Idris-Etanami Abiodun Usman is the Chief Executive Officer of Future One Africa TV (FOA) and the Executive Director of Sustainable Initiative for Nurturing Growth (SING) Nigeria. In this interview, Usman, also a rights activist explains how African countries can change wrong narratives about the continent.
Africa has been described repeatedly as an aid-dependent continent. How would FOA Africa change that narrative?
Many television stations in Africa lack contents. We can’t talk so much about our plans until we launch later this year. With digital equipment, we’ll be able to reach all the countries in Africa. You also know that Africa doesn’t speak one language. We will break those barriers. We’ve broken the continent into different segments. We’ll handle the language issues.
Whenever you attend international meetings, the narrative about Africa is that of hunger, starvation and poverty. Beyond the documentary and news, in specific terms, how will FOA Africa change these wrong narratives?
Africa is seen as a continent that needs help. We see different donor agencies coming to the continent to give one aid or the other. In all the years of giving aids to Africa, what problems have they solved? In fact, they spend about 60 percent of the funds on manpower. That narrative by the Western world is deliberate. It’s a cartel, we need to break it. Crimes and other bad things happen in other countries. But you hardly hear about them. People still go there for holidays and keep their funds there. But Africa is described as a jungle. FOA Africa wants to change that narrative. Our black brothers in other continents don’t bring their money to Africa to invest because they’re consumed with the wrong narratives. It’s a new day for Africa.
Some big media houses beside those domiciled in Western countries have the backing of their governments. Is there any form of government involvement in FOA Africa?
We don’t have such. Government is the people. We’ll partner with governments across Africa. There are some things we’ll be doing that will need the backing of government. The narratives are changing. If you look across the continent, African leaders are talking, they’re speaking out. Kenyan, Rwandan and South African Presidents are speaking up. So, Africa needs a media partner like FOA Africa to drive these messages.
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In Nigeria’s Niger Delta region, activities of oil companies have continued to worsen environmental challenges, causing loss of livelihoods to farming and fishing communities. Will FOA Africa take up this fight for the local people?
We’ll tell their stories. Any stories not told can’t get solutions. If there’s darkness, we’ve to beam the searchlight. What’s happening in the Niger Delta region is a failure of government. We’ve leaders who lack ideas and don’t know how to address the issues. We’ve seen small countries with small populations. They’ve developed their tourism sector and the rest of the world is coming in to see. But this problem has a solution. Africa has people with great ideas who can change the narratives. But we need a strong media that can beam its searchlight on these activities. If CNN beams its searchlight on Nigeria, we see our leaders reacting. Whenever Transparency International ranks Nigeria high on corruption index, we see them running round. But the media here, how have we held our government accountable? If you’re independent, you’ll be able to hold the government accountable.
But the media can’t be completely free from the government because they depend on government patronage through advertisements to survive too…
Earlier, I have talked about how our contents will create revenues for us. We’ve looked at this and have discussed how we can sustain it. One thing is that we’ve to commercialise our contents.
But there’s an argument that paying for news erodes credibility…
It’s a problem but one thing I can assure you is that FOA Africa will provide that voice for the continent. Business community is looking for that voice to showcase businesses in Africa. We’ll be that voice. Through our voice, the rest of the world will come to Africa to invest.
As a rights activist, what informed your decision to establish a pan-African television station?
Being in civil society shows how much I love and cherish my country and the African continent. During my days as an activist, though I’m gradually leaving that space, I always believed that Africa ought to be leading the world and not the other way round. Our stories are not properly told to the world. Today, Africa as a continent is seen as a dumpsite of the world. It is often described as a continent that depends on the benevolence of the West. So, delving into television ownership is to set that narrative straight. We need to change the narrative. For this and other reasons, I decided to establish FOA Africa.
How much have you invested so far in setting up this station?
We’ve invested about $7 million. FOA Africa will be domiciled in four locations — Nairobi in Kenya, Lagos, a state in the South South and in South Africa. We’ll have an office in London. We still believe that African stories can be properly told to the rest of the world. If you want to hear stories or breaking news about Africa, it has to be from CNN or the BBC. Every country in Africa relies on foreign television stations to hear about breaking news. That’s not good for the continent. We should be able to connect. Even in terms of trade. It is easier to connect with countries across the Atlantic than with a fellow African country. African countries can’t trade with themselves. FOA Africa will break that trend and barrier.
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