Fg Accuses The Economist Of Racism, Prejudice Over Article On ‘change Begins With Me’
SAN FRANCISCO, September 29, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has accused ‘The Economist’ magazine of racism, prejudice and denigration of Nigeria's genuine effort at national re-orientation, insisting that the social reorientation campaign, 'Change Begins with Me' that was introduced this month was not scheme to silence Nigerians.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this on Wednesday in a statement issued in reaction to a story by the weekly publication published on September 24, 2016, entitled: 'Nigeria's war against indiscipline, Behave or be whipped'.
While tackling the magazine which accused Buhari of “taming'' Nigerians with the 'Change Begins With Me' campaign, he stated that the use of the word 'tame'' was unpardonable as it connoted that Nigerians are some kind of wild animals that must be domesticated.
Mohammed maintained that the usage was a deliberate put-down of a whole people under the guise of criticising a government policy, asserting that the article was pejorative, loaded with innuendos and couched in a language that was downright racist.
According to him, “Our attention has been drawn to a story by The Economist, datelined Lagos and featured in the paper's print edition of Sept. 24, 2016 entitled: “Nigeria's war against indiscipline, Behave or be whipped''.
“Contrary to the newspaper's self-professed belief in ”plain language”, the article in question, from the headline to the body, is a master-piece of embellishment or dressed-up language”.
“It is loaded with innuendos and decidedly pejorative at best and downright racist at worst.'' The minister faulted the conclusion in the publication that President Muhammadu Buhari wanted to “tame” Nigerians with the “Change Begins With Me” Campaign.
“For those who are the owners of the English language, the use of that word is unpardonable.
“The verb “tame” suggests that Nigerians are some kind of wild animals that must be domesticated, and the usage reveals the mindset of the authors of the article.
“It is a deliberate put-down of a whole people under the guise of criticising a government policy,'' he said.
The minister stated that the author was wrong in insinuating that some 150,000 volunteers were being trained as enforcers of the “Change Begins With Me” Campaign.
He said the president, while launching the campaign, made it clear that “moral suasion, the very antithesis of force, will be employed to achieve attitudinal change among Nigerians''.
According to him, the President never said that “moral police would be unleashed''as reported by the newspaper.
“In writing the story, the paper did not even deem it necessary to speak with any official of the government, thus breaching one of the codes of journalism, which is fairness,'' he said.
Mohammed clarified that the campaign was launched to “help restore our value system and rekindle our nationalistic fervour''.
He added that the campaign was not designed to shift any responsibility to Nigerians, as many had erroneously said but an all-inclusive campaign designed to start with the leadership. “Change Begins With Me” was designed to start from the President, then trickle down to the Vice President, ministers, other top government officials and to all citizens.
“The campaign is asking Nigerians to be the change they want to see in the society; for example, the motorists among us must obey traffic rules, our aggrieved youth must stop destroying public property, “Patent medicine sellers must stop selling fake drugs; commercial vehicle drivers must stop taking alcoholic beverages before driving.
“There is nothing extraordinary or over-burdening in all these,'' he said, stressing that many countries in the world, at some points, had also embarked on the kind of campaign that Nigeria launched.
The minister therefore asserted that it was uncharitable for newspaper “to hide behind the facade of its own prejudice to denigrate Nigeria's genuine effort at national re-orientation”.