ActionAid Charges Journalists To Be Fair, promote peaceful Inclusiveness In Nation Building

By Noah Ocheni, Lokoja

The Senior Special Assistant on Sustainable Development Goals to Nasarawa State Government, Murtala Abubakar Mohammed, on Tuesday at Akwanga charged Journalists to be fair and always balance their stories to enhance strong nation building.

Mohammed gave the charge at Akwanga during a 2- Day Media Master Class on Preventing Violent Extremism In Kogi and Nasarawa States, with the theme: Passing The Baton; Co-Creating Sustainable Peace through Journalism.

He pointed out that what the society needed most to achieve through journalists is joint sacrifice and
avoiding bias reportage to ensure a sustainable nation building.

The 2- Day training according to him was in pursuance of the System and Structure Strengthening Approach against Radicalisation to Violent Extremism (SARVE II) project currently being implemented in the two states.

According to Mr. Murtala, the SDG 16 objective is to promote peaceful and Inclusive Societies, with Journalists having the duty to guard against sensational reporting to
achieve full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Senior Special Assistant noted that the key to achieving the 2030 transformative agenda in the country, was through Journalists in promoting peace using their platforms to propagate peace and Inclusive society.

Mr. Murtala Abubakar Mohammed added that for the ‘Sustainable Development Goal 16’ to make the impact, Journalists must have  strong institutions and be equitable, just, fair in their reportage towards promotion of peace and justice.

Earlier in her remarks, the Director Organisational Effectiveness, ActionAid Nigeria, Mrs. Funmilayo Oyefusi charged Journalists to remain the focal institution in curbing violent extremism in the society.

The Director urged journalists to use their wealth of experience from the previous trainings to ensure that violence amongst youths in particular is reduced and should encourage them to engage in positive ventures that would reduce social vices in the society.

She disclosed that the training for the Media was aimed at providing Information towards Building capacity of Journalists on understanding conflict sensitive reportage and towards promoting peaceful coexistence among the citizenry.

While noting that the Actionaid capacity building is geared towards providing Information that would ensure that Journalists are safe while carrying out their professional duties and to also standout on preventing Violent extremism.

The Training is funded by Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) and facilitated by ActionAid Nigeria in collaboration with her state-based partners; Participation Initiative for Behavioural Change in Development (PIBCID), Global Peace Development (GPD) and Beacon Youth Initiative (BYI), Kogi and Nasarawa States respectively.