Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were in Nigeria and everyone was given credit for the visit except the host nation. This was one visit all well-meaning persons and media platforms rated a “roaring success”: one description hardly used when a location is beyond western nations. Reports about the visit were slow in coming at first but it soon caught big time with even media platforms that didn’t know where Nigeria was (Hindustan Times placed it in “southern Africa”) churning out reports and opinions.
There were a few things to notice and the predictable disposition of the western media towards African nations was one of them. It’s worth noting that many of the media platforms that didn’t have correspondents in Africa, let alone Nigeria, were more negatively vociferous about the visit. What their biased audiences wanted to hear was what they served. This calls attention to what we already know; a section in the western media has nothing good to say about Africa, about Nigeria, about Harry and Meghan’s visit, since their narratives are always copied from a template.
There was one major difference noticeable this time though, and it was for obvious reasons. Looking closely at the visit by Harry and Meghan and some of the reports from it one sees that a few media platforms are not so negative. One was CNN. The other was The BBC. They took the best from the visit and reported the best. Reason? The two platforms have correspondents on the ground reporting across Africa and even from Nigeria. They’re close to what they report. Better perception of issues and reportage are what you get when media outlets get reports from their correspondents on the ground, rather than where they usually sit in the northern hemisphere.
The BBC coverage was extensive with news topics such as Prince Harry and Meghan in Nigeria: Dunking it like a Duke; Meghan opens up about her Nigerian heritage; Serve’s up as Prince Harry plays sit-down volleyball in Nigeria; Harry and Meghan visit Lagos school on final day of Nigeria tour. There were also other platforms that published facts not speculations or uninformed opinions. Ask many who wrote opinions about Harry and Meghan’s visit if they’ve been anywhere near Africa, their answer will be no. Their platforms aren’t even in the category of those that have the strength to maintain correspondents in Africa. But they have the most denigrating headlines.
Rather than report that Harry and Meghan’s visit was a “success”, they deliberately looked for angles that would make it appear otherwise. One turned to write about the owner of the airline that brought Harry and Meghan to Nigeria free of charge from the United Kingdom. The purpose was to state that the owner who they claimed had questions to answer in the United States, rightly or wrongly, was the one whose company ferried Harry and Meghan. One opinion writer in Spiked claimed Meghan played victim in front of Nigerians by talking about part of her that was 43 per cent Nigerian, and her forebears who were victims of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
As for Harry, the opinion writer claimed he was talking about mental health to Nigerian children who she said were being disturbed by Harry’s conversations with them. No doubt, when some write like authority on what they know nothing about they open themselves up for debate, and debate is something I like to engage in a lot as the readers of my page already know. I debate when what some submit is erroneous and their claims can mislead their audience. It’s obvious from her writing that the Spikedopinion writer doesn’t know Nigeria beyond the negative reports she gleans online. She adds her own poison to the garbage as well. It was all there was to the opinion she expressed. This is her writing: “Worse still, Meghan and Harry brought their mental-health crusade and American-style therapy speaks to Nigeria. The last thing Nigeria needs is a victim princess and her clueless husband introducing the nation’s children to cod psychology. Nigeria’s leaders need to shut the door on Meghan, Harry and all that they represent.”
Now, I shall take each segment of this particular comment and offer my view: it’s how I’m trained to dissect issues. Then I shall return to why I stated that everyone got credit for the visit by Harry and Meghan but Nigeria that issued the invitation. “Clueless husband”? A prince who brought about the idea of a global sports event for the world’s, arguably, most visible humans – soldiers – was clueless? The Spikedwriter herself can’t be anything else but what she called Harry, if she believed an event that shall soon have all nations participating and will outlive her was brought about and implemented by a “clueless husband.” Harry had the visibility to do something for the human race and he did at such a young age back in 2014. This was the person the Spiked opinion writer dismissed. She went ahead to state that the Nigerian children that Harry was addressing were being fed info about mental health that they didn’t need.
We know though that Nigeria has suffered from insurgency and children are among the victims, many residing in IDP camps across the nation. I was at one of such camps this month in North-Central Nigeria where I saw children.
There are reports of people committing or attempting to commit suicide. Six of the 10 countries with the highest rate of suicide are located in Africa. According to Nigeria Health Watch, people of different ages commit suicide but the rates are higher amongst vulnerable groups who experience conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or loss. They experience mental health disorders and may attempt suicide. Especially in the North of Nigeria, hundreds of school pupils have been abducted, released after ransom was paid, or are still in the captivity of terrorists and kidnappers.
Nigerian children who are not affected listen to news about the occurrences. These have mental impacts. In 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Mental Health Act into law. The Act seeks to enhance and protect people suffering from mental illnesses by increasing access to mental health care. Later, this Act was extensively reviewed and was recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu at about the time Harry and Meghan visited. This is the current situation in Nigeria, but the Spikedopinion writer told the Nigerian government to shut its doors against Harry and Meghan whose Foundation wanted to assist. She has just wasted her precious ink.
There were yet others who expressed views about the visit but had nothing to say regarding how well Harry and Meghan were received. They didn’t say anything good about Nigeria, and they gave us no credit. That the visit went well was attributed to others. There was no word about how different this visit portrayed Nigeria against the backdrop of previous negative publicity. The successful visit showed Nigeria wasn’t a fiery furnace of fire that it had been portrayed to be, but no one was eager to state that. They wouldn’t, as it didn’t rhyme with the contents of their templates.
Yet it was for the sake of the Invictus Games for soldiers who fight that our world might dwell in peace, that Nigeria’s military leadership invited Harry and Meghan. This is the first nation in Africa to do so, expressing interest in an endeavour Harry has invested time and resources in. Nigeria made him interact with wounded soldiers, the very courageous people Harry had the vision to give their lives back in whatever little way he could. Nigeria was assisting him in achieving his lofty goals, but no one applauded that good side of the nation.
No one was reporting how Harry came but there was no security incident. No one reported that with such a visit and the manner the authorities handled it Nigeria wasn’t what many were negatively made to believe. The visit was a success, but not once was it sounded that Africa, especially Nigeria, is capable. This nation will repeat it whenever the opportunity arises to identify with the goals Harry has for wounded soldiers. Harry and Meghan are always welcome in Nigeria. Ours is ours. Meghan is one of us, and so is Harry who’s our son-in-law.