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.
It has since been 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.
“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.” (See the link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydemarco/2017/08/03/russian-mining-giant-unveils-51-carat-dynasty-diamond/#417d99857c30).
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.
“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.”
All eyes on the Buhari administration for further explanation and clarification.