Global Rights, an NGO, on Monday commenced a training for journalists on investigative journalism and crime reporting.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that participants at the workshop, which is being held in Abuja, include reporters handling crime beats for their media outfits.
Ms Abiodun Baiyewu, the Executive Director of the NGO, in a speech at the formal opening of the training exercise, said that it was aimed at equipping media practitioners with the requisite knowledge to report crimes.
“Since Nigeria became an independent nation, many lives have been lost to atrocities, but government has failed to account for the number of people affected; we believe that this training will prepare newsmen to report the facts.
“We also believe that the newsmen, if properly trained, can proffer solutions to the lingering violence across the country,” he said.
Baiyewu decried the penury that was the lot of many Nigerians, and particularly regretted that many Nigerians were hungry, homeless and nursing injuries from recurrent crisis.
“The situation gets more disturbing by the day. Too many Nigerians are homeless. So many are hungry and nursing injuries from atrocities happening in the country.
“The culture of torture, particularly by security agencies, have become a serious problem that needs to be addressed.
“This training is to equip media practitioners with the required knowledge to uncover some of these ills and assist security agencies to tackle them so as to have a Nigeria of our dream,” she said. (NAN)
