President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Comrade Ladi Bala, has urged female journalists to rise above gender limitations in the discharge of their professional duties.
Bala gave this charge in Port Harcourt on Monday, at a two-day skill enhancing and capacity building/mentoring session for female journalists, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The workshop was part of the European Union (EU) support to democratic governance in Nigeria (EU-Support) activities under component 4 (Support the media) of the EU-SDGN 11 project. It has the International Press Center (IPC) as its lead partner in collaboration with NAWOJ.
The NAWOJ president urged female journalists to uniquely distinguish themselves from the crowd by being factual, accurate, and objective in their reportage of the 2023 elections.
She said that the media, being an integral part of the society, has unique and sensitive roles to play in the development of the country, adding that the training and retraining of journalists will enable them to positively contribute towards shaping and achieving a better society.
“It should be noted that with globalisation of the media space through information technology, enhancing the capacity of practitioners, particularly journalists to be in tune with global best practices has become germain if the media is to get it right.
“This training, therefore, is aimed at exposing female journalists to the rudiments of effective reportage and mentorship preparatory to reporting the electoral process. As we move closer to 2023, the critical role of the journalists in the conduct and promotion of peaceful electoral processes in Nigeria is key and must not be handled carelessly.
“It is on this note that I appeal to participants drawn from the South-East, South-South and the South-West of the country to utilize the opportunity and learn new skills that will improve their capacities and enhance the quality of news reports”, Bala said.
The NAWOJ boss urged female journalists to focus more on professionalism that would propel them to the top than going after brown envelopes which prevent them from objectively do their reportage and also endanger their lives.
She said one of the ways to peacefully discharge their responsibilities to the society without threats to life is for journalists to play by the rules.
“Journalists must rise to the occasion of protecting and strengthening Nigeria’s democracy in the build up to 2023 general elections. You must avoid brown envelopes so as to discharge your work optimally free from biases without fear of threat to life.
Commending the EU for funding the workshop, the NAWOJ boss said, “This workshop funded through component 4b: Support to the media of the EU support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria 11 project, was the response to NAWOJ’s several engagements with the EU development partners that eventually approved its Media partners to work with us.
“This feat is, indeed, a milestone achievement. This is so because it is the first time NAWOJ is being officially recognised and engaged on an EU funded project through its media partners in Nigeria. This laudable effort of EU is commendable and a clear testament of its commitment in building a strong and virile media space that will go a long way to strengthen democracy and promote good governance”.
She also commended the Executive Director IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade, for his encouragement and support, saying that IPC, being one of the leading capacity building organisations for journalists in the country, has proven to be gender sensitive and always supporting NAWOJ.
In his own remarks, Arogundade stated that the overall objective of the workshop is “to strengthen the media for fair, accurate, ethical and inclusive reporting of the electoral processes and elections, as well as seek to position female journalists in particular to be in the frontline of professional inclusive, conflict sensitive, fact-checking and data driven coverage and reportage”.
He urged the participants to make good use of the mentorship guides and editorial assistance provided by resource persons.

By: Susan Serekara-Nwikhana