NAWOJ, Action Aid Move To Bridge Gap In Gender Reportage

Participants at a one day training on bridging the gap on gender reporting have called for strong synergy and political will among stakeholders and women groups.

The training which is part of activities to mark this year’s International Women’s Day with mostly female journalists as participants was organized by the National Secretariat of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ in collaboration with Action Aid Nigeria and support from Global Affairs Canada.

Speaking at the event,the National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Chief Christopher Isiguzo who stressed the need for collective efforts in bridging the gap, tasked women journalists on continuous sensitization, training and retraining on the subject matter.

“When we talk about equality, equity, priority and all, they cannot exist if the women have not accepted to make them exist”.

He opined that women should put to rest the idea of saying it’s a man’s world, stating that it is not a man’s world but our collective world’.

“Women should begin to march in equity with the men, they should stop lamenting and do the do, that way, the men will see that the women have come of age and are ready. Enlightenment should be sustained, sensitization, training and re-training programes should be leveraged on by women” he said.

On her part, the National President of NAWOJ, Aisha Bura represented by the Vice President, Zone D, Mrs Chizoba Ogbeche stated that the training is apt, as it would aid many women journalists on issues of gender reportage in an appropriate and professional manner.

“We are all aware of the issues surrounding women and we have continued to speak about them. Just as the NUJ National President has said, the time for lamentations is over; the issues have been brought to the front burner, yet no solution. It is time for us to bridge the gaps. If we bridge the gaps, we would probably get solutions.”

Mrs Ogbeche urged women journalists to prioritize gender in their reportage.

Highlight of the programme was paper presentations by facilitators who are development journalists which impacted positively on participants.

Nkiru Okeke, Edited By Grace Namiji