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The French current affairs radio station that broadcasts worldwide in French and 12 foreign languages, Radio France Internationale (RFI) has repackaged its programs in Hausa with an extended program lined-up as well just as it opens new studio in Parkview, Ikoyi, Lagos. Radio France Internationale Hausa was launched in May 2007, and has rapidly gained over five million listeners in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Benin. The Hausa programming is adding extra three hours to broadcast per day. Among the new programs is a bilingual radio drama series produced by RFI’s French language service and aimed at initiating Francophile listeners to the French language and culture. On the occasion of the inauguration, Cecile Mégie, Exectuive Vice President of RFI, presented the Person of the Year Award to Solomon Dalung, an activist lawyer who campaigns for Islamic-Christian dialogue and was chosen by the listeners from among 20 world personalities compiled by RFI’s editorial team “The Hausa service is dynamiting its program line-up with the two-hour daily broadcast schedule being modified to increase proximity and interactivity with our listeners. The innovative program line-up will include fresh magazines on the economy, new technologies as well as more of our great sport and culture programs.” says Cecile Megie. She said a team of ten dedicated journalists and three local technicians as well as 15 Hausa correspondents in Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Sudan and Mali have been recruited to drive the new programming content of the station. Megie said RFI Hausa’s editorial team is based in Lagos, Nigeria because Lagos remains the commercial nerve center of the nation’s economy and also benefits from RFI’s network of worldwide correspondents and the expertise of its Paris-based journalists. Julie Vandel, a graduate of the Institute d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) of Bordeaux, would serve as the Bureau Coordinator while Basir Ibrahim, a graduate of International Institute of Journalism with a mass communications diploma from the University of Jos and a masters degree from the University of Lagos, would serve as Editor- In- Chief of the station. Michael Abimboye is a publicist and freelance entertainment journalist. He enjoys soccer and hanging out with friends. Follow him on @mmakesense