Campus Press Hub Trains UNILORIN Student Journalists

The Campus Press Hub has completed a two-day workshop on ‘Best Practices of Campus Journalism’ for student journalists at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).

The workshop was held in the Faculty of Arts of the institution, with 50 students in attendance on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18.

Students present were trained on the basic elements and ethics of journalism, investigative journalism and interviewing, how to drive impactful storytelling, social media for journalists and the basics of fact-checking.

Adejumo Kabir, the Director of Campus Press Hub and a final year student at the Obafemi Awolowo University, told the trainees that he is “hopeful and optimistic that our trainees will be the next phase of journalism in different schools.”

“If you cannot hold your university’s management accountable, you cannot hold the Federal Government accountable,” he noted.

Mr Kabir, who doubles as a political researcher for Dubawa, Nigeria’s premiere fact-checking platform, is one of the beneficiaries of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) Next Gen. programme and was available at the workshop to share his knowledge on the basics of fact-checking with students.

Kehinde Ayantunji, the Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Osun State Council, who trained the students on basics of investigative journalism, enjoined the attendees to be practical in their endeavours.

“The focus of the theory is to enhance professionalism,” the NUJ boss said.

Additionally, Umar Abdulwahab, who serves as the NUJ Chairman of Kwara State Council, spoke on why the practice of campus journalism is necessary.

In his remarks, the President of the Union of Campus Journalists in the school, Fadlullah Azeez, said the workshop will help members to continue to publish in the interest of students and humans, generally.

At the end of the workshop, some students shared their thoughts on the event with Campus Reporter. One of the trainees, who identified himself as Agbaje Ayomide, gushed the two-day journalism workshop was “incredible and awesome.”

“The course contents were also rich. The facilitators knew their onions. I particularly loved the fact-checking class and it was very insightful and eye-opening.”

In the same vein, another student known as Christiana Peter said: “Every session was useful because I gained a lot. I would recommend this to other like-minded individuals.”

Campus Press Hub was launched in January 2019 in order to strengthen campus journalism across universities in Nigeria and prepare practitioners for a career in journalism after they graduate.