The Angola Embassy in Nigeria has pledged to support Voice of Nigeria (VON) to commence broadcasting in Portuguese.
The Angola Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Jose Bamoquina Zau, made the pledge when received the Director General of VON, Jibrin Baba Ndace who led the management team of the agency on a courtesy call on the ambassador on Wednesday in Abuja.
He promised to initiate a meeting between VON and Angola National Radio in order to facilitate exchange programme between the two organizations.
“We accept to work with VON, because it is a public radio, and is not the type that condole fake news. This will help our nations to mobilise and sensitise the people to 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 to the team; we will give support in information, communication and if necessary, some logistics from our side,” Mr Zau said.
Earlier in his remarks, Ndace explained that his organisation was the only public platform owned by the federal government with a mandate to propagate culture, characteristics and tell positive Nigerian and African stories.
Ndace noted that VON broadcasts in eight languages; Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Fulfulde, English, French, Arabic and Swahili. He said he is desirous of adding Portuguese on its stables.
He maintained that in spite of borders and different languages, Africans were one, adding that VON was poised to tell Nigeria and Africa stories to other parts of the world.
“We must create a platform and opportunity for people to listen to us in many languages in African countries. We are also here to partner with you in telling the 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, telling and creating 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, share best practices in telling our stories in a truthful and believable manner. We will also want to work with you to help broadcast in Portuguese,” Ndace said.