Zenith Bank, CNN And Africa’s Image [opinion]

Zenith Bank has been sponsoring a CNN programme called ‘Inside Africa’ for many months now and the sordid depiction of the continent by that news network is now proverbial and nothing to write home about. It is common business knowledge that ability to attract investors depends partly or mostly on appropriate image laundering strategies that can assure investors about good returns for their investment.

The only African programmes deliberately shown on CNN are notoriously the scenes of conflicts, hunger, starvation and disease. Nobody there gives a damn about the tremendous business opportunities in Africa, the great strides in industrial transformation in some of these nations, the educational advancements in the tertiary sector, the great leaps and opportunities in information technology and mobile telecommunications, agriculture, housing, the contribution of great African minds in the west that make, Africa a net giver of aid to western nations, the tourist potentialities etc are all brushed aside to deliberately report only negativities and Zenith Bank sponsors all these.

As a bank worth its salt, it should know better that these things scare away investors in all sectors including banking. In other words Zenith Bank is not only helping to undermine the continent but itself too whether the management is aware of this or not.

Finally let me state categorically that it is quite unfortunate that a bank that should help develop and engineer transformation in the continent is wittingly or unwittingly joining forces with its sworn international media detractors to undermine it and one hopes Zenith Bank should appropriately and meaningfully design and re-engineer this programme it is sponsoring because whoever pays the piper should dictate the tune. 

- March 23, 2010 by Daily Independent

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Source: independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx (accessed on 24.03.10)