[Applause]
it seems a lot of media people have
already spoken a lot about the media’s
face so I’ll try to be as brief as
possible and leave the stage for those
who are very eloquent I don’t talk a lot
usually behind the scene person so
that’s where my strength lies today I
want to tell us a story about Africa not
the usually usual glossy stories that
you see on the economies of the pages of
Bloomberg CNN and the rest of them seen
Africa is rising it’s a good story but I
always think otherwise I’ve written a
lot of articles disputing the fact that
Africa is rising I rather think that
Africa is an entitled continent laid
back and traps bites and tie two main
mindsets and mentality I’m able to say
that it’s not a very good statement to
say but I see it anywhere and any time a
few weeks back someone asked me what are
you doing gallivanting around the
continent what are you looking for I saw
the time I was asked that question I
didn’t particularly have a clear-cut
answer our response to that question but
perhaps if I were to go back to the
point where that question was asked I
would say that I’m trying to share my
thinking and my passion with the
continent and what’s my thinking about I
think it’s high time that Africa stood
up and owned its story because we are
shipped in the direction of the stories
that we tell all the stories that are
told about us two weeks back I was
involved in a media research for an
international organization and one of
the things we are trying to do was to
find out consumer behavior and user
perception around media in Africa so we
used an application to track every
moment every time so on from Africa
ever complained about the media in
Africa and 99% of all of the results we
got from the process we are young people
Oh a lot of people around Africa even
media professionals journalists from
around Africa everybody was complaining
about international media coverage of
Africa
why does CNN only tell the story of
poverty the story of war the story of
famine the story of diseases about
Africa I want to believe that amongst us
here we’ve all made that statement at
one point in time or the other if you’ve
never made a statement can you raise
your hand we all do at every point in
time we are all complaining why does CNN
give bad coverage of the of the
continent why is it only war each time I
go on CNN the only images I see of
Africa and negative images I struggle to
make that same statement and each time I
see it each time I see people make that
statement I think that we are all
entitled trying to renew our
responsibilities and let someone else
tell the stories that we are supposed to
be telling about ourselves but I’ve
spent a considerable amount of time also
trying to study the politics of our
stories but on the international level
and the local level to understand
exactly why the stories that are told
are told and what motivates people to
tell the kind of stories that we tell
before I go into that I would start by
sharing a personal experience of myself
growing up in this very city of what
Hockett I would sing a song and I like
every one of you to sing with me now
sometime in the I don’t know again if
it’s early or late 80s I was in primary
school Township school 3 Moscow Road if
you have attended Township school 3
Moscow let me see you with your hand I’m
alone okay anyways something happened
while I was growing up as a young child
here in the city of Port Harcourt my
life was being shipped by a particular
song
a particular song meant that I wasn’t
going to be anything much more than the
details of that song I will please ask
you that as I sing you sing with me
so you understand why a child that did
not lose so much would cry about a
particular song and it was a song that
anytime someone feels that they need to
make you feel bad it just starts singing
that song it’s a song that captures
their argot restatements about different
regions in the country but when it was
time to capture something about
remastered it was only the organ a tribe
which I come from that was was captured
I guess by now some of you have an idea
of the song I’m talking about
Calabar DD aqua equal play why you
Hausa Peggy Peggy Yoruba we can chop I
think now I need you to think I used to
sing it to me I used to cry now I need
you to sing it I cried no more so I
needed to think it I won’t sing just
sing Kalavati dear poor
every Sunday every Sunday exactly so it
was really interesting growing up every
time from primary three four five six
anytime they start singing that song I’m
hit
I will cry and cry and cry and cry and
cry I never understood really why I was
crying but as I began to grow let’s say
primary four five six something began to
happen I began to feel like I wasn’t
going to amount to anything more than
being a palm wine tapa or a palm wine
cellar now part of the leaft stories of
the organ is back pain was not any
office you’d walk into the cleaner is
usually a Negroni person the house help
in every house is usually a locally
present the security man is usually an
akuna person so I have looked around
myself every of these people that I see
shifts the image and the perception that
I had of me and most times what happens
people the amount of information people
see what this is what they use as a
descriptor for you so it becomes a type
it forms the stories that I’ve been told
about you I won’t go into the issue of
the ninetieth Delta and the perceptions
around the Niger Delta youth and
everything my expressed experience in
Lagos I think sometime around 2005 or so
the moment I mentioned my name Sean said
where are you from I said reverse said
oh you’re a militant that was the first
expression that came forth I won’t go
into that I’ll stick with my Oconee
story because there’s a whole lot about
that story that ships most of the things
I do today now there’s a perception that
everybody from Oconee is either a drug
pusher a security man a gate man that
was just that negative attachment to
that which shift my whole outlook to
life and everything and it became the
story what everybody knew and I guess as
you said here you also know deep down in
your heart each time you hear of an
Oconee person that’s the image that
comes to your mind
but something happened sometime 22 years
ago there was a local crisis here in
Nigeria that had a proportion of an
international that had an international
proportion cancer everyone was killed he
was from agony the crisis and everything
was about agony and then what happened a
different story was being built so every
time people think about the death of
sorrow we want all of that I think about
it differently from the stories that
emanates from that one single activity
so I remember some time back some time
last year I walked into an office in
Lagos and I mentioned my name a song
asked me where are you from I said River
City said when we busted I said organ is
that oh those guys they are usually very
very intelligent very brilliant people
you know sorry what said yes he said yes
I well was a very good writer was a very
good point
and I smiled because one negative
activity turned around the entire story
of the organist so each time somebody
from agony goes out now the image that
that is attached to that person is the
image of sorrow we were the image of
someone who is intelligence the image of
someone who is smart and so on who is
brilliant that’s exact that story was
the foundation of most of the stories I
was doing in media in terms of the
politics of a stories I was trying to
really understand this and I think some
time ago Russell about George he said
some way in this whole I don’t know he
maybe post on Facebook where he said all
politics is local
that statement struck a chord and I
began to research the statement and I
figured out who made a statement and why
the statement was made Tip O’Neill Tip
O’Neill an American politician so I kept
studying that statement trying to put
parallels in place and what happened I
stretched out that statement further on
my own and I said all politics is local
all stories are global and I’ll explain
what exactly I mean by that
the story of sorry we’re on the death of
Zorua here in pottekkatt was a very
local story it was something that
happened as a result of our local
politics here in Nigeria but when it
happened the story itself became global
the story became global and this began
to for the first time I realized that
this is exactly how every story that is
told about Africa anywhere around the
world is told the stories we have about
Africa as a result they are all products
of our local politics they are products
of the way we do our politics here so if
you look at if you look internationally
anywhere else around the world and the
way politics is done and the way they
live their lives and everything
America has shipped its future way back
through Hollywood power and ambition and
everything if you look to the west
politics is done as we versus them
America versus China Russia versus
America Russia versus giant Germany and
the rest of them everybody is struggling
for one thing or the other played the
rule of dominance power and opportunity
Economic Opportunity basically the new
race right now is the race to Mars
everybody is running to Mars we versus
the rest of them China wants to be there
America wants to be there Russia wants
to be there but what happens when you
look back home it’s also the sauce US
and that has been the secret to every
story that you see been told about
Africa
it’s usually us the sauce us Africa is a
continent that lacks ambition so
ambition and our politics is usually
localized and it has created the kind of
stories that have been told about us so
I want to put myself in a situation
where I assume that I am I am an
American journalist and I am visiting
Africa for the first time I touched down
in South Africa I touched down in Congo
and touch down in Kenya and I touched
down in Nairobi and for every place I
visit let’s assume that I visit five
cities or six cities for every place
that I visit there is an ongoing crisis
there is an ongoing war as far mind as
poverty all around the place
what do you think will influence the
stories that I will tell exactly what I
see your leaf experience I did not
create the experience for you I met the
experience and I reports the experience
that I see so the only way to change
that is that we have to own our stories
leave our stories and change the story
if I am an American I’m writing about
Africa it’s my story it’s my media if
you think you want to challenge my story
you build your own media you build your
own story one of the ways to build your
story and change your story is by the
kind of politics that we live and that
we play here in Africa so each time the
election seasons are around the corner
again the newer stories that’ll be told
beyond 2019 will be shipped by the
politics of 2019 I listen to sorry I
have to mention Ross a lot he did a
video a pre-event video way he was
talking about the future of Nigeria
beyond oil and when I saw the video I
smiled I laughed it’s not because I’m
always best mystic oh I do not believe
in the country or I do not believe in in
Nigeria but I think that most times just
the same way we do eight for those who
are in the development community we do
eight and title to eight from everywhere
around the world it’s the same way we
are entitled to somebody being a CEO to
us and it’s one of the reasons why you
see the American journalist would come
here with the white savior complex
because he has been seen and treated as
his CEO he has been seen and treated
like every story every problem we need
to solve can only be solved if the white
man is involved so if the white man is
not involved it’s not good enough there
are TV channels there are TV stations
that are owned by Africans but I guess
and I can tell you here that you would
prefer to watch a CNN to an African TV
station I know the reason for that that
I won’t go into that that’s an issue for
another day we did a research that found
out most of the reasons why that why
that happens so basically for me that
has been it has been my passion
it has been my agenda moving from
country to country moving from place to
place trying to think about
why we do the things we do why we’re
told why we ship the kind of stories
that we shape and the outcomes we cannot
leave our lives we cannot live our lives
as Africans as a continent expecting
that someone else would ship the stories
that we live by because we move in the
direction of the stories that we tell
and the stories that are told about us
our stories mobilizers our stories
demobilize us so if we want to build a
story if you want to shape a story that
mobilizes us then we have to do the
things that shape the kind of stories
that are told about us but if our
politics is local if our politics is
detrimental to the kind of stories that
are told about us what happens it des
mobilizes us so every story of our every
narrative of Africa rising is false
because it’s based on false premise and
false metrics we don’t want to go into
economics where we start calling the
numbers or going into economic terms but
basically Africa is not rising until it
rises above the pettiness of its
politics that’s the only time Africa
will rise so this has been the basis of
the stories that we try to share and the
stories that we try to create the people
we try to meet and talk with to
understand why they do the things that
we do we are taking our agenda next year
beyond Africa we are going to America
next year with the same agenda with the
same purpose now one of the things I’m
passionate about when it has to do with
anything beyond the continent is because
I have also discovered that the story of
the black man anywhere on the planet is
tight significantly to the story of
Africa if Africa does not rise the black
man anywhere will never rise the black
man anywhere will never rise why because
there’s no respect that goes with the
stories that are told about you each
time I think about Africa I think
negatively I think about famine I think
about poverty I think about crisis so if
the black man in America is suffering
from racism is because he’s not
respected if Africa rises and becomes a
major player globally
Africans everywhere around the world
will be respected
so you cannot even talk about Africa
rising without factoring in all of these
parameters so like I was talking about
the entitlement mindset when it comes to
media and and the way people expect
other people to tell their stories it’s
not only internationally that this
happens even locally here it happens so
if I’m here in Nigeria you see every
other state complaining why does the
media only tell positive stories about
Lagos but it doesn’t tell positive
stories about audacity’s some of us
seated here I have some of your posts on
Facebook where you may be a similar
statement once I see that I screengrab I
see if I have befooled away I save all
of those why does the media not tell
good stories about pottekkatt why does
the media not tell good stories about a
new head of the media not tell good
stories about Krauss reversed its Legos
built its story
Legos owns its story you have to build
your story you have to tell your story
and rise a book whatever story is
attached to you so if you think that the
stories that I’ve been told about you
out there and not representative enough
of you then you build your own media
then you build your own media or you
tell me that your media does not have
the kind of coverage that CNN has the
ongoing politics in the Middle East
right now between Saudi Arabia Qatar and
the rest of them if you follow the
stories you realize that media and
storytelling is at the heart of the
crisis Saudi Arabia wants qatar two
shots down al Jazeera and I assume and I
guess rightly that every one of us here
know al Jazeera it was a lip local media
station that was started in Qatar and it
has become a global media brand what
happened to erase TV been a global media
brand so you can tell the stories of
RIBA state without feeling entitled that
the media outfits that tell the stories
of Lego’s should be able to tell your
own story
what happened to erase TV covering what
happens around Africa from elsewhere
around the world but no we are and
entitled people where we wait for
someone else to come tell a story
someone else appearances to the savior
to our stories so even in an individual
what are some of the things that has
happened around those that are shipped
the stories ship the way we beef whether
we will be successful or not you can
make every step pick every step towards
changing that story you all know of what
we did
I’ve been trying as much as possible not
to mention some personal things on stage
here but what we did we touched on touch
pottekkatt it came as a result of me
always feeling less of myself feeling
inadequate with myself while I was in
Lagos some many years ago because the
perception out there was that people
from pottekkatt we are lazy where I do
did not want to work did not like to
walk and it was 2009 social media was
just starting and it was a walk I do so
I said okay why don’t we just live rage
on this and build a storytelling
platform that will be designed to tell
the story of the city of what hackers
and we did that’s how we started and I
know the places where touch pH has been
written about as an example of how to
use digital media and technology to tell
the story of destinations that’s how to
challenge a story because one of the
things I’ve discovered trying to study
on and look at this carefully is that
whatever you attack you lack so if you
attack the media because the media is
not telling your story you feel a sense
of inadequacy for something you lack and
the only way to bridge the gap is to
build your own media and like Jean Raja
red said if you don’t like someone
else’s story tell your own story thank
you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
it seems a lot of media people have
already spoken a lot about the media’s
face so I’ll try to be as brief as
possible and leave the stage for those
who are very eloquent I don’t talk a lot
usually behind the scene person so
that’s where my strength lies today I
want to tell us a story about Africa not
the usually usual glossy stories that
you see on the economies of the pages of
Bloomberg CNN and the rest of them seen
Africa is rising it’s a good story but I
always think otherwise I’ve written a
lot of articles disputing the fact that
Africa is rising I rather think that
Africa is an entitled continent laid
back and traps bites and tie two main
mindsets and mentality I’m able to say
that it’s not a very good statement to
say but I see it anywhere and any time a
few weeks back someone asked me what are
you doing gallivanting around the
continent what are you looking for I saw
the time I was asked that question I
didn’t particularly have a clear-cut
answer our response to that question but
perhaps if I were to go back to the
point where that question was asked I
would say that I’m trying to share my
thinking and my passion with the
continent and what’s my thinking about I
think it’s high time that Africa stood
up and owned its story because we are
shipped in the direction of the stories
that we tell all the stories that are
told about us two weeks back I was
involved in a media research for an
international organization and one of
the things we are trying to do was to
find out consumer behavior and user
perception around media in Africa so we
used an application to track every
moment every time so on from Africa
ever complained about the media in
Africa and 99% of all of the results we
got from the process we are young people
Oh a lot of people around Africa even
media professionals journalists from
around Africa everybody was complaining
about international media coverage of
Africa
why does CNN only tell the story of
poverty the story of war the story of
famine the story of diseases about
Africa I want to believe that amongst us
here we’ve all made that statement at
one point in time or the other if you’ve
never made a statement can you raise
your hand we all do at every point in
time we are all complaining why does CNN
give bad coverage of the of the
continent why is it only war each time I
go on CNN the only images I see of
Africa and negative images I struggle to
make that same statement and each time I
see it each time I see people make that
statement I think that we are all
entitled trying to renew our
responsibilities and let someone else
tell the stories that we are supposed to
be telling about ourselves but I’ve
spent a considerable amount of time also
trying to study the politics of our
stories but on the international level
and the local level to understand
exactly why the stories that are told
are told and what motivates people to
tell the kind of stories that we tell
before I go into that I would start by
sharing a personal experience of myself
growing up in this very city of what
Hockett I would sing a song and I like
every one of you to sing with me now
sometime in the I don’t know again if
it’s early or late 80s I was in primary
school Township school 3 Moscow Road if
you have attended Township school 3
Moscow let me see you with your hand I’m
alone okay anyways something happened
while I was growing up as a young child
here in the city of Port Harcourt my
life was being shipped by a particular
song
a particular song meant that I wasn’t
going to be anything much more than the
details of that song I will please ask
you that as I sing you sing with me
so you understand why a child that did
not lose so much would cry about a
particular song and it was a song that
anytime someone feels that they need to
make you feel bad it just starts singing
that song it’s a song that captures
their argot restatements about different
regions in the country but when it was
time to capture something about
remastered it was only the organ a tribe
which I come from that was was captured
I guess by now some of you have an idea
of the song I’m talking about
Calabar DD aqua equal play why you
Hausa Peggy Peggy Yoruba we can chop I
think now I need you to think I used to
sing it to me I used to cry now I need
you to sing it I cried no more so I
needed to think it I won’t sing just
sing Kalavati dear poor
every Sunday every Sunday exactly so it
was really interesting growing up every
time from primary three four five six
anytime they start singing that song I’m
hit
I will cry and cry and cry and cry and
cry I never understood really why I was
crying but as I began to grow let’s say
primary four five six something began to
happen I began to feel like I wasn’t
going to amount to anything more than
being a palm wine tapa or a palm wine
cellar now part of the leaft stories of
the organ is back pain was not any
office you’d walk into the cleaner is
usually a Negroni person the house help
in every house is usually a locally
present the security man is usually an
akuna person so I have looked around
myself every of these people that I see
shifts the image and the perception that
I had of me and most times what happens
people the amount of information people
see what this is what they use as a
descriptor for you so it becomes a type
it forms the stories that I’ve been told
about you I won’t go into the issue of
the ninetieth Delta and the perceptions
around the Niger Delta youth and
everything my expressed experience in
Lagos I think sometime around 2005 or so
the moment I mentioned my name Sean said
where are you from I said reverse said
oh you’re a militant that was the first
expression that came forth I won’t go
into that I’ll stick with my Oconee
story because there’s a whole lot about
that story that ships most of the things
I do today now there’s a perception that
everybody from Oconee is either a drug
pusher a security man a gate man that
was just that negative attachment to
that which shift my whole outlook to
life and everything and it became the
story what everybody knew and I guess as
you said here you also know deep down in
your heart each time you hear of an
Oconee person that’s the image that
comes to your mind
but something happened sometime 22 years
ago there was a local crisis here in
Nigeria that had a proportion of an
international that had an international
proportion cancer everyone was killed he
was from agony the crisis and everything
was about agony and then what happened a
different story was being built so every
time people think about the death of
sorrow we want all of that I think about
it differently from the stories that
emanates from that one single activity
so I remember some time back some time
last year I walked into an office in
Lagos and I mentioned my name a song
asked me where are you from I said River
City said when we busted I said organ is
that oh those guys they are usually very
very intelligent very brilliant people
you know sorry what said yes he said yes
I well was a very good writer was a very
good point
and I smiled because one negative
activity turned around the entire story
of the organist so each time somebody
from agony goes out now the image that
that is attached to that person is the
image of sorrow we were the image of
someone who is intelligence the image of
someone who is smart and so on who is
brilliant that’s exact that story was
the foundation of most of the stories I
was doing in media in terms of the
politics of a stories I was trying to
really understand this and I think some
time ago Russell about George he said
some way in this whole I don’t know he
maybe post on Facebook where he said all
politics is local
that statement struck a chord and I
began to research the statement and I
figured out who made a statement and why
the statement was made Tip O’Neill Tip
O’Neill an American politician so I kept
studying that statement trying to put
parallels in place and what happened I
stretched out that statement further on
my own and I said all politics is local
all stories are global and I’ll explain
what exactly I mean by that
the story of sorry we’re on the death of
Zorua here in pottekkatt was a very
local story it was something that
happened as a result of our local
politics here in Nigeria but when it
happened the story itself became global
the story became global and this began
to for the first time I realized that
this is exactly how every story that is
told about Africa anywhere around the
world is told the stories we have about
Africa as a result they are all products
of our local politics they are products
of the way we do our politics here so if
you look at if you look internationally
anywhere else around the world and the
way politics is done and the way they
live their lives and everything
America has shipped its future way back
through Hollywood power and ambition and
everything if you look to the west
politics is done as we versus them
America versus China Russia versus
America Russia versus giant Germany and
the rest of them everybody is struggling
for one thing or the other played the
rule of dominance power and opportunity
Economic Opportunity basically the new
race right now is the race to Mars
everybody is running to Mars we versus
the rest of them China wants to be there
America wants to be there Russia wants
to be there but what happens when you
look back home it’s also the sauce US
and that has been the secret to every
story that you see been told about
Africa
it’s usually us the sauce us Africa is a
continent that lacks ambition so
ambition and our politics is usually
localized and it has created the kind of
stories that have been told about us so
I want to put myself in a situation
where I assume that I am I am an
American journalist and I am visiting
Africa for the first time I touched down
in South Africa I touched down in Congo
and touch down in Kenya and I touched
down in Nairobi and for every place I
visit let’s assume that I visit five
cities or six cities for every place
that I visit there is an ongoing crisis
there is an ongoing war as far mind as
poverty all around the place
what do you think will influence the
stories that I will tell exactly what I
see your leaf experience I did not
create the experience for you I met the
experience and I reports the experience
that I see so the only way to change
that is that we have to own our stories
leave our stories and change the story
if I am an American I’m writing about
Africa it’s my story it’s my media if
you think you want to challenge my story
you build your own media you build your
own story one of the ways to build your
story and change your story is by the
kind of politics that we live and that
we play here in Africa so each time the
election seasons are around the corner
again the newer stories that’ll be told
beyond 2019 will be shipped by the
politics of 2019 I listen to sorry I
have to mention Ross a lot he did a
video a pre-event video way he was
talking about the future of Nigeria
beyond oil and when I saw the video I
smiled I laughed it’s not because I’m
always best mystic oh I do not believe
in the country or I do not believe in in
Nigeria but I think that most times just
the same way we do eight for those who
are in the development community we do
eight and title to eight from everywhere
around the world it’s the same way we
are entitled to somebody being a CEO to
us and it’s one of the reasons why you
see the American journalist would come
here with the white savior complex
because he has been seen and treated as
his CEO he has been seen and treated
like every story every problem we need
to solve can only be solved if the white
man is involved so if the white man is
not involved it’s not good enough there
are TV channels there are TV stations
that are owned by Africans but I guess
and I can tell you here that you would
prefer to watch a CNN to an African TV
station I know the reason for that that
I won’t go into that that’s an issue for
another day we did a research that found
out most of the reasons why that why
that happens so basically for me that
has been it has been my passion
it has been my agenda moving from
country to country moving from place to
place trying to think about
why we do the things we do why we’re
told why we ship the kind of stories
that we shape and the outcomes we cannot
leave our lives we cannot live our lives
as Africans as a continent expecting
that someone else would ship the stories
that we live by because we move in the
direction of the stories that we tell
and the stories that are told about us
our stories mobilizers our stories
demobilize us so if we want to build a
story if you want to shape a story that
mobilizes us then we have to do the
things that shape the kind of stories
that are told about us but if our
politics is local if our politics is
detrimental to the kind of stories that
are told about us what happens it des
mobilizes us so every story of our every
narrative of Africa rising is false
because it’s based on false premise and
false metrics we don’t want to go into
economics where we start calling the
numbers or going into economic terms but
basically Africa is not rising until it
rises above the pettiness of its
politics that’s the only time Africa
will rise so this has been the basis of
the stories that we try to share and the
stories that we try to create the people
we try to meet and talk with to
understand why they do the things that
we do we are taking our agenda next year
beyond Africa we are going to America
next year with the same agenda with the
same purpose now one of the things I’m
passionate about when it has to do with
anything beyond the continent is because
I have also discovered that the story of
the black man anywhere on the planet is
tight significantly to the story of
Africa if Africa does not rise the black
man anywhere will never rise the black
man anywhere will never rise why because
there’s no respect that goes with the
stories that are told about you each
time I think about Africa I think
negatively I think about famine I think
about poverty I think about crisis so if
the black man in America is suffering
from racism is because he’s not
respected if Africa rises and becomes a
major player globally
Africans everywhere around the world
will be respected
so you cannot even talk about Africa
rising without factoring in all of these
parameters so like I was talking about
the entitlement mindset when it comes to
media and and the way people expect
other people to tell their stories it’s
not only internationally that this
happens even locally here it happens so
if I’m here in Nigeria you see every
other state complaining why does the
media only tell positive stories about
Lagos but it doesn’t tell positive
stories about audacity’s some of us
seated here I have some of your posts on
Facebook where you may be a similar
statement once I see that I screengrab I
see if I have befooled away I save all
of those why does the media not tell
good stories about pottekkatt why does
the media not tell good stories about a
new head of the media not tell good
stories about Krauss reversed its Legos
built its story
Legos owns its story you have to build
your story you have to tell your story
and rise a book whatever story is
attached to you so if you think that the
stories that I’ve been told about you
out there and not representative enough
of you then you build your own media
then you build your own media or you
tell me that your media does not have
the kind of coverage that CNN has the
ongoing politics in the Middle East
right now between Saudi Arabia Qatar and
the rest of them if you follow the
stories you realize that media and
storytelling is at the heart of the
crisis Saudi Arabia wants qatar two
shots down al Jazeera and I assume and I
guess rightly that every one of us here
know al Jazeera it was a lip local media
station that was started in Qatar and it
has become a global media brand what
happened to erase TV been a global media
brand so you can tell the stories of
RIBA state without feeling entitled that
the media outfits that tell the stories
of Lego’s should be able to tell your
own story
what happened to erase TV covering what
happens around Africa from elsewhere
around the world but no we are and
entitled people where we wait for
someone else to come tell a story
someone else appearances to the savior
to our stories so even in an individual
what are some of the things that has
happened around those that are shipped
the stories ship the way we beef whether
we will be successful or not you can
make every step pick every step towards
changing that story you all know of what
we did
I’ve been trying as much as possible not
to mention some personal things on stage
here but what we did we touched on touch
pottekkatt it came as a result of me
always feeling less of myself feeling
inadequate with myself while I was in
Lagos some many years ago because the
perception out there was that people
from pottekkatt we are lazy where I do
did not want to work did not like to
walk and it was 2009 social media was
just starting and it was a walk I do so
I said okay why don’t we just live rage
on this and build a storytelling
platform that will be designed to tell
the story of the city of what hackers
and we did that’s how we started and I
know the places where touch pH has been
written about as an example of how to
use digital media and technology to tell
the story of destinations that’s how to
challenge a story because one of the
things I’ve discovered trying to study
on and look at this carefully is that
whatever you attack you lack so if you
attack the media because the media is
not telling your story you feel a sense
of inadequacy for something you lack and
the only way to bridge the gap is to
build your own media and like Jean Raja
red said if you don’t like someone
else’s story tell your own story thank
you
[Applause]
you
[Applause]
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