Why Igbo-Centered Media is More Important than Ever to Igbo People in Nigeria Today
Nearly six decades after the Biafran civil war, efforts to rebuild trust between the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria and their once, maybe, (forever) dagger-drawn neighbours- the rest of Nigeria look largely elusive, as the morning of March 18, 2023, broke with news of widespread violence, intimidation and systemic disenfranchisement of taxable Igbo residents in Lagos, who had gone out to participate in the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
Again, the average Igbo person is forced to contemplate the burden of Nigeria’s hypothetically unified and realistically diverse state; the Biafra war, its memories that refuse to fit in a pot; the neverending hostility and now, another soul-searching moment to comprehend what it means to wear the igbo cloak in present-day Nigeria and the way forward.
In a multifaceted, culturally polarized, and religiously divergent country like Nigeria, politics of ethnicity is fodder for galvanizing interests and the media is her vehicle.
The trajectory of a people is largely shaped by what and how members of society perceive them. People’s perception of how alike or distinct they’re from others is shaped by what and how the media deploy language, weave narratives, and report on issues of sociopolitical bearing. In Nigeria, and around the world, the media exercises the primacy of what information is accessible to the public and their use.
What propaganda machines do or don’t with ethically-engineered media reportage in Nigeria as exemplified in news headlines like:
Chinweizu Kanu nabbed in US for Drugs, Nnewi Housewife Burns Help Blames Husband for Mental Health, IPOB Sacks Fulani Community in Imo, etc, begs the question- how much more damage is sufficient for anyone to begin to galvanize effort for an indigenous media to counter narratives that put its people, identity, history and lived experiences in a bad light?
Narratives are living things that grow, multiply, move about and take a life of their own. Anti-Igbo narratives and confounding falsehoods casually crouched in media sensationalism are unmistakable, and ultimately fanning the embers of Igbo phobia at every turn in Nigeria, making the average Igbo person a thing of scorn, constant victimization, and a social and political outcast.
The Igbo story, or much of it, has been distorted, and objectionable narratives strung maliciously, making the average Igbo person a re-served scapegoat whenever and wherever violence breaks out. Anti-Igbo narratives have been thrown about too often and loosely too, that it has begun to look like Igbo people are nothing but bad trouble. Ethnicity is integral to Nigeria’s existence. It’s the basis of group consciousness. So how should Ndị Igbo engage?
Igbo-centred media at this time is critical. It makes for a bit more control of the narrative, helping Ndị Igbo own/tell their own stories, their way. This is essential for reworking the already battered image of the average Igbo person, as a usurper, uncouth Shylock, capitalist ogre, and tactless brat who have nothing else to value other than business acumen.
In a time of increasing cultural awareness in Nigeria tipped by politics, a media driven by the passion for the rich cultural heritage of the Igbo people of South East Nigeria will foster a sense of belonging, and uphold its fast-eroding cultural identity—language. More than town unions in large cities, it’s time for Ndị Igbo to organize, strategize, unite, and support its own people; tell its own stories for its own history—for its own good.
The Lagos incident is yet another reminder, that home, especially for Ndị Igbo—a people known to make home everywhere and anywhere—that home is not where one stays, but where stay is stake.
