Nigerian's Have Feelings Too...
A copy of magazine arrived in my mail box yesterday. The cover story was titled Lights, Water, Motion: The World's Urban Infrastructure Needs a $40 Trillion Makeover. Oh well, I thought to myself this will make for a good read, applied game theory is fun and rare. The first paragraph talked about the blackouts in the eastern coast of the USA in 2003 and the water shortage in London in 2006. At this point I start easing into a rather cormfy position to read this lengthy article. The second paragraph quickly melted away such fantasy. The authors hit a nerve.
The second paragraph read, " Across the world in Lagos, Nigeria, people were coping with a messy but familiar problem. It could take hours to travel even by car in this metropolitan are of more than 10 million. At this point I am ticked off, but not yet mad. As I turned the page, Oh no, they didn't. A picture of Oshodi. The caption read, " Insane Gridlock, on the commercial Oshodi road in Lagos Nigeria, April 17, 2003. At this point, I was visibly disturbed. I agree that things are a bit off in Nigerian cities, but when a magazine like Strategy Business use such images of Nigeria to signify the lower boundary of failed infrastructural development, I get offended. We need a positive image more than any country in the world, yet these journalists/analysts keep tearing our efforts down.
This magazine is a fringe magazine catering to a niche population. This is probably the only image of Nigeria these efikos will ever come across. I fired an email to the editor, advising him to use a picture of India or Pakistan next time (I know that is unfair right). I am aware of the state of homeland, I do not need to be tormented by such reports every passing day. Something similar happened yesterday, a Naija guy received a not so honorable mention on Fox News yesterday.
Public service announcement: Please, please, please, give us balanced reports of my home country Nigeria. Thank you, Nigerian's have feelings too.
5Comment(s):
heyaaaa, na so the thing pain you?You are right, Nigeria's image is so bad right now, people find it had to believe that any form of modern life exists!
I feel you my man, but like I've said again and again, it is easier for the proverbial camel to go through the eye of the needle than to get positive coverage for Naija from North America...
Omodudu, you stopped by my blog the other day so I decided to reciprocate the gesture :)
You have nice hands/fingers, I also noticed you have a Sony Vaio, how do you like it?
Yeah we do have feelings...
But wait oh, the Indians and people of Pakistan have feelings too....lol
Let us know if the editor sends you a reply.
Your point is one I have been making frequently on my blog re: P.R. Nigeria needs a better PR agent. I know that we have one here in the U.S. and he gets paid major coin. However, I cannot remember the last time the country got some good press.
Recently, a group of Nija people in the States demanded his head (our P.R. agent). It will be interesting to see if anything changes. SA was recently 'criticized' by BBC for crime and the SA machine went ballistic on them, even though the information shared was true. We are lacking a machine that can affect what is said/shown about Nigeria. And, if people try, those that benefit from the negative portrayal will simply thwart your efforts.
I congratulate you for contacting the editor. We all need to do that. Keep the media honest and fair. Anyway, I hope they respond.