The Women Radio center in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation have trained OgunWatch’s reporter, Gift Barry-Oba and 19 other female journalists on investigative reporting.
The 20 participants who were selected from the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria are reporters from media houses like Arise News, Ogunwatch, Premium Times, The Cable, Champion Newspapers, Dux FM, PM News, Lasu radio, BUK FM, Freelancers among others.
The 3-days training which ran through May 13-15 was held at the center in Arepo, Ogun state.
At the 2024 training, centered on investigative reporting& storytelling, safety concerns for female journalists, ethics and investigative tools in reporting, fact-checking and social media tools, and data journalism.
Toun Sonaiya, chief executive officer (CEO) of the centre, noted that it was important to train women journalists to tell under reported stories that affect their gender.
“It’s very important for women to tell the story of other women. If we do not empower and build the capacity of female journalists to do their work well, our stories will not be reported properly,” Sonaiya said.
As of today, we have trained 63 journalists. That’s the capacity we have. Over the three-year period, we’ve had over 3,000 applicants. We would really love to keep training.
“There are so many unreported stories of women. And we found out that when we build the capacity of the female journalists in their communities across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, they will be able to tell the stories from their angles.”
One of the facilitators, Dapo Olorunyomi , lamented that the portrayal of women and its issues are not getting better in the media, he harped on the need for the participants to give voice to the voiceless.
Speaking to the beneficiaries, Mosunmola Ogi-Olu , a reporter from Arise News stated that, the training have served as an eye opener and a motivation to drive her career.
“ The training has been very insightful because of the fact that there are few people who practice investigative journalism so now, seeing other young people who do this, I’m encouraged and motivated to try new things because eventually we are giving a service to humanity.
Also speaking, Angel Nduka-Nwosu, a freelance writer, said the training was intentional and engaging.
“The training was very beautiful, I have been to other workshops and training and I must say this one was very intentional and even thou these are topics I am exposed to, the facilitators are hands-on and practical.
“ I am very thankful and grateful to the organizers, I have been able to learn from people who are professionals in the field” She added.
Facilitators for the 2024 training are, Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of Premium Times Nigeria, Dr Suleiman Yar’Adua of Bayero University Kano, Idris Akinbajo, managing editor of Premium Times Nigeria, and Busola Ajibola, deputy director at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
Other include, Charles Mbah, programme lead at Dataphyte; Maxine Danso, senior researcher at Dubawa Ghana; and Anas Aremeyaro, an undercover investigative journalist from Ghana.
