EU, IMS, partner NAWOJ to train women Journalists
As the 2023 Nigeria general elections draw near, female journalists have been charged to use the digital space to report fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive stories of the electoral processes in Nigeria to bring about positive changes in society.
This was the focus of a two-day building Capacity Workshop on Digital/Multimedia Story telling skills for women Journalists in the northern Nigeria held at the Silk Suites Hotel Jos Plateau State.
The training organised by Institute for Media and Society (IMS), under the EU -support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria component four support to Media has thirty female journalists from public and private media stations across the northern states of Nigeria.
The Executive Director of IMS Dr Akin Akingbulu, said the training is to build capacity of women Journalists to be more effective in the coverage of 2023 Elections.
” Women Journalists have not been getting the best in terms of access to participation of electoral process and this is not good in developing democracy,we think that if our democracy will develop better, women should have more voice specially with the media in the coverage of elections.This is why we are giving them extra attention in terms of capacity building” Akingbulu said.
The ED said it is expected thatParticipants will go to back to the field and do great things.
“we want Change,” Akingbulu added.
One of the Resource Persons, Usifo Omozokpea, said there is a lack of skills on the usage of digital multimedia by journalists.
“The joy is that we are beginning to have sessions like this to bring change.
“The digital media space has a serious problem of misinformation and disinformation, having journalists with skills to tell real and accurate stories will help combat those who drive joy in writing fake news,” Omozokpea added
The President of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs Ladi Bala, said the association solicited for thd support of IMS to train its members to acquire skills on the use of the digital space for story telling.
She said, “the aim is to enhance capacity of members to report the electoral process accurately and urge Media houses to give equal opportunities to both female and Male staff to cover the 2023 elections.”
Bala appreciated EU and IMS for the training saying it is one among other trainings to be conducted .
