The service includes a radio station, a bureau office based in Abuja and a frequently-updated website which serves as a news portal and provides information as well as analysis in text, audio and video formats and online access to radio broadcasts.

The service was launched on 13 March 1957 at 09:30 GMT with a 15-minute programme by the BBC World Service presented by Aminu Abdullahi Malumfashi: a translated version was later read by Abubakar Tunau in the programme West Africa in the News.

[2] In its early days BBC rose to prominence in Hausa speaking world due to style of its reporting.

[6] With the advent of digital means of communication, listenership through traditional radio sets have been steadily declining since the 1990s.

[7] BBC Hausa radio reaches around 17.7 million people every week and its website is one of the most visited in Nigeria.