VOICES NIGERIA – Setting a New Agenda for News in Nigeria & Africa.

Source: Ezeani, Chukwunonso Elvis.

Several months ago, I had chance to have a frank conversation with a prominent Nigerian while aboard a Dana Airline flight to Abuja. Besides being a frontline politician, that Nigerian is also an international business mogul with interests in Energy, Manufacturing, Banking and Media. Our discussion focused mainly on the influence of the media (especially the new media) on Africa. We discussed the Arab spring, the murder of Papa Moamar Gaddafi and the deposition of Hosni Mubarak. We also talked about the political campaigns that were gathering momentum and how far the media would go in promoting the candidacy of frontline aspirants. Although I belonged to a different political school of thought from that Nigerian, we reached a common ground on virtually every sub topic we discussed.

Development matters that relate to Nigeria & Africa have never been grossly under-reported by the media of Europe and America as they are today. Unfortunately, media practitioners in Nigeria have allowed this form of journalism and media practice rub off on them. It is a form of neo-colonialism. To a large extent, the inability of the Pan-Nigerian (African) media to set an agenda for itself and practitioners is a form of mediocrity. Voices Nigeria ( www.voicesng.com ) shall be a break away from this form of reporting.

After that talk, I agreed Nigeria and Africa suffered a huge deficit in positive news reportage and thought there was urgent need to address that deficit. As an undergraduate, I was privileged to be taught by renowned Pan-African scholar Kalu, Peters (PHF**). He it was who once mentioned me that News will most likely be reported from the view point of the news breaker in a bid to persuade readers and/or viewers to adopt an account of a report being promoted; suffice to say that unbiased news mediums are rare to find. The just concluded general elections proved him right beyond all doubts. The Arabs understood this logic when they stopped being bothered by the reports of the BBC, CNN and Fox News which consistently reported Arab nations as destinations where bombs exploded by the second and where the cruelest forms of daylight murders occurred. They almost said the wahabbi’s called the shots in the deserts of Arabia. Suddenly, Al Jazeera emerged and forced them to start reporting the wonders of Dubai and Oman, the breath taking sights of Jordan and the exquisite terrain of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

That same group of western media giants gave out Africa as the kitchen of Mobutu Sese Seko, the lobby of Idi Amin Dada and the foot stool of Hussein Habre. They didn’t tell the world of the ancient business acumen of the Toaregs of Timbuktu, Mali. The pleasant beats Manu Dibango and Jabulani Bayete produced from the Cameroun and SOWETO did not make sense to them. Even the diplomatic feats of Late Meles Zenawi which fostered peace in East Africa was never projected. It’s clearly a taboo to discuss the strength of the military Ras Tafari Makonen (Emperor Haile Selasie) built and nurtured in Addis Ababa. Such is how “objective” the western media is.

Nigeria has had its fair share of being under reported by the western media. An interesting twist to our situation is that our own practitioners are firmly in solidarity with their contemporaries in Europe who pretends to hold the ace but don’t. Lately, so much bad news have been released in the space that one would think that besides fraud, ritual killings, bombings and hate speeches nothing else happens in Nigeria. The politicians have infiltrated the ranks of most media house. The industry has been serially raped and has as such lost its chastity. A prophesy of Malik Al-Shabbazz (Malcolm X) is been made manifest in Nigeria. Without shame, we now profess hate and with pride, we promote acrimony.

Voices Nigeria ( www.voicesng.com ) is a carefully thought out initiative of I and Adeyemi Adedokun. When I first discussed my plan to create Nigeria’s Pan – African News Magazine with him, he was skeptical about its success in today’s Nigeria. It took several days of his questioning my aim to decide to opt into the idea. Yemi and I were interns in Access Bank of Nigeria Plc. He has spent a better part of the last 3 years in Europe, Sweden and Austria precisely as a result of which I understood his initial skeptism. The media systems of those countries are still sane. Though he showed little interest in the idea at first, I persuaded him to come on board. As a show of focus and clarity of purpose, I set out with the task of persuading some distinguished Nigerians all of whom are far my seniors by several ramifications to join our editorial board. Today, that board is simply a collection of some of Nigeria’s best citizens who have as professionals set the pace for good governance in Nigeria and Africa. Harvard University and the World Bank benefited immensely from the intellectual prowess of Barr. Ephraim Emeka Ugwuonye who shall advise our board on legal matters.

Today, with a star studded Editorial Board which is an improvement of Dele Olojede’s team at the rested NEXT, Voices Nigeria ( www.voicesng.com ) shall set a new agenda for news reporting in Africa and Nigeria. With over 3,500 visits in less than 3 days, we are encouraged. It is our collective desire at Voices Nigeria ( www.voicesng.com ) to return Nigeria and Africa to objective news production and reporting. In the last weeks before we went live (at exactly 00.00am on 05.05.15), we stretched our resources. Yemi and I gave our best; directing our ICT partners who are mainly Chinese. We left no stone unturned as we reviewed all our processes. Today, we are proud to serve Nigeria and Africa.

Today, I make a call to Nigeria and Africa. We are on the threshold of re-telling the Nigerian and African story. History will be unfair to us if we assume that beyond stories of bombs and sit-tight leaders, our fatherland have nothing else to tell the world. Voices Nigeria ( www.voicesng.com ) has decided to set the pace in reporting the good about Nigeria and Africa. We are inspired by Nigerians like Simon Kolawole and Segun Adeniyi. Dele Olojede now has a new baby to nurture. Tony Elumelu’s audacity to create a Pan-African investment vehicle is one of our propellers and we shall not disappoint our readers. We count on Nigerians to join us in reporting the roles of government in advancing their immediate domains and we trust that our brethren from across the Nile, Niger, Zambezi, Orange, Senegal, Congo and the great Limpopo rivers shall allow us serve them.

Ezeani, Chukwunonso Elvis is the founder of Voices Nigeria ( www.voicesng.com ), Nigeria’s Pan – African Political & Business News Magazine. Follow @VOICESng

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