Soyinka weighs in..
This is quite surprising really, Soyinka accusing the BBC of being colonialist through the Welcome to Lagos series. You expect knee jerk reactions from politicians and philistines (apologies for the tautology), but not from him.
The thing is, even if you decided to do a film on the melodramas of duplex living on Queen's Drive or Banana Island, you'd have to work hard in your editing to avoid images of open gutters, beggars and mass poverty in the background. Your sound editor would have a job to reduce the background grumble of generators, but at least your film wouldn't capture the smell. If you are filming a car traversing 3rd Mainland bridge, must the background be smudged out, for fear the viewer catches site of Makoko? Must everything in Lagos be scrubbed clean, if it is to be shown overseas?
There are so many representations of British poverty in British films and no one bats an eyelid. Dirty linen is dirty linen. When will the post colonial shame reflex disappear?
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78 comments:
I have not yet sat down to watch the documentary, but will soon. But for some reason I am not terribly surprised at Soyinka's disappointing response - it was just a few months ago that he referred to the England as a cesspit of Islamic fundamentalism and suggested that the American Nation of Islam serves as an "antidote" to radical Islam - which I guess would make sense in that sometimes venom is harvested to treat snake bites. Lately, I'm finding that I have had to approach some of the comments of our literary greats with a grain of salt - heroes I once considered infallible.
Nne then I suggest you watch welcome to Lagos before passing judgement on Soyinka. Pay particular attention to what the narrator is saying and his tone. But it may be of no use cos judging from your statemnent your mind is already made up.
As for you Jeremy, for all you like you can live in Nigeria for 100 years, you still would'nt get where Soyinka is coming from. Love your blog though.
well, u shuldnt have considered them infallible in the first place, but its not ur fault we all make that mistake a lot.
all the same, if ur anger over his "Cesspit of islamic fundamentalism" stunt is the implication that islamic fundamentalists are shit, then i can understand ur anger, cos thats a relatively subjective description.
if however, u deny that london serves as their dump then i gues i can say u are wrong. recruitment of terrorists in the developed world is highest in england and a lot of them have lived there for years, flourishin with little restraint.
as for his callin welcome to lagos a colonialist show, i dont really know for him, since i havent watched the show
I thought it was a pretty neat documentary. The innovation story beats the visuals that many have complained about.
i had the same response as him. he didn't say don't show these parts of Lagos. He said don't imply, or express, that this is all of Lagos especially to an audience that is ignorant in part because of programs like this
@nne
There is nothing "disappointing" in the slightest about Soyinka's response. He is bang on the money and I agree completely. Watch the documentary first before you comment on Soyinka's response.
There is nothing unreasonable about his call for the BBC to be FAIR in its portrayal of Lagos. Nobody is asking for the place to be scrubbed clean for western audiences as Jeremy suggests, but for god's sake, be BALANCED. By all means show the poverty - it is real - but also show our hardworking teachers, lawyers and doctors. Do they not exist too?
Given the very long and thorny history of wilful misinformation and ignorance about Africa it is no surprise that Africans are sensitive when shown that one very familiar light. The "Single Story" as Chimamanda Adichie so eloquently puts it. It is deliberate and patronising. The title Welcome to Lagos suggests capturing the essence of the city as a whole not just focusing on just one narrow section. It is disingenuous. I didn't even see one yellow bus or okada which Lagos is known for.
"even if you decided to do a film on the melodramas of duplex living on Queen's Drive or Banana Island, you'd have to work hard in your editing to avoid images of open gutters, beggars and mass poverty in the background. Your sound editor would have a job to reduce the background grumble of generators, but at least your film wouldn't capture the smell. If you are filming a car traversing 3rd Mainland bridge, must the background be smudged out, for fear the viewer catches site of Makoko? Must everything in Lagos be scrubbed clean, if it is to be shown overseas?"
By all means show those. What you've written above is a cop out. Show the good, the bad and the ugly. After all they in totality make up Lagos, Eko. Or are those bits an anathema for a documentary so titled? For your audience? Welcome to Lagos was not even shot for a Nigerian audience. Nigerians have to scurry around on the internet to watch it. The BBC should be happy that there is a whole lot of Nigerians who do not recognise the underhand dig (albeit masked with the doggedness of the characters) when they see one.
It may have to do with them not being totally sold on the Nigerian identity? Their identity should go beyond Nigeria's failures and successes; it should be at the heart of their being, their self worth the same way their tribes are. If it was welcome to Igbo land hmm. Let's say for example; say Ghana that we are forever having a sibling rivalry with was a major recipient of the stolen loot for the larger part of 50 years. And their equivalent of BBC had shot this documentary and tagged it welcome to Yoruba land and refused to show the bits you mentioned above. Or provide any context as to the work the current leader is doing or the thieving leaders who hide their loot there being the root cause of such extreme poverty, all hell would break loose.
Not to discount the part ordinary Nigerians should play in holding their leaders to account, but using a mark that identifies us and is tied to who we are before the rest of the world and show only a facet that with all due respect appears to satisfy the quest for voyeurism and continues a stereotype and expect no criticism? Nigeria should not be dependent on others to tell her stories 50 years on, and it's because of leaders who are not totally sold out on the name Nigeria. They do not work for her good because they do not value her. Nigerians need to borrow a leaf from other nations, no way would olusosun exist here in Britain, them go hala eh!
Brilliant documentary if it had another title or if with the same then it shouldn't be so heavily skewed. I found the characters inspirational and their overall spirit is the Nigeria I know, that is who Nigerians are and is a wealth to be tapped into. That they did not regurgitate the tired 419 narrative was a welcome relief. Hoping the 3rd episode covers a wider narrative.
I watched the documentary yesterday and I was applauding at the end of it. I thought it was an excellent portrayal of unwavering resilience against all odds. I would be interested to find out what other people think about this documentary. I started a poll on my blog for folks to share their opinions. It's closed-ended - as in Yes or No.
I support Soyinka's stand on this. I really really wonder and have yet to understand the value of the documentary to the British watching audience if not a toast to salve their collective imperialistic conscience. Welcome to Lagos indeed.
I don't understand why many affluent Nigerians can't seem to come to terms with the reality of the plight of the majority of their fellow Nigerians. Because they fly overseas in first-class seats and live in opulent mansions does not mean their isn't a Nigerian who lives on less than a dollar a dar.
I'm very disappointed in not only Mr. Soyinka but also those who are protesting the images captured by the camera's lens. Since Nigerian television would not tell their stories, why don't we allow international television give them a voice?
At best, I guess their annoyance is due to the questions on poverty in Nigeria they know they will now encounter while strolling the streets of London and the aisles of Harrods.
http://chicinalabcoat.blogspot.com/
Not seen the complete documentary,and I don't think I particularly wish to;Our country is faced with more pressing matters than the aesthetic nature of Lagos at the moment.
The whole reactions of Naija politicians has always been no more than a sad joke for me. It's the soyinka involvement that makes me really sad.
There's a 1960's film called "The London That Nobody Knows". It gives a fairly grim picture of what was otherwise thought to be swinging London. It's narrated by James Mason, no less. Mr Soyinka is wrong when he says the British wouldn't make a film like Welcome to Lagos. There are plenty. I thought both documentaries showed the shortcomings of a state, and both the flaws and strengths of individual people and their communities. They don't over romanticise things, nor paint a picture of hopelessness (unlike Mr Mason above or countless kitchen sink dramas). There are plenty of Western portrails of Africa that conform to colonialist stereotypes, but this wasn't one of them.
^blogger,
I watched the bbc shows, and so far in its honest portrayals, it manages to showcase a one-sided narrative of the Lagos experience.
The other - perhaps yet untold, side isn't exactly different speaking of troubles, but one that isn't going to patronise pre-existing notions of the African! Lagos experience.
In that sense, the bbc shows are utterly jaundiced, most especially in its title.
It was lagos, but there are slums, and there are unreal slums.
The BBC rolled the tape with the consciousness of what would they losers! do anyways? and that sucks! ( if I can copy my american friends)
The videos are here btw:
http://my.opera.com/dapxin/blog/2010/04/26/nigeria-bbc-documentary-inside-the-slums-of-lagos-episode-ii
I will read wole on my mobile tomorrow, heading into the world.
I watched both parts shown on the BBC thus far and intend to watch the final part today. I thought the documentary was excellent as unlike many people, what I took away from it, was the fact that contrary to the usual image portrayed of Nigerians (i.e. as fraudsters or dishonest people), there was a genuine portrayal of poverty stricken Nigerians struggling against the odds to earn a living legally, when it would be much easier and maybe much more profitable to turn to one crime or the other.
My only grouse with the documentary was its title "Welcome to Lagos". This title I think is deliberately used to mislead. Lagos may be dirty, poor, incompetent, smelly etc., but that is not all Lagos is about. It is a vibrant thriving city with many industrial, financial, economic/business facets. There are many people who live in opulence too. maybe a juxtaposition of the rich and poor sides would have shown the city off worse, but I think if the Beeb wanted to do a documentary on the poor sections, a more appropriate or balanced title would have been in order e.g. "Welcome to the Poor Side of Lagos", "Welcome to the Other Side of Lagos", "Welcome to the Lives of Many in Lagos" etc. Surely, they would not show the lives of those in the poor parts of New Orleans and title the documentary "Welcome to New Orleans" or ditto for the poverty stricken parts of Manchester or Glasgow.
Let's call a spade a spade... it was an excellent documentary which showed the reality of millions, but it was nevertheless motivated by sinister intentions.
i totally agree with you Ayodele. 100% of it. i don't want to see how the rich live, buy ovation for that. my only problem with the episode is how the narrator made it seem like these people are well content with statements like "in your so called developed world" sounding like these people like the fact that they live in an underdeveloped country. WHEN WE BRING THINGS TO LIGHT, THATS WHEN PEOPLE WILL NOTICE.
There is some misunderstanding about the title, "Welcome to Lagos". I think the assumption is that the title serves to introduce the city to the outside (western) eye. In fact, as the first two episodes show, the title alludes to how Lagos welcomes new arrivals. The series is after all examining Lagos as a megacity that attracts tens of thousands of new inhabitants every month.
Once you realise that the title refers to the experience of new arrivals, I would have thought the point was settled: only for the very rich does Lagos offer anything like comfort.
Not quite settled if you ask me Jeremy. Here's why:
1. There are countless new arrivals from different walks of life and nationalities who contribute to fact that the city is bursting at its seams, why ignore them?
2. The BBC knows very well that the title is misleading; that a very large part of its audience do not get that the "primary" focus is on new arrivals confirms its misleading nature and is therefore a failure on their part. Surely they must be aware that 'welcome to Lagos' could be interpreted as 'This is Lagos' which I believe was the way the documentary was originally introduced?
1. The vast majority of arrivals to Lagos end up in the slums. For every molly coddled expat, there are thousands of Nigerians arriving to end up living cheek by jowl in rickety shacks.
2. The films do start with the growing megacity context. I'm not sure what more could have been done to signpost the docs are about the ordinary Nigerians experience of arriving in Lagos.
It seems to me that the main beef is that a non Nigerian made the film. That the BBC aired it adds mustard to the colonial flavour.
The question is, where are the Nigerian film makers who are exploring poverty and the lives of the poor in the city? Why does Nollywood obsess over the same themes: the apparently rich businessman and his wife/girlfriend etc? The focus on aspirational themes is a blindside to the reality of living in Lagos for most of its inhabitants...
@Jeremy 6.56
I still wonder why the title was changed from "This is Lagos" and it seems to have been done at the very last minute. It still sears the image of the dump and Makoko as the singular Lagos in the eyes of an audience who rarely get a peek at Lagos. In any case, one can criticise the lack of fairness and balance and still agree that if we weren't so dependent on others to tell our stories such documentaries that tell one dimentional stories when it comes to Africa would be water off a ducks back as it would be counter-balanced with a stream of wide ranging scenarios from Arican storytellers themseves. It gets tired when people are schocked at the humanity, community spirit, honesty and drive of the Nigerians in "Welcome to Lagos", they've always existed and they are the majority.
I beg to disagree Jeremy, as the documentary did not dwell for any length of time on "new arrivals" as you put it but actually covered people who have lived and/or settled in Lagos for numerous/several years. The chief saw operator at the saw mill, the dump scavengers etc have all lived there for years and years....and indeed the student who does not live in Lagos, funds his education courtesy of Lagos. As a matter of fact, in the second episode, the commentator clearly says that two of the sand boys (Daniel and Kismi - not sure if that is the correct name/spelling for the second sand boy) have been collecting sand the old fashioned way "ALL THEIR LIVES". Indeed they might be indigenes of Lagos, but even if they aren't, they are definitely not "new arrivals" as you have stated. The documentary is about poor people living in Lagos, whether migrant or indigenous. Obviously we did not watch the same documentary.
I cannot speak for others, I am a mega fan of many BBC programmes especially the documentaries. It is my opinion that this documentary well compiled and pulled no punches (very rightly so too). For you to say that the reason people are raising their issues is because it is a foreigner who made the documentary seems to me that you have missed the point totally. People would be disgruntled even if it was a local company that made the documentary and tried to 'sell' it to people everywhere as the totality of what Lagos is. Yes, it is indeed Lagos, but it is only a PART of Lagos and not the WHOLE of Lagos. Expats do not even come into the equation here, you are just a minute insignificant speck in this particular issue.
I still maintain that the title of the documentary is definitely not appropriate, nothing stopped them from using "Welcome to the darker side of Lagos" or any other title that would let even a casual observer who does not watch the whole documentary know that the producers of the documentary acknowledge that there is another aspect or facet to the city.
this whole argument about the lack of fairness and balance is misplaced.
In the first place, it is a documentary. Documentaries are made to convey specific messages. Documentaries aren't avenues for balanced coverage. The producer owes no one such a duty and can over exaggerate or "under" exaggerate for effect. They are almost like opeds only that you get to watch them. Anyone that wants balanced coverage should encourage the Nigerian government to make its own version.
Second, what is so unbalanced about the fact that Lagos is one huge slum? I live in Lekki. 5 minutes away is Jakande, a slum that rivals some featured in the documentary. So "balanced" or not, Lagos is a slum. It is unfortunate that it is a slum and I think that is what the conversation should be focusing on.
It is unfortunate that Soyinka chose to take the simplistic road and that he chose to borrow and rehash arguments of colonialism and what not. Yawn. Can I please hear something more nuanced?
That he missed the highly inspirational angle of the documentary is absolutely baffling to me. I have been re-watching episodes ever since their debut on you tube to keep myself inspired for the week.
In this documentary, the BBC "got" it. I applaud their brilliance and attention to detail in its execution.
Bravo!
Why does Nollywood obsess over the same themes: the apparently rich businessman and his wife/girlfriend etc? The focus on aspirational themes is a blindside to the reality of living in Lagos for most of its inhabitants...
--------
most
probably
because
nollywood,
in all likelihood,
is being **bought**
by these aspirationists,
with
the result,
that,
the producers -so called,
most of them,
are then trapped,
in always wanting,
to perhaps,
uplift,
the spirit,
of this slummers...
When was the last time,
any of you, us,
paid a kobo,
for a nollywood film?
...
exactly, Its easier,
to pay 1000Naira for a
plat of MrBiggs watever,
but a slummer might use
that to entertain family
to 4CDs of nollywood over
a weekend. (better deal)
Perhaps producers recognise,
it might not be best to sell
them how awful their lives are?
+
Your interpretation of
the title, is a spin.
There is no data to suggest that
majority of the BBC audience are
that intelligent,
or would have reacted to the
moving pictures in the same way.
In the end, its a disgraceful verdict,
on the so-called-elites who's found
a way to acclimatise to the
horrors of Lagos,
and to that extent, It might
be a good thing - they are hurt!
Why is it that those comments here that have praised the human interest angle of the documentary seem to presume that similar inspirational stories cannot be found among the middle-class and professionals in Lagos (including many who started their journeys from slums)?
Reality is multi-faceted, and accordingly while slum living is A reality of Lagos, it is not THE reality of Lagos.
I beg to disagree Jeremy, as the documentary did not dwell for any length of time on "new arrivals" as you put it but actually covered people who have lived and/or settled in Lagos for numerous/several years. The chief saw operator at the saw mill, the dump scavengers etc have all lived there for years and years....and indeed the student who does not live in Lagos, funds his education courtesy of Lagos. As a matter of fact, in the second episode, the commentator clearly says that two of the sand boys (Daniel and Kismi - not sure if that is the correct name/spelling for the second sand boy) have been collecting sand the old fashioned way "ALL THEIR LIVES". Indeed they might be indigenes of Lagos, but even if they aren't, they are definitely not "new arrivals" as you have stated. The documentary is about poor people living in Lagos, whether migrant or indigenous. Obviously we did not watch the same documentary.
I cannot speak for others, however, I am a mega fan of many BBC programmes especially the documentaries. It is my opinion that this documentary well compiled and pulled no punches (very rightly so too). For you to say that the reason people are raising their issues is because it is a foreigner who made the documentary seems to me that you have missed the point totally. People would be disgruntled even if it was a local company that made the documentary and tried to 'sell' it to people everywhere as the totality of what Lagos is. Yes, it is indeed Lagos, but it is only a PART of Lagos and not the WHOLE of Lagos. Expats do not even come into the equation here, you are just a minute insignificant speck in this particular issue.
I still maintain that the title of the documentary is definitely not appropriate, nothing stopped them from using "Welcome to the darker side of Lagos" or any other title that would let even a casual observer who does not watch the whole documentary know that the producers of the documentary acknowledge that there is another aspect or facet to the city.
What a pity that people are so focused on the surroundings and not the beautiful people in it!
I have watched both now and from the moment the documentary started, I was enthralled by the different characters, their hearts, their souls and their willingness to live life as best as they could. It was humanity at its very best.
I was very much interested in the whole recyling business. Can't imagine why people are not talking about that instead? Wasn't there an OBVIOUS theme of globalisation, urban developement, wastage and recyling? I believe many peope must have been stuck on the superficial. So worried about how other people will see "US" now..."oooh, poor us, people are going to look at me funny now, they are going to think I lived like that..."
People are mostly worried about how their English friends would look at them now. Hehehehehe! That's the outrage. Its mostly egoistic. Its not cos they care about how the image of Lagos is potrayed. They just don't want anybody thinking THEY grew up like that.
Here is the truth. Ignorant people are the only people who would watch this documentary and come to the conclusion that this is ALL Lagos has to offer. Such people are unreachable. It does not matter how many "sides" of Lagos you show. It has always been like that in their minds and it will remain so.
Anybody that wants to know more about Africa is able to do so in this day and age. Anybody still relying on the western media to give them everything they need to know about Africa must be a damn fool and is not worth wasting time on. That Soyinka actually is worried about such people is a bit of a let down.
As someone else mentioned, it is a DOCUMENTARY, it is not meant to be "objective" but the audience may decide for themselves if it is or not.
The people in the documentary were proud of their lives and someone living in USA is ashamed FOR them?
I am very proud of the people in this documentary. I could care less if they lived in Makoko or Ikoyi. They are beautiful, brave people and very inspiring indeed.
If they showed a documentary of any "other" side of Lagos with such people in it, I would be proud as well!
Ayodele, your defensive reflex is tiring. Many of the characters in the two films had just moved to Lagos. The two boys at the mill responsible for carrying the blades had just moved there for instance. You say there is another facet to the city, however, wherever you go in Lagos, there is filth, there are beggars, there is no power, there is no water. Why is it so difficult to call a spade a spade?
What is really at work here is the sputterings of an elite who can't stand to face the reality that they and those that came before them have a made a dreadful mess of Lagos and have nothing in common with the wonderful people portrayed in the film. It is shame and denial, projected.
yeah divide and rule Jeremy, all poor people are good and anyone who does not live in Makoko is evil. Simplistic if you ask me. It's a documentary so let's chuck all of BBC's code of ethics out the window. And no waffarian, it's not only bigots who get brainwashed into believing a stereotype of Africans; dirty, smelly, poor and happy clappy; well meaning people like Jeremy believe the narrative. It's why anything outside of that boggles his mind, how can the hussle of a young Nigerian be dissed because he no longer lives in the slum? The story as is, is beautiful but it comes in a long line of stories that view Africa from that one prism.
The title 'Welcome to Lagos' applies to new arrivals to Lagos and is not meant as a general introduction to life in Lagos as a whole. One need only listen to the intro and it is readily apparent, but it seems that many would prefer it was spelt out rather than nuanced.
I think it is a sad indictment on the Nigerian middle-class and elite that the discussion around this document has been limited to arguing about the name and seeking balance (whatever that is).
Why aren't we discussing ways to improve waste management and recycling? Why aren't we concerned about about the carcinogenic effects of the work done by Joseph Orji and young man who works so hard to produce cattle feed that earns only a measly £5000? Why aren't we concerned about child labour, about children working in dangerous circumstances and not seeing their parents for 2 years or more or indeed, ever? Why aren't we concerned about working conditions that cause two saw mill workers to die in two weeks from preventable electrocution? Why aren't we concerned that a so-called university student cannot string together a complete sentence in English? Why aren't we concerned that our forests are not better manned and that any Tom, Dick or Harry can just fell tress as they like; about the unavoidable consequences of erosion and climate change that such deforestation will about (just look at Haiti who have no trees left)? Why are we not chastised, shamed and spurred into action by all these facts?
Instead you insist that they ought to have shown a relatively wealthy individual driving about in his/her car (probably a 4x4), who would inevitably then complain about: bad roads, the cost of renting in Lekki or of living in Yaba, how difficult it is to get reliable staff nowadays, spending so much money on diesel, not being able to use their air conditioners when the generator is on ...
SHAME ON YOU. It seems that Nigerians have certainly gotten the leaders they deserve.
This is how the BBC described the programme from the onset 'Three part observational documentary series which explores life at the sharp end of one of the most extreme urban environments in the world: Lagos, Nigeria'
The aim was always to tell the story of the poor and neglected of Lagos, so what's this issue of balance?
At the slightest problem, Nigerians will call for the North to be separated from the South but when Gadaffi says it Nigerians call him a mad man.
Nollywood produces a mass of stereotypical nonsense which is celebrated in Nigeria yet when foreigners produce District 9 or Welcome to Lagos everyone makes a fuss.
Nigerians wish to hold foreigners to standards they don’t uphold themselves.
Is the London based Nigerian-owned BEN Television not afforded the same international platform as the BBC or CNN, yet they waste it promoting government propaganda and charging guests to appear on substandard shows? I almost vomited when Henry Bonsu (formerly of the BBC) asked Alistair Soyode (owner of BEN Television and member of the rebranding Nigeria committee)during a TV interview to mention some of the places to visit in Nigeria, his response was that Nigeria has the best to offer in Africa but that he couldn’t mention any right now.
Are the BBC or CNN meant to serve as media tools for Nigeria? NO
Has Welcome to Lagos fabricated the slums? NO.
The documentary is a story of poor and neglected Nigerians who have chosen hardwork and innovation over 419. This should be an opportunity for Nigerians to reach out and work towards addressing some of the problems these men and women face, their efforts should be celebrated and I applaud the BBC for amplifying the voices of those who’ll never be able to afford to pay to feature on BEN TV or NTA or the other Nigerian TV platforms who won't invest the money and skill in making Nigerian documentaries.
"One time some girls in my class were saying how they’d never go to Africa because there’d be no cable or clean water there. I’d just be muttering to myself, “ Yepa. Olori buruku!” Another one was telling me she thought I was so cute. That she’d love to date a guy from England or the Caribbean ‘cos they’re so hot. But she’d never go near those Africans. Imagine! Mumu girl."
http://www.bellanaija.com/2010/04/28/bn-online-exclusive-mr-fine-boy-proudly-naija/
Jeremy, I have to agree with the person who said that even if you live in Nigeria for a hundred years, you will never understand what you call the 'knee jerk' responses to the one dimensional and at most, two dimensional caricatures of urban life in Nigeria.
What most of you tend to see are two extremes..the indigent people living in the slums and the elites living in the nicer parts of town. You always miss out the people in between. People who went through the school system here in Nigeria without the benefit of a Western education or even if they do manage to get one they have to save for a really long time to make up their fees, take out all kinds of loans and drain the life savings of their parents and families to go to school.
These are the people who take up most of the white collar jobs in the banks, the telecomms and IT firms, and who a lot of time manage to rise really high in their careers after years of slogging at a job they probably hate for years.
They have very few 'connections' and have very little access to most of the money stolen from the Government treasury but they manage to get by mostly through their hard work. How come nobody ever talks about these people? Not 'sexy' enough I suppose? They might not be that sophisticated or enlightened but hey, they do exist. So maybe you need to get acquainted with these people and stop dismissing them because they form a sizeable chunk of the population of Nigeria.
Bose, trying to make a documentary about the lives of people who work as professionals (telecoms and banking) in Nigeria would be as dull as a film about telecoms professionals/bankers anywhere. As it is, those with jobs in professional services companies are the tiniest sliver of the working population in Nigeria, and are hardly representative..
@ Ayodele "Welcome to the Other Side of Lagos" is more apt if the film is about the Lagos elite. Some more befitting title "Welcome to the Lagos we all See", "Welcome to the REAL Lagos" "We live in Lagos, baby..." "Welcome to Lagos: The City of Sin, The City of Wisdom"
"This is our Lagos" "Lagos that elites would prefer not to See".
If we feel shame as a people it is right that we should.
Jeremy, on what basis do you separate them from their peers hustling hard on the streets? Are you saying that because the environment in which the IT professionals and Bankers etc work is clean they are not part of the Lagos work force. They are no longer dirty and smelly so are not authentically African. People have raised families to university level and have built houses in their villages rather than spend that money on exorbitant rents in Lagos while living in the slums. Do their children once they get jobs in Banking etc become the evil elite to be hidden away from western eyes. A lot of them contribute immensely to getting their siblings out of the slums by paying their fees etc It is a drop in the ocean but it is real and happening daily in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
Nigerians are angry about their circumstance and I do believe that a consciousness that things have to change is stirring right across the country. It is a beginning and a lot has to be done and soon. It is heart-breaking that our very best and most vulnerable are so terribly neglected. But People who believe that any criticism of the program is an endorsement of the status quo are mistaken.
So I guess we agree on the fact that a focus on people living on rubbish dumps is really about the drama it creates and not about trying to create a true picture of Nigeria.
If you add to the list of professionals working in the banks and bigger telecoms firms those employed by SMEs and running their own businesses, i'm sure they account for more than a sliver of the population in Nigeria.
Maybe if you take all of this into consideration, you can understand the anger this kind of documentary evokes in average Nigerians.
Na war o. Flenty talk for here. Waffarian mind ya sef with that comment o. Me I did not grow up like that. I dey proud of my people sha.
I think there's certainly some mileage in the egoistical point as per the outrage in certain quarters.
However the ignorance of the average British viewer regarding all things African cannot be denied. On this the documentary has failed in its mission to educate or inform.
The skewed approach in Welcome to Lagos has meant that in the last three weeks, the average British viewer has watched a documentary that so far confirms their prejudices that they are better than us.
@Jeremy
"What is really at work here is the sputterings of an elite who can't stand to face the reality that they and those that came before them have a made a dreadful mess of Lagos and have nothing in common with the wonderful people portrayed in the film. It is shame and denial, projected."
You are misunderstanding the issue. Nobody will deny the portrayal of the slum dwellers was inspiring, poignant and uplifting. It warmed my heart.
However we do not live in a cultural and historical vacuum therefore programmes such as these must be appreciated in context.
This one-sided portrayal of Africa feeds into a very distinct singular narrative that every African is familiar with and that is the root of the protest, not some arrogant elitist shame.
Why are you so adamant that this is the REAL Lagos? I heartily resent the fact that because I may be from a privileged background I am somehow not "authentic" and I have no right to be represented. My story is just as quintessentially Nigerian as everybody else's.
Why do you and others automatically seem to jump to the simplistic notion that poor=only good and rich=only bad and corrupt?
You are implying that those who are criticising the programme are only doing so because they don't want to be associated with squalor and filth and have no desire for social change. That is simplistic and wrong. There are many people, myself included, who are committed to social justice in Nigeria and eradicating poverty.
We still demand the West to show the uplifting stories of those who live well and have strived to achieve through hard work and education, especially when the West knows VERY WELL that these stories are in extreme deficit. If you and the other naysayers cannot appreciate this then there is clearly nothing more to be said.
Your bias is exemplified in this quote:
"Bose, trying to make a documentary about the lives of people who work as professionals (telecoms and banking) in Nigeria would be as dull as a film about telecoms professionals/bankers anywhere"
You don't care about the stories of professional Nigerians (which we never see) because it is "dull" but you don't mind extreme poverty even though this sums up everything that feeds into ignorance about Africa. Why is that? Does it make you feel more comfortable?
Jeremy I agree with you that the slums are an indictment against the government's failures and their disgusting thievery. The ridiculous moaning of the Nigerian officials is very likely only down to their egos being bruised. If there were no slums they would have nothing to complaint about in the first place.
But you simply can't put every critic of the documentary into this category - least of all Soyinka who has been the most vicious critic of government corruption in modern Nigerian history. We demand a "balance of stories" as Chinua Achebe puts it. Nothing more, nothing less.
@Tay did you even see the documentary? The doc pans the city and at several times you see okadas, molues
The documentary never implied that the slum is all of Lagos. Indeed they mention that many Lagosians don't even know it exists. Even Slender's friends don't know that he works in the slums. Meaning this is a largely invisible part of Lagos. Emphasis on PART. Mostly I am thankful and ashamed that BBC showed me that part.
Now, let's take on our claims to success. So we have hard working professionals lawyers, engineers and doctors ehn? Yet we outsource several civil building projects, we all will rather take a trip to foreign hospitals than visit LUTH if given the chance.
In addition, if you are unlucky enough to graduate with a degree in sociology and the likes your chances of entering the growing professional class that we are so proud of is close to zero
I don't want to make a list. I just want to ask kilo ndun ninu wa? What exactly do we want to show the world oh ye rebrand nigeria activists?
I CO-SIGN (1 billion times) the below statement:
[ "even if you decided to do a film on the melodramas of duplex living on Queen's Drive or Banana Island, you'd have to work hard in your editing to avoid images of open gutters, beggars and mass poverty in the background. Your sound editor would have a job to reduce the background grumble of generators, but at least your film wouldn't capture the smell. If you are filming a car traversing 3rd Mainland bridge, must the background be smudged out, for fear the viewer catches site of Makoko? Must everything in Lagos be scrubbed clean, if it is to be shown overseas?" ]
Also, a side note/rant: WHY DO WE KEEP EXPECTING OTHERS (esp. non Nigerians/Africans) TO EDUCATE OTHERS ABOUT NIGERIA/AFRICA?
Like my friend will say "No one fit roast my yam the way way I like to roast am, so I go do am myself or I go show the persin how to do am for me"
I continue to pray that Nigerians will stop lying to themselves and just face the truth .... OUR COUNTRY IS JUST ONE HUGE MESS. In short "NIGERIA IS A FAILED STATE".
And also .... LAGOS IS A HUGE SLUM, MOSTLY.
Dirty everywhere, open gutters, bad roads, no light, and high rate of poverty!!! .... Omo, abi na only me dey see these things as I dey driive commot from my huge house in Banana Island?
Let's be real ... "Welcome to Lagos" shows how @ least 50% of Lagosians (sp?) live.
If you hate what the BCC did so much - oh well, too bad. They can and will continue to air documentaries like "Welcome to Lagos" because too many of us are too lazy, too greedy, too concerned with promoting "you chop, I chop" policies ... too many negative things self to do challenge the system.
In fact, I hope more people continue to make documentaries like "Welcome to Lagos". THey should do a "Welcome to Abuja", "Welcome to Port Harcourt" "Welcome to Enugu", Welcome to Benue" ... "Welcome to . Maybe that will shame us into action (thought I doubt anything will shame us into acting to change things for the better).
If you don't like it ... DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!
@anonymous 2:01:
"The skewed approach in Welcome to Lagos has meant that in the last three weeks, the average British viewer has watched a documentary that so far confirms their prejudices that they are better than us".
What it confirms to any sane person watching this documentary is not the fact that they are better than us, but the fact that their GOVERNMENT is better than ours when it comes to providing basic amenities for its citizens. That, oga sir, is the truth.
There are many countries around the world, not only England that have managed to do better than us in some areas. Not in everything, but in some areas, we are seriously behind. A senator just married a 13yr old girl, we still have kids hawking on the streets, child abuse is called "corporal punishment", we still throw dirt on the streets...and did I hear IBB is running again?
I do not think we should be ashamed of people who have managed against all odds to survive in an environment that has been created by the government.
If we shoud be ashamed of anything, then it should be our useless government who force such hard working people to live under such conditions.
Nobody in this world is better than anybody else. If this documentary makes anybody feel "better" than the hard working human beings in this movie, then the person is a damn fool.
However, if anybody sees this film and this confirms their prejudices that their government is better than ours, then hey...I have to say it, they are absolutely right!
@Bose: I come from a middle class family and yes, I think there will be enough drama there as well. When I think of friends and family and their long journeys through life with just will and determination, I am often shocked that we have all survived. Following the life of a teacher for example, would have been interesting, or a nurse. If I had to do a documentary about the middle class, I don't know if my first choice would be an IT professional or a banker...but I do agree with you that the middle class can be a source of inspiration and hardwork.
@ Jeremy, I have no reason to defend myself. What is tiring is your refusal to acknowledge the simple fact that the documentary is principally about the lives of the numerous poverty stricken individuals in Lagos and not just the "new arrivals". I am sure that for every "new arrival" you can drum up in the first two episodes of the documentary, I can mention at least two. Is it Vocal Slender who is a new arrival? Or is it Chube who has lived there for 40 years? Or Daniel & Kismi? Or the Dump scavengers? Or Paul (the chief saw operator)? Like I said previously, the documentary DID NOT dwell for any significant length of time on new arrivals. The two boys you mentioned were pretty much footnotes in the coverage of Paul's journey. The problem with your view is you have taken the documentary intro alongside bits of the voice over comments and ignored the main aspects of the substantive documentary.
Before you replied to any comment, I clearly stated that I thought that the documentary was excellent. It commendably showed the reality in the lives of millions in Lagos who work hard at scraping out an honest living despite the odds, so I really do not know what you are on about.
I am a Lagosian, I have written about a dump, but I did not know that there was a whole community of people who actually LIVED in dump sites. I loved the documentary; did not like the title. End of.
@ Arin, I concur. I just gave random examples to buttress my point that there should have been a title which reflected the acknowledgement on the part of the programme makers that they knew there was more to Lagos.
Methinks that to claim shame or embarrassment at the honest portrayal of poverty that we all see in various parts of Nigeria as a whole would be hypocritical. We all know it exists.
Some of u including the Nigerian High Comm in London simply do not get it!! Gosh! the programme was fascinating and showed human resilience in spite of government neglect.These people are survivors with their own form of control, structures, systems, etc. It was a real eye opener, and I'm from lagos. Of course, I've never been to Ajegunle, or Makoko or the rubbish dump, and it was good that i was able to see how other people live. Do i expect the BBC to film Ikoyi, absolutely not! Why are we so bloody sensitive about being seen for what we are? A mix of rich and poor, good and bad, just like other people around the world. And of the useless NTA full on nonentities was any good, maybe it could do produce some serious programmes other than weddings, funerals, announcements and Premier League footie. We need to get real.
Yep! I knew it, lots of you well off types whinging and whinnning about the unfair racist BBC. So will you lot get your act together and make programmes that show Nigeria from your lenses, whatever it is? Of course not. The BBC or CNN should do it. Yep, the bloody foregners should do it, we'll simply travel abroad to shop and wonder why these foreigners cannot understand that that 1% of us are very wealthy and not those damn poor people who disturb the false images we have of ourselves. And yes, we cannot take any form of criticism, we simply cannot bear it. Unless of course, it comes from us, but not the BBC, absolutely not! Al Jazeera was set up to present news & documentaries from a different perspective. Nigeria, largest country, blah, blah.....all fur and no knickers!!!
"Must everything in Lagos be scrubbed clean, if it is to be shown overseas"?
no one is asking for everything to be scrubbed clean jeremy, tell me how many documentry you now that has shown the clean lagos... or africa for that matter. I am tired of western journalists presenting a one sided view of a whole continent. you say they show the "bad" parts of britain too... how often do you see it? and if you were not british is that the first picture that will come to your head when you hear of britain???
King's kid
I watched the 3 episodes of what I will describe in my humble opinion as an excellent, thoughtful and powerful programme. I say this because it showed Lagos and Nigeria in a different light.
The Prof is wrong on this one. I respect the man and will go as far as saying that he is a hero of mine, but our heroes are not always right, but we still adore them nonetheless.
How many of us screamed when the guy who worked on the dump site was working extra hours to pay for his daughters 1st birthday party (am sure we all went - here we go again, Nigerians and their madness for showing off) and how many of us cried and understood why he was doing this after he spoke about his own sad childhood experience.
I was humbled by the fact that a man in far worse circumstances than anyone reading or commenting on this blog was more of a Man than most of us.
The clip of the Cattle Trader, who came to Lagos, learnt 5 languages and improved his lot; the bit about the student who spent his holidays chopping down trees in the forest and formed a co-operative to get the logs down to Lagos via water hence minimising his cost and maximising his profit, all to pay for his tuition. The series is full of people under difficult conditions surviving and trying to do the right thing.
If even proof was needed that this was a powerful programme, I will give you a real life impact this programme as had since it aired; A friend of mine (white) who is a Managing Director at an Investment Bank in London, watched the 1st episode because he could not be bothered to listen to 3 politicians debating on ITV. He was so moved by the programme that he stated thinking about ways in which he could make money from the ingenuity and reselenlane of what he had watched (I did say he is a Banker!!)
He got into work the next day and asked his team if they had watched the programme, then went on to inform the that they needed to find a way of making money from this programme! To cut a long story short, one member of his team informed him that “that black guy who works all the hours, is always in on time and solves all their problems is Nigerian and he is very resourceful, cutting to the chase, this guy who was some sort of assistant was put through the Bank’s rigorous assessment process and is now earmarked to go on some fast track process to before a rainmaker for the Bank. He had worked for my friends’ team for 4 years and he was not noticed. Then this programme and this guy gets this opportunity!
The programme could have been about the rich Nigeria showing the mansions in Victoria Island, Ikoyi and so on, but all that would have happened will be us being shown the 0.2% of the population, most of who’s wealth would not stand up to scrutiny in terms of how it was acquired. The programme gave us a different perspective; people who had little, but are resourceful, hard working and could survive under difficult conditions.
Maybe my Banker friend is on to something here, I bet you they are dreaming up so exotic uber CDO that can make him serious money.
This should have been a programme the Prof made, but he did not. So while he is still my hero, pot shots at the BBC for this series is way off the mark.
Prof, on an intellectual level, this was a profound series and you should be heaping praise on Aunty!
^
a whole lot anon nonsense being spewed!
All there is to be said,
has probably been said.
And who is to say because I can type behind a computer, I or some here, are so well off.
So well off, as to not associate directly with the story of so much pain, in the midst of plenty ?
Not so easy.
There are 2 facts. Take it or leave it, Lagos state as messy as it can be was not fully portrayed.
What was portrayed was true!
The BBC did it because they could.
We pretty much dont give too much f about ourselves; why blame the other guy who says it as it is - in your face ?
Nigeria! been a coward of ghost, for a long time...
@ Tay, Bose and Anon 9:42AM, thanks for making most of the points that I was primed to make. It is unfortunate that there exists this paternalistic and patronizing mindset that effectively equates African dignity and resilience with poverty, while relegating success and achievement to an irrelevant or unrepresentative "sliver" of indigenous African society.
Opium should get an A+ for that! Spot on! And top grades to Remi Martins and Waffy too! Yes, the BBC should have made a documentary about some high society types driving around town in their Mercedes Benz/BMW SUVs sipping Dom Perignon! That woulda shown 'em! They think we're all slum-dwellers huh?
This reaction speaks louder than anything the BBC could ever have done. Like Anon 8.04pm said, I grew up in Lagos and I never saw any of this - but I'd rather see this than some pretentious gits who are so full of themselves that they fail to acknowledge the suffering of their fellow countrymen, choosing instead to commend themselves for their "high achievement"......
so it wasn't forbidden to show clean streets and people cleaning up after themselves afterall, environmental sanitation lol! And the speech the landscaper made about his vision for the particular garden was funny and warming, loved how passionate he is about his work. Episode 3 did make up for some of my criticism I believe, I love my people!!
p.s. why people keep pointing out the human angle bits of the story when confronted with any criticism of Mr Anderson's work is beyond me, if you read the critics on this page, they see it (and celebrate it), but they also are careful to guard against perpetuating a stereotype that keep our children bowed down. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Like Waffarian said, she doesn't mind if the story is set in Makoko or Ikoyi; where I think there would have been a problem is if Mr. Anderson and others had believed any bits that do not resemble Makoko must not be shown to young impressionable British kids, this documentary may be included in their curriculum, some have argued for it.
And no, it does not mean you are anymore outraged at the government than I am or that I love little kids working in the saw mill, or that I am ashamed of the Erics and Esthers or Josephs (or that they must be hidden away) thank you very much.
so it wasn't forbidden to show clean streets and people cleaning up after themselves afterall, environmental sanitation lol! And the speech the landscaper made about his vision for the particular garden was funny and warming, loved how passionate he is about his work. Episode 3 did make up for some of my criticism I believe, I love my people!!
p.s. why people keep pointing out the human angle bits of the story when confronted with any criticism of Mr Anderson's work is beyond me, if you read the critics on this page, they see it (and celebrate it), but they also are careful to guard against perpetuating a stereotype that keep our children bowed down. It doesn't have to be one or the other. Like Waffarian said, she doesn't mind if the story is set in Makoko or Ikoyi; where I think there would have been a problem is if Mr. Anderson and others had believed any bits that do not resemble Makoko must not be shown to young impressionable British kids, this documentary may be included in their curriculum, some have argued for it.
And no, it does not mean you are anymore outraged at the government than I am or that I love little kids working in the saw mill, or that I am ashamed of the Erics and Esthers or Josephs (or that they must be hidden away) thank you very much.
Like Jeremy said, even if they did the documentary on Victoria Island, lekki, or Ikoyi, the camera lense would still have captured the deep pockets of poverty that are neatly nestled among the elite. Tell me guys, what is outside the bentley dealership in Victoria Island? Isn't it a poor man begging, an Ibo man trying to sell his goods, a child slaving away selling pure water on their head and running after SUVs with expats inside? Why don't we all admit that there are problems in Nigeria. Nigeria is not as developed as we think it is. The corruption within has strangled development to the point where Nigeria isn't among the emerging developing nations like India. We are not as relevant to the world as we think we are. Twenty years from now, if the west develops green technologies that don't require oil, tell me where Nigeria would be.
http://chicinalabcoat.blogspot.com/
First of all, I should start with a disclaimer. The (rather mild) views I'm about to express are not those of my employer.
There so many comments I agree with on this thread, that I want to snog you guys individually. But lots of you are anonymous - so who do I send my smackers to?
I work for the BBC, and for all its faults I will always defend it on one particular point, it doesn't have an "agenda". Day in day out, I go to work with people who have their hearts, but just as importantly, their heads, in the right place. To quote the Reithian mantra, our job is to "inform, educate and entertain", and I suspect after this programme critics might want to add, "to cause a ruckus" to that list. All that colonialist, racist, prejudiced BBC stuff doesn't hold water. So for whatever the greatness or crapness of Welcome to Lagos, there was no "agenda".
And I wouldn't be working for the BBC if I didn't take the bait on this point of pedantry, Anonymous 1.21, it's "Auntie". :-)
^
Nkem,
How could you disclaim the position 4 dem bbc,
and then proceed to say: It doesnt have an agenda ?
You might not have an agenda btw, but you have a thrust.
@any rate, no use complaining, Nigeria itself is baby britain. Someone is gonna tell us too someday, mama had no agenda for im pickin...shey ?
oshisko
There is nothing wrong with the way Nigeria is portrayed there, I think it pretty much portrayed everyday activities in Lagos
Right from the first few minutes it's very obvious that there is an 'angle' to the documentary. I grew up in Lagos, and i have lots of other friends who did; we never lived in slums neither were our parents rich. And, there were a LOT of us. Yes, there is still something called the middle class even in Nigeria. Why is it wrong for people like us to be acknowledged? Why does it always have to be the few uber-rich and the extremely poor, (and obviously with the latter always taking precedence) when it comes to documentaries about Africa?
I'm presently in the US and I have interacted with people from other developing countries - India, China etc. We share experiences, we had the same consumer goods etc - I was not out of place. Yet judging by the constant media portrayal of 'Africans' that would never have been possible.
In the past it was always the remote villages that were in focus. These days, you can show the cities - but ONLY the slums. Jeremy, I disagree with you completely. Some of us lived relatively 'normal' lives, we had a WC, TV, newspapers, dining room etc yet my mum was merely a teacher. True, there wasn't constant electricity nor constant water but we didn't live off a refuse bin. I join Wole Soyinka in dissing this 'documentary'. It is propaganda and junk.
I don't even see what the issue is. If Soyinka doesn't like what the BBC have done, when he was spearheading the recently concluded Lagos carnival, why didn't he asked them to do a documentary about Lagos that is not colonialists? There are too many people complaining and doing nothing.
I remember seeing a documentary about Nigerian history made by a young banker in the UK. He screened it in Nigeria to raise more money to finish the film. Did any of the money bags in the room offer something? Hell no. They are too busy waiting for Nkem's auntie to do the job for them so that they can call them colonists. If you don't like what you see, do something about it. If you don't like how you are represented, create your own representation(s). There's enough money in the country to do so.
How come people are not talking about Funmi Iyanda's latest offering. She goes to the street, to the Makoko, to Ikoyi and to the life of the Lagos money bags. She gives us a broad spectrum of Naija life. And I must say the part about rich Nigerians is the most vile and pointless piece of filming. But I understand what Funmi is trying to do - to show the meaninglessness and vacousiness of the Nigerian elite.
Why can't all the noise makers here include our Noble lureate support the likes of Funmi Iyanda to make more films, more documentaries.
I beg all of you go and sit down.
Richard, are you paying BBC to acknowledge you? wetin do the 8.6Billion naira auntie dora spent to revamp NTA international- the black and white one. What happened to all those professionals working in the media-they are too lazy to record a documentary?
When last ddi you even watch a nigerian documentary by nigerians?
Abeg make you na wait o, dem oyinbo people go come help you show better side of lagos keep suay-ing and parring mehn
Richard: at no point did I imply there was no middle class or people like you in Nigeria. However, the middle class back in the 1970s and even 1980s was much larger than it is now (think how much lecturers and doctors salaries have diminished relative to the cost of living since then). Now, the middle class has shrunk to a rump. No society can be healthy without a growing middle class.
^alao,
-----
Why can't all the noise makers here include our Noble lureate support the likes of Funmi Iyanda to make more films, more documentaries.
-----
And who's to say they have not ? are are not ?
You make no sense! by and large.
@Alao I no fit laugh! While we're at it, why don't we ask the Lagosians in the documentary to stop aspiring for any life outside the ghetto, we don't want them getting contaminated and turning into the "meaningless and vacuous" elite . Please find time to tell aunty Funmi to stop showing the elite, Oh I forgot, she's one of them, well according to the descriptions here, she fits right in which means she must be vile etc? Thank God BBC listened to you and others and made sure to surgically excise any Funmi Iyanda's from 'Welcome to Lagos'.
I'll advise you not to get yourself up in a knot, this programme was not for shot for you. You and other Nigerians are an inconsequential blip in the scheme of things apart from being the incidental subjects. Lagos slum is your reality (according to some the only reality), it's what the Nigerian is steeped in so you don't need to see it on tv to experience it.
The argument as to whether the beeb should include (notice I said include and not exclusively show) any other side to Lagos is this: The programme is made for British kids out there for whom there's a deficit when it comes to reporting from Africa. For them there are no demographics in Africa that resemble Funmi Iyanda. It is what the critics are addressing. This programme (yes we know, it's about mega cities) is their introduction to Lagos, Africa and beyond that, the black experience. Now you and others can insist no one should talk about it, that's your prerogative. Unfortunately for you, people out here are allowed to criticise the media. They have a code and have to consider issues of race etc. It may be the never criticise culture that keeps Nigeria stagnant.
There's no altruistic dimension to BBCs reporting and and I think where we agree is that no-one but Nigerians can solve Nigerias problems.
Nkem, my sincere apologises on my spelling, it was 1.21am in the morning :-)
Richard, it was a documentary film, which according to Wikipedia (LOL!) is defined as “a broad category of visual expressions that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality”
To believe that a UK based Commissioning Editor will sign up to a documentary about a bunch of middle class families in Lagos, doing middle class things that middle class families do here in the UK, is naive at best or delusional at worst!
If you think this series was propaganda, then simply find a Commissioning Editor, pitch your preferred option of a documentary about the lives of middle class Africans and get it aired.
I have lived and worked in the New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Vienna and currently shuttle between London and Paris and over these years never have I come across anyone who pigeonholed me with whatever the prevailing media portrayal of Nigerians (there is one exception, which was in Jo’burgh SA, but this is an entirely different story!) was at the time. I have always been judged by my actions and I don’t think I move in a special circle, as this is the same for most people I know.
It was a documentary that showed things the way they were, that you did not like its subject matter is tantamount to saying that what was shown does not exist. If you and the Prof want to take a swipe at someone then take the swipe at the leaders of Nigeria – the two-bit punks that allow this to exist in the country they govern and while we at it, please spare me this colonialist drivel, Nigeria got her independence almost 50 years ago.
My grandfather was a farmer and my grandmother was a market trader, they lived in a mud hut. They sent their kids to school and my Dad got a scholarship (a Nigerian government one!) to study at Berkeley, that was his chance to better his lot and by default mine. Where was that opportunity for the people we saw in the documentary, all of whom were smart, intelligent and given access to the opportunities we had, would most probably kick our collective butts in terms of improving their lot!
At no stage did they moan about things they just got on with it. I have always been fully aware that it was by the simple matter of “accident of birth” that I live the pampered life I live now, for which I am grateful, but I take solace from the fact that had that “accident of birth” lead to me being on the other side, I will have managed, just as the people shown in the series manage. The programme conveyed that loud and clear, it’s a shame you are so blinded by an innate victim hood mentality you missed the essence of the programme.
Alao – genius, spot on! Am not aware of Fummi Iyanda, I will look out for her work. dam dam, I cracked my ribs laughing!!
@Saul the title of the film was the London no one knows about not Welcome to London. The title already gives you an inkling to what you are about to watch! That is the difference between those two films
For goodness sake, us Naijas talk a lot of crap! If you do not like the BBC's welcome to lagos, go do your own. The BBC is not the NTA. Even if it had an agenda, that's their prerogative. Talking of which, even the useless NTA has an agenda, so what's the problem? Al Jazeera has an agenda, so does CNN, ABC or the state controlled Chinese News Service. BTW, if we Naijas had an identity we are proud of, we would stop aping Brits and Americans, which we do badly anyway. Oops i digress.
" . . . No society can be healthy without a growing middle class."
With this statement, you clearly show your utter ignorance of the country that you live in. No growing middle class indeed.
BOY, DO I LOVE THE HIGHLIFE MUSIC PLAYED IN THE DOCUMENTARY. DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHO SANG THE SONGS, ESPECIALLY THE ONE AT THE END OF THE 3RD EPISODE.
"For goodness sake, us Naijas talk a lot of crap! If you do not like the BBC's welcome to lagos, go do your own. The BBC is not the NTA."
What on earth is your point? Nigerian film-makers such as Funmi Iyanda and Jide Olanrewaju ARE doing their own films. We'd just like a fairer representation from the western media when they do their own. What do you and others find so difficult to understand about that?
This is from the latest Guardian review by John Crace:
"Even if Greatest Cities of the World were, by some hideous mischance, to run to 20 series, Griff would be unlikely to make it to Lagos. There's no lovely architecture there, just a megacity of 16 million people and counting."
Of course he believes Lagos has no lovely architecture because the documentary did not show any. It didn't show the National Theatre, the beautiful church and mosque near Ikeja airport, TBS cathedral etc etc. One-sided portrayals of Nigeria perpetuate ignorance such that shown by this reviewer.
As for a lack of a middle class, check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs-q-mdi_yw&feature=related
Btw does NKem actually have a view on the documentary itself? All his post seems to say is "I work for the BBC, I work for the BBC, I work for the BBC". That's nice.
I sent out an email to a group of friends giving the documentary the thumbs up and someone responded saying that, 'many Nigerians are not happy with the documentary because it belittles Nigerians.'
I don't know what they're outraged about. It's not a documentary about poverty, equality or whatever run-of-the-mill third world documentary people were expecting. It's a documentary celebrating the resourcefulness and enterprising nature of honest, hardworking people living in what anthropologists and sociologists the world over agree is one of the most extreme urban environments in the world.
The documentary showed, not told, that while the government was indeed focused on destroying the places they filmed: Olusosun and Makoko, preferring only to see them as slums, what the government was intending to destroy were communities with familial ties and their own commercial hubs.
Those so-called naija people should celebrate the resourcefulness of the agricultural college graduate who figured out a way to turn animal blood into manure and sell it to farmers as chicken feed. They should celebrate the enterprising nature of the university student who pays his school fees himself by physically logging trees in Ogun state and figuring how to get it to Lagos via river, a three day journey. My father was born into a poor family. To make his money, he physically walked to Lagos from Ogun state in flip flops, a journey that took several days. He slept in gutters, ditches and wherever he could find shelter on his way to Lagos and when he got to Lagos, he had to work and sleep wherever he could. In short, he was like those people featured in the documentary. The resilience, resourcefulness, strength of character and enterprising nature of those people featured in the documentary were exactly the same things that he exhibited when he got to Lagos.
Ultimately, all documentary makers tell a story. But for those stories to work, there must be key characters who embody what in essence is the heart, themes and issues of the documentary. The documentary makers found those characters in Welcome in Lagos and they did a bloody good job.
We Nigerians should look beyond the aesthetics. So what if the documentary didn't show the swanky $$$$ million villas, boats, shopping malls etc that are springing up in Lagos and Abuja? So bloody what. It's not that kind of documentary. It's a documentary celebrating something far more important; the strength of the human spirit. And if moaning Nigerians cannot see that because they are too busy being offended by the documentary that dared to go into the visually unattractive places, then tough. If that documentary was filmed in an inner city, urban warzone area of the UK and they focused on exactly the same kind of characters working and living in the same kind of environment as the Welcome to Lagos one, albeit in the UK, featuring white not black people, then what would their reaction be? Wouldn't they celebrate their tenacity, vibrancy and self-determination? So, why wouldn't they do the same for their people, working and living in the slums of Lagos?
They should get over themselves.
@ Tay, Nkem is defending the BBC, who are you defending, the Nigerian middle class? :)
I think what most of us who are "excusing" the BBC are saying is: if this sh*t didn't exist the BBC could never have filmed it. Call it simplistic - but it is what it is. Now who're you voting for Babangida or....OMG, I don't even know who else is running! Isn't that awful?!
Tay: the youtube clip started off badly: as if shots from people shopping at The Palms proves anything about a growing middle class. All indicators still point to the middle class shrinking ever more to a rump. There was a passing bubble of financial services employment in the past few years which was built air and has decidedly popped. I was relieved to see the clip ending on a more realistic note. There is no evidence that there is a middle class growing in Nigeria; there simply aren't enough professional jobs to go round, and the staples of a middle class: a good education system and a health care system that offers well paid jobs, simply don't exist.
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@Jeremy The clip did not say there is no proof of a growing middle class; at the end it simply said the infrasture needed to sustain this class is very poor. Some sources say the Nigerian middle class is growing:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+rise+and+rise+of+Nigeria's+middle+class.-a0210057084
http://annansi.com/blog/2009/08/growing-middle-class-and-africas-demographic-opportunity/
Some say it is dwindling. There don't seem to be definitive figures and certainly none that suggest the middle class is just a "sliver" or has "shrunk to a rump" as you say. From personal informal evidence the middle in Nigeria is robust; the singer in the clip Naeto C himself said from his own experience there is a thriving middle class and "tons" of civil servants, professionals etc.
And there always been. There have always been teachers, doctors and lawyers and there always will be. As new investment opportunities arise in Nigeria and across the continent, facilitated by the mobile phone revolution, the class will only expand. Added to this are returnees who are aiding economic growth. The World Bank has recently injected over $100 million to improve infrastructure and trading routes from Nigeria throughtout the west coast. According to the World Bank GDP growth in subsaharan Africa over the last decade was 5.4% - larger than the US. And things will only get better.
Tay, you are clutching to straws. If you ask any teacher or doctor who is not working at some fancy private institution whether they feel among the professional class you'll get your answer. They might well have a middle class perspective, but they certainly can't afford to shop at The Palms. Most civil servants in Nigeria earn a pittance as basic salary. Given that your take on being middle class was from a consumer perspective (rather than a cultural or ideological perspective), we can safely say there is no basis to believe there is a growing middle class in Nigeria.
The Lagos perspective: of young people working in banking or telecoms on the islands, is a distortion of the national reality. You'll find that the number of such professionals spread across the country is tiny, especially in the North. Behind it all, there is no sense in which any of this can be said to be growing. On what basis would it be doing so? A significant percentage of civil servants in Nigeria (perhaps the largest formal employer in the country) are not professional staff: go to any ministry or department and you'll see that for each higher grade staffer, there'll be 'secretaries' who type things out (often still on typewriters in State Governments).
It all boils down to this: Nigeria earns a large chunk of its GDP and almost all of its forex through oil. Oil is not a labour intensive sector anywhere in the world. Until the govt makes a decision to genuinely support a diversification away from a single source of revenue, there won't be growth in the middle class. There are many things the govt could do at the same time, such as taking education seriously and allocating similar percentages of its annual budget to education as Ghana does, or taking communications infrastructure seriously to bring broadband in to the country (we wait and we wait and we wait). And of course, increasing power supply would be a driver that enables greater competitiveness in the country, which would lead to larger companies and job creation.
Perhaps one day all this will happen.
for me... the programme is just reality in our face. most Nigerians who want to pretend that everything is fine at home don't like it... but i don't care about anything else but the truth.
the surprising thing is that we Nigerians care nothing about the plights of our fellow Nigerians who are suffering, but we hate it when a foreign media decides to bring them to our face...
some people want them to show VI, Lekki, new estates in Ajah, Maitama, Wuse etc etc. but when i went to Nigeria last year, my attention was drawn to these poor areas than the beautiful places. i couldn't help feeling sorry for the millions who have to live that across the whole nation.
i think more attention should be paid to such areas with a view to show us how they have been neglected.
okay one question: how many big, beautiful houses are currently un-occupied in VI or Maitama because their owners reside in other parts of the world and hence don't really need the houses? should BBC then be showing us such houses?
@ Jeremy,I provided you with three separate sources which say Nigeria's middle class is growing...not quite sure how that is clutching at straws.
You're the one who seems hell bent on believing that Nigeria's middle/professional class is a "sliver" of the population, which is false. I know from personal and insider experience that it is alive and well.
My definition of middle class isn't just from a consumer perspective - I never said that. You made that up. Of course it includes beliefs systems, traditional social status and cultural mores - just like the definition of a middle class in most other societies.
I've watched 2 parts of the documentary and I loved every vibrant and resilient minute of it.
What's all the noise about? Was any part of the documentary made at a set? Comeon! Its the other side of nigeria we all choose to ignore everyday.
So, instead of all that negativity, embrace it and learn from it for there is much to be learnt from this documentary.
pEaCe!
@Tay - Naeto C a source? ffs you just invalidated everything you have ever said - ever...
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