The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) is to exchange information, ideas and culture with the All China Journalists Association.
The NUJ president, Abdulwaheed Odusile, disclosed this yesterday during a visit by a team from the All China Journalists Association to Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust Newspapers in Abuja.
Odusile said NUJ’s partnership with Chinese journalists became necessary as stories about the developing world seemed to be dominated by the western press. The narrative, he said, needed to change.
He added: “The idea behind this is to cross-fertilise ideas, information and expose our culture to them and theirs to us. We believe much of what is written about developing world comes from the western press. No matter their best efforts, they cannot tell our stories the way we will tell them. We need to change the narrative,” he said.
The leader of the Chinese delegation, Zhang Mingxin, said the visit was to cement the friendship between Nigeria and China.
Mingxin, who is also the Vice Chief Editor of China News Service, recalled that the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, at a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, had said that China was ready to support Nigeria’s infrastructure and human resource development.
“Development is key to everything and we hope that Chinese people and their companies can help facilitate Nigeria’s development,” he said.
The visit, he said, was to enable them get acquainted with the rudiments of newspaper publishing in Nigeria.
The Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of Daily Trust Newspapers, Mannir Dan-Ali, took the Chinese journalists through the historical development of the paper, its titles, staff strength and humanitarian support services.
