WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2021 : IPC Trains 50 Journalists in Nigeria
Oru Leonard
The International Press Centre (IPC), held a webinar last week’s Thursday April 29, 2021, where the Centre trained 50 Journaliists in the Northern Geo -Political Zones on ‘Safety, Security and Management of Trauma in Coverage of Dangerous Assignments’.
Experts who delivered lectures include Gillo Shedir of the International Freedom of Exchange (IFEX), Mr. Fisayo Soyombo, a writer and investigative journalist and Dr. Uzo Isreal, lecturer and Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the University of Lagos.
The second capacity building webinar for Journalists in the Southern Geo-political Zones will hold within the next two weeks.
In his remarks the IPC’s Executive Director, Mr. Lanre Arogundade disclosed that On Wednesday May 5, 2021, IPC, in partnership with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Radio, Television Theatre and Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) and other stakeholders, will convene a forum on ‘Information as Public Good and the Quest for Press Freedom in Nigeria’ in Abuja, FCT.
Year 2021 marks the 30th anniversary of the Windhoek, Namibia, Declaration on an Independent and Pluralistic African Media which led to the decision of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as adopted by the UN General Assembly to declare May 3rd as WPFD.
“It is this significance that has informed our decision to organise series of events to commemorate the milestone including two webinars and the stakeholders’ forum”, Mr. Arogundade stated.
At the Abuja May 5 event, IPC will present its annual report on the documentation of attacks on journalists in Nigeria while there will be a roundtable discussion on “Information as A Public Good and The Quest for Press Freedom” with Rev. Fr. George Ehusani as the lead Speaker.
A panel of five comprising representatives of media professional bodies, the civil society and the bar will serve as discussants.
The Abuja forum is expected to fashion a road map on improved mechanisms for the defence of press freedom in Nigeria.
The webinars and the stakeholders’ forum are being respectively supported by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) and the Open Society Foundation (OSF) under IPC’s safety of journalists and enhanced safety awareness programmes.
