By Yetunde Fatungase
The Dangote Group has trained no fewer than 50 Abeokuta-based journalists on digital reporting to enhance efficiency and service delivery.
The Plant Director, Dangote Cement, Ibese, Mr Azad Nawabudden said at the opening of a training programme for journalists in Abeokuta on Thursday that the media has remained a reliable ally to the company.
At the two-day programme facilitated by the Centre for Financial Journalism, Nawabudden said that the training was the company’s way of reciprocating the support of the media.
The programme with the theme, ”Ethics, Skills and Personal Qualities for Reporting in the Digital Age” gathered journalists from print, broadcast and new media outfits.
The plant director commended journalists in the state for their support to the operations of the company, especially in showcasing it’s support for a healthy environment.
”You have remained committed to reporting the company’s efforts towards promoting a healthy environment.
”You have relentlessly featured Dangote’s strides at minimising green house effect and restoration of the ecosystem through our alternate fuel project,” he said.
Nawabudden said that the alternate fuel project adopted by Dangote cement plants across the country had helped to reduce carbon footprint in the environment.
Also speaking, Mr Francis Brown of the Corporate Communications Department, expressed the need for journalists to harness opportunities in digital technology in doing their jobs.
He urged journalists to look beyond the traditional ways of performing editorial functions by effectively utilising the array of opportunities that technology had brought to their job.
”It is time to adopt extant digital technologies, this will help to enhance your careers and make you marketable,” he said.
The Director, Centre for Financial Journalism, Dr Ray Echebiri, urged participants to take lessons learnt from the programme seriously in the interest of their personal development.
He further urged journalists to seek newer ways of improving their financial fortunes by tapping into available online opportunities.
”I urge you to horn your skills in writing, reporting and analysis. Tap into the technological tools that are now available for the journalist,” he said. (NAN)
