BBC Africa launches Investigative Arm ‘Africa Eye’ with an In-depth Look at Codeine Addiction in Nigeria
The new strand will deliver up to 20 original and high-impact investigations from across Africa every year.
According to Nisha Kapur, Commissioning Editor for TV:
Africa Eye will promote the culture of investigative journalism across Africa and strengthen the skills of African investigative journalists. All of the programmes will be based on in-depth reporting that holds power to account. They will tackle topics that are of intense interest and concern to audiences in Africa. These reports will be produced in a fresh and contemporary style that resonates with young audiences.
The
first episode, a co-production between Africa Eye and BBC Pidgin, will
look at the cough syrup industry and how Codeine is causing a plague of
addiction across Nigeria – hooking millions of young people.
In
an exclusive undercover investigation, Africa Eye, will reveal senior
figures in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry who are moving their
legally produced products via the back door of their factories and into
the hands of drug dealers who sell the dangerously addictive, sweet
tasting opioid for the price of a bottle of cola.
With access to Nigeria’s crack anti-drug squads, BBC Pidgin journalist Ruona Meyer,
whose brother has struggled with cough syrup addiction, is on a journey
to unravel the secrets of the syrup plague….and to expose the criminals
behind it.
Codeine cough syrup can now be bought in the heaving
nightclubs of Lagos and on the ancient backstreets of Kano. Three
million bottles are drunk every day in Nigeria’s north alone, according
to a recent Nigerian government report.
Adejuwon Soyinka,
Editor of the BBC Pidgin who went undercover said, “it’s shocking what
we found and how much of an epidemic cough syrup abuse has become in
Nigeria. Equally shocking is the sheer size of criminal network involved
in the illicit trade.”
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