President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, has issued a statement on World Radio Day 2023.

In a press release dated, 13th February, 2023, Nasralla gave out an important message as a way to commemorate the World Radio Day, that  is celebrated with the theme: “Radio and Peace”.

Read statement below:

“The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) today, Monday, 13th February 2023, joins the rest of the world in observing WORLD RADIO DAY.

World Radio Day is that day that UNESCO encourages the world to acknowledge and appreciate the role and importance of radio in our everyday lives, in the prevention of conflict and promoting peace and national cohesion, and the development of nations.

The year 2023 marks the Centenary of Radio in Africa. Radio is still the dominant mass-medium in Africa in general; and Sierra Leone in particular, with the widest geographical reach, and the highest audiences.

In Sierra Leone today, the new media- particularly Facebook- accounts for more than 500 to 700,000 users. Though this number is increasing it is still less than 10 percent of our population, whereas radio accounts for 80% of listenership in our population. It is evident that radio is still the most pervasive (and cheapest) medium of mass communication in Sierra Leone. According to the Independent Media Commission (IMC) there are 209 registered radio stations in the country, including community radio stations.

As the theme for this year’s commemoration states: Radio and Peace, SLAJ, the Independent Radio Network (IRN) and the IMC are working with donor partners to effectively use radio to educate and sensitize voters, provide credible information to the public, and ensure peaceful national elections before, during and after 24th June 2023.

SLAJ, IRN, IMC, and the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) are also putting together a number of training programs for radio journalists across the country on conflict and gender sensitive reporting, elections reporting, and strengthening the governance and management structures of community radio stations to focus on independent journalism in the interest of their communities.

We are working together to position radio, especially community radios, in a way that it becomes the most credible source of information around the upcoming national elections. When abandoned or neglected or mismanaged, radio can indeed fuel conflict; so, we must invest in radio and use it as a tool to inform, educate, mobilise participation, prevent conflict and promote peace and national cohesion by ensuring the elections are free, fair, transparent, and credible.

Over the last three decades, we have seen the role radio has played in significant milestones in our sociopolitical history; during the rebel war, the restoration of democratic governance, reconciliation and peacebuilding era, the increase in democratic participation and the change of regime during peaceful elections, the Ebola outbreak, natural disasters, and the fight against COVID-19 amongst others. It should be noted that had it not been for the existence of radio the gains made by our nation over this period would have been an arduous task, if not impossible.

However, generating adequate resources to ensure sustainability has always been a challenge for the media industry, particularly for community radios. Plans are currently underway to look into this concern to explore the possibilities of more government and private sector investment in the media. Gender mainstreaming is also an issue that we are concerned about as an Association. Efforts to support and encourage more women folks to be involved in radio are yielding positive results as women are now becoming owners of radio stations.

On this day, we want to pay tribute to the numerous men and women, and young people who are serving in the radio industry amidst challenges of inadequate resources; yet you are committed to ensuring that your audiences are kept informed with credible information. We say kudos to you all and hope that you will continue to strive for excellence and keep serving diligently as you perform your professional role during the elections.

I thank you.

Ahmed Sahid Nasralla
NATIONAL PRESIDENT”