techafrica

Contact

Why I blog about Africa

Oluniyi D. Ajao

·

· Updated 3 March 2020

·

2 min read

I recently got tagged by a fellow blogger at “Nigerian Curiousity“, prompting me to blog on the topic “Why I blog about Africa”. I am qualified to say I blog about Africa. I was born in Nigeria, and presently live in Ghana. I take interest in everything African and attempt to share my views on African issues whenever  I have the platform to do so. I blog African topics from time to time and focus on South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria especially.

Ghana 2008: Nigeria Vrs Cote d'Ivoire in SekondiNow, why do I blog about Africa?

1. The need to tell our own stories
The western mainstream media is only interested in bad news from Africa. Bad news gains more prominence on their broadcasts and publications than good news (where it is mentioned at all). I could go into the fine details to support my argument but my recent blog post about Ghana 2008 Elections is a case in point. All the media houses in Africa combined cannot match the muscles of the media in the USA alone. There is no big pan-African radio/TV news network on the continent, though there are some high-quality magazine publications from the United Kingdom.

Who else to tell our own stories but us? I am not saying we should cover-up the bad news from Zimbabwe or Guinea, but we can at least we can be balanced and can project a positive image of Africa like the USA does of its own country.

2. Share my views on the monumental problems
All is not well with Africa and too many things are going wrong. I blog to highlight such issues in other to add to the voices mounting pressure on those in authority.

Share

Oluniyi D. Ajao Avatar
Oluniyi D. Ajao
Oluniyi D. Ajao is an Internet Entrepreneur and Tech Enthusiast. Follow him on X (fka Twitter) @niyyie for more tech updates.

Comments

  1. Rachel Finn Avatar
    Rachel Finn

    “We need to tell our own stories.”
    So true and some people never realize that. It’s kind of like that (famous) quote from Audre Lorde
    “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
    That is why I write!

    Reply
  2. …My heart’s in Accra » Web meme two, why I blog about Africa

    […] Looks David Ajao Rebekah Heacock Zambian Economist Juliana Rotich Rafiq Philips Denford Magora What An African Woman […]

    Reply
  3. Elliot Senya Avatar
    Elliot Senya

    I thought its a great thing to do especially when everyone else seems to be focusing on the negatives of Africa. I believe your blog will serve another mouthpiece. Thanks and keep it up.

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      Thanks for your kind words, Elliot.

      Reply
  4. Albert Avatar
    Albert

    A lot of atrocities are being committed by African leaders. These are either not being reported or the regular newspapers are too scared to talk. Blogs are kind of anonymous and thus can be used to really tell the story as it is.

    A good case is that of the Navy Officer who had his boys beat up a defenceless woman in Lagos. I believe the newspapers would not have the guts to publish that story for fear of reprisals. Even if they do, it would be after the case had gone all over the blogosphere and Youtube.

    Reply
    1. Oluniyi David Ajao Avatar
      Oluniyi David Ajao

      Actually, PM News and This Day newspapers covered the Navy Officer & his boys brutality but I agree that blogs can enter areas that the mainstream media dare not.

      Reply
  5. Jide Salu Avatar
    Jide Salu

    Hello,

    First time here. I also posted comments on why I am proud to brag about Africa.

    Keep it up. You can visit me at jidesalu.com

    cheers

    Reply
  6. Marie Avatar
    Marie

    “The need to tell our own stories”

    I could not have said it better myself! Every time I take a trip to a Western country it always takes me aback to see the images of ‘kwashiokor’ stricken children with long, thin limbs and flies playing around their mouths that are shown in regular cycles in the media.

    What shocks and repulses me even more is how often these images are broadcast within a single hour even. It’s no wonder the terrible reputation the continent has all over the globe.

    Now, I am in no way trying to say that these things do not exist, obviously they do but, there is an opposing and very contrasting side to Africa that never, ever gets shown to the wider world.

    We have a story of progress and a great striving for development, especially in countries like Ghana that needs to get told. Thank you for doing this, we see your efforts and this is how change happens. One willing heart and one raised, ready arm at a time.

    Reply
  7. solomonsydelle Avatar
    solomonsydelle

    “All the media houses in Africa combined cannot match the muscles of the media in the USA alone.”

    That is so stunningly true and that alone gives cause to blog fervently about African issues.

    Thanks so much for doing this.

    Hope all is well.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related articles