Nigeria, Bloomberg and the hitman

Williams Clowes, the Bloomberg hitman on Nigeria, feels that his only journalistic obligation is to dredge up negative stories about Nigeria and Africa.

In his latest drivel on Nigeria, he described Abuja Metro, the light rail line from Idu Train Station to the city centre that connects Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, as a ‘public transit project to nowhere’ just because the metro stopped commercial run after the initial launch.

A rail line connecting the city centre to the international airport cannot, even to a shallow mind, be labelled as one leading to ‘nowhere.’ Clowes’ mind is not just shallow, but dim and perverse as well.

What will Mr Clowes write about the California high-speed rail project where a single mile of track has not been laid in 15 years after $9.8 billion was spent by the California High Speed Rail Authority? We can only imagine what the Clowes of this world would have written if an African government had spent just $1 billion on a failed project like the California high-speed rail.

The high-speed rail designed to connect Los Angeles to Central Valley and then San Francisco in two and half hours was abandoned by the State of California after cost overrun and US Federal Government funding.

Reductionist reporters like Mr. Clowes have made it a habit to always negatively slant every single report on Nigeria and Africa while they turn blind eyes to the worse situations in their backyard. His agenda-driven journalism is obvious to those with interest in balance and fairness.

Ajayi is the senior special assistant on media & publicity to the President of Nigeria