Recently, the popular Twitch streamer, Kai Cenat, made a visit to Nigeria. Over the course of a couple of days during his stay, the social media star moved around Lagos, visiting different areas, trying different local foods, etc. He even had dinner and went for a drive around Lagos with the Grammy nominated singer, Davido, in the singer’s Lamborghini. One thing that Kai Cenat did that caused a bit of a debate online was visiting Makoko, the Lagos above water slum.
Makoko has become infamous online, after a series of different YouTubers and social media personalities have visited and documented the poor living conditions of the slum’s inhabitants. Kai Cenat has now added himself to the list of social media stars to visit the slum, and this visit is what some online have taken issue with.
The critics of the Twitch streamer’s visit lament the way that Nigeria (as well as Africa generally) is portrayed by the highlighting of the slum conditions by the Kai Cenat. This stems from a general view, held by many Africans, that the way that African countries are portrayed, especially by western media outlets, tends to be overwhelmingly negative. The question that is posed by critics, of all the different places within Nigeria he could have gone to, why would he choose a slum to broadcast to the world?
Now, I would completely agree with the sentiment that Africa is overwhelmingly portrayed in a very negative light by western media outlets. It is definitely something I take issue with as well. However, with that said, I don’t necessarily believe that Kai Cenat did anything wrong by coming and broadcasting the terrible conditions present at the Makoko slum. I would even contend that, Kai Cenat, as well as any other social media star, is fully within his rights to broadcast whatever he/she wishes because:
It is not the job of Western Influencers or Media to portray Africa positively
Indeed, one would hope that rather than just furthering the image of the African continent being a place filled with poverty and inhabitants living in informal settlements, a more favourable perspective would be presented by influencers visiting African countries. However, it is not the role of Kai Cenat, or any other influencer for that matter, to run public relations for African countries.
At the end of the day, the goals of these influencers is to go viral and to further attract attention to themselves. Therefore, one can assume that in Kai Cenat’s case, he would have viewed any of the other viral videos of Makoko that have been shared on the internet in past years and saw an opportunity to publish another video that would go viral as well.
The stories of Africa’s destitute populations should be told as well.
An unfortunate reality about Africa, is that there is a large amount of poverty present on the continent. In many cases, as much as half or more of many African country’s populations are destitute.
It is easy sometimes for the educated and higher income Africans to dismiss the experiences of Africa’s destitute populations as “not being representative” of the African experience. However, that is simply not the reality. In fact, in many cases, it may be even more representative than that of higher income Africans. The corruption and economic mismanagement of the economies of African countries has meant that that is the unfortunate reality for many Africans.
The realities of Africa’s destitute populace is not something that should be hidden out of sight, in favour of only displaying the lives of wealthier Africans. By refusing to portray the lives of impoverished Africans, we fail to tell the full story of the struggles faced by millions within the continent.
The onus for telling African stories is not on western media or western influencers, at the end of the day. If we wish to see content that presents Africa in a proper manner, it is up to African media to take up that responsibility. It is our responsibility to present Africa with the nuance it deserves. However, that also means not only presenting the positives and ignoring the struggles faced by many within the continent.
