Buhari Govt Accused of Plagiarism over ‘Nigeria at 60 Logo’

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government has been accused of plagiarism over the ‘Nigeria at 60 Logo’ which was unveiled in Abuja on Wednesday.

This was after it was discovered that the logo was first designed and unveiled by a Russian diamond mining company, Alrosa, in 2017.

In fact, Forbes edition of August 3, 2017 with the headline: “Russian Mining Giant Unveils 51-Carat ‘Dynasty’ Diamond” reported that Alrosa unveiled the exact logo, describing it as a collection of five diamonds produced at its cutting and polishing facilities.

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“Russian diamond mining company, Alrosa, unveiled a collection of five diamonds produced at its cutting and polishing facilities. The centerpiece of the collection is the “Dynasty” diamond—a 51.38-carat traditional round brilliant-cut diamond, which the state-owned company says is ‘the purest of all large diamonds manufactured throughout the Russian jewelry history.’

“Alrosa said during the unveiling Wednesday in Moscow that it plans to sell the collection at an online auction scheduled for November 2017.

“In addition to its size, the 57-facet gem has been rated Triple Excellent (excellent in polish, symmetry and cut), D color (colorless) and VVS1(very, very slightly included), a clarity grading just below “flawless” and “internally flawless” meaning a tiny speck is visible at 10x magnification through the pavilion of the diamond.

“Sergey Ivanov, Alrosa president, said a diamond of this size and with these characteristics has never been produced in Russia and it has the potential to be most expensive diamond ever sold in the country’s history. Less than 1% of diamonds have these characteristics.”

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Unveiling the logo, Buhari described the logo as an obvious depiction of Nigeria’s togetherness, a country of over 200 million people whose natural talent, grit and passion glitter like the precious diamond.

He said: “The selected option depicts our togetherness, a country of over 200 million people whose natural talent, grit and passion glitter like the precious DIAMOND we are.

“This, to me, is a special appreciation to our most precious asset – our people. Everywhere you go, Nigerians are sparkling like diamonds in the pack, whether in academia, business, innovation, music, movie, entertainment, fashion and culture.

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“Furthermore, the neatly encrusted Diamond on the Nigerian Map symbolises our age of treasure, the worth of the Nigerian people with our sparkle to the admiration of the world.

“In the same vein, the pear green and dark green colours should respectively remind us of our warmth, welcoming spirit and love as well as the abundant wealth inherent in our human capital and the richness of our land.

“All these properties make us unarguably the most prosperous black nation in the world and Africa’s largest economy.”

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Meanwhile, the Nigerian agencies, Chain Reactions Nigeria, TBWA Africa and The Temple Management Company that jointly created Nigeria @ 60 logo has refuted rumours making the rounds that the logo, which has been appreciated and loved by both highly placed government officials and industry practitioners was never plagiarised.

The rebuttal came on the back of the rife rumours ring through the social media that the logo was lifted from a Russian Diamond company. The co-creators said, “The attention of Chain Reactions Nigeria, The Temple Management and TBWA Africa has been drawn to an unfortunate conversation in some sections of the online media regarding the recently unveiled logo for the Nigerian Diamond Jubilee Celebration (Nigeria at 60) by President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR)”.

Few hours after the unveiling of Nigeria at the 6th-anniversary logo, myriads of reviews poured in from different stakeholders across the country as expected. As envisaged, the views expressed are symbolic of our diversity as a nation. In fact, it captures what we are celebrating. The theme of the Diamond Jubilee Anniversary, TOGETHER, is all about how we have stayed together as a people despite our diversity.

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