A Director of Media Trust Limited and former Editor-in-Chief of Daily Trust newspapers, Malam Mannir Dan-Ali, has stressed the need for continuous training of journalists in Nigeria.
He spoke on Wednesday at the opening of a three-day multimedia/investigative reporting training organised by the Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust titles, for journalists from the South-South and South-East in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital. It is supported by MacArthur Foundation.
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Dan-Ali, who represented the Chairman of Daily Trust Foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala, said journalists must keep improving on their capacity through modern training in multimedia.
He said the foundation had been involved in such training and humanitarian interventions over the years.
“The foundation has been around for some time now and has intervened in areas of journalism training, scholarship to indigent Nigerians and fundraising to support IDPs in conflicts regions of the country,” he added.
He expressed gratitude to Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong, and the state government for collaboration with MTL.
The commissioner, who commended the company for realising the importance of continual training of reporters in the evolving age, advocated teaching of patriotic reportage.
“Patriotic reportage will help us identify what reports we should dwell on in order to attract investors and not to create fears and make investors abandon the country, or create disunity and conflicts,” he said.
Ememobong called on media practitioners to turn their focus on the international oil companies operating in the country to chart a way towards averting a continuous increase in the price of domestic gas.
“The gas flared over the years in the South-South part of Nigeria can be converted to greater domestic use, so that the price can be made affordable,” he added.