OBSERVERS DAIRY:  AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP WRAP-UP

In mid-September 2024, I began my journey as a participant in the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)’s Next Gen Internship Programme. The unique experience opened up with a task to cover a tragic story about the flood disaster that Maiduguri experienced in September. Interestingly, I’m ending with a personal Whatsapp news channel called FluidVoices. 

Through the Next Gen internship programme, I interned at BUK FM and Television, an education and development broadcast station owned by Bayero University Kano and by extension, the government. Due to its ownership influence which is a universal concern in most stations, the station strictly puts divergent and critical views or opinions in strict checks. This experience triggered my desire to devise a means for voices to be freely heard, hence, the initiation of  FluidVoices. 

The internship period broadened my news-gathering and reporting skills. There were times I made personal sacrifices to cover news stories that were not primarily my assignment from BUK FM. I saw this type of reporting as my social responsibility, as a broadcast journalist, to report newsworthy events. Usually, I disseminate this kind of story via my channel–FluidVoices. Additionally, I completed tasks relating to my niche–Sports Journalism. One of the stories I reported in this beat was about the re-inaugurated National Sports Commission.  

While covering events and gathering community reports, I demonstrated skills in Multimedia  Journalism. Although I don’t have the best tools and gadgets to get these journalistic activities done, I still find a temporary way to tell developing stories that amplify the voices of minority groups in society. My multimedia abilities will be reflected in my ongoing report about the donation of educational materials to students of Government Girls Secondary School, Rimi Gatta in Ungogo Local Government Area of  Kano state. This story will be disseminated after the completion of the proposed gesture.

As we wrap up this internship project, I’d say I am privileged to participate in the 2024 cohort of the Next Gen Internship Programme.

Harrison Osabuohien

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