The importance of digital technology as a tool for media practitioners in Nigeria has again been emphasized with the training of Journalists organized by the National Information Technology Agency (NITDA)
Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council in Abuja, Emmanuel Ogbeche, during the end of a five-day digital literacy training on emerging technologies, said this has further exposed participants to the use of technology in line with modern trends, thus impacting their knowledge and efficiency
Ogbeche, who was represented by a former President of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Evelyn Onyilo said; “Today’s closing ceremony after a week of exposure on various aspects of digital literacy using the internet and its various social media tools to advance our work has been almost two year-long.
“This training has emphasized the importance of digital literacy to our work as journalists. It has brought to fore the importance of the nuances of safety with increasing surveillance by state and non-state actors on the work we do, and placed us at alert to navigate the challenges as much as possible.
“Today, we are better equipped to deploy what we have learnt in these five days: free tools and safety of documents on Google docs, analysis in Excel Sheet, keeping documents ready for access on the go, is a huge plus for many of us.
“Importantly, the security aspect of our accounts has been a great oasis of learning on the tips of keeping our account safe,” he said.
He disclosed that the training was the result of the leadership of the NUJ, FCT Council’s proactive stance of partnering with relevant agencies to boost the capacity of its members.
“One of the assignments our team (the Fresh Start Mandate) undertook was to open discussions with institutions- public and private- that would advance our work and the National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, was one such place.
“Even when it appeared impossible, we kept pushing. Today, we are witnessing the climax of a beautiful experience where our resource persons: Dimkat and Faith, have taken us through the relevant ICT foundations that would make us have a deeper understanding of our tasks as Journalists. The FCT council of the NUJ is indeed grateful,” he added.
In her remarks, Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations of NITDA, disclosed that the training was meant to further expose Journalists in Abuja to the use of technology, as a way of enhancing their efficiency.
Mrs Umar disclosed that in the last three years, the agency trained 508, 199 Nigerians from various walks of life, on the use of digital technology for better performance in their fields of endeavour.
She listed the beneficiaries to include Media Executives, Journalists, women and youths as well as people living with disabilities.
According to her, traditional rulers, the Judiciary and legislators were also trained on e-governance.
Some of the participants who spoke to Voice of Nigeria were full of appreciation to NITDA and the NUJ-FCT Council for the opportunity, as they stated that the training has further equipped them for better performance.
For Patrick Osadebamwen, he stated that the exposure given to him will enhance his reportage.
“I am immensely appreciative of the exposure they have given us in the last one week. These are basics that we always see but we never really took our time to apply them and the few applications we’ve been exposed to will obviously enhance one’s reportage.
“This is the ambition of every Journalist so that at the end of the day you are far ahead or better than your last story and that is what NITDA has just done. I think it will be an opportunity for all the organizations here to have the participants serve as resource persons in their organizations to share the knowledge in their newsrooms too.”
Another participant, Anne Daniel, said that the training exposed her to the rudiments of digital technology, especially how to fight cybercrimes.
“The training really came at the appropriate time because building the capacity of Journalists especially as it relates to ICT, especially cybercrime, knowing what the country is passing through with a lot of things happening on the internet, this training has been an eye opener.
“As Journalists, we really need to update ourselves on these happenings because new trends keep emerging each day and this training is so apt, it came at the right time for us Journalists and I have really learnt a lot.”
At the end of the five-day training for Journalists in the FCT, participants were given a laptop each, in line with NITDA’s policy of equipping its trainees, in order to practice what they learned during the training.
PIAK
