CSO, IOM Train 24 Journalists On Migration Reportage



Blessing Bature-Akpakpan


The Civil Society Network on Migration and Development in partnership with EU-IOM Initiative on Migrants Protection and Reintegration in Nigeria and other stakeholders as facilitators trained 24 journalists on Migration Reportage to help contribute in shaping public and political perception on migration issues.

Addressing participants at the event, the National Coordinator of CSOnetMADE, Mr Emeka Xris Obiezu, revealed that the workshop has been held in other parts of the country to help journalists on migration reporting.

This was necessitated as a result of evident lapses in migration reporting, to build journalists from print, television, radio and online medium, who were selected from the North West, North Central, South East and South South geopolitical zones on effective migration reportage.

Obiezu said, "the role of media is crucial in delivering verified information, informed opinions as well as balanced and inclusive narrative as against some instances where media perception portrays migration as a problem rather than a multifaceted global phenomenon with a variety of challenges and opportunities.

He added that, the capacity building worshop took place in three geopolitical zones, it started with the South East and then went to North West and concluded in South South. At each of these trainings, the participants were able to generate a draft of the ethical guideline. "This is what we have come here in this two days to review with teams selected from those three zones and those from Abuja here to look at those generated concepts or guidelines to review, streamline and then validate the outcome".

"The media reportage and use of concepts in reporting these scenarios have not always been done with appropriate terminologies and understanding of the core migration concerns as well as observance of critical ethical caution" this is further compounded by the tendency to rush to publish, the confused and unreliable world of social media and rise of propaganda, political influence and the current plague of sensational headlines and sound bite associated contemporary journalism, he stressed.

Also speaking, the Director of Refugees and Migrants Affairs in NCFRMI, Dr Hassan Ejibunu, said the Commission will continue to provide journalists with the prerequisite in migration reporting.

“We are optimistic that by the time these set of guidelines are validated, the problem of use of wrong terminologies by the media; use of dehumanising languages against migrants; and hate speeches against migrants and migration related issues will be curbed.