BBC Hausa comes to Marhaba FM in Accra

26 January 2012. BBC Hausa news and current-affairs programming is now available for listening on Marhaba 99.3 FM in Accra thanks to a new partnership agreement between BBC World Service and Marhaba FM.

In addition to daily BBC Hausa programmes such as the morning show, BBC Shirin Safe, and the evening news programme, BBC Shirin Yamma, Hausa-speaking audiences in Accra can also tune into the BBC Hausa sports bulletins broadcast Monday to Friday. Marhaba 99.3 FM will also rebroadcast BBC Hausa weekly programmes such as the English Premier League commentary, Amshoshin Takardun Ku (Listners' Letters) and women's magazine focusing on motherhood and childcare, Haifi Ki Yaye Da BBC Hausa.

BBC World Service Business Development Manager, West and Southern Africa, Steve Martin, comments: “Listeners have been asking us to make BBC Hausa available on FM in Accra for years. Now, thanks to this new partnership with Marhaba 99.3 FM, listeners can hear the BBC programmes they want on the FM band they prefer. We're delighted to be extending our service in this way, especially at a time when Hausa-speakers tell us they're eager for impartial, independent reporting of the latest news from Nigeria.”

Managing Director, Marhaba FM, Baba Sheriff Abdulahi, adds: “We are very proud and happy with this partnership as Hausa-speaking listeners in Accra can now hear BBC in clear and quality sound on Marhaba FM.”

To mark the launch of BBC Hausa on FM in Accra, BBC Hausa is staging a debate in Accra, asking if a “sub-Saharan African Spring” would be useful or necessary. BBC Hausa Editor, Mansur Liman, says: “We are thrilled to be holding this debate in Accra in the knowledge that Hausa-speaking audiences here can now listen to us in FM quality.”

The BBC Hausa debate will be recorded on Friday 27 January and broadcast on the same day at 19.30 GMT.