The training hall of the Daily Trust Foundation was launched in Abuja on Monday at the corporate head office of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust and other titles.
The project was funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
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Director, MacArthur Foundation, (Africa), Dr Kole Shettima, while speaking at the commissioning of the hall, stressed the need for Nigerian media to have multiple sources of revenue.
“Many media houses have collapsed. They have collapsed primarily because of COVID-19. COVID-19 has dried up all the advertisements.
“It has dried up many sources of income for the media houses. Many of our colleagues have really lost their jobs because they’re no longer advertisements coming in.
“There are no other sources of income coming in, that’s why many of them dried up.
“From the perspective of MacArthur, we’ve been struggling on how to ensure media houses have multiple streams of income so that we would have a media that doesn’t rely only on one source of income so that when that source of income gets compromised, the whole media is not compromised,” Shettima said.
Chairman, Daily Trust Foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala, said the idea of the training facility had been on the table for several years, adding that “it was only realized when MacArthur Foundation agreed to fund its construction under its Media Sustainability Project in 2019.”.
He urged journalists to ensure “that investigative reporting is not frustrated through complacency and laziness.
He said: “Section 22 of the Nigerian constitution empowers journalists to hold the government accountable to the people. Impunity would continue to thrive in Nigeria if journalists fall short of this noble task”.
A former Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer of Media Trust Limited, Alhaji Isiaq Ajibola, harped on capacity building for journalists.
Ajibola said the dream of Media Trust Limited was to have a facility to train journalists and other professions.
The event, which also marked the commencement of a three-day workshop on Investigating Agricultural Sector, brought together experts and other stakeholders.
Key speakers included Prof. Mohammed Yahaya Kuta, from the University of Ibadan; Engineer Halidu Usman Yusuf, a former Managing Director of the Sokoto River Basin Development Authority; Dr Folarin Okelola, from the National Agricultural Seed Council and Alh. M. D. Abubakar, from L&Z Dairy Farm.
Others were Mr Unekwuojo A. Edime, from the Cashew Farmers Association of Nigeria; Malam Mannir Dan-Ali, Director, Daily Trust Foundation; Dr Rose Suniso Gidado, from the National Biotechnology Development Agency and Mr Usman Ali Usman (Farmer-in-Suit), Nasarawa.
