The presidential media team announced that it had a meeting with BBC on its media coverage of the #EndSARS protests, and concluded that the BBC has reported “extensively” on all sides of the story.

This was disclosed by Garba Shehu, the spokesperson to President Muhammadu Buhari in a social media statement on Friday.

This may be seen as a U-turn from President Buhari’s speech earlier this week, accusing the BBC and CNN of being unbalanced with their reporting of the #EndSARS incident.

“Following concerns expressed about reporting of #endsars in Nigeria, the presidential Media team met with the BBC team to discuss the matter. We acknowledge that the BBC has reported extensively on all sides of this story. We are pleased that the BBC has heard our concerns,” Shehu said.

Following concerns expressed about reporting of #endsars in Nigeria, the presidential Media team met with the BBC team to discuss the matter. We acknowledge that the BBC has reported extensively on all sides of this story. We are pleased that the BBC has heard our concerns.

— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) December 11, 2020

What you should know 

• Themoneymetrics reported this week that President Muhammadu Buhari had said that the reports of foreign media organizations, including CNN and BBC, on the EndSARS protests were not balanced, and stated that he was disgusted at their coverage of the incident.
• Following an investigative report into the Lekki Shootings by CNN, the FG stated in November that the Army did not shoot at #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate, describing the alleged mass killings as “a massacre without bodies.”
• The Federal Government also wrote a petition to the US-based Cable News Network (CNN), demanding an immediate and exhaustive investigation into its report on the Lekki Tollgate shooting, to determine its authenticity and conformity with basic standards of journalism.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the reports of foreign media organizations, including CNN and BBC, on the EndSARS protests were not balanced. and revealed that he was disgusted at their coverage of the incident.

President Buhari disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday evening, adding that he was disgusted at their coverage of the incident.

In his statement, Buhari expressed disgust that CNN did not give coverage to incidents of attacks on policemen by hoodlums and called the reports by CNN and BBC unbalanced.

It must be said that foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, especially from CNN and BBC. I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened.

— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 9, 2020

“It must be said that foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, especially from CNN and BBC. I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened,” he said.

What you should know 

• Following an investigative report into the Lekki Shootings by CNN, the FG disclosed in November that the military men did not shoot at #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate, describing the alleged mass killings as “a massacre without bodies.”
• The Federal Government also wrote a petition to the US-based Cable News Network (CNN), demanding an immediate and exhaustive investigation into its report on the Lekki Tollgate shooting, to determine its authenticity and conformity to basic standards of journalism.

The Lagos State Government has set up an eight-man team to champion its rebuilding efforts, after several properties were vandalised by hoodlums, who had hijacked the #EndSARS protest.

The team is dominated by members the of Bankers’ Committee, and the Private Sector.

This was disclosed by the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, via the state’s Twitter handle on Monday.

According to the Governor, who issued a statement after a meeting with the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and stakeholders, the proportion of the devastation suffered by the State is unprecedented. He added that the coordinated violence set Lagos economy – fifth largest in Africa – back by hundreds of billions of naira.

The team, which was led by the Chairman of Citibank Nigeria, Mr. Yemi Cardoso, was constituted a fortnight ago by the Governor to coordinate the recovery effort.

Sanwo-Olu said the consultative forum was to set the stage for the necessary public-private partnerships and collaborations required for the task of rebuilding and restoration of the infrastructure that was destroyed.

He said:

“The violence we witnessed last October is the most widespread carnage the State has seen in decades. Every aspect of life and livelihood in Lagos was affected – government buildings, offices, public monuments and historical archives, public infrastructure and very sadly too, private property and investments.

“The violence has, no doubt, set our economy back by hundreds of billions of Naira, and impacted our confidence. We have, however, found hope and great strength in the offers of assistance from far and wide, which culminated in the constitution of the Lagos Rebuild Committee to coordinate our efforts to rebuild and upgrade our state.

“We seek to restore the infrastructure that was destroyed, to revive the energy and confidence of everyone who has been affected by these losses, to help restore the confidence of the people of Lagos in the infinite potentials of Lagos. The State Government cannot do this alone. We need all the help that we can get.”

The Governor disclosed that the State Government would be setting aside a huge amount of money as the State’s collateral in the recovery effort, adding that the Cardoso-led team that will be coordinating the Trust Fund would be given legislative backing through an Executive Bill that will soon be transmitted to the House of Assembly.

“Money that will be donated into the Trust Funds would go into rebuilding and re-tooling security infrastructure, strengthening public transportation systems, restoring judicial and local government operations, rebuilding damaged public monuments,”he added.

Sanwo-Olu emphasised that transparency and accountability would be foundational elements in the implementation of the mandate of the rebuilding committee, stressing that the fund-raising and disbursement would be supervised by FBN Trustees Limited.

PRESIDENCY, CBN, LEGISLATURE BACK LAGOS RECOVERY EFFORT, AS SANWO-OLU UNVEILS TEAM

…Bankers’ Committee, Private Sector Champion Rebuilding Effort
…Cardoso: ‘We Have A Tough Task, But We’ll Achieve It’@jidesanwoolu#LASG #RebuildingLagos
Read More.. https://t.co/6Mv823tcqv pic.twitter.com/thCeD0DFSZ

— The Lagos State Govt (@followlasg) November 16, 2020