Africa should tell Russia’s story without Western filters – Nigerian media CEO
African media should tell Russia’s story directly instead of relying on narratives filtered through outside perspectives, CEO of Nigeria’s Afia TV, Emeka Mba has said.
Speaking to RT, former director general of the National Broadcasting Commission said his decision to send reporting crews to Russia stemmed from dissatisfaction with what he described as “one-sided storytelling” about both Russia and Africa.
He argued that Africans should have the freedom to explore and portray other societies firsthand, noting that audiences in Nigeria had been surprised by what they saw in reports from Moscow and other Russian cities.
“I wanted us [Africans] to have the freedom to explore ourselves, not just through other filters, but sending a crew here [to Russia] ... It’s important that stories like that, and it comes from us, not from other people,” he said.
According to Mba, reports produced by Afia TV from Russia generated significant interest among viewers in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. He said many people contacted the broadcaster after the channel aired its first travel documentary from Russia, asking to see more content about the country.
The media executive stressed that African audiences have long consumed content produced by foreign broadcasters and that cooperation with Russian media should be viewed in that context.
Addressing criticism over Afia TV’s cooperation with Russian media, Mba said the broadcaster is independently owned and reserves the right to engage with different partners. He maintained that viewers benefit from access to alternative perspectives and from seeing parts of Russia that are rarely shown to Nigerian audiences.
“There’s no law that says you cannot cooperate with Russia,” Mba noted.
He said the main obstacle is a longstanding mindset shaped by decades of news coverage filtered through external narratives, which has encouraged excessive caution among some journalists and media owners.
“One thing I can say is that there are no bears walking around the streets of Russia,” Mba stressed.
Looking ahead, Mba called for deeper media cooperation between Nigeria and Russia. He said more Nigerian journalists, content creators, and storytellers should be given opportunities to visit different regions of Russia and share their experiences with audiences back home.
“We need each other, definitely,” he said.
