ADVOCATES of the community broadcasting under the auspices of the
Nigerian Community Radio Coalition (NCRC) are displeased with the
federal government. And they appear to have strong reason for their
displeasure.
Twenty-seven months (since October 19, 2010
precisely) after President Goodluck Jonathan declared that the National
Broadcasting Commission (NBC) could consider and issue community radio
licences, the order has not been heeded.
Worst still, the
‘stumbling blocks’ against the operationalisation of this directive are
not explicitly communicated to the stakeholders, hence, operatives of
rumour mill have since taken over the process.
Hear President
Jonathan on the occasion of the 8th Biennial Conference of African
Broadcasters (AFRICAST) in October 2010: “We are aware of the need to
expand the broadcast space and give more voice to the people.
Consequently, the Federal Executive Council has considered and approved
the guidelines proposed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC)
for the licensing of Community Radio in Nigeria. Further, we have
devolved to the Commission, the power to consider and issue the licences
without further recourse to the Presidency, provided such applicants
have met all conditions stipulated by law.”
At the two-day
Community Radio Briefing and Strategy Meeting held last week (January 21
and 22) in Abuja, attention was focused on how to unravel the mystery
surrounding the realisation of this dream. Principally, the objective of
the meeting was to develop strategies to achieve the speedy
implementation of community radio licensing to promote media pluralism
and democratization of citizen access to information.
The meeting
was convened by the Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) II
project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in
collaboration with the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition (NCRC). The DGD
II project is joint donor-funded project managed by the UNDP in support
of deepening democracy in Nigeria.
(Source : The Guardian, Nigeria)
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