The chairman of the organising committee for Africa’s first ever Social Media Week, Obi Asika, believes the week-long events in Lagos surpassed original expectations.
In an exclusive interview with HumanIPO on the last day of the event, Asika said the goal was to bring a global team to Lagos which, according to him, the organisers delivered.
“What we tried to do is to bring a global team to Lagos because Nigerians are global and Nigerians deserve to be treated as global. Even if you act locally, we still think globally,” Asika said.
He added the event broke several previous records ,including the record high number of events that were streamed live for viewers across the world.
He said: “We live streamed over 50 events which has never happened in Nigeria, [and] all of these live streams are archived.”
On what participants should take away from the week, he said there is an urgent need for Nigerians to tell their own stories because the nation has more than enough to engage the world.
He added: “To me, the most important thing to come out of this week is that we must do better at telling our stories – personally, corporately and as a country. This is critical because there is basically nothing out there that shows the world who we are.
“In the real sense, we have the richest content, culture and heritage. We have the most diversity, the most intellectual capacity and the most creative with the hottest music, fashion, comedy and currently the African champions of football. So I think we have more than enough to engage the world.”
