The world's oldest national broadcasting organisation - the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has launched BBC Igbo and Yoruba services, two of the 3 new languages launched by the BBC for Nigeria and the West and Central Africa region.
These services are part of the largest investment in the BBC World Service since the 1940s and are funded by the UK government. BBC World Service received further funding of £291m until 2019/20 from the UK Government to launch twelve new language services: Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Gujarati, Igbo, Korean, Marathi, Pidgin, Punjabi, Serbian, Telugu, Tigrinya, and Yoruba. This additional funding is not part of the licence fee.
The Igbo service is mainly for audiences in eastern and south eastern Nigeria as well as the large Igbo speaking Diaspora.
The Yoruba service targets south west Nigeria, Benin and Togo as well as other parts of the Diaspora.
BBC Igbo & Yoruba
The Pidgin service kicked off last August.
These fully digital services will include exciting short format audio, video, graphics and illustrations.
Twice daily, the teams will produce an episode of BBC Minute – keeping people in touch with the world in 60 seconds.
The editorial agenda will reflect not only balanced impartial news, but also a rich mix of trending topics, sports, entertainment, business, health, education and women.
There will be original content through our network of reporters on variety of stories and issues that matter to local people and resonate across the region.
Digital content created daily for the website and social media platforms, will cover a broad agenda with a strong focus on audience interactivity. This is in keeping with the BBC News editorial strategy of not only being news providers but also providing enriching analysis, explainers and features.
As Editorial Lead on the project, Peter Okwoche says “Both services will concentrate on original journalism from their target regions but will also feature stories from Africa and the main global stories. BBC Igbo & Yoruba will provide a platform for debate on the main issues of interest to audiences and give voices to a wide spectrum of people. There will also be a strong focus on women.”
Speaking exclusively to Trumpet, Okwoche said the services have been launched to “give authenticity” to news received by the targeted audience, bring the BBC World Service “closer to people, and tell the story of people in their own language.”
He noted that considering that the BBC World Service has had the BBC Hausa Service for over 60 years, the new services have been a long time in coming. He stated that the BBC has just trained 50 - 60 young journalists - giving them the opportunity to tell Africa's story and narrative.
Head of West Africa, Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye says, “Delivering content and engaging with the Igbo and Yoruba audiences in their mother tongues is authentic, exciting and refreshing. The BBC is passionate about original journalism that adds value and this is what we want to achieve with these services. These platforms will deliver independent, objective and original news to meet the needs of our audiences in Nigeria and West Africa.”
Further information is available at:
Website
http://www.bbc.com/yoruba
http://www.bbc.com/Igbo
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnewsyoruba
https://www.facebook.com/bbcnewsigbo
https://www.instagram.com/bbcnewsyoruba
https://www.instagram.com/bbcnewsigbo