Insanity in Washington: Nigeria markets “safety” while communities burn, by Destiny O. Enabulele
Ted Cruz: “Nigeria launched PR campaign instead of responding to US concerns over insecurity.”
Absolutely. Launching PR is insanity.
He’s right. And that’s the tragedy.
When two hundred plus people are killed in Benue, when farmers can’t go to their farms in the North-West, when kidnappers run a parallel economy, the response from Abuja cannot be glossy infographics and “Nigeria is safe for investment” ads in Washington DC. PR does not stop bullets. It does not rescue schoolchildren. It does not reopen markets.
What the US is seeing is failure of basic state responsibility: intelligence gaps, slow military response, impunity for attackers, and IDP camps that have become permanent. Telling that story with billboards instead of arrests is not diplomacy. It is avoidance.
Yes, Nigeria must push back on narratives that paint the entire country as a war zone. Investors need context. But you earn credibility by results, not by hashtags. Show prosecutions. Show rescued communities. Show state governors in control of their LGAs.
Launching a PR campaign in the middle of a security crisis tells both Nigerians and the world that the government is more worried about its image than its people.
Until the killing stops, every PR dollar spent abroad will read as insanity at home.
+2348039289375
bcradle@ymail.com
