From Christopher Oji & Joseph Obukata, Lagos
The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, has implored media professionals to always act as gate-keepers against misinformation, particularly while reporting disasters and emergencies.
Ahmed spoke on Friday in Lagos during a one-day awareness creation and capacity building workshop with the theme: “NEMA’s Workshop for Media Practitioners on Disaster Reporting” for publishers, seniors editors and other selected journalists drawn from the broadcast, print and online media.
The NEMA DG who was accompanied by a high-powered delegation of NEMA management team, said that the workshop was packaged for NEMA to interact with media practitioners, share impactful ideas and knowledge that would help in their reportage of the agency’s activities.
Besides, he said that the workshop was geared toward mediating misinformation, disinformation and fake news while building the capacity of professionals.
The workshop was package by NEMA in collaboration with Impact Pointe Consultancy Limited, Vista, Radi8 and The Media Training Room.
In his keynote address, the agency’s DG noted: “We intend to foster collaboration and networking between media practitioners and NEMA. Our shared goal is to facilitate effective information dissemination during emergencies. By working together, we can ensure that timely and accurate information reaches the public, creating much needed awareness and enabling them to mate informed decision and take necessary precautions where applicable.”
He said the workshop was necessary to enable media professionals to gain more knowledge on the activities of NEMA and project her as the apex disaster management agency in Nigeria.
He said that it was also to create awareness for media professionals for NEMA’s information dissemination and emergency protocol.
NEMA’s Director, Special Duties, Dr. Onimode Bandele Abdullahi, in his technical presentation, explored the history of NEMA, the agency mandate and efforts in disaster management in the country.
The panel discussion moderated by Dayo Alao focused on “Navigating Challenges in Disaster Reporting: Insights from Media Practitioners”, and had as panelists, NEMA’s Director of Disaster Risk Reduction, Dr Daniel Obot; Head, NEMA Lagos Territorial Office, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, Managing Editor, Daily Trust, Mr. Hamza Idris and Publisher, Eagle Online, Mr. Dotun Oladipo.
The second technical presentation entitled; “Collaborative Approaches in Disaster Reporting Strengthening Partnerships for Effective Communication” was led by Communication Management Expert, Chido Nwakanma while PR and Development Expert, Toni Kan facilitated the third technical presentation whose theme was “Ethics in Disaster Reporting; Balancing Sensationalism and Responsible Journalism”.
Commending NEMA for the initiative, Maureen Chigbo, President of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) and Publisher of Renewsmagazine.net, said that the workshop was insightful and timely, adding that it would help to enhance reportage of disasters and emergencies from the perspective of the well-informed media professionals.