Reaction To Nigerian Youtubers Based In Ghana

My media career journey started about 40 years ago as a mass communication undergraduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.  Print media were my favourite and that still subsists, so my reaction to the YouTube videos is in print not video.

Let me start with a summary of my reaction: One, Nigerian YouTubers have the right to put whatever content they want on their channels (including promoting and celebrating Ghana/Ghanaians and other countries).

Two, Nigerian YouTubers, wherever they are, are under no obligation to promote Nigeria’s image. Patriotism is not obligatory though advisable. Three, if you denigrate Nigeria/Nigerians, we have a right to respond.

Four, there is a difference between constructive criticisms and destructive criticisms. It is advisable to know it. Five, though social media are comparatively recent, the role and rules of the mass media subsist: balanced reporting, balanced mirroring of the society, dissemination of information, entertainment of your audience, titillating the bored, watchdog and exposing the wrongs in the society, gatekeeping, agenda setting, etc.

If you read comments from Ghanaians on Nigeria/Nigerians and Nigerians on Ghana/Ghanaians on social media, you will be shocked. It is as if both countries are at war fuelled by the social media. In 2022, felt so concerned that I wrote two articles but changed my mind and did not publish any. I did so partly because I did a content analysis of Nigerian and Ghanaian newspapers and they were dominated by internal issues. I saw only one little story on each country on both media. Seeing that the “war” was restricted to social media, I advised some YouTubers on both sides, but it fell on deaf ears.

Today, my reaction is on the videos of some Ghana-based Nigerian YouTubers whose deliberate acts of commission or omission, in my opinion, are aimed at putting Nigeria and Nigerians to odium and ridicule. Their attempts are exercises in futility, but I will write about their videos all the same. My focus is on their videos, not the YouTubers, though those whose videos I am reacting to will certainly know.

Even if you were born a Nigerian, you are under no obligation to remain a Nigerian. If you are ashamed or embarrassed of being Nigerian, or you have no love for motherland anymore, you can naturalize and change your nationality to a country of your choice. There is no need to lament about being a Nigerian, although being a solution provider is good. Exercise your freedom of choice. Some Nigerians have taken citizenship of other countries. Some foreigners have also naturalized to become Nigerians and others have applied for Nigerian citizenship. It is a free world.

Some of you were happy throwing mud at Nigeria and building your YouTube channels’ subscriber base and viewership on whipping up hate for Nigerians and Nigeria. Bad news and controversy are hot cakes in growing social media platforms. But now the bad name you helped to create and perpetuate about Nigeria is catching up with you, some of you are lamenting, complaining and trying to put out wild fires you started like a candle light. When you throw sh*t on the fan, it splashes on everybody around without distinguishing. The sh*t you threw on the fan is splashing on you directly and you are now complaining? Stop complaining. Your starting point should be cleaning the mess you partly created in Ghana and elsewhere.

Apparently, some of you have no formal training in mass communication. You probably stumbled on YouTube as a hustle or interest, and there is no problem with that. But in these days of internet, you should have studied the role and functions of the mass media. You were probably only obsessed with the “pen is mightier than the sword,” the enormous powers of the media or you had some other motives. The power the mass media confer on you goes with concomitant responsibilities, so you need to be careful how you deploy these enormous powers because they can boomerang, especially these days when your target audience have powers and multiple sources to reply. You need to come down from your high horses.

Let me talk in little details the roles/functions of the media I highlighted at the beginning. Balanced Reporting: You people have reported Nigeria mainly in bad light: terrorism, kidnapping, insecurity, blackouts, internet fraud, bad roads, etc. Nigeria has all these problems and more. I acknowledge them and I, like all well-meaning Nigerians, am not happy about them.

But how many of you have used your channels to tell your audience that Nigeria is number one country in entertainment in Africa, Nigerian musicians are now global icons, that Nigeria has the most educated migrant community in the US, that the current best male and female African footballers of the year are from Nigeria, that Dangote Refinery is the largest single-train facility in the world and has in fact started production?

How many of you have told your Ghanaian audience that Nigeria is the biggest rice producer in Africa and this feat was achieved within 10 years with a member of Ghana’s seventh Parliament, Abraham Dwuma Odom, as the policy advisor, providing technical support and direction for the program? You merchants of bad news do not share such good news.

 How many of you told your audience that the Igbos are documented to have one of the best business mentorship systems worldwide? The last time one of you made a reference to Igbos was that in Ghana, Igbo youths were mainly responsible for the bad name Nigerians have in Ghana. I have not verified your claim, but, during the Nigerian Civil War, Ghana supported Biafra (Igbos), after initially supporting Nigeria. Consequently, Ghana took in many Igbos.

Many of these Igbos stayed back in Ghana after the Nigerian Civil War. Knowing the Igbos for their entrepreneurship, business acumen and mentorship, I am certain they have contributed greatly to the informal sector of the economy of Ghana. In fact, not only Ghana’s economy but Togo, Cameroon, Republic of Benin, Central Africa Republic, Equatorial Guinea down to Congo, etc. Have you bothered to do a story on their contribution to these economies?

What about the corporate world? Have you ever mentioned how the entry of Nigerian banks revolutionized the banking sector in Ghana? What about Dangote Cement contributing to help make Ghana self-sufficient in cement production, paying taxes, providing employment and engaging in corporate social responsibility? All these are of no interest to you or too complex for you to present in your videos. Only the Nigerians engaged in illegal activities in Ghana are worth talking about on your channels.

Mind you, I support no criminal activities. Continue to expose and report bad Nigerian elements in Ghana. It is all part of your job as media persons. But one of you made a fatal mistake by dissociating herself from other Nigerians, especially Igbos. Did you go to Ghana with a passport from your ethnic group? You are all there with the Nigerian passport and the same water that touches the penis will touch the scrotal sac, so be well advised. As a duty, I advise Nigerian YouTubers in Ghana to expose Nigerians who are into negative activities there. Thereafter, let the law enforcement agents do their job. You told us Ghana has the best police in Africa. Ghana courts have not outsourced their judicial responsibility to you. So do not use your one-man YouTube courts to do trials of Nigerians. Let the relevant bodies do their job.

When the Nigerian police arrested two Ghanaians with their Nigerian collaborators transporting arms to Eastern Nigeria to cause more mayhem in that volatile region, Nigerians did not drag Ghana. When some Ghanaians were caught bunkering oil with their Nigerian collaborators, nobody dragged Ghana. They were simply handed over to the relevant security agency. You Nigerian YouTubers based in Ghana should stop dragging Nigeria for crimes allegedly committed by Nigerians in Ghana. Nigeria did not send them to Ghana to commit crimes. Ghana’s efficient security agents should do their job in accordance with the laws of Ghana. Period.

Relatedly, Nigerian YouTubers based in Ghana, who are crying that bad Nigerians are making life difficult for you in Ghana, are as guilty as the bad elements. A mirror reflects what is before it. The Nigeria you portrayed to Ghanaians is what they are reflecting in dealing with you. In the Urhobo-speaking part of Nigeria, where I come from, we use “emekpe” for measuring garri, but if you denigrate your emekpe, your neighbours will use it to pack ashes instead of measuring garri. You are the architect of your problems. All countries of the world have the good, the bad and the ugly, but they project the good. South Africa, Mexico, America are known for tourism; China and India are known for technology. You know why? It is a marketing and communication concept called POSITIONING, a strategy that distinguishes a country from others based on their “good.”

It is a battle of the mind to make people see, for instance, Nigeria as an economic, technology and entertainment hub in Africa. This is without prejudice to our negatives which we need to work on how to overcome. Other countries are known for their positives it in spite of their negatives. India is notorious for internet fraud; drug wars in Mexico are mindboggling. I can go on and on with each country. It is a question of putting your best foot forward.

The other foot might have defects but what the world sees is your best foot. Nigeria already has products for the positioning: economic power in Africa and entertainment globally are just two of them. Sensible and patriotic Nigerians are and will continue to pursue the positioning with utmost vigour and the say-no Nigerian spirit. Nigerians are actually our greatest asset, not oil. These might sound abstract to these negatively-minded YouTubers, but if you know, you know. Make una dey play for Ghana.

Every country has the good, the bad and the ugly. Our bad and ugly cannot hold us back nor define us, although we need to fix them to move faster. To borrow from former American President, Bill Clinton, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria that cannot be cured, and I dare say solved, and fixed, with what is right with Nigeria (hard work, creativity, ingenuity, can-do spirit, going the extra mile, etc). Nigeria is a rough diamond and these YouTubers are too remote and blind to understand.

One of the YouTubers said the world is tired of Nigerians. Which world? Fourth generation Indians, Syrians and Lebanese are living in Nigeria. Just in case you do not understand, their great grandparents were the first to arrive in Nigeria and their subsequent generations have remained in Nigeria. Some of them have naturalized and are now Nigerians. Go to Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior and see the long list of candidates who have applied for Nigerian citizenship. Is it America and Europe that are tired of Nigerians? Certainly not. Some Western diplomats and company executives/workers who served in Nigeria relocated to Nigeria after their retirement. Some are even married to Nigerians. America and European countries are looking for more skilled labour from Nigeria. You can go online to verity my claims.

As for African countries, we know the problems some of them have with Nigeria and Nigerians, so we are not bothered by their antics? They can continue to hate progress, enterprise and ingenuity; they can continue their campaigns to ban Nigerian music. Nigerian music has gone global and there is nothing haters can do about it. Can you hold smoke? But I hope this Nigerian YouTuber is not including some Kenyan, Ugandan and South African men who went on rampage and demonstrated that Nigerian men are taking over their women, among people who are tired of Nigeria? As a woman, aren’t you ashamed of such losers who call themselves men? Will you associate or marry such failures? Relationships in Nigeria are purely personal matters as long as those involved are consenting adults.

We in Nigeria were amused when we saw the demonstrations on CNN, BBC and other international media channels. Or is it the South African men who accused Nigerians of taking over their jobs and businesses? SA is a free economy (laissez-faire). SA businessmen, especially the whites, are also making a kill in Nigeria. They are smooth operators; no noise. They just blend in with other Caucasians. There are also Kenyans doing well in Nigeria. One of them my friend had dealings with is financially huge, but no noise. It is their lazy counterparts who are pathetically pathetically demonstrating over “nyansh.” Go and check the income and profits of the MTN and Airtel from all the African countries where they operate, including Nigeria, and ask them if they are tired of Nigeria/Nigerians.

The crime rate and drug trafficking were already high in SA before Nigerians joined them. The law enforcement agents of all countries should deal with all criminals within their domain in accordance with the laws of their land. Criminality knows no nationality. Citizens of Niger, Chad, Mali and Cameroon are heavily involved in insecurity in Nigeria, but Nigeria does not complain to anybody for criminality within Nigeria. Nigeria is looking for solution providers, not people who want to produce their own Book of Lamentations in YouTube video format. I will complete my reactions next week.

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