BBC launches Igbo, Yoruba language services in Nigeria

LAGOS: The BBC this week launches its new Igbo and Yoruba services in Nigeria, as part of an expansion in local languages aimed at more in-depth reporting of countries around the world.

The digital-only services go live online and on social media on Monday, joining a platform for Pidgin speakers that was launched last year and has attracted widespread interest. All three are among 12 new language services set up across the world with the help of £291 million British government funding.

Peter Okwoche, in charge of editorial for the launch, described Yoruba and Igbo as "the two final cogs in the wheel for the new services in West Africa" and said they were much needed. "What we feel is that original journalism in a local language travels even further than in English," he told AFP in an interview.

Young Nigerians increasingly live life online, with social media hugely popular in the country, which has about 150 million mobile phone subscriptions among its population of nearly 190 million.