Capacity building remains a significant instrument for the development of journalism in Nigeria as it helps journalists to hone their skills and make news stories interesting.
The Programme Director, Daily Trust Foundation, Dr Theophilus Abbah, said this during a workshop organised by his organisation on Crime Reporting.
The event was held in Abuja on Monday and Tuesday with participants drawn from different media houses.
Abbah said the capacity building was very necessary because it would help journalists to discharge their duties well, giving adequate attention to all necessary areas.
Speaking on the choice of City and Crime Reporting for the workshop, Abbah pointed out that if well-reported crime reports could be very interesting to read.
“Journalists need to dig deep and give the human element which will make crime stories interesting,” he said.
He said it was not enough to give figures as the reporter must be able to dig deep into stories and furnish readers with the human angle.
“If journalists are not exposed to how things should be done well, they will continue the old system. People get put off at times by crime stories because some of them lack the human element. If you include the human element, it becomes interesting. It is about building the capacity to do relevant stories; stories that will be readable, provide an insight into the human aspect of crime,” said the Daily Trust Foundation boss.
The workshop featured the Managing Director and Editor In Chief of FrontPage (frontpageng.com), Mr. Sakibu Olokojobi, who handled two sessions – City & Crime Reporting: Sources, Strategies & Ethics and Dos and Don’ts in Writing Crime Stories.
The session of Humazing the Crime Story was handled by the Director, Daily Trust Foundation, Mannir Dan-Ali, while Law and Crime Reporting was by Barrister Kabiru Bala, Daily Trust Company Secretary.
Map of Crimes in Nigeria was by Lawrence Alobi, former FCT Police Commissioner and Safety Measures in Covering Dangerous Assignments handled by Abbah.
