Controversy around the recently launched \u2018Change Begins With Me\u2019 campaign
\nby President Muhammadu Buhari, it appears, may not yet be over as it has
\nbeen revealed that the exercise cost the Federal Government a whopping
\nN3.4 billion.<\/p>\n
According information gleaned by Independent, the communication consultant
\nheaded by Brian Ebden and a company, Centerspread, signed a contract worth
\nN1.7 billion with the Ministry of Information.<\/p>\n
Centerspread and Ebden\u2019s terms of reference were to create logo, artwork,
\njingles and TV concepts.<\/p>\n
Some civil society groups got N700 million to promote the campaign while
\nsome celebrities in the country got N100 million to be used as faces of
\nthe controversial change campaign.<\/p>\n
Their achievements would be used as basis for Nigerians to follow,
\naccording to the reasons, adduced for their inclusion.<\/p>\n
According to Independent\u2019s investigations, other costs the ministry
\nincurred include sponsorship of dignitaries who attended the launch,
\nadvertisements and other things labeled as miscellaneous.<\/p>\n
All attempts to speak with Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information,
\nproved abortive as his media aide, Segun Adeyemi, did not reply to text
\nmessages sent to his phone.<\/p>\n
The controversial campaign has been a subject of intense controversy with
\none Akin Fadeyi\u2019s team laying claim to being the brain behind it.<\/p>\n
They alleged that the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, stole the
\nconcept from the team after series of meeting with him and members of the
\nministry.<\/p>\n
Fadeyi, who is a member of the project team, on Wednesday, told
\nIndependent he is under intense pressure which has prevented him from
\nmaking any public comment, noting that he presented three tapes to the
\nminister during one of their meetings.<\/p>\n
A new line of evidence Fadeyi associates presented on Wednesday to
\nIndependent showed that the logo he presented to the minister was almost
\nthe same with the logo that was used as the official logo during the
\nlaunch by President Buhari.<\/p>\n
In addition, the three video drama which Fadeyi and his team alleged were
\ngiven to the minister all ended with the sound \u2018Change Begins With Me\u2019
\njust like what the government launched.<\/p>\n
Fadeyi\u2019s length of drama was one minute exactly like that presented by the
\nminister.<\/p>\n
An associate, Emeka Oparah, had expressed his surprise at the development
\nsaying, \u201cI cannot \u2026understand why the Federal Government would launch what
\nto me is a Xerox copy of Mr. Fadeyi\u2019s \u2018Not in My Country\u2019. Why the
\nduplication? Why the replication? Why not a collaboration?<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, there is no need to duplicate efforts or stifle great initiatives.
\nI don\u2019t think it is too late for Alhaji Lai Mohammed to call Akin in for a
\nconversation on how to blend the ideas in the interest of the change
\nagenda, the anti-corruption campaign and the future of Nigeria. It will
\nridicule the philosophy of the change agenda, if \u2018Not in My Country\u2019 is
\nignored, side-stepped or even copied by a government that seeks to do
\nthings different.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Lai Muhammed and his media aide kept mum, the consultant, Brian
\nAbden, who handled the final phase of the project denied the allegation.<\/p>\n
Abden said, \u201cI together with the advertising agency, Centerspread, were
\ncontacted a week after Alhaji Lai Mohammed was nominated as minister by
\nthe president to attend a brainstorming workshop on Thursday, October 8,
\n2015 at the White House Hotel in Ikeja.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this briefing, Alhaji Lai Mohammed\u2019s first statement was that once he
\nhas taken office, he wishes to launch a change campaign entitled, \u2018Change
\nbegins with me\u2019. It was Centerspread and my task to develop the
\ncommunications campaign and strategy, following an in-depth briefing which
\nwe received at this session.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy October 30, 2015, the entire first generation creative work was sent
\nto Alhaji Lai Mohammed which included the first created logo, artwork,
\njingles and TV concepts. A month later, both agencies attended a
\npresentation session at Radio House in Abuja where two campaigns were
\npresented to a contingent of more than 100 people of the Ministry of
\nInformation and Culture which included NTA, FRCN and NOA and again it was
\nclearly and unambiguously stated that the campaign was \u2018Change begins with
\nme\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is conspicuous by its absence is any form of complaint or utterance
\nby anyone whatsoever to the plethora of public information espoused
\ndirectly by the honourable minister to argue that the concept of \u2018Change
\nbegins with me\u2019 belongs to him or her. However, they waited for the
\ncampaign to be launched officially by the president before making spurious
\nclaims that the honourable minister plagiarised their so-called concept
\nand appropriated their supposed intellectual property.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Nigerian Copy Right Act of 1990, Laws of the Federation
\nof Nigeria, copy right infringement is an offence. The perpetrator is
\nguilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to a fine of N100
\nfor every copy dealt with or imprisonment for six months or both such fine
\nand imprisonment.
\nDaily Independent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Controversy around the recently launched \u2018Change Begins With Me\u2019 campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari, it appears, may not yet be over as it has been revealed that the exercise cost…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n