Hassan Arouni signs off from BBC after three illustrious decades on air

Yesterday was the end of an era at the BBC’s flagship radio broadcast Focus on Africa. The show said goodbye to Sierra Leonean journalist Hassan Arouni after three decades of “This is BBC Focus on Africa, I am Hassan Arouni”.

Arouni started his broadcasting career in 1989 with the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Services (SLBS) while he was a  student at the University of Sierra Leone. Four years later,  he moved to the UK to study Journalism where he began working at the BBC.

At the BBC he produced several flagship radio programmes for the BBC, including Network Africa, The Sunday Programme and many others. He also developed programmes for women, good governance and accountability, and public health emergencies—Ebola and Cholera in Sierra Leone and West Africa.

Between 2012-2016, Arouni returned to Sierra Leone to support the growth of BBC Media Action. There he trained aspiring journalists and amplified citizen voices with programs like Tok Bot Salone (2011-2016) and Fo Rod.

He returned to the BBC in London in 2016, where he continued as a broadcaster until he announced his retirement on Facebook on May 29, 2023.  

“Last day presenting BBC Focus on Africa. What a ride it has been. Thank you to everyone who has accompanied me on this journey,” said Arouni.

Aside from broadcasting, Arouni is also a skilled trainer and coach who runs courses in Sierra Leone, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. 

Sierra Leoneans have mixed reactions about his retirement, many have wished him well in his next adventure and ask him to continue inspiring the next generation of leaders.