A Joint Effort of Award-winning Editors in the United States and Fearless Reporters in Nigeria Aims to Cut through the Fog of War
WASHINGTON,, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES, July 26, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — TruthNigeria.com, the brainchild of Christian filmmaker Judd Saul and veteran journalist Douglas Burton, aims to demystify the tragic, many-splendored story of Nigeria in the second decade of the 21st Century. It’s a story even the Nigerians struggle to project through the fog of war, the clouds of double-speak and the haze of urban legend.
“We want to educate American policy makers about the root causes of terrorism,” says Saul, “and we begin by blowing away the government talking points and giving full voice to the victims. But at the same time, we give the authorities credit where credit is due,” says Saul, who created a humanitarian aid project called Equipping the Persecuted in Nigeria’s capital in 2019.
It’s well known that Nigeria is resource rich, yet Truth Nigeria believes the most consequential resources are its talented people. The resourceful, God-worshipping Nigerian people are essentially on the same journey as Americans: Reaching for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Africa’s most populous nation – evenly divided between Christians and Muslims – has aspired for balance and fair play from its year of independence in 1960, yet during the intervening years, Nigeria’s reach has exceeded its grasp. So, too, the history of the United States has seen triumphant and tragic turns of its historical record. The editors and staff of Truth Nigeria will choose topics that highlight the natural resonance between the two peoples.
It’s increasingly clear that the two million Nigerian expatriates living in the United States already are showing the way to the American Dream: They are better educated and more prosperous than the average American, and if they aren’t married already, they hope to be.
How important is this? “It’s crucial,” according to Burton, who has written on America’s culture war. “It’s a fact that Nigeria is giving the United States its best. Without a doubt the leader of the Free World and the most populous nation in Africa need each other and need an exchange of people, ideas and culture,” says Burton, who once managed the U.S. Fulbright program in Iraq. “Both countries are contending with civilizational crises of lawlessness, corruption of federal agencies, and anxiety about the very definition of truth.”
Finding solutions means finding hard facts, therefore reporters for Truth Nigeria will dive into the facts showing the identity and motivation of terrorists and where necessary, the complicity of official actors.
Truth Nigeria, still a work in progress, has nonetheless defined itself with projects like the following:
• Security alerts giving precise geographical locations of towns under threat of terrorist attacks.
• Details of controversy regarding alleged extrajudicial killings of civilian guards in Plateau State.
• The rising popularity of Nigerian Afro-beat music in the United States.
• Capital Hill hearings recommending new White House Policy toward Nigeria
Award-winning war correspondent Lara Logan, a mentor of Truth Nigeria reporters, has given this endorsement: “Truth Nigeria is doing what we aspire to do as journalists – they are out on the frontlines of one of the most important stories in the world, risking everything every day knowing they may not live through this. The genocide of Christians in the isolated villages of northern Nigeria is a historical fact because of the work of these journalists to simply expose what is unfolding in front of them, honestly and accurately. These are uncomfortable truths in today’s world, but with without them, the world would be deaf, dumb and blind to this terrible reality.”
Human rights groups in Washington, D.C. have taken notice, too.
“Truth Nigeria bravely reports what others refuse to write about — the bloody genocide targeting Christians. Their factual, from-the-field reporting is revealing and revolutionary,” wrote Dede Laugesen, Executive Director of Save the Persecuted Christians.
The editors of Truth Nigeria welcome news tips and analysis from serious reporters and citizen journalists alike. Authorities in both the United States and in Nigeria are accountable to the people who give them authority for a limited time only. When they get it wrong, they deserve to be corrected. When the journos get it wrong, we will correct the record.
Douglas Burton
TruthNigeria.com
+1 202-203-9883
