Indigenous Contents: ‘BBC has put Nigerian broadcast stations on their toes'

Infoprations has learnt that the emergence of British Broadcasting Corporation’s Yoruba Language and Pidgin English contents on the station’s African Services remains a significant alert for the Nigerian broadcast stations. Olanrewaju Adewusi, a popular radio presenter in Ibadan, gave the insight in an exclusive interview with Infoprations.

According to him, the addition should not be seen as a threat by the media practitioners and broadcast media owners in the country but as a challenge for them to improve on indigenous content generation and dissemination.

“It is a two-way thing. First, it shouldn't be a threat. It should rather be seen as a challenge for the indigenous broadcasting here in Nigeria to do more, and even better. This would make media outfits hold their employees on high esteem. However, on the other hand, if better hands are employed in the BBC, they might outrun the competency of talents/employees in the local media outfit with the fact that the BBC, I believe, has enough digital sophistication to do that,” Adewusi also known as Opeleoro by his teeming supports noted.

He added that it would be difficult for the Nigerian broadcast media to use all the three major languages as language of broadcasting in all regions because Nigerians place foreign languages especially English Language above the indigenous ones.

“I doubt seeing that in the next five years. Maybe not even ten years. The reverence that we give to foreign languages, here in the part of Africa, to our local/indigenous languages, is jaw-drawing. More with the fact that some major languages are doing far better than the other and one that is supposed to be doing better is also dropping. 'Modern parents' have stopped speaking local languages to their children. They call it vernacular.

“I think the government sensitization agency like NOA has more to do on spreading the core values inherent in indigenous languages. I don't know how they can achieve that, but I believe they can work things out to make it work. Also, the educational sector needs to create enticing/rewarding factors in order to lure parents and children into loving and speaking their own 'tongues'. Media should do more, too. They should welcome fantastically artistic contents that encourage embracing one's value.”