Nigeria: President gives the go-ahead to NBC to licence community radio stations
On 21 October 2010, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) welcomed the decision of the Federal Government of Nigeria to give the go-ahead for community radio in Nigeria.
In a speech at the opening of the Africast 2010 conference in Abuja, President Goodluck Jonathan announced that the Federal Executive Council had approved guidelines proposed for community radio licensing by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Nigerian broadcasting regulator.
The President stated further that government had devolved to NBC, the power to consider and issue the licenses without recourse to the presidency, once the applicant had met the legal conditions.
The move is a crucial breakthrough for Nigeria's Community Radio Coalition, which has been campaigning for such a move for several years since Nigeria returned to multi-party democracy.
Oumar Seck Ndiaye, AMARC Africa President, said: "We congratulate the President and the Government of Nigeria for taking this bold step towards the development of community broadcasting, along side private and state broadcasting, to ensure the access of all people of Nigeria to information and communication, consistent with recommendations of the African Charter on Broadcasting which has been endorsed by African governments."