National Point, Wole Soyinka Centre, MacArthur Foundation Train Journalists on Investigative, Inclusive Reporting

Foreword Communications Limited, publishers of National Point newspaper with the support of Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation has concluded a two-day training workshop of over 40 journalists drawn from the Niger Delta Region.
The training which took place at the Habitat Hotel, Port Harcourt, brought together print and electronic media journalists from Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers States.
Chief Constance Meju, the Managing Editor of National Point said the workshop was organized to train journalists in the Niger Delta Region on the proper perspectives of reporting the Niger Delta and to make their reports more inclusive of women, People Living With Disabilities (PWDs), the elderly and people without voices. “The essence of our meeting is for us to deepen our understanding of investigative journalism as well as inclusion of women, PWDs and the elderly,” she said.
She added that giving voice to the diverse people that make up the Niger Delta will deepen democracy, promote accountability and make society better. But most importantly, she said journalists in the region must “sell Niger Delta to the other Nigerians “so that in making policies, the things that agitate the people of the region will be taken care of.”
She however added that journalist must not forget to protect their integrity in the course of their assignments. “One stain from one person will affect all of us,” she warned.
Chief Meju thanked Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation the sponsorship. She also thanked the participants for making themselves available for the training.
Ms. Ibiba DonPedro, the Managing Director said the Training Workshop was to help the journalist focus on the bigger public issues of development in the Niger Delta Delta. She said the training was programmed to expose journalists to new techniques of investigative journalism.
Noting that the Niger Delta, which is the hub of oil and gas production in Nigeria was under reported, DonPedro said, “We need to take back the control of the region and hand it over to the people,” she said. She noted that while successive governments in the region had done little to meet the development needs of the people, a lot of people in government had instead of developing the region enriched themselves.
She said a network of journalists would be built after the training to bring together to focus on the proper reportage of the Niger Delta.
Prominent among resource persons at the workshop was a former National President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Amaopusenibo Bobo Brown, who in his paper, Ethics, Media And Development, who said new media ethics have to be developed to enable the media survive the current digital onslaught and take back its role in the economy and national life.
DonPedro, who delivered a paper on security in the Niger Delta, noted that a common thread of electoral violence, cultism communal conflicts, armed robbery, artisanal petroleum refining, and preponderance of small and light weapons running through the states in the Niger Delta
She then spoke of the need to build capacity of citizens, improve governance, implement existing laws on security, strengthen community governance and relationships with international oil companies to boost the economy and development of the region.
In his paper on Dissecting the Niger Delta Intervention Agencies, an environmental rights activist, Hon. Henry Eferegbo, called on journalists to bring to the attention of communities in the region the benefits they can derive from the Nigerian Content Development and Management Board NCDMB), the Petroleum Industry Act and the Niger Delta Development Commission. He said the NCDMB in particular has a lot of benefits for host communities of oil and gas companies, which the communities can access to develop their capacities and communities.
Mr. Sunny Dada, an expert on Data Journalism, drilled the participants on how they can use research, charts, graphs and other data tools to present their reports more accurately and authoritatively. He also listed research and data sources that journalism can access to get authoritative information on national and world events and issues.
Styvn Obodoekwe, a human rights activist, delivered a paper on Human Rights Reporting in which he identified the various categories f human rights and said journalist must identify and report the human rights issues as well as expose abuses and violations of human rights by both non-state actors and government actors in their daily reportage
Constance Meju, a women’s rights advocate, who spoke on Gender sensitive Reporting, said journalists must give voice to women, people living with disabilities. She said women want to be co-partners in development, newsmakers, experts and spokespersons and not just ordinary people. She said though women form half og the population, they had little access to finance and other opportunities.
She asked journalists to eliminate the use of semantic descriptions of women which stereotype women as weak and soft like weaker sex, fair gender; and avoid words that are sexist like chairman that ascribe cross gender roles to men. Similar attention she said should be given to language use about people living with disabilities.
Goodwill messages were delivered by Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, the Coordinator of the Centre for Environment and Human Rights Development; Dr. Patience Osaroejiji, the APM Senatorial Candidate for Rivers East; Comrade Beatrice Itubor, the Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party in Rivers State (represented by Comrade Comfort Otuene); and Pastor Tonye Cole, the Governo9rship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (represented by Mr. Douglas Dodoyi-Manuel).