The Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman has called on Nigerians to stand up against DSTV’s extortion.
On her twitter handle @hadizabalausman, she retweeted “SAY NO TO DSTV’S EXTORTION, WE DEMAND PAY PER VIEW AND AN END TO CRAZY SUBSCRIPTION BILLS AND ARBITRARY INCREASE”, which was earlier tweeted by BG-T @TunjiMoronfoye using the hashtag #ProjectChangeCampaign.
DSTV is a MultiChoice digital satellite TV service in Africa, launched in 1995, providing various bouquets offering general entertainment, movies, lifestyle and consumer channels to MultiChoice subscribers. It has variously been in the news for allegedly extorting Nigerians. With the campaign, many believe that Usman’s recent appointment as the managing director of NPA, a government strategic agency has not in any way tempered her appetite for activism.
A cofounder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign formed over the kidnap of Nigerian school girls at Chibok, Bormo State by Boko Haram in 2014, she started a protest, leading groups to carry placards around Nigeria and in Chibok.
Reports said she started the protest when she noticed that the Nigerian government was not giving the issue the priority it deserved. Unfortunately analysts believe that the group has gone suprisingly quiet since this government came to power, and especially with her appointment as NPA Managing Director, which many described as hr “reward” for contributing to the ouster of the past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
Usman has activism running in her veins. She is the daughter of the historian and well known activist, Yusufu Bala Usman Some critics thinks she was the one that started the #BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) campaign and that she chose the colour red because “it is a sign of alarm, danger and warning,” urging Nigerian women “to keep the issue in the public eye.” She also worked towards coordinating meetings with the parents of the kidnapped girls and members of the Nigerian government.
