Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says an
article by The Economist about security challenges in Nigeria is “badly
researched.”
The Economist, in an article published in its latest
edition, criticised the federal government’s approach to insecurity, saying
“when violence erupts, the government does nothing or cracks heads almost
indiscriminately”.
The article also described the Nigerian army as “mighty on
paper”, and whose personnel are “ghosts who exist only on the payroll, and much
of its equipment is stolen and sold to insurgents”.
The article had elicited reactions from the presidency, army, and, most recently, from Sarafa Isola, Nigeria’s high commissioner to the UK, who wrote to The Economist to complain about the “unfair” reportage.
Speaking on Thursday at a media briefing in Abuja, Mohammed
described the article as an inaccurate portrayal of insecurity in the country,
just as he criticised the Nigerian media for “amplifying” the report.
“The idea of the Nigerian media, especially the traditional
media, regurgitating anything and everything published or reported by its
foreign counterpart is totally antithetical to its reputation of independence
and vibrancy,” the minister said.
“The Nigerian media does itself a great disservice by turning
itself into an echo chamber of the foreign media.
“When The Economist
reported its patently-wrong and badly-researched story, it was immediately
amplified by the local media, without even interrogating its content? This is
totally unconscionable! For example, The Economist reported that the jihadist
threat in the north-east has ‘metastasized’, and everyone knows that this is
totally inaccurate.
“Prior to the time it was dislodged, which was before
December 2015 when I led a team of local and international journalists to Bama
in Borno state, Boko Haram established the headquarters of its so-called
caliphate in that town (Bama), where it hoisted its flag, collected taxes, as
well as installed and removed emirs at will.
“Today, Boko Haram has no caliphate anywhere in Nigeria.
Yet, the Nigerian press regurgitated that report by The Economist.”
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