Chris Kay is a Bloomberg reporter based in Lagos, Nigeria, where he serves as bureau chief. In this role, he is responsible for coordinating and planning news coverage around Nigeria, as well as reporting on breaking and economic news.
In Depth recently spoke with Chris to discuss the key issues facing Nigeria and the challenges of reporting in the country.
Why is it important that Bloomberg readers know about the African economy, and Nigeria in particular?
To grossly generalize, Africa is seen as a relatively untapped frontier which has been historically overlooked for a number of reasons, including political instability, war, corruption and so on. Nigeria is important just because the size of its population at about 170 million (the largest on the continent), its abundance of oil (the largest producer on the continent) and the size of its economy (which overtook South Africa’s when it rebased its GDP data earlier this year).
What are the key economic issues facing Nigeria today?
While the country’s economy has been growing at an annual rate of about 7 percent over the past decade, there’s rising inequality and poverty as a huge chunk of that wealth is funneled into the hands of an increasingly rich elite. There’s a lack of formal jobs available for a young and growing population. A lot of investment in Nigeria is focused in the south, particularly the commercial capital, Lagos. The north is very poor and many people factor that into the reason why there’s a violent Islamist militant insurgency there. Along with the security challenges, there is massive oil theft and criminality in the Niger delta region. Many major oil companies are looking to divest their onshore assets because of this.
You cover a variety of topics, from the recent kidnappings in Nigeria to the economy. How do you balance covering such different topics on a day-to-day basis?
Nigeria is a large and very complex country. It’s rarely boring. You can end up writing about booming business in Lagos one day, rough and tumble politics the next, along with kidnappings or bombings in the north. You need to be able to switch between those very different stories. There’s a lot of news and the whole team pitches in with everything from time to time.
What are some of the challenges that you face reporting in Nigeria? Is it difficult to gain access to sources and locations?
It can be a stressful country to cover, sometimes just because of basic infrastructure issues, like getting a working Internet or phone signal. Source wise, many in government, the military and in some companies aren’t very press aware or just don’t want to talk to journalists. Many spokespeople of very senior members of government often have their phones switched off and rarely answer emails, which is frustrating. That said, if you do manage to develop a good relationship with officials, company executives and so on, the access and stories you get can be fantastic. It can be easier to get the personal phone number or email of someone high profile than, say, in Europe, where people are often guarded by their press teams. Going up north and to areas in the Niger delta is tricky because of the risks of kidnapping and violence, but they can be managed with enough planning.
What do you see as the trends and issues that will be coming out of Nigeria and the rest of Africa in the coming years?
There will be more investment and more people keen to buy into the “Africa Rising” narrative. Some will and have already been burnt and others will establish long term businesses and investments that make a huge return. The key trends going forward will be if governments and the private sector can create enough jobs and opportunities for a quickly expanding and young population. There’s a lot of frustration that there isn’t already and that could boil over as more people find little to lift them out of grinding poverty. Insecurity in countries from Nigeria to Kenya is getting more attention and it will be interesting to see if governments are able to put an end to the violence or if it will be an ongoing problem for years to come.