African governments have been urged to adequately fund public radio broadcasting stations to enable them to keep pace with emerging trends in the mass communication sector and remain relevant.
Mr Tony Ekata, the Convener of the Broadcasters Global Forum, a virtual body of media professionals committed to promoting journalism standards across the world, made the call during a presentation at an Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) web summit hosted in Malaysia to commemorate World Radio Day 2024.
Ekata, who spoke on ‘The Power of Radio to Inform and Educate Communities’, said public radio, as a veritable tool for building local and international community relations and influencing foreign policy decisions, needed to be deliberately funded to equip it for the effective discharge of this responsibility.
Citing Nigeria’s statutory international radio broadcaster the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Ekata said that before the era of media convergence and the proliferation of broadcasting channels, VON was the go-to channel for Nigerians in the Diaspora and others to get credible information about Nigeria and to promote Nigeria’s foreign policy initiatives.
“VON, as the external service of Radio Nigeria was instrumental in rallying public opinion against White minority rules in Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa in the 70s and 80s. Even today, VON remains relevant with its broadcast in eight international languages, including English, French, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Kiswahili, Fulfulde, and Arabic. No television station or newspaper does that,” he said.
He also underscored the importance of radio as a trusted source of information during epidemics, natural disasters, wars, military coups, pro-democracy agitations, political campaigns, and for information dissemination and virtual education, especially during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.
The Pioneer Bureau Chief of the Voice of Nigeria Southern Africa Bureau was among veteran broadcasters from different continents who spoke on various topics at the summit under the theme, Radio: Echoes Across the Century.
