Two new language services have been launched by the BBC World Service for Igbo and Yoruba speakers in Nigeria and West and Central Africa.
Their digital content is mainly aimed at audiences who use mobile phones.
Igbo is primarily spoken in south-east Nigeria and Yoruba in the south-west, as well as in Benin and Togo.
The new services are part of the World Service’s biggest expansion since the 1940s, following a government-funding boost announced in 2016.
In total, 12 services are being launched by the BBC in Africa and Asia.
Igbo – seven things
- Best-known Igbo speaker was Chinua Achebe, regarded as the founding father of African literature
- Estimated to have more than 30 million speakers, mainly in south-eastern Nigeria
- A word with the same spelling can have different meanings, for example “akwa” is bed, egg, cloth or burial rights – depending on its tone
- An Igbo secessionist movement sparked a brutal civil war in 1967
- The caffeine-rich kola nut is all important in Igbo culture – always offered to welcome guests
- A famous proverb: “Onye wetara ọjị, wetara ndụ” meaning: “He who brings kola, brings life”
Source: BBC
