Introduction
I feel immensely honoured and privileged to have been nominated by the Forum of Prof J. O. Nnabuko’s PhD mentees to deliver this maiden edition of the Prof. Justitia Odinakachukwu Nnabuko Annual Integrated Marketing Public Lecture to mark her 71st birthday anniversary today, 23 September 2025.
Happy birthday, Prof.
I do not take this privilege for granted because every member of this forum is eminently qualified to deliver this lecture as the Forum is made up of egg heads. I pray that God will grant me the grace to do justice to this very critical subject (topic), which is germane and apt to the current socio-political dynamics of our dear country, Nigeria.
Brief biodata and character portrait of Prof. Nnabuko
Mr. Chairman, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, permit me to start this lecture by exploring a brief biodata of our celebrant, Prof. (Mrs.) Justitia Odinakachukwu Nnabuko, who was born on 23 September 1954 in Umuene, Obiangwu community of Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State.
Last year, Prof. Nnabuko marked her 70th birthday and bowed out of service at the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC) after 41 years of service.
The event was marked with Thanksgiving Mass and a Valedictory lecture attended by the creme-de-la-creme of society and the university community.
Indeed, it was a glorious event to celebrate a scholar of excellence.
Today, over 60 PhD candidates that she supervised successfully have instituted an annual lecture in her honour to showcase the worth of this marketing icon, erudite scholar, astute administrator, professor of Marketing Management and an academic with a heart of gold.
The over 60 PhD holders now working in various universities and other organisations call her their mentor, but I call her the Mentor-Generral of Nigeria!
Prof. Nnabuko joined the University of Nigeria as a graduate assistant at the Department of Marketing in 1983. She worked very hard to obtain a Master of Business Administration in Marketing in 1987 and a PhD. in Marketing in 2002 of the university.
Within 41 years of service, she attended courses nationally and abroad, which include International School of Business Management, Stockholm, Sweden in 2005, Havard Business School in 2019, IMD High Performance Boards Programme in 2022, and Wharton School in University of Pennsylvania Chicago in 2023, among others.
At her Valedictory lecture event last year, Prof.Nnabuko was bold and proud to tell her story and share her inspiring experiences in the lecture titled “Marketing Education and Professionalism in Nigeria: Shifts in Paradigm”.
In the lecture, Prof. Nnabuko made the following suggesþions to elevate the marketing discipline:
1. Marketing as a living profession must meet up with evolving trends of the 21st century.
2. Marketing in Nigeria needs professionalism as well as marketing ethics.
3. Having a degree in marketing is not enough.
4. Professionalism in marketing incorporates skills and competences, clear communication skills, critical thinking and creativity.
5. Maŕketing professional must have the ability to keep records and manage data, etc.
6. Gradually adapting to the global ICT facilitated economy using the internet.
The suggestions as encapsulated above show a marketing scholar and professional who wants the best for her noble profession, Marketing, which justifies the annual lecture being instituted in her honour by her PhD. mentees.
Evolution of Marketing
To give this lecture a good background foundation, please permit me to examine the evolution of marketing over the years. Erudite marketing scholars and authors such as the legendary Philip Kotler, including our own Justitia Nnabuko, have noted that marketing started as mere selling.
However, in the 1900s, marketing acquired a body of knowledge and became a distint discipline associated with the exchange of products and services. Product marketing and research associated with the popular 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) became key elements of marketing theory.
In the 1950s, marketing extended to non-tangibles to the realm of services offered by companies and other organisations / institutions.
In the 1970s to 2000s, marketing became full blown with full-fledged departments in universities offering Bachelors, Masters and PhD degrees.
In the 21st century, marketing has evolved into broader spectrum, including branding, integrated marketing, marketing communications, political marketing, digital marketing, and AI marketing, among others.
Political marketing and the concept of marketing Nigeria
Incidentally, researching for this lecture took me back to one of my postgraduate research projects in the Department of Marketing, UNEC, on the title “Political Marketing (A Case Study of its Effectiveness in the Execution of General Sani Abacha’s Transition Programme”, February 1998.
Earlier definitions of marketing offered by the Institute of Marketing, United Kingdom, Kotler, and Jefkins (1982), among others, limited marketing to exchange of economic goods and services.
However, a new scope of marketing was unveiled in 1985 by the American Marketing Association, AMA, which defined marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchange that satisfies individual and organisational objectives”.
Further developments and emerging trends in the 1990s, and the lectures of the celebral Prof Ikechukwu Nwosu of blessed memory, unveiled new researched woŕks suggesting that the scope of marketing should be further expanded to include marketing of organisations or institutions (eg. Rotary Club), people (eg., political candidates), places (eg., Nigeria), ideas (eg., family planning), concepts (Eg. Democracy) or programmes (Eg. Better Life for Rural Women).
For the records, for 18+ years, my job at Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals and Fertilizer Group (a multinational) was institutional marketing! Again, what we are discussing today is “marketing Nigeria” or what is also called country marketing! This shows that Marketing has been evolving continuously to meet new trends.
It is worthy of note that today marketing is chartered by the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as we now have National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) to regulate the practice of marketing in Nigeria.
It will interest us to note that our celebrant, Prof Mrs Justitia Odinakachukwu Nnabuko is a former National Vice President of the Institute.
Interrogating past efforts in marketing Nigeria
Since Nigeria became independent in 1960, various government regimes have carried out branding campaigns to shore up the values and perceptions of the country domestically and internationally.
Some of the initiatives include:
1. War Against Indiscipline (WAI) initiated by the regime of the then Major General Muhammadu Buhari (31st December 1983 – 27th August 1985). The campaign promoted queuing culture, strict economic controls, tough anti-corruption measures including long jail terms for convicted offenders, etc. However, its major drawback was the heavy attack on press freedom and draconian laws.
2. MAMSER – Mass Mobilisation for Social Justice and Econmic Recovery initiated by the regime of President Ibrahim Babangida. Prof Jerry Gana was the director of the programme. The campaign was higher on sloganeering than on professional management of the image, perception, and reputation of Nigeria.
3. “Nigeria Image Project” was initiated under the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu was the Minister of Information and Mational Orientation who managed the initiative. Some marketing communications experts believe that the initiative lacked professionalism and political will for action.
4. “Good People, Great Nation” was another nation marketing campaign managed by the highly regarded Prof Dora Akunyili of blessed memory. This was under the government of late President Musa Yaradua. The programme was high on political propaganda rather than facts on the ground, according to critics
The above initiatives have cost the country huge financial resources and efforts, but I ask: How much of positive image and reputation have Nigeria and Nigerians enjoyed or enjoying nationally and internationally?
Nnabuko’s perspective on marketing Nigeria
My interaction with Prof. Justitia Nnabuko In the course of putting this lecture together, shows that she wants her fatherland, Nigeria to enjoy positive image, perception, and reputation based on truth, honesty, good governance, infrastructure upgrades, peace, harmony, unity and progress.
However, she abhors political propaganda that only deceives people with empty words and promises. Her thoughts on this subject of marketing Nigeria are summed up in the admonition in Proberbs 14:34.
According to her: ‘I desire that God will turn the heart of every citizen, especially the leaders, to righteousness. This is because sin is a reproach to any nation, but righteousness exalts a nation’.
I completely agree with the thoughts of Prof. Nnabuko on this issue, and it leads us to the concluding section of this lecture.
Marketing Nigeria through reputation management
In the past few years, my professional practice and research studies have largely been focused on reputation management and communications. I can, therefore, say without equivocation that every product, service, individual, institution, company, government, or nation needs a positive reputation to be desired, honoured, respected, valued, and patronised.
A positive reputation is earned through our actions and utterances, as well as the values we bring on the table.
United Staes’ based Reputation Institute has documented various studies on nation branding and reputation. One of it’s take-aways is that reputation is not earned on the basis of sloganeering, propaganda, or the so-called image laundering.
In managing Nigeria’s reputation, or marketing Nigeria, nine key factors are involved, namely:
1. Effective governance
2. Strong public institutions
3. Strong and stable economy
4. Stable political environment
5. Availability of social infrastructure
6. Appealing physical environment
7. Effective public communication (including telling our own stories)
8. Friendly people
9. Social harmony.
A solid national reputation attracts local and foreign investors, tourists, trade advantages, international conferences, respect for the country and its citizens, and dignity in the comity of nations.
The import of the above submission is that both the government and the citizens are deeply involved in bringing about a positive reputation.
Recommendations
Based on the issues, perspectives, and insights I have discussed in this lecture, I hereby offer the following recommendations:
1. There is an urgent need to deploy national resources, both human and financial, to build and manage the nation’s reputation in a professional manner.
2. The Federal Government should support the efforts of professional bodies such as the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria as well as the National Orientation Agency in their efforts in reputation re-engineering of our dear country Nigeria
3. Any national image project in Nigeria should be managed by professionals and fully supported by active government actions that are in sync with the projectespecially in leadership by example.
4. Nigerians, home and abroad, must be intentional in behaving well, obeying laws, and living in harmony with one another.
5. The government and citizens must live by the revived national anthem: ….”Though tribes and tongues may differ in brotherhood we stand….”
Conclusion
This public lecture to celebrate the 71st birthday anniversary of Prof. (Mrs.) Justitia Odinakachukwu Nnabuko, organised by the Forum of her PhD Mentees, has given us the opportunity to discuss an issue that has tremendous benefits to our country Nigeria.
I sincerely believe that the recommendations, if implemented, would help Nigeria to excel in the comity of nations.
Thank you for listening.and God bless you all.
Dr. Nkwocha, fnipr, KSC, is a specialist in reputation management
Text of lecture delivered on Tuesday, 23 September 2025 at the maiden Prof. Justina Odinakachukwu Nnabuko Annual Integrated Marketing Public Lecture, in celebration of her 71st birthday
