BBC tasks Jonathan on democracy dividend

Guardian

15 July 2011

BBC tasks Jonathan on democracy dividend

 A TEAM of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) officials led by the Executive Director, BBC Worldwide, Sean O’Hara, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan government to cash in on the favourable international disposition created by the April polls to provide the much-needed dividend of democracy in Nigeria.

The team made up of the presenter of Hardtalk BBC World News, Stephen Sackur, Komla Dumor of the African Business Report and Bilkisu Labaran, an expert in African Affairs, said that the starting point should be the provision of stable power supply that would engender economic development and creation of employment.

It stated that a recently released economic development report by some international researchers had tagged Nigeria as the emerging power house of the African economy that would in no time overtake that of South Africa.

The call was made at an interactive meeting with selected Nigerian journalists to explain the BBC new focus on Africa and Nigeria. It was also to explain to them that all the stories about the nation were not just negative.

O’Hara, said: “There are so much positive stories to tell about Nigeria. There are a lot fantastic stories for sometime now coming from the economic power house of Africa, which is Nigeria. There are stories beyond the normal news stories and the business stories are really the big ones.”