When northern Nigerian listeners tuned into Voice of America (VOA) last month, many were met with music rather than their usual broadcasts — a signal that, in the past, had heralded some significant national disruption. “Did the US have a coup?” one listener asked VOA reporter Babangida Jibrin, who recalled receiving a flood of panicked calls after the US-funded station abruptly went off the air on a Friday.
AFP adds that the demise of VOA’s Hausa-language service, which was a window to international news for tens of millions of West Africans, follows budget cuts that occurred during the presidency of Donald Trump. The closed Hausa service, based in Nigeria, had an audience in rural Ghana, Niger, and Cameroon, where conventional print news is scarce and internet services remain unstable.
People are now cut off from news, especially international news,” said Moussa Jaharou, a listener in southern Niger. The service, which had been especially useful in conflict-torn and under-served regions, had offered not just daily news but also health information on diseases like HIV and malaria — information now inaccessible to many.
Established during World War II as a counter to Nazi propaganda, VOA expanded massively during the Cold War. Despite being funded by the US government, it was known in Nigeria for its professional, balanced reporting. But allegations of politicization came under Trump, and the broadcaster’s budget was slashed dramatically in his second term.
The closure is not the death knell of Hausa-language media — an industry that still serves an estimated 80 million speakers — but it is a significant blow. The VOA’s extensive network of local stringers had helped take credible news to far-flung rural areas, offering a perspective not always available through local media perceived as tied to political or commercial agendas.
