NIGERIA: As protest leaders seek ways to raise awareness over the abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls, a local printing house in Lagos increases production, printing T-shirts calling on the girls' release

Record ID: 236680

  • Title: NIGERIA: As protest leaders seek ways to raise awareness over the abduction of Nigerian schoolgirls, a local printing house in Lagos increases production, printing T-shirts calling on the girls' release
  • Date: 8th May 2014
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (MAY 8, 2014) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF 'PETALS MEDIA' PRINTING OFFICE OFFICE SIGN VARIOUS OF EMMANUEL OKEY, ACCOUNTANT AT 'PETALS MEDIA', PRINTING LEAFLETS CALLING FOR THE RELEASE OF KIDNAPPED NIGERIAN SCHOOLGIRLS LEAFLET BEING PRINTED CLOSE OF OKEY VARIOUS OF MAN PRINTING ON T-SHIRTS MAN APPLYING RED PAINT ONTO T-SHIRT PRINTING IN PROGRESS PRINTING TEMPERATURE GAUGE PRINT BEING IRONED ONTO T-SHIRT T-SHIRTS DRYING OUT CLOSE OF PRINT DEPICTING IMAGES OF KIDNAPPED GIRLS, READING 'RESCUE OUR GIRLS NOW!' (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACCOUNTANT, EMMANUEL OKEY, SAYING: "The image on the shirts I believe will send a message to even those that can't ... that are not really educated, so I believe with the placards, with the banners, with the T-shirts that we the printers are doing, this will go a long way too because even after the protests, people will still be putting up the T-shirt. So from this you get pictures, people use it as their DP (Display Picture), people use it as a lot of things, this will go a long way to, I guess, to get to a lot of people." VARIOUS OF PRINTED T-SHIRTS SCATTERED ON THE FLOOR, BABATUNDE IDOWU, PETALS MEDIA'S PRODUCTION MANAGER, PACKAGING T-SHIRTS IDOWU PACKAGING T-SHIRTS CLOSE OF T-SHIRT READING 'RESCUE OUR GIRLS NOW!' (SOUNDBITE) (English) BABATUNDE IDOWU, PRODUCTION MANAGER AT PETALS MEDIA LIMITED, SAYING: "To us it is a business but at the same time it is not just a business, you understand, even those people we have been doing it for, at times, we give them discounts on the production, just to show that we also feel what they are feeling." PACKAGED SHIRTS PILED ON THE FLOOR T-SHIRT READING: 'WOMEN ARISE AGAINST TERROR'
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Reuters ID: LVACS0H8AGDFEBEDOLXAOIEPFRY7
  • Story Text: Nigerian businesses are making quick cash as various organisations joined in ongoing protests across the country to denounce the mass kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by the militant group Boko Haram and demand their release.
    With protesters wearing branded T-shirts, carrying placards and banners all calling for the release of the girls, printers are cashing in.
    At Petals Media Limited, they have been busy since the onset of the protests in the country, getting requests from all over.
    Emmanuel Okey, an accountant and part of the team at Petals Media Limited, believes having visuals while protesting will create a lasting impression on the masses, even after the protests subside.

    "The image on the shirts I believe will send a message to even those that can't ... that are not really educated, so I believe with the placards, with the banners, with the T-shirts that we the printers are doing, this will go a long way too because even after the protests, people will still be putting up the T-shirt. So from this you get pictures, people use it as their DP (Display Picture), people use it as a lot of things, this will go a long way to, I guess, to get to a lot of people," Okey said.
    The company, which has produced various jobs for a number of protest groups, is currently working on supplying 50 thousand T-shirts to a group called Women Arise Initiative.
    The shirts will be distributed to various parts of the country.

    "To us it is a business but at the same time it is not just a business, you understand, even those people we have been doing it for, at times, we give them discounts on the production, just to show that we also feel what they are feeling," said Babatunde Idowu, production manager at Petals Media Limited.
    The inability of security forces to protect the girls from being attacked or find them in more than three weeks has sparked national and international outrage and led to protests in Abuja and the commercial capital of Lagos.
    Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan pledged on Thursday (May 8) to find the abducted schoolgirls but admitted on national television this week he had no idea where they were.
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