Nigeria Content Online

A Radio Drama
series, ‘Gbangan Gbangan’ (The Bell is Calling) to promote the value of
education in Nigeria, has debuted on the Radio Nigeria Network Service.
Produced by Flint Productions, ‘Gbangan Gbangan’, a project initiated
by The Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), aired on
October 23 and will be broadcast in the mornings.

ESSPIN’s interest
in Education is fuelled by the Millennium Development Goals to achieve
Universal Basic Education. According to the Press release signed by
Bankole Ebisemiju ESSPIN’s Communications and Knowledge Management
Coordinator, it is hoped that the drama series ‘Gbangan-Gbangan’ will
assist Nigerians in identifying themselves with the characters in the
series, thereby opening up an avenue for the demand and supply sides of
basic education in Nigeria to engage in meaningful discourse.

Like the real
Nigeria, the fictional village of Tikomi where the drama is set is home
to a blend of peoples, cultures and histories. The drama series also
parades a number of characters: the self aggrandising Village Chief
Buba; the councillor who was once an area boy, a 10-year old boy Priye
who is a student on the one hand and a petty trader on the other, the
job seeker John and other characters whose lives and stories mirror
that of countless Nigerians. The education system in Tikomi is lax and
the village’s Central Primary School which is the focal point of the
drama series portrays reflects this malady.

ESSPIN reveals that
extensive research was conducted and observations drawn from public
schools, their pupils, their manner of administration and from all
facets of the Nigerian existence. This was done in a bid to accurately
portray and draw from the lives and experiences of real Nigerians.

Apart from
Education, ESSPIN is also interested in giving a voice to children and
laying bare the issues that affect children in the nation and to
sensitise Nigerians about them. Some of these issues are represented in
‘Gbangan-Gbangan’.

Aside from airing on Radio Nigeria Network, the drama series will
begin airing on Ray Power FM, FRCN’s Hausa Service and other partner
stations in due course.