Many thought-provoking questions have been raised while many also frowned at the recent development of the BBC. On Monday dated the 19th day of February, 2018, the BBC Igbo and Yoruba services were birthed.
Practically, many were elated at such a good news and referred to it as the harbinger of more good tidings in stock but then, the saga owing to the sited location ensured.
The good people of Ndi Igbo were at odds with the headquarters’ branch of the BBC Igbo service situated at Lagos state hence, their grievances all over the cyberspace.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) founded by John Reith on 18th October, 1922 (about 95 years ago) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London and it is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organization and the largest broadcast in the world by number of employees. All the three (BBC Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba services) 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.
The move is part of the news corporation’s expansion in local languages aimed at more in-depth reporting of countries around the world.
The BBC Hausa-language service broadcasting was launched to northern Nigeria on 13th March, 1957 and has long been in existence since over 6 decades. It has become one of the most successful in the corporation.
It began as a radio service because, back then, obviously we didn’t have the internet and all that. It has gone on to have its own online platform – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, it has a news bulletin on TV now, which runs on YouTube.
So, in that sense the BBC Hausa service is very well established and very successful. Also, the pidgin English service has been launched since last August.
BBC Igbo and the BBC Yoruba will kick off with the online platforms first. Strictly because research has shown us that most people are beginning to consume their news on their mobile phones.
Mr. Peter Okwoche, the Nigeria Editorial lead for the Igbo and Yoruba services, 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.
The excerpt of the interview has it that “the Igbo language particularly is in decline. Many Igbo speakers now speak what is referred to as “Ingirigbo” a coinage of the mixture of Igbo and English.
Hardly will you find an Igbo speaker who makes two or three sentences in Igbo without using English words to complement them. Do you think the coming of BBC Igbo Service will help in the revival of the Igbo language?”
While reacting to the poised question, “Mr. Peter recounted the indices of the United Nations which pointed out that by the year 2050, the Igbo Language will be in serious decline. To stop that, you have to get people to start reengaging in the Igbo language. I think this BBC Igbo service will help to do that as well. We are trying to attract a young audience. We have to get our youths to start speaking the Igbo language. So, if they visit our website and say Oh! The BBC has an Igbo website, maybe it is cool to speak Igbo… Mr. Peter reiterated”.
But then, “it is not just the BBC, the government has to get involved. Look at the curriculum in schools, maybe the Igbo language needs to be taught for longer period. So, we cannot let the Igbo language to die. It is not just in Nigeria, maybe the world. I don’t think a world which speaks one language will actually be that much of a joy to live in. The more diverse we are, the better we are as a human race. Hopefully, this will galvanize people to start speaking Igbo the more, he added”.
Furthermore, he made known that the BBC Igbo service shall have their staff to be virtually Ndi Igbo for effective communication, reportage and communiqué. In the same vein, BBC Yoruba gets aligned with Yoruba indigenes.
Now, to the crux of the matter: while the other geo-political zones have their BBC service headquarters branch in their populated districts, it isn’t so with the south eastern zone dominated by Ndi Igbo.
The BBC Hausa Service Headquarters is situated in Abuja, with a branch in Kaduna, while the BBC Yoruba Service drums from Lagos State as well as the BBC Igbo.
Ndi Igbo got aggrieved over the bearing of the BBC Igbo Service operating from that distance. What happened to situating it at any of the south eastern states’ capital? Why not situate it at Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Awka or Abakiliki? What is good for the geese should also be extended to the gander!
Ndi Igbo felt marginalized and asked why did they choose to site the other two within where their impacts could be deeply felt? Can we drum on why it should be situated in the South-East? Don’t we think that siting it within the geo-political zone could create at least 10% of employment owing to the “host factor”?
Shouldn’t accessibility be at ease of convenience? How efficient and effective could it be operating from that distance? We should be counted as well as we also do the count. The submissions would only raise salient questions of an average personality irrespective of tribe or ethnicity without been biased!
Gone are the days of words cosmetology. Besides, can one wake up and site a fitness gym center within a rural area whose populace constitute of majority of the aged and elderly ones?
Nevertheless, the Yoruba Service opens with an interview with Wole Soyinka over the recent comments made by former leaders Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida, with Soyinka vowing that he would never be part of Obasanjo’s national coalition.
The BBC Igbo service begins with an interview with the wife of Biafra Separatist, Nnamdi Kanu. Hands on the pulse!
Obi, Justina Oly Rivers, Nigeria.
