World

The following refer to the size and oil wealth of thecountry:Newscaster: Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation,rich in oil and gas. (BBC1: 19.2.99, 2100)Reporter: The country which General Obasanjo hasbeen elected to govern is vast: 110 million people, 280different ethnic groups. (BBC1: 1.3.99, 2100)The third most frequent reference in the electioncoverage was to Nigeria’s oil wealth being plundered,contributing to its economic problems. The three newschannels referred to this, with a total of 12 referencesbetween them:Reporter: Nigeria’s military rulers have been masters ofillusion. While the country’s oil industry producedmillions of dollars, the people running the governmentsimply made the money disappear.... It is a tellingcontrast – on the one hand Nigeria’s oil wealth, and onthe other its agonising poverty. BBC1: 1.3.99, 2100)Reporter: The economy is in a state of complete shamblesafter years of corruption and misrule by military leaders.(BBC2: 1.3.99, 2230)Reporter: The trick of Nigeria’s military rulers has beento make the country’s wealth vanish – as if by magic.(Channel 4: 26.2.99, 1900)Although there were references in the coverage, whichwill be included in the following sections, to the interestsof Western oil companies in Nigeria, there was only onedirect mention of Western interests in relation to theelections:Reporter: The biggest country in Africa has struggled offmilitary rule after 15 years, and voted in a civiliangovernment. That’s important for the rest of Africa andto all those countries like Britain with big investmentshere. (BBC1: 1.3.99, 2100)C.2.2.5. The Biafran war and the IbosMost of the remainder of this analysis concerns Channel 4News or Newsnight, which broadcast special reports onNigeria during the election week, and some BBC1 coverage.Newsnight covered the Nigerian elections in a singlespecial news report on 1.3.99. There were 30 references inthis report, as indicated in the table. The reporter visitedthe East of Nigeria, where the Biafran war ofindependence was fought. The report focused on ‘one ofthe biggest tribes’ in the country, the Ibos. The argumentwas made that the Ibos feel marginalised within Nigeria,using documentary evidence of deprivation, lack ofamenities and interviews with local people. The quotes inthis section are from the Newsnight report:Reporter: One of the biggest tribes in the country are theIbos... For them the election is a painful reminder of whatthey’ve lost in a country they feel they have no part in.The report then introduced an Ibo businessman,Ruben Ogbannaya, who commented on the hopelessnessof trying to keep his textile shop running:Businessman: This is my sales book. My last sale was on13th February. You see what I said – there is no sale. I’mtired. I’m fed up. Since all this military rule, nothing ismoving in Nigeria.In addition to his role in illustrating the economicdifficulties of the region, Ogbannaya provided anintroduction to the subject of the Biafran War, as aveteran who fought for independence:Reporter: The aim was to have a separate state. Losingmeant staying inside Nigeria.... When the war began, hiscommanders believed their people’s sense of purposewould see them through to a glorious victory. They couldnot have been more wrong. The Nigerian army was farbetter equipped, and with the world against them, theBiafrans were crushed.The theme of the Biafran war was important in thissection. Another veteran, Chief Nwosu who runs a hotelin Enugu, was interviewed. He commented on the lack ofamenities in the country, a theme referred to frequentlyacross the channels:Biafra veteran: When we turn on the tap, we want tofind water. We want to have electricity 24 hours. We wantto have schools, we want to have hospitals.... We want tohave a life that human beings are supposed to be living,which we are not at the moment.The reporter summarised the feelings of the Ibopeople, as a group who feel disenfranchised:Reporter: It’s almost as if the Ibos, Nigeria’s third largesttribe, have been left on the scrapheap. The level of neglectin Enugu does violence to the senses..... They know they’rereferred to in other parts of Nigeria as ‘the vanquished’...As far as most Ijaws are concerned, they’re still beingpunished for fighting the Biafran war.Finally he interviewed Ezeke Ibuchukwu, an Ibodescribed as a young radical. Ezeke was filmedinterviewing and collecting the stories of disabledBiafran veterans, who beg at the roadside. Ezeke, whoclaimed to speak for all young Ibo, indicated that thecontinuing neglect of the Ibo people was fuellingresentment:Youth activist: Completely we will fight again, if theinjustices in this country are not corrected.40 DFID – July 2000