The Nigerian Presidency has denied assertions made by Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi that Nigeria's worldwide image is deteriorating.
Obi had remarked that Nigeria's absence from Harvard Business School's global immersion course for the class of 2025 demonstrated the country's deteriorating reputation.
He stated, "Nigeria's poor reputation was on show as Harvard Business School's class of 2025 program picked 16 countries for its global immersion course, but specifically rejected Nigeria, despite the program leader being a Nigerian academic.
"Instead, Kenya, Rwanda, Morocco, and Ghana were selected as the four African focal countries for this effort. This program seeks to educate students leadership, teamwork, and cross-cultural understanding by immersing them in many continents, cultures, and regions.
"The students have chosen Nairobi, Kenya as their first choice and have been assigned to several Kenyan companies to research and submit solutions to real-world challenges. This absence of Nigeria is especially noteworthy given the country's potential and skills.
"Unfortunately, Nigeria's reputation and attractiveness to international institutions and investors has recently been severely impacted by major obvious drawbacks."
However, the Presidency has denied Obi's allegations, claiming that there is no link between the school's selection procedure and Nigeria's image.
In a social media announcement, President Tinubu's Senior Special Assistant on Public Engagement, Frederick Nwabufo, revealed that the course's countries are chosen using an algorithm that ensures gender and citizenship diversity.
Nwabufo continued, "This is what the institution states on its blog about the countries chosen for the course.
" 'The FIELD Global Immersion (FGI) is a semester-long first-year (RC) MBA program. The course serves as a capstone, requiring students to apply what they've learned in first-year courses to real-world business situations. At the beginning of the semester, students are assigned to a Global Partner (GP) company in one of 16 locations with a product or service challenge that they want the team to address with their local customers.
" 'At the start of the fall semester, students are asked to select their preferred Immersion locations for the year. Because the MBA community is diverse (and frequently includes seasoned travelers), students are also given the option of excluding destinations to which they do not intend to travel depending on their home country and substantial travel or work experience.
" With these concerns in mind, country and team allocations (also known as Global Section assignments) are generated via an algorithm that assures gender diversity and citizenship--much like their RC sections! Projects are subsequently assigned to teams at random, taking into account potential conflicts of interest.