AREWA 24 : A communications channel in the onslaught against terror a-la- Boko Haram style: In a calculated offensive (subtle offensive) against terrorism in Nigeria , the US will fund a new 24-hour satellite TV channel in the northern part of the country, the New York Times has reported. The station will be called Arewa24, according to the American newspaper in its Friday June 7 edition, and will produce original content, focusing mainly on “themes that reject political violence and violent extremism”. It will not broadcast “news or political reporting” and will be targeted at reconstructing the minds of the youth who have been exposed to violent extremism from childhood. It will be produced in Nigeria “by Nigerians”, and will be broadcast in Hausa, the lingua franca of northern Nigeria. Boko Haram has made some parts of northern Nigeria ungovernable with a campaign of extreme violence that has consumed over 10,000 lives since 2009, according to estimates by President Goodluck Jonathan. The recent kidnap of hundreds of schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, has further put the militants’ activities under global spotlight, with many western countries offering to help Nigeria in its war against terror. Arewa 24 is meant to “support Nigerian efforts to provide an attractive alternative to the messaging of violent extremists”, according to an unnamed US officer who did not give details of the project but simply said it was “under way”. The discussions with Nigeria began in 2012, the official said, and the project is now almost completed and ready for take-off. The State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism is financing the project with about $6 million, the newspaper reported, but this will be for only two years. Keji Oladapo Kelechi Deca Senator Hope Uzodinma Adaobi Ube Uche Talick Sandra Godfrey Babatunde O. Gbadamosi Wale Popoola Akindele Wasiu The Resource Centre Budgetary Think Tank Edwin Dico Okugbo Julie A Dyer Donald Ekpo Ekundayo Awe Sunkanmi Adesina Sunday George Tchidi Chiemeziem Aniedoabasi Inyanguwem Bridget Dooshima Igbetar Aidee Idongesit Obiye Bobi Mafe Afolabi Michael-Solanke nytimes/2014/06/07/world/africa/state-department-ramps-up-efforts-against-boko-haram.html
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 12:23:28 +0000
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