VoA decries poor entrepreneurial reportage in Nigeria, trains Journalists in Kaduna
(Cross section of participants at a four-day media traning organized by VoA in Kaduna on Monday)
//Entrepreneurial: Shola Ojo, Kaduna//
Worried by inadequate reportage on activities of entrepreneur in the face of massive unemployment in Nigeria, Voice of America (VoA), has commence a four-day entrepreneurial training for practising journalists and Mass Communication undergraduates to promote entrepreneurship development.
Chief of Hausa Service, Washington DC, Mr. Leo Keyen, while declaring the training workshop open on Monday at African Continental Gored, Kaduna said, the interest of VoA is to awake and equip media practitioners in Nigeria in how to report entrepreneurial development better in such a way that it will provoke people to action.
According to him, the training would help promote entrepreneurship as a key driver of economic development, with a view to turn the economic fortune of the country around particularly as economic recession bites harder.
He said that Nigeria is blessed with abundant economic resources and huge business opportunities, but suffers undue attention from journalists, with a lot of business activities either unreported or underreported.
He however said that with the necessary skills, journalist could write stories on business that fails and those that have succeed, such that people can learn from their experience and take proactive steps.
He said, “the workshop is to train journalist on how to cover and disseminate information on entrepreneurship, with focus on prospect, development, challenges and highlight sources of funds.
“We want to build a crop of journalist with skills to interview successful entrepreneurs in order to motivate the unemployed youths in Nigeria to venture into small scale business for self-reliance.
“The training would also expose student of mass communication to entrepreneurial journalism to spur their interest and intellect in promoting businesses activities to thrive, “he said.
The Coordinator of the training, Malam Sani Malumfashi, explained that the training was organized in collaboration with Kaduna State University (KASU), with support from Broadcasting Board of Governors.
He said that in 2015, a similar training was conducted, but with focus on spurring entrepreneurship interest among journalist and students, “this year, the focus is on effective entrepreneurship and business reportage”.
Also speaking, one for the facilitators of the training, Mr Anslelm Okolo, a media expert, said that the training would equip journalists with skills to write stories that would create the desired impact.
“We want journalist to be able to write a story that would hit audience and propel them to move from a point of no decision to a point of decision and action”, Okolo said.
On his part, KASU’s Head of Mass Communication, Prof. Suleiman Salau, commended VOA for the efforts, stressing that the training would expose the students with the needed skills to make a difference.
It would be recalled that in 2015, similar training workshop took place in Kaduna where many journalists later went back and began not only report but also began their own entrepreneurial businesses including this Correspondent.
Already, cross section of participants are saying they are learning new skills that will assist them deliver better while participating students also expressed optimism that they would become better citizens before their graduation. 36 trainees are involved in the workshop.