Nigerian agencies, Chain Reactions Nigeria, TBWA Africa and The Temple Management Company, which jointly created the Nigeria @ 60 logo have rebuked news stating that the logo was plagiarised.
According to a joint statement, the firms stated: “The attention of Chain Reactions Nigeria, The Temple Management and TBWA Africa has been drawn to conversations in some sections of the online media regarding the recently unveiled logo for the Nigerian Diamond Jubilee Celebration by President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR).
“Few hours after the unveiling of the Nigeria at 60 anniversary logo, Lots of reviews came in from different stakeholders across the country as expected. As expected, the concerns expressed are symbolic of our diversity as a nation. In fact, it captures what we are celebrating.”
The statement further said, “This isn’t surprising as major brands and government initiatives have gone through lots of condemnations and commendations in times past. Are we surprised? No,” the statement quoted the chief executive officer of Chain Reactions Nigeria, Mr. Israel Opayemi, to have stated.
Opayemi stated it was commendable that the federal government had engaged the services of Nigerian professionals to develop the thematic direction, campaign strategy and the logo for the Diamond Jubilee celebration pro bono.
“In the past, you would have heard that the Nigerian government engaged the services of some foreign agencies for some ridiculous sum of money.” Opayemi emphasised.
On the plagiarism, the statement read, “The primary allegation of plagiarism on the unveiled logo deserves a quick dissection. To Plagiarise, according to Oxford Language Dictionary, is to take someone else’s work or ideas and pass them off as one’s own.”
Interestingly, this narrative lies in the fact that peddlers perhaps do not understand the meaning or they feigned ignorance so as to drive their usual hatred for the Nigerian government.
“To meet the qualified meaning of this definition, it means the Nigerian professionals who designed the campaign picked another logo that is exactly like this or similar to this and delivered it to the Federal government. Have they shown Nigerians the logo that looks exactly like the Nigeria @ 60 logo from another jurisdiction,” Opayemi had asked.
He said, Instead of saying that the diamond looks similar to the one they found on the internet, they have alleged that Nigeria plagiarised her 60th Anniversary logo. What a convenient narrative but a disservice to our fatherland.
A quick check on the internet shows that there are lots of diamonds with crystals that look alike. The images on the Internet are there in any way for creative usage and purposes. Some are backed by rights and paid for while some are free.
