VOA stops radiatorations in Nigeria, Ghana, other as President Trump reduces financing

The shutdown, first noticed by millions of listeners in northern Nigeria, became panicked when music began playing in place of scheduled broadcasts, a haunting reminder in the region of military coups or political acquisitions. The United States-funded Voice of America (VOA) left Nigeria, Ghana, Niger and several other African countries after President Donald Trump cut financial support for the global broadcaster. The shutdown, first noticed by millions of listeners in northern Nigeria, became panicked when music began playing in place of scheduled broadcasts, a haunting reminder in the region of military coups or political acquisitions. “People started calling, worried that there was a coup in America,” Babangida Jibrin, a journalist who worked with Voa’s now decomposed Hausa tailor, quoted by Daily Trust. The abrupt disappearance of the airwaves station last month struggled to explain what happened to their loyal audience. Voa’s Hausa service, a lifeline for millions of listeners in rural and conflict areas of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Niger, has become a reliable source of international and regional news, especially in places where local media is either censored, inaccessible or compromised. With internet access unreliable or not existing in these regions, shortwave and radio broadcasts such as VOA filled an important void. ‘People are now cut off from the world, especially of critical international news,’ mourns Moussa Jaharou, a listener from southern Niger. He described the closure as a ‘deliberate silence of the poor’. Founded during World War II to counteract the Nazi propaganda, VOA later became an important player in the Cold War broadcasting and offered an American perspective against Soviet disinformation. Over the decades, it has developed into a beacon of credible journalism worldwide, especially in authoritarian regions where press freedom is attacked. In the north of Nigeria, where rebellion, bandits and corruption of the government are everyday realities, Voa Hausa provided profound, unbiased coverage that often lacks in local media. Its disappearance has now left a gaping hole in a media landscape that is already struggling with oppression and wrong information. Critics blame Trump’s ideological war against independent institutions and the management of his administration to dissolve US supported international media. The US president has reduced VOA financing as part of a broader attempt to bring the outlet under stricter political control and effectively kill various regional steel services. Saharan Porters also reported that over 1100 “Hands Off!” Protests and meetings would take place in all 50 states in the US on Saturday. This was due to the significant cuts to the federal workforce, which, according to the Trump advisor and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, supervised. These nationwide protests aim to face opposition to the dramatic reduction in the federal workforce, which, according to organizers, is part of a broader attempt to dissolve public services, including social security, Medicaid and public education. According to the Yahoo News, the protests are organized by a coalition of more than 150 organizations, including Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Service Employees International Union and the American Civil Liberties Union. “Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them,” the organizers say on their website. “They take everything they can get, and risk the world to stop them.”