Several years ago, I watched an Oprah Winfrey show with panels of women cheering and laughing excitedly. Some of the women had beamed in from their husband’s offices and their living rooms and bedrooms using Skype.

The episode of Oprah Winfrey’s show was based on a book titled I’d Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile. The authors documented the complaints of some mothers on raising children, childbearing, motherhood, and the crisis women face each day as they try to balance their life and marriage.

The problem they uncovered that led them to write the book was that both married and unmarried mothers, they interviewed were not completely happy about raising children because of the illusions or false hopes they had scripted in their heads about motherhood. The authors said their book was meant to be a tool to empower any woman to be happy with herself and her marriage.

I began to think and imagined how the discussion would go if it were a group of African women, say Nigerians, talking about marriage and motherhood in America, and other topics important to Nigerians in Diasporas’. I think such discussions will be exciting and informative- perhaps a little noise.

This is not the first show or first time that I had thought about seeing a show that mirrors my experience as a Nigerian American, but as I watched, I thought how true this is for me and perhaps millions of other Africans and Nigerian women, including many thousands who live in the United States and other countries in the Diaspora.

As I continued watching the program, I thought, “What if there were television shows in America much like Oprah’s, but specifically geared towards Diasporas Africans, or perhaps a Nigerian-cantered talk show about what new immigrant Nigerians face daily in America?” A show taped and produced here in the United States, and televised here in the USA and also in some African countries, either through a paying cable network or regular Television Network. How many family members or women like me would watch it every day? I think millions would tune in to watch.

Although I enjoyed the discussion about the show topic “I will Trade my Husband for a Maid,” and admired Oprah Winfrey so much for her tremendous work in television and for what she stands for in America and around the world as an accomplished African American woman, I honestly felt somewhat excluded as a Nigerian American in most of the talks shows in America.

At another show that I watched; Oprah had Bollywood A-list actors, Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, as guests in her show. Oprah talked about their accomplishments as actors and their Bollywood romances as leading couples in Indian. Oprah promoted the actress’s work and praised her beauty and especially “those eyes.” She, Aishwarya rai is indeed beautiful, and it was refreshing watching as usual. I ‘am a Bollywood buff. I have watched many Bollywood movies, (it’s no longer funny) featuring the actor and actresses. Aishwarya rai Bachchan was once a second runner up in Miss Indian World, and later as Miss World, before becoming a leading actress in her country.

So, it was during the show about the Bollywood film industry that Oprah flashed some films produced by the Nigerian Nollywood movie industry and even mentioned names of actors such as Genevieve Nnaji and a few other reigning actors from around the world.

Yes, that was nice, but mentioning names, though complimentary is not enough to promote the kind of perspectives and discussion I hope to explore and eventually see on television. I am hoping to see a show geared towards educating, entertaining, and reaching out informatively to Nigerians in American and across Africa, and specifically in Nigeria, about what is possible when people focus and work together collectively for a common good. And of course, I want to be part of the people that will host such a show.

Currently, there are no forums that explore stories about people like me in America, nothing on television about our values, our background, and interests. Of course, many feelings and values shown and expressed in American television are similar and shared by all people, and desires for happiness in marriage and motherhood are universal. However, there are special, individual aspects of our experiences and culture as Africans living in the American Diaspora that are not been told. No one is talking about our lives as Nigerians, Cameroonians, Ghanaians, or other Africans in Diaspora, and how we can progress and improve our life for ourselves and our children. The fact is, nobody will tell our stories if we don’t say them honestly for ourselves. Sadly, if we choose not to tell our stories correctly, some other person will do it for us; like the recent BBC documentary titled “Welcome to Lagos.”

Although the documentary was criticized by the Lagos State government, I thought the documentary was brilliant and factual about some aspects of some ordinary Nigerian citizens living conditions and working for a living in Nigerian. Isn’t it a sad story that someone other personnel than Nigerians has to tell stories about Nigerians to make it relevant or worth their time to watch? If you’ve not been previewed to watch the documentary produced by British Broadcasting Corporation, I suggest you watch it on Y-Tube. It is a story worth seeing, and a documentary to commend the BBC producers for painstakingly following the characters through Lagos trash dumps.

As of 2009, more than 1 million Nigerians were living in the United States, and thousands and thousands more other Africans living across the United States. This statistic tells me that there is an audience for such a Diaspora cantered talk show. African immigrants are living in America who would subscribe to watch a talk show that reflects their American experience in America, and experiences that mirror their particular dreams and hopes. But, in reality, there are no Talk shows, no News forum, no Reality shows, or movies and commercials in America that is about Africans in the Diaspora, such as Nigerian-born American, or other Africans, that have become American citizens, living and working in America. There are no television platforms that talk enthusiastically about the interest of the new African immigrants in America.

There are Spanish TV shows, Asian TV shows, but no African Television Network programs that are syndicated here in the United States and beamed to Africa or to Nigeria that praises or promote interesting discussions relating to our ordinary lives in the United States. If there are Television programs that depict our lives at all, it is not produced in a balanced, well-rounded format or style. What is sometimes portrayed is the outrageous or the negative, nothing that provides intellectual nourishment or emotional uplift to Nigerians living and working in the United States. What is needed really, is a program exploring the lives of Africans in Diaspora, our differences, our struggles, and our achievements, what we can do collectively, and what the new arrivals have contributed to their new country called America.

The television program I have in mind would focus on the progressive immigrant population from countries all over Africa, but particularly on Nigerians in Diaspora and Nigeria. There are many reasons that I can mention why we need an African-cantered Television talk show in American. A subject that comes to mind quickly is the isolation many new immigrants face without family and friends in America and how they manage to succeed. Another one of the many important reasons that an ‘African Cantered television network, would inspire Africans, is that it will enable Africans in Diaspora to communicate with each other in ways that truly represent their experiences, aspirations, and achievements in America and in hope of promoting a positive image of Africans and Nigerians in particular and to funnel a new perspective of relating, communicating and helping each other to promote a humane society.

I hope to see, or perhaps create such a show, a television platform that becomes a vehicle for making positive changes for Nigerians and other Africans living in America. There is a film production currently in the making through Vibrant Production Company. They are looking for sponsors and wish that the African community at large is willing to invest in this upcoming movie about an African success story.

For information regarding the current movie production email Onachi1@gmail.com