MyWeku

Are Criticisms of the BBC series, Welcome to Lagos, mere distractions?

Welcome to Lagos, was described by its makers, the BBC as “a three part observational documentary series which explains life at the sharp end of one of the most extreme urban environments in the world: Lagos Nigeria”

The natural reaction of most Africans was to recoil in anguish in anticipation of yet another dose of what Western documentary makers see or rather prefer to see in Africa. As I watched the trailer of Welcome to Lagos, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of trepidation and déjàvu. I anticipated that the analysis of this documentary (see NigerianCuriosity.com for a compilation of excerpts of the documentary), in its aftermath would inevitably revolve around the chastisement and condemnation of the BBC for its audacity in bringing the underbelly of a proud nation to an international audience, an audience that is perhaps already predisposed to think the worst of Lagos or anywhere else on the African continent; an audience that is likely to treat efforts to rebrand Nigeria with some suspicion; an audience that judges Africa predominantly by the plight of its poor and generally makes little effort to unearth the significant positives on the continent.

Having watched the final in this 3 part series, it is fair to say that this documentary does not play up to the “normal” narrative. Or does it? Have Western documentary makers become more sophisticated and subtle in the way they feed the narrative of a “roguish” and “helpless” Africa or are those who seek to jump on the film makers seeing evil “colonialists” motives that simply do not exist? Should the title of the documentary “Welcome to Lagos” been more like “Welcome to the underbelly of Lagos” Yes! Should the documentary makers have stated explicitly that this documentary was not a reflection of how every Lagosian lives? No! Anyone with an iota of intelligence, who saw the series, would know that this was a documentary about slums and the down trodden, therefore, any negative stereotypes that they may develop of Lagos as a whole, Nigeria or Africa, as a result of this series, says an awful lot more about them than the residents of Lagos. Should a documentary which had a clearly stated aim of showing “life at the sharp end of one of the most extreme urban environments” have included features of the lives of residents in Lekki, Ekoyi, Victoria Island (VI) and other prestigious areas of Nigeria? Certainly not! Featuring and amplifying the lifestyles and living “conditions” of the wealthy and Nigerian political elite  would have distorted the reality and credibility of this documentary. Besides, there are a plethora of celebrity obsessed magazines in Nigeria that do a fine job, doing just that.

Wole Soyinka, the respected Nigerian writer, one of Africa’s Noble Laureates and a cultural icon criticised the documentary for displaying “the worst aspects of colonialist and patronising” attitudes to Africa. Parallels can be drawn here with aspects of the content of Obama’s famous speech on Race in the USA, in which he stated “For the African American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past, it means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of life”. Where is the justice for the 10 year old boy, featured in the documentary, who had to leave school to work in the Ebute Meta sawmill in Lagos? Where is the justice for, Paul, the operations manager of the sawmill, who had to sleep on the premises of the sawmill because he could not afford the few dollars rent deposit to rent a room that measured less than a few square meters in a slum?

It is a distraction to focus the analysis of this documentary on the “old”, rather tiresome and worn out battle ground; one that pits “embarrassed” Nigerians and Africans against “colonialist” Western documentary makers. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina showed and demonstrated that every country, including the most powerful, has its underbelly. The fact that Nigeria has slums is not particularly remarkable or worthy of special attention. India and Brazil can lay claim to any “slumdom” Oscars or world titles.

In this case the supposed negative portrayal of Africa is not the issue and should not be made the issue. It is a red herring! It is a smokescreen! There needs to be a significant paradigm shift towards looking at a new set of considerations and factors as we seek to make sense of “Welcome to Lagos”. The documentary makers are incidental. The real story revolves around the characters featured in the documentary. The real story revolves around a city that continues to attract 600,000 people every year in search of a better life. The real story is the unyielding human spirit in the face of stark odds to succeed, to hope, to trust in a higher authority by those to whom the political and socio-economic system has borne little, if any fruits.

Nigeria’s High Commission to the UK, Dr DalhatuTafida, fired a protest letter to the Controller of the BBC that stated in part “The Nigerian High Commission has watched with dismay and disappointment, the first of the three-part series of your sinister documentary on Lagos. The Commission would like to register its strong rejection of this documentary as a deliberate distortion of life in Lagos and totally unwarranted” Tafida went on to note that “even in London, it is not uncommon to see people (not Nigerians) scavenge dustbins in search of food and other valuables”. If the Commissioner was referring to Freegans and vagrants scavenging for food then he was half right. However, if he seriously sought to make valid comparisons between the filth and hellish dumpsites of Olusosun with a few freegans (highly politicised activists), motivated not by a need to make a living, but by a need to “rescue” wasted food then he was wrong! Critically assessing the reasons why so many thousands feel the need to escape rural areas into an overpopulated city bursting at the seams should be the priority of Commissioner Tafida, the Governor of Lagos State and the national political leadership.

Ironically, contrary to what the BBC’s critics think, this documentary made stars of a group of people whose love of life, honesty, resourcefulness, tenacity, display of ingenuity and immense desire to succeed is truly amazing and should be celebrated not hidden, not tainted or trivialised by knee jerk complaint letters or camouflaged by threats of a law suit against the documentary makers!

This was, bar the BBC’s poor choice of a misleading title, an eye opening and a fine documentary series done with care to highlight the ingenuity of Africans in the face of adverse conditions. Lagos as a whole may seem excessively chaotic and disorganised to the uninitiated. It is, however, the economic engine of arguably the most important country in West Africa. One that, like many other megacities makes dreams come true for those with the “never give up” attitude featured in this documentary. Whether or not it is able, as a city to sustain, nourish and pull its poorest inhabitants out of abject poverty is debatable. As the last episode, alluded to, The Governor, of Lagos State has embarked on an intensive exercise to rid the city of illegal structures and the gangs or “area boys” who harass the city’s dwellers. As the Yoruba proverb goes “When the Bush is on fire, the antelope ceases to fear the hunter’s bullet”. Well the bush is on fire in our slums and no imaginary colonialists’ bullets should distract us from the possibility of imagining an ideal beyond the slums of Makoko (Nigeria), Kibera (Kenya) and Sodom & Gomorrah (Ghana).

Nii Thompson