AM broadcast license for a Fulani radio station!
The minister for Education explained that it will serve as a vehicle for social mobilization and education as well as help address the herdsmen/farmers crises.
Of course, positive social mobilization is laudable, and so is positive education. It is also expected that any reasonable government will employ all available decent means to address problems in the society. A radio service specifically targeting the Fulani herdsmen should be a suitable way to reach them considering their unique lifestyle.
The question is:
- Will control measures be effective and ensure that the service is not misused?
- Considering that nerves are already frayed, how will the farmers, and indeed many other people in different parts of the country be assured that there is no cause for alarm especially bearing in mind the government’s well-known inefficiency in controlling systems it has put in place? In other words, is the timing right?
My view is that effective control of the service by government is highly doubtful, and the timing is inappropriate. Other more effective and neutral ways of resolving the crises should have been employed, and the radio option coming afterwards as a peace sustaining backup.
