Stories from the Niger Delta -- "PH Stories" on AIT at 9pm

‘PH Stories’ documents Funmi’s journey as she talks to locals, artists, writers, celebrities and politicians, exploring stories in and around Port Harcourt, the garden city and business capital of the Niger Delta. PH Stories will air this Saturday March 10th on AIT and AIT International at 9pm

PH Stories from Bamboo Comm on Vimeo.

In search of the stories and voices of the Niger Delta, Funmi and the crew travelled to Port Harcourt, following the trail of Kaine Agary's award winning novel ‘Yellow Yellow’. A short boat ride from Port Harcourt brings Funmi to the beautiful island of Bonny, rich in history and natural beauty and home to Nigeria’s Liquid Natural Gas project. Bonny is also home to Monkey Village, where you’ll find Funmi engaging a melee of interesting individuals in her signature down to earth and frank style, eliciting openness and honesty from people on the fringes of society--mixed race descendants of foreign oil workers and Nigerian women, militants, armed robbers and drug dealers. Finally, Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi drives Funmi and her crew around the city, visiting various innovative government projects and discussing issues of poverty, job creation, power generation and true federalism.

Tune in to PH Stories on AIT & AIT International Sunday March 10th, 2012 at 9pm

Taking Nigeria to the World

In commemoration of Nigeria's 50th independence, the BBC over three weeks will broadcast a three part documentary on Nigeria produced by me and Chris Dada.
Told from the perspective of Nigerians, “My Country” has captured everyday Nigerians in unusual but natural settings, engaging them in eye-opening and down to earth conversations about their unique Nigerian experience.

My Country is showing at these times on BBC World:

Part 2
Saturday October 9th 05:10 am & 6:10pm

Repeat broadcast on October 10th 11:10 am & midnight

Part 3
Saturday October 16th 05:10am & 6:10pm

Repeat broadcast on October 17th 11:10 am & midnight

Bottoms, Busstops and Identity part II

The market is 150 years old and there is talk of a remodelling into a shopping mall. From the colourful fruits, vegetables and grains display of Market Street, we walked into the corner of Julius Nyerere Street and the bovine market where, people sat on benches eating whole or parts of huge bovine heads with samp to my utter carnivorous delight. Others ate hollowed out bread loaves stuffed with beans and rice called bunny chow. From the bovine market, we … ( continue reading

Godly Tastes, part I

My pilgrimage was over but l stayed an extra day in Johannesburg to buy meat. l like food, l collect food every where l go and don’t trust people who don’t like food. What else are they denying? So I had a pungent bag of premium Indian and Zulu spices with impepho stalks to ward off evil spirits around my food. I had filled up two freezer bags with prime game, lamb and steak cuts. l have highly developed taste buds. read more

Of Prejudice

I watched them storm onto the plane in a riot of colours and sounds. There was a powerful physicality about their presence, not only in the size of their bodies but in the piercings, the wild colourful clothing, and the hair. One head had a cheek with a blond braid attached to the ebony skin, another had a waist length jumble of dreadlocks piled high of the crown of a head right at the edge of his bald patch. They spoke fast, foreign and furious.

I was instinctively pushed back into my seat glad they were heading away from me toward the back of the plane as l surveyed the landscape of bland normalness in grey suits, beige dresses and coiffed hair seated around me. read more

Africa Without Borders

It has been a dramatic weekend for me.

By my calculation and the careful planning of the Chimurenga team l should right now be in Durban at the Ugu festival of Maskanda. Thus when l arrived in Lagos Thursday morning l did not bother unpacking, l simply sent my passport to the SA embassy in Lagos for a visa.

Anyone who knows the first thing about getting a South African visa must wonder what sort of road side drugs l was on to expect my visa to come out in 24 hours. Well, l had put in the application three weeks before and it was going through the usual torturous process when l had to make a quick trip to London. So l requested a withdrawal of my passport while the application was processed. It was duly granted and l was told to return it for the visa as soon as l returned from London. read more

Ramblings of the damned hopeful

I watched the droplet of water from my hair roll down my newly painted green nail polish onto the thin foil covering the tray of freshly grilled South African lamp chops and spare ribs I was gripping while cursing under my breath as the lift lumbered up to the 13th floor apartment of a shabby high rise complex. I was on my way to meet friends for the June 12 Nigeria versus Argentina match but had wasted ten minutes threatening to slap an irrational driver who’d blocked the path. I of course had no intention of slapping him; I’m not Kaita! Read more here