The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos, has organised a one-day capacity building on Impactful Reporting of Grassroots Development Issues and Safety Consciousness for local journalists in Ondo State.

In her opening remarks on behalf of IPC, the Program Officer, Mrs. Melody Akinjiyan, disclosed that the overall objective of the project is to expand the frontiers of safety of journalists and press freedom in Nigeria through continued sensitisation of media professionals and other relevant stakeholders.

She added that the training was put together under the auspices of the Nigerian Journalists’ Safety Initiative, one of the components of a three-year project on ‘Safety Awareness and Impactful Reporting of Communities, being implemented by IPC with the support of the Open Society Foundation (OSF).

Akinjiyan explained that the goal is to equip local journalists with requisite skills to effectively discharge their duties in the state, under safe conditions.

The Program Officer said developmental journalism is indispensable to achieving democratic governance, and cannot be overstressed thus the need for the media to monitor and hold leaders accountable towards fulfilling their obligations, by engaging diverse communities and reflecting their perspectives, experiences, and opinions in ways that reverse the dangerous trends towards toxic polarization and societal fragmentation.

While saying that IPC has previously implemented a broad range of capacity development and interventions towards ensuring that the media continue to serve as a purveyor and catalyst for major change, Akinjiyan also enjoined participants to step down the training and to also put what has been learnt into practice in order to fast track the process of birthing developmental changes in their various communities.

Delivering her lecture on “Approaches to Impactful Reporting & Safety in Reporting Grassroots Development”, Ms. Anikeade Funke-Treasure, further advised them to be versed in national and international laws, be private and not predictable, and always be conscious of their safety and their environment while watching out for tell tales signs whenever on assignments.