Empowering the Next Generation of Journalists: CJID Trains 58 Students at the University of Maiduguri

The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) has trained 58 campus journalists in its recently concluded 44th campus journalism clinic at the University of Maiduguri, Borno State.

The four-day training, held from November 5 to November 8, equipped participants selected from the Mass Communication Department and the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) with the journalistic skills and ethics needed to thrive in the fast-changing media ecosystem.

At the opening of the training, the Head of the Mass Communication Department, Dr. Abdulmutallib Abubakar, thanked CJID for their efforts to empower campus journalists and make them fit for the journalism industry. He also told the students that they had been given a rare opportunity to participate in such a training facilitated by leading professionals in the industry and he encouraged them to make the most of the learning opportunity. 

In her introductory remarks, the Deputy Director of the Journalism Programme at CJID, Busola Ajibola, commended the department’s support in ensuring that the training venue and other modalities were sorted before arrival. She explained that the training had been held in 43 other institutions since inception in 2017 and she looked forward to how the training would transform the participants. On behalf of CJID, Mrs. Ajibola also donated media publications, including the Press Freedom Manual, to the department’s library.

The training featured sessions on journalism ethics, essentials of basic news reporting, generating story ideas, introduction to fact-checking, and mobile journalism, among other topics. These sessions were facilitated by Mrs Ajibola and other experts such as Kabir Adejumo, the Head of Southern Operations at HumAngle, and Abdulkareem Mojeed, a journalist at Premium Times. Other facilitators were Iretomiwa Dele-Yusuff, the Project Officer of the Next Gen/Campus Reporter project, Gbolahan Ogunsolu, a Media Production Associate at CJID and Jesse Tafida, a Senior Reporter at Television Continental (TVC).

During his session on journalism ethics, Mr Adejumo highlighted the distinction between journalism and activism, urging participants to adhere to ethical principles such as objectivity and transparency. In his session on the essentials of basic news reporting, Mr Adejumo trained students to become creative storytellers capable of crafting compelling narratives.

Mr Mojeed, who led a session on generating story ideas, advised students to be inquisitive about their surroundings. “Some of the best story ideas come from noticing gaps or problems in the world around you and then finding ways to fill those gaps,” he said.

Mr Tafida also guided participants through the processes of presentation and scriptwriting for broadcast journalism.

Mrs. Ajibola introduced students to a gender-transformative approach to storytelling, emphasizing the importance of reporting issues through an inclusive lens. Participants learned additional skills, including basic mobile journalism techniques and the use of collaborative tools such as Google Docs in a session taught by Ms Dele-Yusuff.

Reflecting on the training, a 400-level Mass Communication student, Godiya Jacob, told Campus Reporter that the experience helped her better understand journalism ethics and provided an opportunity to learn from professionals. Similarly, Steven, a 500-level Public Law student, described the training as a dream come true. “The training has opened my eyes to the world of journalism. If I weren’t a law student, I would have studied journalism,” he said.

At the conclusion of the training, participants received certificates of participation and were encouraged to apply the knowledge gained. Other professionals in attendance included Mohammed Usman, Managing Director of Al-Ansar Radio and TV Maiduguri, and Zainab Adam, Station Manager of SMK Radio. Both expressed their commitment to collaborating with the Union of Campus Journalists to train more students in the future.