The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | The BBC this week launches its new Igbo and Yoruba services in Nigeria, as part of an expansion in local languages aimed at more in-depth reporting of countries around the world.
The digital-only services go live online and on social media on Monday, joining a platform for Pidgin speakers that was launched last year and has attracted widespread interest.
All three are among 12 new language services set up across the world with the help of £291 million ($408 million, 327 million euros) British government funding.
⭐ #World • BBC starts Igbo and Yoruba services in Nigeria: The World Service launches… https://t.co/20S152BkQj
— Kazi UK™ ?? (@Kazi_UK) February 19, 2018
Peter Okwoche, in charge of editorial for the launch, described Yoruba and Igbo as “the two final cogs in the wheel for the new services in West Africa” and said they were much needed.
“What we feel is that original journalism in a local language travels even further than in English,” he told AFP in an interview.
“We’re big on the African narrative, the Nigerian narrative. It’s time for people to try to tell their own stories.”
– Ethnic tension –
Young Nigerians increasingly live life online, with social media hugely popular in the country, which has about 150 million mobile phone subscriptions among its population of nearly 190 million.
Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of the population is aged under 24, giving it one of the youngest demographics in the world.
“Original journalism in a local language”: BBC launches Igbo, Yoruba language services in Nigeria @AFP‘s @philhazlewood reports https://t.co/qfwgKM2RwP pic.twitter.com/rryEf5JLxq
— AFP Africa (@AFPAfrica) February 19, 2018
Okwoche said they were the corporation’s target audience, along with the business-savvy men and women for which the Igbo and Yoruba communities are noted both at home and abroad.
“All we ever get to hear from Nigeria these days is Boko Haram in the northeast. As serious as that story is, it’s happening in one particular part of the country,” he said.
“But there’s so much more happening. Here in Lagos, for instance, there’s technology stories, business and young entrepreneurs, the hustle of the street…
“We never get to see that.”
