On Monday, April 9, 2018, the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative in collaboration with the Victims Support Fund (VSF) commenced a training workshop tagged “Utilizing New Media for Humanitarian and Developmental Reportage” in Damaturu, Yobe State. The workshop is training 50 participants including journalists, social media influencers and students on the use of new media tools and technologies. According to the PCNI Head of Media and Communications, Alkasim Abdulkadir who spoke at the commencement of the event, the workshop was necessary as the nine-year-long insurgency has degraded media assets in the North-East. The aim of the workshop, he said, is to build participants’ capacity to deploy new media tools in covering the developmental strides of the government and to highlight the resilience of communities in the region.
In his goodwill remarks, the PCNI Chairman, Lt. Gen. T.Y. Danjuma (rtd) who was represented by Engineer Babagoni Machina, a member of the PCNI, said that the workshop is timely as new media platforms have become critical channels for reporting news adding that they reach more people compared with the mainstream media. General Danjuma urged the participants to see their roles as that of promoting hope and confronting the common enemy of the peaceful coexistence of communities in the country. He emphasized the potency of new media in the dissemination of false information and noted that since terror groups have recognized the power of new media in recruitment, people of goodwill also must deploy the same technology in countering violent extremism. “We must rise up to this challenge through our reportage via the same platforms and counter messages of hate with messages of hope and tolerance,” he said.
In her own remarks, Professor Nana Tanko of the VSF gave an overview of the Fund’s work supporting early recovery efforts in the North-East and highlighted the significance of the workshop in empowering a corps of local citizen journalists with the tools to provide reportage on humanitarian and developmental activities in the region. The workshop concludes on April 11.
Follow the Neptune Prime channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va74ZvU2v1IqKByXoX3d
Do you have breaking news, interview request, opinion, suggestion, or want your event covered? Email us at neptuneprime2233@gmail.com
