Press Releases

Lagos Govt, Soyinka Carpet BBC Over Documentary Series On Lagos

Apr 30, 2010 - The Lagos State Government has formally raised a very strong objection to a three part documentary series titled “Welcome to Lagos” which is currently airing on BBC Two on Thursday evenings, saying Lagos does not deserve such negative coverage particularly at this stage of rapid development, just as Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka has described the programme as colonialist and condescending.

In a formal letter of complaint signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele, the State noted that negative representations would only damage the State Government’s efforts to build a better state for its ever growing population.

Also reacting to the documentary in an interview with The Guardian of London published as part of a news report on April 28, Professor Soyinka said that the BBC2 observational documentary which follows various people in poor areas of the city was the most “tendentious and lopsided programme” he has ever seen.

Said he: “There was no sense of Lagos as what it is - a modern African State. What we had was jaundiced and extremely patronizing. It was saying ‘Oh, look at these people who can make a living from the pit of degradation”.

“What I saw I found very unjust and sensational. What I saw was not an honest reportage. The problem is the title - it programmes the mind of the viewer in advance and sets the overall context”.

“One could do a similar programme about London in which you go to a poor council estate and speaking of poverty and knifings. Or you could follow a hobo selling iron on the streets of London. But you wouldn’t call it Welcome to London because that would give the viewer the impression that that is all London is about”, Professor Soyinka added.

In the letter to the BBC, Mr Bamidele voiced the State’s concern about the promos for the series which began running several weeks before the first part of “Welcome to Lagos” which was aired on the 15th of April, 2010.

Mr Bamidele also said: “The challenges of keeping Lagos moving forward are huge; and we are proud of the work we have done to improve Lagos in just three years while consolidating on the proud achievements of the preceding administration which handed over to us on May 29, 2007”.

He noted that the vast majority of Lagosians live lives far from the image portrayed in the series adding that the State Government has made huge strides in the area of health, particularly in Maternal Care and has also made progress in providing clean water for its rapidly expanding population.

Said he: “Several water treatment plants are now up and running with more being planned over the next few years, which represents a few of our recent achievements”.

He lamented that a series like the present one being aired can only serve to damage the State’s prospects for foreign investment at a time when trade, not aid, is of paramount importance to the Government.

Mr Opeyemi Bamidele in the letter also objected to the series being titled ‘Welcome to Lagos”, adding that it is often tempting for broadcasters to commission programmes that show the worst of countries particularly when that country is in Africa. “For too long we have seen only the most negative of images and stories about Nigeria make it on to foreign TV”.

“We are aware that independent production companies are often tasked with delivering the most eye catching and sensational stories. In this case, the producers of “Welcome to Lagos” chose to seek out such stories in the worst part of Lagos. But calling the series ‘Welcome to Lagos’ is akin to a Nigerian production team filming on a rubbish heap in Peckham and calling the programme ‘Welcome to London”, the Commissioner added.

He lamented that Paul Glyn and his team spent several months in Lagos and indeed stayed in a comfortable hotel in the heart of the city and had ample time and opportunity to film alternative images of the city but chose to focus on the poorest and most desperate parts.

“The vast majority of Lagosians live lives far from image portrayed in the series. It must be noted that most viewers will never see Lagos for themselves. Therefore surely the BBC and other reputable media organizations have a duty to provide a balanced and fair representation of the city”.

“Portrayals of this kind are hugely damaging to the prospects of the State and considering that Lagos accounts for more than half of the GDP of Nigeria, for the prospects of the country as a whole”, he added.

He urged the organization to counter the series with another series looking at the innovation and progress in Lagos State over the past three years and the broader picture and rapid development currently taking place under Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

The Commissioner assured that the State would welcome the BBC back to the State and would like to offer any assistance the team requires to produce a programme that offers a broader insight into what life in Lagos is really like.