The Power of Images and the Symbol on the Nigeria Vision 2020 Web Site

I visited the web site for Nigeria Vision 2020 today and was shocked at the image that stared back at me – the eye of a Caucasian person! I am not culturally insensitive but I absolutely know that Nigeria is a Black nation even though it does have citizens of many shades and mixes. Couldn’t any one find the image of an eye of a Black person for a web site that contains such significant information about Nigeria?

This startling discovery led me to wonder what impact this image has on insiders and outsiders or if we are simply blind to the power of such concepts. Some people might conceive that Vision 2020 is a foreign idea conceived for Nigeria. Some others might even think that Nigeria is still under the watchful eyes of a White government. Worse still is that our vision is so obscured we continue to try to see the world through the eyes of our not so dearly departed colonial “masters”.

I encourage you to visit nv2020.org and look at the ill conceived image. Let your mind wander as you gaze into that blue eye seemingly gazing down at the image of the Nigerian president in the middle of the page. Images have tremendous power. They can send messages far more compelling than words. I know that we are thinking people but often time very careless in how we portray ourselves. I hope someone has the good sense to correct what I would like to believe is an awful mistake.