you consider the biggest in Nigeria?

There is no small one. If you like, most people prefer to look more on the coordinating point, leadership. It also boils down to how some other people define leadership. Is it political leadership, traditional leadership and so on? You find out that things are really not what it ought to be. We want to look at leadership from the father,s position as the head of the family. How is he behaving to the kids? Is he responsible or responsive enough? Leadership has to do with family value too, not just political leadership.

Many critics claimed that research grants for education in Nigeria have suffered greatly. Of what implication is this to the growth and development of the country?

Development and progress of every country is based on research. If you are standing where you are, you are looking far into the unknown without your planning for tomorrow. I am bordered. It,s all part of the problem. Collapse of education! If things are properly organised like the book is trying to advocate, we will get there. Nigeria educational system, for instance, was the envy of the whole world. University lecturers, and the entire research spectrum should be addressed. We have to appreciate the fact that we have to go back to the reading culture. The system we are growing is not healthy. Research must be seriously encouraged. All the countries in the world today give very great attention to research.

Allocation to education in Nigeria is 13 percent while UNESCO prescribed 26 and above. With that kind of allocation, what is your advice?

It,s part of what we are saying. The fund makes available to education determines the level of research.

In what area do you think the research efforts can help the political climate of Nigeria?

We are advocating a new culture, a lot to our discipline, vibrant politics, and politics of cheerfulness. Even those going to government should appreciate that power expansion is ephemeral and while it lasts it should be used for the greatest good of the greatest number. These days what you see is the struggle to make money. My book is advocating a new culture and a new discipline.

By implication, you were involved as a member of presidential economic representatives to some countries, what would you ascribed as the influence of your team globally?

I didn,t make any impact as a person, but as a group. It is the leader of the group that can lay claim on the achievements made.

There is this saying that if you want to hide anything from Nigeria, put it inside the book, and you are addressing Nigerians through a book. Do you think that you need to go beyond that to reach your target audience?

It,s not just by publishing a book, we also intend to complement the effort of well meaning Nigerians within and outside the government circles to join hands together and move the country forward. We plan that after the book launch, we would hold a town hall meeting for Nigerians to appreciate the need for new culture and discipline, the new way of doing things. The old way of doing things in a positive manner is also inevitable. These days getting rich appears to be the main thing to a lot of people. We want to get back to the good old days when integrity was the hallmark for all.

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