The director-general of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Jibrin Ndace, and the High Commissioner of the United Republic of Tanzania, Selestine Gervas Kakele, have restated their commitment to strengthening the partnership between the station and Tanzania.

The VON DG, during Mr Kakele’s courtesy visit to him on Friday in Abuja, explained that when he took over from his predecessor, he discovered a relationship between the organisation and Tanzania.

“So, I took action immediately, and we had meetings and expressed our readiness to work together in areas that would benefit the two countries. I also visited Tanzania to strengthen the partnership.

“This partnership is to solidify our broadcast in Swahili to enable us to serve Africans in Southern and Eastern Africa with content that tells the African stories. However, we intend to strengthen it more because it is a memorable encounter, in the sense that we have never had an agreement with any African country aside from yours.

“More so, we are in the process of working out modalities that would enable our reporter to travel to Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) to boost the exchange programme between us,” the DG said.

Mr Ndace spoke about the relevance of exchanging content in the partnership.

“During the African Police Games in Abuja and the Energy Summit, our reporters provided content for us and TBC, in which they interviewed the continents and delegates from Tanzania.

“I want to assure you that we are just a call away. Call us anytime you have an event; we will be happy to cover and share content with TBC,” Mr Ndace assured.

He also assured Mr Kakele that VON would send reporters to cover the Tanzania election in October.

The DG explained that his organisation broadcasts in four foreign languages: French, Arabic, English and Swahili, as well as four indigenous languages: Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Fulfulde.

He added that VON was making plans to broadcast in Mandarin (China), Portuguese and Bahasa (Indonesia).

He assured Mr Kakele that, with the support of President Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the partnership would be positively strengthened to benefit both countries.

In his remarks, Mr Kakele said Tanzania and Nigeria had enjoyed a good relationship over several decades, stressing that Nigeria had assisted his country in gaining a position on the global stage.

According to him, a Nigerian soldier named Yakubu Pam assisted Tanzania in building its army in 1964.

“That is how far we have come in the relationship between our two countries. We have been working to support the use of Swahili because the language is spoken by about 500 million people, and 1400 media organisations, including VON, broadcast in Swahili.

“On behalf of the people and government of Tanzania, we will continue to support VON and others to promote the use of the Swahili language.

“We want to strengthen the partnership more on the exchange programme that is captured in our MoU and extend the flow of content. It is our duty as Africans to tell our own stories by ourselves, not from outside,” Mr Kakele said.

The Tanzanian High Commissioner said that UNESCO declared July 7 every year as the International Day of the Swahili Language.

He said it would be celebrated in Abuja this year and invited Mr Ndace to be a guest. 

(NAN)