AC SLAMS BBC OVER LAGOS DOCUMENTARY

Lagos State Governor elect, Ba
The Action Congress on Sunday condemned the 'Welcome to Lagos' documentary aired by British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom on April 15, which portrayed Lagos as one huge slum.

In a statement in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the AC, hailed Nigeria's High Commissioner to the UK, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida, for his prompt response to the documentary, saying he had shown that he is a true representative of all Nigerians.

The AC said, 'The timing of the documentary, which is being aired in a series, is inauspicious and the motive highly suspect.'

The party carpeted the station for ignoring what it described as noticeable efforts by the state government to improve standards.

It said, 'The BBC – which trumpets its professionalism to high heavens – chose not to balance its story by also documenting the great efforts of the state government in the past 10 years to change the face of Lagos; it ignored world-acclaimed efforts by the state government to uplift the city.

'Much as we try to think otherwise, it is difficult not to feel that the BBC is acting out a script, as the voice of a colonialist that has long passed its prime and is now nostalgic about its past, which includes holding a whole people down and portraying them as incapable of managing their own affairs.'

'It is nothing short of poor judgment on the part of the documentary's producers to give a big play to the disappearing slum in a city that is fast rising to global prominence, thanks to relentless developmental efforts of the state government.'