‘Don’t beg for acceptance from foreigners’, defend your country by your actions – Fashola 

Former Lagos State Governor and ex-Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, in his thought provoking keynote at the inaugural Nigeria Reputation Summit 2026, urged Nigerians to aggressively defend the country’s image abroad rather than beg for acceptance.

Speaking at the summit held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, hosted by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) through its Nigeria Reputation Management Group (NRMG), Fashola told leaders from government, private sector, and civil society to chart strategies for elevating Nigeria’s global brand.

In a no-holds-barred address, Fashola recounted confronting representatives of a country that had barred Nigerians: “I remember when one country asked us not to come to their country, so I met some of their representatives in another country, they asked how it can be resolved. They said we’ve seen 30% drop in economy attributable to us not coming. So you know what I did? I dug in deeper… I said we are moving that money to your neighbours. He said how do we solve this problem? I said go and tell your bosses in your country, I didn’t make the decision.’ But that was me standing up for my country, I wasn’t going to beg.”

Fashola praised Nigeria’s “non-appointed ambassadors” – sports stars, musicians, fashion icons, and cultural exports – for organically boosting the nation’s soft power. He highlighted the global allure of Nigerian cuisine, sharing a Cancun encounter: “I met this lawyer… from Oklahoma… The first thing he asked me was, how can he order Amala, and Gbegiri with ewedu online? He said he came to Ogun state for work, ate the food and fell in love with it.” He declared a “Renaissance has started,” with the world hooked on Afrobeats, Nollywood, and Nigerian jollof rice: “Those pretenders to our fame who contest our unpetent rights to Jollof rice have lost the war… The Nigerian Jollof rice, is it or it isn’t.”

Turning to national symbols, Fashola called on the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris to through the National Orientation Agency begin to pay attention to how the Nigerian colours are used to build on the nation’s reputation: “Honorable Minister, I think that we should also pay very serious attention now to our colours. All of those colours on our flag have a specific code… Green must not be dark green. Green must not be olive green. It must be our green… Because it is emblematic of our identities.”

Fashola used the occasion to lambast underprepared diplomats, drawing from personal experience: “I visited an African country as minister, and I was received by our ambassador… I shared with him the purpose of my visit… Ultimately, it turned out that the ambassador had no clue what Nigeria’s position on those matters were.” His recommendation was immediate and actionable: “Preparatory to posting, high level, intense sharing of policy positions. What’s our fiscal position, our tax laws, incentives for investments… How long does it take to register a business in Nigeria? They must know that…

Honourable Minister, I think I have the mandate of the conveners to ask you to reach out to your colleague in foreign affairs to start that process from today.”
He revealed a controversial habit during his ministerial tenure shredding invitations from Nigerian envoys abroad.

“Very often, I will get letters… from our many ambassadors abroad, asking us to come and visit the countries where they were posted… Most, if not all of those letters ended up in my shredder. The reason is this, if there was a problem of development at all, it was here, not there. What am I going to do there? Those who want to do business with me must come and see where I live.”