The National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists,NUJ, Comrade Waheed Odusile has expressed his delight with the Management of StarTimes on the sponsorship of the two day workshop on Gender Equity and Safety for members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
The workshop the 3rd in the series, is currently holding in Abuja.
NUJ President said “There is need for people in profession like ours, the Journalists to always embark on capacity building for our colleagues. There is no gainsaying that, at a time like this, what we need is training and retraining for us journalists to stay at par with our Western counter parts.”
“I want to on behalf of the union express my sincere gratitude to StarTimes for taking up the initiative to sponsor this type of pragramme. We are indeed happy and elated and the Union is grateful.”
Comrade Waheed Odusile charged other private organizations to take a cue from StarTimes and train professional journalists to enhance their practice on the field.
“This training is key. this is being replicated all over the world by other Journalists Unions. I want to you the management of StarTimes that you have chosen the best partner. This is the kind of project others private organizations should embrace and partner with us to achieve.”
Waheed also urged journalists to key into the programmes of the Union and all levels for the Union to be more harmonious in achieving a common goal.
He however, charged the participants to be good ambassadors of the Union during and after the training, while charging them to spread the news as gender issue is one we must take seriously in this part of the world.
At a time when women’s voices are rising around the world, Gender Equity and Safety Workshop is an opportunity to urge journalist on their roles in reporting issues and solutions to gender challenges as much giving the females equal opportunity as the men for them to attain their potentials
While declaring open the 2day workshop, the Chief Executive Officer,the leading Pay TV providers in Nigeria StarTimes, Mr. Justine Zhang,his remarks, emphasized the roles of journalists in the society, described them as the lubricant that has kept the society together.
“We at StarTimes are happy to be part of this training for women journalists in Nigeria. This is a rare and highly commendable initiative taken by women at the Abuja ram of the NUJ.”
He stated that StarTimes was happy when the NUJ approached them for partnership for the programme.
“When StarTimes was approached by the organizers to be a part of this year’s training, I want to tell you that we were happy because before now, we have been involved in a number of initiatives to bridge the gender gap across the country.”
“Our participation here today is because as an international organization, we believe and respect gender equality in the work place and everywhere. In fact, StarTimes Nigeria first CEO is a woman, and maybe the next one after me will be a woman again.”
“Journalists are really important in our society. Their roles cannot be over emphasized. Their reportage goes a long way in sharpening the society.”Justine Zhang said
He charged journalists to be up and doing while carrying out their duty as they have the tool to make the society a better place.
“I want to urge you to report more the security challenges facing the country. You can through your reportage help government and security agencies in bringing this menace to an end.,He added
He also reinstated the commitment of StarTimes in bringing rich educative and informative contents to the public as they are set to take the Pay TV closer to the people, he urged the participants to take full advantage by paying extra attention to the facilitators as they impact knowledge on them during the course of the training
in his remarks, the FCT Chairman of NUJ, Comrade Paul Ella Abechi, lauded the sponsor of the programme, StarTimes. He congratulated the participants for making it to the training amongst others, he enjoined them to make good use of the opportunity to enhance their professional skills on gender issues.
The training has its objective as training of journalists to expose them to current dynamics in gender issues especially in the work environment, as well as gender safety issues.
The first female majority leader of the Federal House of Representatives, Honourable Mulikat Akande, sponsored the 2nd in the series of the training which was held in the month of October.
The training is a joint project of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ), in collaboration with the Norwegian Union of Journalists, (NUJ), the Federation of African Journalists, with kind assistance from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
