ROAD MAP TO BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY RADIO SECTOR IN NIGERIA
THE STAKEHOLDERS’ CHARTER
PUBLISHED BY THE INITIATIVE ON BUILDING COMMUNITY RADIO IN NIGERIA SUPPORTED BY:OPEN SOCIETY INITIATIVE FOR WEST AFRICA (OSIWA)
FOREWORD
Nigerians are currently journeying on the highway of one of the most important development issues of our time. From north and south, east and west, stakeholders are investing and crystallizing energies into the emergence of community radio, now recognized worldwide as the third tier of radio broadcasting.
The process, which moved to high gear in year 2003, now has its advocates in all parts of the country. From an eleven-member Steering Committee which gathered in Lagos in November 2003, the people and organizations who drive the community radio development process in Nigeria now number more than 200. We operate under a strong umbrella, the Community Radio Coalition.
Our goal is simple and straightforward: to have a pluralist radio broadcasting landscape in Nigeria in which community radio will have its appropriate place as the third tier.
This two-part document presents the stakeholders’ understanding of the environment and institutional picture of the radio broadcasting scene, along with the demands which implementation we believe will help actualize a sustainable community radio sector in Nigeria.
The demands articulated in this charter are not final. They represent the stage we have reached in our discussions since the launching of the community radio initiative in 2003 up to our national validation seminar in Abuja, the nation’s capital, in April 2005.
We hope to update the charter in consonance with fresh experiences gathered from our on-going activities and from developments on the local and international scenes.
We wish to thank our international partners, Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) and the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters-Africa Region (AMARC-Africa) for their contributions in helping to shape and move the initiative forward.
We are also grateful to the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), for its support to the community radio initiative, including the publication of this charter.
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