The Angola Embassy in Nigeria has pledged to support Voice of Nigeria (VON) in an exchange programme with the Angola National Radio to deliver on its mandate and facilitate broadcasting in Portuguese.
The Angola Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Jose Bamoquina Zau, made the pledge when the Director-General of VON, Malami Jibrin Baba-Ndace, and his team paid a courtesy visit to him on Wednesday in Abuja.
Zau, while expressing pleasure with the visitors, said Nigeria and Angola had a lot of similarities in terms of oil, economy, and culture.
According to him, the Angola National Radio, established in 1931, is widely listened to in Central Africa.
“We accept to work with VON because it is a public radio and is not the type that condones fake news. This will help our nations mobilize and sensitise the people about governance in Nigeria and Angola.
“I assure you that we will talk when you and your team visit Angola. We will talk with the Minister of Information of Angola.
“However, it will be better in July. You need to prepare so that in July, you and your team will go to Angola to meet with your counterparts.
“We will give you all the support of the team; we will give support in information, communication, and, if necessary, some logistics from our side,” Zau said.
The ambassador further explained that Nigeria and Angola have challenges in terms of social security and economy.
“But both countries have human resources to make a difference, and we will definitely make a difference.
“The people need to know what the government is doing; when the people understand what the government is doing, there will be peace,” Zau stressed.
Earlier, Ndace said he and his team were in the embassy to let the ambassador know about VON and to also partner with the embassy.
The VON boss explained that his organisation was the only public platform owned by the Federal Government with a mandate to propagate culture and characteristics and tell positive Nigerian and African stories.
Ndace noted that VON broadcasts in four local languages of Hausa, Igbo Yoruba and Fulfulde and four international languages like English, French, Arabic and Swahili.
According to him, the organisation is looking at the global trend towards broadcasting in Madari, Portuguese and some other international languages.
He maintained that in spite of borders and different languages, Africans were one, adding that VON was poised to tell Nigerian and African stories to other parts of the world.
“We must create platform and opportunity for people to listen to us in many languages use in African countries
“We are also here to partner with you in telling Nigerian, Angolan, and, by extension, African stories. One of our major challenges in Africa is fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.
“As director general of VON, I am determined to change that, using our platform to tell and create positive narratives about our countries. This is possible by creating content between VON and similar organisations in Angola.
“Also, we can engage in joint content creation, staff exchange, and management visitation to Angola to meet with our counterparts and share best practices for telling our stories in a truthful and believable manner.
“We will also want to work with you to help broadcast in Portuguese,”Ndace stressed. (NAN)
