The Voice of Nigeria (VON) has introduced Mandarin as its ninth broadcast language, in a move aimed at strengthening media cooperation and cultural relations between Nigeria and China.
The Chief Executive Officer of VON, Dr Jibrin Baba Ndace, said the addition would complement the organisation’s existing broadcast languages of English, French, Arabic, Swahili, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Fulfulde, which it uses to tell the Nigerian story to audiences across the world.
Speaking at the inauguration of the radio programme, The China-Nigeria Bridge, on Thursday, Ndace described the introduction of Mandarin as the opening of a new communication channel between Nigeria and China, Africa and more than one billion Mandarin speakers worldwide.
Represented by a VON director, Danladi Abdulkarim, the chief executive traced the partnership to September 2024, when Nigeria and China agreed on a framework for media exchange and cooperation during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in Beijing.
He said the agreement, involving Nigeria’s Ministry of Information and National Orientation and China Media Group, received further support from the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Yu Dunhai, on July 25, 2025.
“In April this year, that partnership became practical. Twenty-six Nigerian journalists, including five from Voice of Nigeria, were trained in Beijing at the National Radio and Television Administration Research Institute. They returned with new skills, new understanding, and new friendships,” he said.
Ndace added that the partnership had since produced two major agreements.
“On April 24, 2026, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Xinhua News Agency on content sharing and news exchange. And on May 18, 2026, we signed a landmark Strategic Memorandum of Understanding with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Nigeria, covering Chinese language training for our staff, broadcasting capacity enhancement, content co-production and exchange, joint action against fake news and misinformation, and cultural exchange,” he said.
In his remarks, the Counsellor of the China Cultural Centre, Yang Jianxing, described The China-Nigeria Bridge as more than a radio programme, saying it represented a bridge of friendship connecting the Chinese and African people and promoting mutual understanding and learning among civilisations.
“To date, ten episodes have been broadcast, attracting attention and winning appreciation from listeners across Africa,” he said.
Yang also highlighted the growing economic ties between China and African countries, recalling that China fully implemented zero-tariff treatment for imports from all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations in May.
He said China-Africa trade exceeded $207.4bn in the first half of 2026, setting a new record for the corresponding period.
“Between May and June, China’s imports from Africa reached $28.5bn, representing a year-on-year increase of 23.5 per cent. Imports of aquatic products, textile raw materials, specialty fruits and other goods recorded double-digit growth.
“According to estimates, the zero-tariff policy has helped increase the overall volume of African exports to China by approximately six per cent,” he said.
Yang said Nigeria’s trade performance with China had also recorded significant growth.
“In the first half of this year, bilateral trade between China and Nigeria reached $17.4bn, up 35 per cent year on year. China’s imports from Nigeria amounted to $2.25bn, representing a remarkable increase of 81 per cent. In May and June alone, imports from Nigeria recorded year-on-year growth of more than 40 per cent in each month,” he said.
He also attributed China’s reforms and modernisation achievements to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, which marks the 105th anniversary of its founding this year.
In a separate remark, the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Press Council, Dr Dili Ezugha, said Nigeria-China relations had continued to expand beyond economic and diplomatic cooperation to encompass cultural understanding, knowledge sharing and mutual respect.
Ezugha disclosed that the Council was considering plans to establish a programme similar to The China-Nigeria Bridge to further promote understanding and cooperation through the media.