BBC inaugurates new office in Lagos

BBC increases services in west Africa.

The BBC has officially opened its new office in Lagos which will provide the region with three additional news services. The BBC is adding Igbo, Pidgin and Yoruba to its existing programmes in English and Hausa.

The investment in the Lagos office, with its new television studio and two new radio studios, has created 100 jobs, with more to come. It is part of the expansion of the BBC World Service in Africa, the first new investment in over half a century. The British broadcaster also plans training, mentorship and internship programmes, focusing especially on women and the young.

The Lagos office will cover politics, culture, business, health and investigations across the west African region.

A new weekly programme in English will launch later this year, as well as new television programming in English, Hausa, French and Swahili covering sports, business, entertainment, culture, women and children’s interests.

The new initiative will also encourage ventures with independent producers in the region.

At present the BBC international news has an audience of 36 million in Nigeria.

The Lagos bureau is headed by Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye who has 15 years’ experience in investigative journalism, specialising in local and international crime. She was previously editor of the Sunday Punch newspaper. She has won numerous prestigious awards and is a fellow of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) started by Barack Obama.