Re: Welcome to Lagos-BBC2 Documentary.
My phone bleep some minutes past 9pm, it was a text message from Chinedu, a social movement friend, it read; turn to BBC2 – Welcome to Lagos. I didn’t give my action a thought, immediately dashed to my living room and pleaded with my guest and my wife to change the channel to BBC2; I was practically changing the channel not minding their feelings. However a week before, the same guy alerted me of the first episode which explained my action; nevertheless my bullish approach was forgiven the moment the screen hits everyone.
The first thing that shot at our view was the scene of two young boys between 11-13 years of age working under intense and unfriendly environment under the watchful eyes of their master pulling a massive log of wood over a saw mill engine. From the narrative, an operator of the machine was electrocuted the previous day from a live wire that fell over the handle of the machine. Gradually, my living room turned into a mini cinema with my four kids who have heard so much of Nigeria and watched stuffs from nollywood, sneaked in from their rooms. The narratives were sub titled so viewers could understand the slightest details of what they were saying; the impact was absolute concentration and rapt attention to the drama on my TV screen. I didn’t like their presence anyway, however I allowed them thinking I was giving them an opportunity to know more about home; unknowingly,
I have started another domestic problem.
The saw mill narrative gradually became subject of discussion among my kids, there were things they couldn’t comprehend; many questions were asked and dad was expected to provide immediate answers. My difficult situation was compounded when they were recalling scenes from the first episode. To them the drama on the screen was a true account of the life in Lagos.
I don’t have any problem with anyone doing a professional work; however documentary in most cases help to start a change process, it inspires and sparks action. The idea behind any documentary is captured in the title which is also known as headline in the print media. In my view, Mr. Will Anderson, the producer got it wrong; Welcome to Lagos does not capture the essence of that documentary, an ideal title could have been “Surviving in the Slums of Lagos” It showcased the survival instinct, dexterity and creativity of a group of people working under an unfriendly environment.
The first episode shown a week earlier was the war of the scavengers; I wouldn’t have had any problem if the voice over describes the resilience of unemployed Lagosians and their ingenuity in addressing recycling. Instead it celebrated obscenity and foul languages which by professional standard should have been edited. This is professional injustice.
I was already fired up by all these and having read reactions from other quarters too decided to hold back my emotion waiting for the third and final episode which I thought will balance the slant of previous editions. To my chagrin, it was the big masquerade reserved for the last; it threw up so many nauseating scenes including scenes of child birth, marriage break up and so on. You may either have goose bumps or cover your face in shame at these scenes; the questions that came to mind were:
(i) How much did they pay these actors and actresses?
(ii) Were they told the purpose of the documentary?
(iii) Did the Lagos State government assign any official to the crew?
These are hypothetical questions because it is one big public relation disaster worst than Boxing Day Detroit failed bomb attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
I am sure not many will agree that BBC should be called to balance their reporting and indict them for lack of professional depth. We may have other schools of thought who feel BBC has exposed our government’s weaknesses in settling our slump and ghetto habitats. One critic has commended the efforts of BBC for a job well-done that their job in the real sense is to agitate the people’s feelings. He went on to say that the govt should apply simple technology to uplift the lives and living standards of the ghetto people as is done worldwide.
Arguably, for sometime to come there will be endless arguments for and against this documentary but quickly let us review some key points I picked from BBC website:
(i) On BBC iPlayer, viewers were warned before watching Welcome to Lagos with this message; contains some strong languages; Are you over 18years.
(ii) The sub titles of the episodes connote other meaning:
A look at life in the Olusosun rubbish dump, where about 1000 people live in scrap houses.
A look at the lives of those who choose to live and work on the waters of Lagos Lagoon.
Following Esther, who lives in a scrap house on the beach in central Lagos.
Whichever way the pendulum goes, the documentary will ever remain in the archive of BBC as a reference material on how Nigeria has moved on after 50 years of independence.
As the debate thrive, three areas of concerned have being identified namely:
1. Corporate Disrespect – BBC’s insensitivity in broadcasting a domestic affair to a very wide international audience is very unfortunate. The aim set out in the producer’s posting on BBC website is suspect; he said ‘everyone thinks of Lagos as a noisy, dirty, dangerous city, probably because all we ever hear about Lagos on the news is the corruption, religious violence and dodgy email scams. I was convinced there was more to it than that’.
I can’t remember of any religious violence in Lagos in my entire life while growing up in Lagos; the documentary has shown that any body could walk into Nigeria and get away with anything without proper vetting. It is ridiculous and absurd for Mr. Will Anderson to claim that ghettos and slumps made up three quarter of Lagos.
2. Psychological damage – It has smeared our image tremendously; the documentary however has caused quantum psychological trauma to Nigerians living in UK. It has disoriented my kids and created a stigma which will take a long while to get around. The live broadcast of the UK election debate prevented over 11 million viewers from watching the second and third episodes respectively. But there are indications that many will eventually watch it on iPlayer going by current reactions and press mentions.
The effect however is portraying Nigerians as people still living in the past and should be thankful for any position or situation they find themselves in UK.
3. Incompetent Embassy Staff – I am aware that before a project as big as this goes off the plate, there must be a story which is captured in synopsis and most times on story board to give an idea of the entire project. If these crews had gone to procure visas in our embassy without our officials probing into their mission, that means we gave them the free meal ticket in the first instance. Imagine AIT or NTA coming to the UK to do a documentary on Broadwater Farm, Tottenham North London or knifing among teenagers in UK; your guess is as good as mine. Their mission starts and ends at the High commission in Lagos or Abuja.
As the drama unfolds, a new challenge has been thrown to our political leaders, our foreign missions and the Nigerians in Diaspora; but for BBC, a can of worn has just opened. Wait for the Anger of Nigerians!!!
Charles Eze
Chief Operating Officer
Arisenigeria
www.arisenigeria.org
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Lets keep voicing our rejection of these stereotypes.
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