The Daily Trust Foundation, with support from the MacArthur Foundation, has commissioned its training facility. The commissioning of the hall was done on Monday, July 5, 2021 by the Director (Africa) MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Kole Shettima, with support from board members of the Daily Trust Foundation, at the Daily Trust Foundation Hall, P.O.W Mafemi Crescent, Utako, Abuja.
The Chairman of the Daily Trust Foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala, expressed gratitude to the MacArthur Foundation for its unwavering support for the growth and development of the Daily Trust Foundation.
“The Daily Trust Foundation places a high premium on capacity building for journalists. However, the high cost of hiring halls, training aids, and other equipment in hotels is too prohibitive for regular workshops, seminars, and training programmes to be undertaken more often,” he said.
(R-L) The General Manager, TrustTV, Ibrahim Shehu, the Director, MacArthur Foundation (Africa), Dr. Kole Shettima, Board Member, Daily Trust Foundation, Chief Isiaq Ajibola, Chairman, Daily Trust Foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala, Editor-in-Chief, Media Trust Limited, Naziru Mikailu, General Manager, Human Resources, Hajiyya Hadiza Bala, and the CEO of Media Trust Limited, Nura DauraAlhaji Bala challenged journalists to ensure that the investment was not in vain. He said, “you must ensure that investigative reporting is not frustrated through complacency and laziness.”
A board member of the Daily Trust Foundation, Chief Isiaq Ajibola, who also spoke at the event, said that the Chairman of the foundation, Alhaji Bilya Bala, had been at the forefront of the call for a training facility. He also expressed gratitude to the MacArthur Foundation for its support.
The Director (Africa) MacArthur Foundation, Dr Kole Shettima, in his own remarks, said many media houses were due facing the risk of distress due to the lack of funding and the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry.
Dr Shettima further said that the MacArthur Foundation had been looking out for other sources of income for media houses in the country.
“The media should not rely on one source of income. In the event where that source of income is compromised, then the media itself gets compromised,” he said.
“I hope this facility is used as a resource center for every journalist in the country, where knowledge is impacted and ideas are shared, and a place where journalists learn new skills for their development,” he said.
Among others present included the Acting Chief Executing Officer of Media Trust Limited, Nura Daura, the Editor-In-Chief of Media Trust Limited, Naziru Mikailu, the General Manager, Human Resources of Media Trust Limited, Hajiya Hadiza Bala, the General Manager of the TrustTV, Ibrahim Shehu, and another board member, Daily Trust Foundation, Malam Umar Abdullahi.
In a related development, the Foundation organized a workshop on agriculture, which began on July 5, 2021, and ended on July 7, 2021, at the Daily Trust Foundation Training Hall, Utako, Abuja.
The workshop, titled “Investigating the Agricultural Sector” was meant to deepen journalists’ understanding of the agricultural sector.
The facilitators included Prof. Mohammed Kuta Yahaya, University of Ibadan, who took participants through “Overview of Policies and Practice of Agriculture in Nigeria”, Dr. Folarin Okelola, National Agricultural Seed Council, handled the session on “Seed Development, Agric Extension, and Innovations in Farming”, and Alhaji M D Abubakar handled “Financing Agriculture: Banking and Insurance”.
Among other facilitators were Dr. Junaidu Maina, who took participants through “From Chicken to Cow: Covering the livestock sector”, Engineer Halladu, the former MD of Sokoto River Basin, who handled the session on “Irrigation Farming: Perspectives and Challenges”, and Mr. Unekwuojo A. Edime, President, Cashew Farmers Association of Nigeria, handled “From Sesame – Hibiscus: Export opportunities for cashew, ginger, avocado, pear, orange, mango…”
Others included “Mr. Usman Ali Lawan, (Farmer-in-Suit), who took participants through “Processing, packaging and value addition for agricultural produce”, Dr. Rose Suniso Gidado, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Abuja, handled the session on “Biotechnology and Agriculture in Nigeria”, and Malam Mannir Dan-Ali, Director, Daily Trust Foundation, handled “Humanizing the agriculture story”.
There were twenty-six journalists drawn from different media organization at this workshop. They included journalists from the following media: Daily Trust, Daily Nigerian, NatureNews Africa, Blueprint, Leadership, Authority Newspaper, and HumAngle.
Below is a video of the event:
