Post-presidential election crises that engulfed certain parts of northern Nigeria recently have reopened the debate on the potency of community radio as an instrument for national development and cohesion. This was marshaled recently at a national workshop on community broadcasting as part of efforts to realize the evolution of the third tier of broadcasting in Nigeria ONE of the strong arguments in support of the establishment of the community radio in Nigeria has been its power not only to drive development at the grassroots, but also as an instrument of stimulating cohesion and harmonious living among Nigerians.This value was the thematic concern of the presentation made recently by the former Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Dr. Tom Adaba at the national conference on building community radio for democracy and development.Powered by the UNDP-Democratic Governance for Development (DGD) project in collaboration with the Nigeria Community Radio Coalition, the main objective of the conference was to build awareness and support the development of community radio in enhancing citizen participation in Nigerias democratic development and improving grassroots access to information.Entitled: Community RadioAn instrument for national development and cohesion, Dr. Adaba began his presentation by defining community radio as a veritable source of education, mobilisation, enlightenment, conscientisation and entertainment.All over the world, he argued further, this medium of disseminating information has been very effective in serving the needs of a limited, specialized segment of the society.He made reference to an author, who described community radio as a service that offers a third model of radio broadcast beyond commercial and public radio service. Community radio is non-commercial, it is non-profit making, it is service-oriented. It is designed to be operated and managed by the community to satisfy the specific needs of the community.In what appeared like wondering why the establishment of community radio remains on the realm of agitation, the veteran broadcaster said: Even in developed countries, there is that stark reality that network stations do not necessarily address the unique local needs of the component communities.This could therefore account for the varied numbers of community radio stations across the globe each serving the unique interest of its segment of society.As an example, the United States of America has close to 200 community radio stations; Australia 116; India 103; Canada 95; Hungary 60; and the United Kingdom 200, since 2005.In Africa, Mali is identified as a world leader in community radio broadcasting with over 100 independently and locally operated stations. It may be interesting to note that Malis broadcast horizon was democratized about the same time with Nigeria1992. South Africa has 28 community radio stations including campus radio stations effectively operating side by side with the various networks. Namibia has 26 such stations. In all, there are over 300 member stations in Africa catering for multi-lingual, ethnic, economic, cultural, academic and social interests.However, what is the position of Nigeria in all of these He asked. With the opening of the democratic landscape in broadcasting in August 1992, ironically by a military regime, Nigeria was in the lead in Africa, Adaba asserted.He went down the memory lane: In 1987, the Communication Policy Conference held in Badagry, Nigeria, the issue of allowing private ownership of the broadcast media was roundly debated. The argument was that if the print media, which was more or less privately owned, did not constitute a security risk to government, private ownership of the broadcast media would not either.But the contrary view was that the broadcast media was always hot, instantaneous and believable. It was the first port of call for military adventurists who would want to topple the government. Unlike the print that required a level of literacy to comprehend the message, the radio only needed to communicate in the right language for comprehension and adherence. At the end of the debate, the odds were against the opening of the broadcast media to private ownership.However, five years later, the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida, in a rare act of courage, established the National Broadcasting Commission that introduced private broadcasting in the hitherto government owned and operated broadcast media in Nigeria. Ever since that time, the broadcast landscape in Nigeria has changed for good.Among the changes are healthy competition for programmes, sophisticated use of modern broadcast equipment, increased channels that have given the viewers a choice and a buoyant advertising market. Indeed, the vast increase in the quantity and quality of creative works in programmes production due to compelling needs for stations to fill airtime not only owe to the liberalization of the airwaves but also gave birth to what is known today as the second largest movie production industry in the worldNollywood.All these notwithstanding, there remains a yawning gap in the empowerment of the citizens using the mass media for internal and local development. It is the clear absence of community radio service.The chairman of an Abuja-based communication outlet, Trim Communications Nigeria Limited, made reference to two broadcast systems that were liberalized after Nigerias experience and are today flourishing in their use of community radio service to support his argument. They are South Africa and Ghana.According to Dr. Adaba the two countries sought the assistance of Nigeria when they were setting up their media regulatory bodies in the mid-1990s. Today, South African has 50-radio stations out of which 16 are commercial, 6 public and 28 community radio stations. In 10 years (between 1996 and 2006) Ghana has had 129 radio stations on air.What started in 1999 as the first independently community radio stationRadio Ada now has a total of 8 such stations in its network while additional licenses for 97 more community radio stations by the Ghana Community Radio Network (GCRN) are being worked out, if not already issued. If this is done, Ghana would have 105-community radio stations in spite of the size and population which are not in any way comparable with Nigeria.Corroborating the take of AMARCthe Worlds Association of Community Radio Broadcastthe international non-governmental organization serving community radio movement world-wide on community radio, Dr. Adaba asserted that Nigerian environment amply qualifies for all the descriptions on the use of community radio which unfortunately is conspicuously absent.AMARC underscores the effectiveness of community radio in poverty reduction, saying Access to voice, information and knowledge are vital factors in facilitating the achievement of poverty reduction and sustainable human development as voicelessness is a key dimension of poverty and exclusion.Acknowledging the relentless efforts of the civil society groups and the regulatory agency to see to the emergence of community radio in the country, Dr. Adaba emphasized the tension-dousing value of community radio.His words: Among those disqualified from owning community radio stations are religious organisations, political parties, individuals and profit-oriented corporate bodies. Even though, these disqualifications are in line with the main law setting up NBC that prohibits religious bodies and political parties from owning broadcast stations, I am tempted to proffer that some religious issues are better solved religiously.In the North East of Nigeria for example where Boko Haram has been a major security flashpoint, a few community radio stations around the area which address the crisis by extolling the sanctity of life and the acquisition of knowledge, as enunciated in the Holy Books would, in my view, help to douse the tension created by this sect that insists on the worthlessness of western education and even destroy human lives at will.In the North East, the Land mass and the population deserve nothing less than 20 community radio stations to operate side by side the present government owned and one or two private FM stations.Owning to the paucity of indigenous electronic media in the area, dependence is more on neighbouring broadcast stations from Cameroon, Tchad or Niger. This certainly has some negative consequences on the peoples corporate identity.One the Plateau for example, a few community broadcast houses could also, if well managed, help to ease tension by preaching love, security consciousness, good neighbourliness, cooperation and peaceful co-existence. This is so because the voice of the local leaders is more authentic and trustworthy than a distant voice of government officials.Apart from serving to promote better understanding and unity among communities, the community broadcast system, he concluded, would also help to instill confidence and self-expression among the people.In my view, the presence of community radio stations that serve as the authentic voice of the community, the promoter of cultural norms and values, the custodian of the quality of life and history of the people, the beacon of light and agenda setter in the society, the reservoir of traditional values, the handly instrument for enlightenment and education of the people, and indeed the upliftment of its citizens, would be the yardstick for measuring the worth and weight of the nation.He therefore canvassed the breaking of legal encumbrances hindering the establishment of community radio service in order to facilitate the rapid development of the citizens, the installation of understanding and peaceful co-existence and the overall enthronement of full-fledged democratic tenets for the upliftment of the nations standard of living.
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