MD Harps On Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism would help government to get feedback from the people on issues and policies affecting them, the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Dame Oluremi Oyo, said in Abuja on Sunday.

Oyo made the observation when the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, visited the agency.

She also observed that it was important for government to get feedbacks continually in order to respond appropriately to the yearnings of the governed.

Citizen journalism entails the reportage of events and developments spontaneously by people who witnessed such events.

Oyo said it was in cognizance of the importance of citizen journalism that the organisation would soon begin its practice.

“We’re starting citizen journalism now through the instrumentality of the telecoms organisations and we’ve written to NCC (Nigerian Communication Commission), we’re getting free-toll phones so that people can let us know what is happening in their environment.

“However, we’ll just take it as a tip because we don’t want to carry something that is not right, but the idea is to get us to walk away from the rumour mill and to be able to be authentic in the way we Nigerians see ourselves because it’s also a good way of government getting feedback.

“We have a very strong relationship with Galaxy and we’re happy to say that even our portal was developed by Nigerians; we don’t have to pay money abroad to get all of our things done.

“We are using technology more than anything here. Were it not for technology, we won’t be able to have a virtual private network that connects all our offices.’’

The MD said the agency had embarked on the training of journalists and information officers to improve their capacity to gather and disseminate information.

“We’ve chosen to do training, because if we are able to build the capacity of those who are working in the information sector, it will make our job easier and we in NAN have seen that there is a lot of reward in building capacities.’’

Responding, Johnson said because of the importance of the media in information dissemination, capacity building was top priority.

She said she was impressed that NAN made use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to run its business and that it was necessary to use the media to enlighten the people on ICT.

“Having been in public office for almost 18 months now, I think I have a better sense of how important the media is and really it’s about getting out the true story and the true facts.

“You know not a lot of people know that much about ICTs so it’s important for us to engage our citizens through the media.

“I’m really impressed and gladdened by the fact that you really are using ICTs and that’s really the power of ICT.

“Because you operate round-the-clock, you need technology and I’m glad that Galaxy is working with you and supporting you to ensure that you do all these.

“There is a need for capacity building; there are many young journalists that are out there, that are literarily just thrown there by the media houses.

“I see that there are some gaps in there so I’m really glad that you’ve taken up the responsibility of building capacity within the industry and I think that’s a tremendous challenge you’ve taken on and I really wish you all the very best with that.’’

Johnson pledged to always support the use of ICT in information gathering and dissemination.