Well guys, Bino and Fino are finally going to make it to UK TV screens. It’ll be for a limited time only though so make sure you catch it! The cartoon will be shown on Showcase TV which is channel 201 on Sky TV. It is also channel 403 of Freesat for those of you who have that.

It will be the first time kids in the UK will get to watch an African educational cartoon from Nigeria on their screens. That is, a cartoon for children produced in Africa by Nigerians designed to show a positive, modern side to the continent.

It’s going to be interesting to see how African children in Diaspora based in the UK and their non – African peers react to the cartoon being on television. We’re excited to have this opportunity to bring genuine African educational entertainment to them.

Our partners for this little historic event will be Colourful radio. The Uk’s foremost multicultural radio station. One of their presenters Rosemary Laryae is a big Bino and Fino fan. I thank her and Colourful Radio for getting on board.

Showcase TV have to be mentioned as well. Without them and their programming ethos we wouldn’t have had this opportunity.

Bino and Fino are coming to check out London and Big Ben! Spread the word guys.

I came across the Nickleodeon AFRICA website and well…I just wasn’t happy with what I saw. I looked at their character/show list for the continent. There wasn’t one bit of African representation in the shows. Not one! I knew things were bad but not this bad! When I saw this I went to Cartoon Network Africa to see if they were any different but unfortunately not. The networks aren’t even the problem in my opinion. It’s wider and more complex. All the stakeholders in this are all responsible to a degree in my opinion. That’s we the viewers, broadcasting networks, content producers, series commissioners and the list goes on. What do you think?

Are you looking for more African themed educational TV for your kids? Well we’re going to do our best to help you. We will be making more Bino & Fino educational clips and uploading them directly to the Bino and Fino Youtube channel. The long term goal is to build a library of videos for families of young children who want to watch more African children’s educational content. Like most of the other content on Youtube, it will be available 24 hrs a day whenever you want to watch it.Internet speeds are slower and download limits exist in many African countries so we intend to make the clips short and bite sized. We all hope this resource will be of value to many families out there.

The Bino and Fino Youtube channel.

To Pidgin or not to Pidgin? That is the question. I’ve been having this debate with the guys in the studio, Bino and Fino fans and others for over a year now. Do we do a pidgin English version of the show? I know for some, the immediate answer is ‘NO!’. I understand that response and I also felt the same way to be honest. However some of the arguments for the ’YES’ camp have been really compelling and have made me think.

So to settle this once and for all we decided to produce an animated segment that had two versions. One in standard English and the other in pidgin English. In the segment we have Bino from the cartoon learning about the colour red. That way people can have a taste of it and have a debate based on something they have seen.

Those who are for the idea are not saying that pidgin should be taught in schools. It’s more about inclusion. Many parts of the population in Nigeria have pidgin English either as a first ’language’ or a strong second. That’s the current state today. Now do you exclude those children who fall under that bracket? When adverts or public health /service campaigns need to have maximum reach and efficiency they always produce pidgin versions of their content within the respective media campaigns. Whether it’s AIDS awareness, malaria, or just selling milk. Can’t the pidgin version be used to also educate children and form a bridge between them and standard English? Some teachers have told me that in some schools to help pidgin English speaking children learn standard English they have to speak in pidgin English. And of course some argue that English itself was a broken form of Latin with borrowed words from Greek and a host of other languages.

Those against say pidgin has no business being used in the arena of education. Standard English is the official language of Nigeria. Pidgin is informal. It’s like teaching in slang. If you want to teach children only use official and recognised languages not pidgin. It’s a step backwards. In terms of usefulness you can’t use it outside of some regions of Africa and we want to teach children skills that make them useful globally. Pigdin is fine but keep it on the streets and not in classrooms or in the educational sphere.

I believe in inclusion and I want Bino and Fino to be accessible to as many children as possible. That’s the long term goal. Would creating a pidgin English version be a proper way of doing that? That’s the question.

Watch both versions and join the debate.

Yoruba is one of the most popular languages in West Africa, not just Nigeria. It is also spoken in parts of the Americas and Europe. In West Africa it is spoken by at least 20 million people.  

So go ahead and count along with Fino as she learns Yoruba!

Get your kids to join Fino as she learns to count from 1 to 10 in Igbo, a prominent Nigerian language.

Here’s video of the recent Abuja launch of the Bino and Fino cartoon. Thanks to all those who came down and made the day a success.

We finally had the Bino and Fino Abuja launch on Saturday and it was a wonderful event. Thanks everyone who either came down or helped out to make the day a success. We weren’t too sure how the tern out would be especially in the aftermath of the sad bombing that took place earlier in the week. But we weren’t disappointed.

It took place at Silverbird cinemas. I’d say we all made a tiny bit of history that day. I believe it’s the first time that a Nigerian educational children’s cartoon has been shown in a cinema in the country. Ok, it’s not the same as discovering the potion for eternal youth but hey who cares! We’re claiming it.

The wonderful thing about the day was seeing the kids and parents enjoying a Nigerian cartoon in the same cinema that they come to see films such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Rango and Toy Story in. It was like a normal day at the cinema. The feedback and ideas from the kids, parents and teachers was great and informative. We managed to get on the national news and some other shows which was great. So word about Bino and Fino is starting to spread even more in Nigeria. We are looking into doing more screenings as the demand has been so much from parents who missed the Saturday launch. We are now starting plans on the Lagos and London screenings. Stay tuned for more news and thanks again for your support.

The Bino and fino cartoon DVD got its first video review from fans today! We’re so hyped! Check it out. I have to thank  Eliana, Moriah, Caniya, Nailah, Jaylen (Mr. ’33 year old’) and the big man himself Bobby who’s like ‘What are you all talking about?’ And of course big thanks to their mum!