In commemoration of World Radio Radio Day, February 13 every year, the Media Rights Agenda has urged the Nigerian government to use radio’s effectiveness, durability, and distinctive qualities to address the nation’s problems on poverty, ignorance, and illiteracy. The organization claims that radio’s potency, which has remained constant over its more than a century of existence, can promote communication between various groups and lessen the numerous crises that the nation is currently facing.

In a statement titled, “A Century Informing, Entertaining, and Educating,” the MRA posits that radio has played a significant role in informing, entertaining, and educating audiences worldwide, and the theme also emphasizes the continued relevance and potency of this medium to this day.

Quoting MRA’s Deputy Executive Director, Mr. Ayode Longe, the statement pointed out that for Nigeria to live peacefully and in harmony, there is an urgent need to utilise the radio to build its democracy, which “makes it ideally suited to facilitate dialogue among the various ethnic, religious, social, political, and economic sectors across all the geo-political zones of Nigeria.”

Mr. Longe further stated that “for over a century, radio has made a great impact in the lives of people worldwide as it is available to even the poor in the remote parts of the world, bringing them timely information, education, and entertainment. Radio has also adapted, through the century, to changes and developments in technology and is now available in more gadgets than ever before. It has also remained the most widely available medium of communication in the world, reaching billions of people daily.”

The statement further reads, “the WRD celebration followed the proclamation of the Day in 2011 by UNESCO member states and subsequent endorsement by the United Nations General Assembly on January 14, 2013 as an international day.

“Mr. Longe observed that while technological advancements have presented a challenge to radio by providing a multitude of new avenues for information, education, and entertainment, they have also expanded the reach of radio broadcasts, enabling them to cross geographic boundaries and have a significant impact on the global information, entertainment, and educational sectors.

“Radio is one medium that offers a variety of ways to reach the greatest number of people cheaply wherever they may be and possibly in the language that they speak and understand. This makes it a veritable tool in the hands of the government at all levels to carry all Nigerians along in the formulation and implementation of their policies.

“Mr. Longe argued that rather than diminish the importance of radio, technology has actually enhanced it, making it available in affordable portable gadgets that can be carried about easily, even in pockets. He added that radio is also available and can be assessed on the internet, making it possible for radio broadcasts to transcend signal limitations and for people who have traveled outside their localities to still listen to their favourite local radio stations online, if they so desire.

“MRA called on the government to especially strengthen and expand community radio broadcasting by ensuring that more licences are issued to communities and groups for community radios and that the licenses are affordable and issued only to communities and not to individuals or cults who would misuse them. It also urged the government to build strategic partnerships with radio broadcasters to harvest the benefits of the medium to the fullest and for the holistic well-being of Nigeria.”