The Population Media Centre Nigeria (PMC), an NGO, has launched a radio drama series aimed at educating the people of the South West Zone on health and environmental issues.

Mr Ephraim Okon, PMC’s Country Representative, told newsmen in Ibadan on Monday that the series would focus on remodeling people’s behaviour and character.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that PMC-Nigeria, a local organisation which specialises in entertainment-education through radio, is a branch of PMC Global based in the United States.

PMC worldwide had produced and broadcast more than 40 shows in over 50 countries, reaching more than 500 million people in its 20-year history.

He explained that Jolokoto (Mirror of Life) was a coinage from Yoruba language designed to seamlessly weave gender issues, human rights, health and environment information into storylines.

Okon said that the new Yoruba show would from Aug. 8 begin broadcast across 16 radio stations in Oyo and Ogun States.

“This storyline span 120 episodes, broadcasting for about 15 months while the audiences explore love, violence, hope and fear.

“The dramatic show, broadcasting in the two states on multiple public and privately owned radio stations will draw people into different stories of families, friends and enemies struggling to succeed among the challenges of everyday life.

“These stories will not only entertain audiences with every episode, they are also designed to inform and educate,” he said.

Okon also maintained that the better the plan people have as parents in terms of family planning and children spacing, the better and easier they find it to manage the family.

According to him, “the people would be remodeled to understand how they can have the number of children they wanted.”

Okon said the new 120-episode radio show leverages the high-quality health care networks available from their four clinical partners.

“This seeks to increase voluntary and modern contraceptive use among youths, reduce unintended pregnancies among adolescent girls of age 15-19 and increase family planning/long acting reversible contraception (LARC) use,” he said.

NAN reports that the show funded by the Grantham Foundation is supported by Oyo and Ogun state governments as well as notable organisations such as Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN).

The radio show would be broadcast on 16 radio stations comprising 10 and six in Oyo and Ogun states respectively.    (NAN)

July 8, 2019 19:22 GMT