Radio as a Tool for National Development

Abstract

The significant role radio plays in the development of any nation can never be overemphasized, most especially community radio. The general opinion about community radio is favorable; it has been identified as a powerful medium capable of promoting rapid change among various communities across the globe. Community radio is a cost-effective, non-formal learning medium, which can be used to reach many hitherto unreached and uneducated across vast geographic distances, communities in the most remote and isolated regions. CR has also been identified as vital in the delivery of vital developmental information to all members of the community irrespective of age, gender, or beliefs. Uninformed individuals are subjected to the tyranny of those who are informed because, without a voice, they cannot participate in the management of their land, their region, and their country, until they can understand precisely what the issues are and how they could contribute their quota to the attainment of the set goals in their environment. The transition of the "voiceless" to alert and active communities, most especially as one-health informed persons begins with community enlightenment of the benefits of both sustainable development goals and the one health policy. Community radio is identified in this work as vital to disseminating information on health and SDGs education, most especially in African communities where oral customs and indigenous languages are still distinct signatures. The work will examine the importance of community radio which its credo is information and education and the valuable contribution it can give to the attainment of sustainable development goals and its vital place in the promotion of animal-human health in African hard-to-reach communities. It will also serve as a proposal to the government on the need to implement community radio considering its impacts on the health and wellbeing of rural people in other African countries where it is in use.