Usman: Wrong Narratives By Western Media About Africa Needs to Be Countered

Executive Director of Sustainable Initiative for Nurturing Growth (SING) Nigeria and CEO of FOA Africa, IdrisEtanami Abiodun Usman in this interview, explains how African countries can challenge and change wrong narratives about the continent.

One wonders why a known activist would suddenly delve into owning and running a pan-African television station. What informed that decision?

Being in the 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.

Setting up a television station requires a huge capital. How did you handle that phase?

You’ve heard about companies that are doing well. In this digital age, setting up a successful business is easy. All you need to do is to have your ideas and share them. People will buy into them. That is what we’ve done. We’ve shared our dreams with stakeholders and investors and they’ve bought into it. They believe that if FOAAfrica comes into reality, doing businesses in Africa will be made easy. It is tough and the dream is becoming a reality. We’ve made television business in Africa look as if it is not profitable. There’s so much you can make. If you look at the big television stations across the world, they’re making profits.

Contents drive the world and that’s what they’re doing. What FOAAfrica will be doing is to develop contents that will sell themselves. Our contents will add value.

We won’t rely on government patronage or adverts to succeed. The dream of FOA Africa is to run a station that will showcase Africa in a good light to the rest of the world.

If you were to quantify the funds that have gone into setting up this station, much would that be?

We’ve invested about $7 million. FOAAfrica 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’ve carved a name for ourselves. We’re glad that a station like AIT gave us this hope that a dream like this could be achieved. We appreciate all the stations. We still believe that African stories are properly told to the rest of the world. If you want to hear stories or breaking news about Africa, it has to be from the CNN or the BBC. Every country in Africa rely 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, African countries are yet to connect. It is easier to connect with countries across the Atlantic than with a fellow country. African countries can’t trade with themselves. FOA Africa will break that trend and barrier.

It has been repeatedly told that Africa is a country that depends on aids. How would FOA Africa change that narrative?

Sorry to say this. 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.

How will you address the language differences in the continent and still reach every country?

We’ll create the first mobile studio in Africa. Representatives in each country will use the mobile studio. This will make the reach seamless. We’re coming to change the narrative in Africa. We’re going to be strictly doing news and documentary. Our contents will have commercial values. It’s time to change the narrative here. 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.

Whenever you attend international meetings, the narratives 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 man power. That narrative by the Western world is deliberate. It’s a cartel. We need to break it. Most of the wars and civil unrests in Africa are sponsored by the West. Nobody is telling these stories. We know what’s happening in Zamfara State. Don’t see Nigerians operating there. We see foreigners operating there.

Go to Lake Chad Basin. This is what the rest of the world wants Africa to be. We want to change that narrative.

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 FOAAfrica to drive these messages.

There are trade barriers in Africa and lack of interconnectivity. Will you focus on how this can be addressed?

We’re going to be present in all African countries. FOAAfrica will be the platform that will connect the continent. Look at our television stations in Nigeria. How many advertisements do you see on our stations from other African countries? None. If you watch CNN and other international media, you see a different thing. We intend to change that narrative. Going to Europe by air is easier than going to West African countries. That needs to change.

These dreams appear very ambitious…

We’re launching in Nigeria and Kenya first this year. In the next five years, we’ll be delving into South and Northern Africa. It’ll be taken in phases.