Ahead of the general elections in 2023, the United States Consulate in Nigeria has trained 150 journalists on election reporting.
The two-day meeting for the South-South geopolitical zone in Port Harcourt came to an end on Wednesday.
Speaking at the occasion via video conference, Mr. Will Stevens, the general consul of the United States, pledged the government of the United States’ support for strengthening democracy in Nigeria.
Joe Kruzich, the public affairs officer at the US Consulate, acted as Stevens’ representative.
He claims that the U.S. Consulate supports the Election Reporting Effort (ERP) as an intervention project to assist Nigerian journalists, videographers, and photojournalists in appropriately covering the 2023 elections.
He clarified that, in collaboration with the West Africa Broadcast and Media Academy (WABMA) and the Enugu Literary Society (ELS), ERP is a component of the U.S. Consulate’s ongoing assistance for the expansion of democracy in Nigeria.
Prof. Chris Ulasi, Dean of the School of Communication and Chair of the Radio, Television, and Films Department at Texas Southern University in Houston, USA, is the main facilitator.
Prof. Lai Oso, a former dean of communications at Lagos State University, and Ms. Grace Ekpu, an Associated Press investigative writer, are two other facilitators.
Ulasi, a Nigerian university professor based in the US, had earlier mentioned that Nigeria was the focus of the world and asked journalists to cover the election effectively and professionally.
The first of the current workshop sessions across the geopolitical zones, which attracted journalists from broadcast, print, and online media, was held in Ibadan. The Lagos session is scheduled for November 24.
The workshop’s organisers were praised on behalf of the attendees by broadcast journalist Carl Orakwue, who called it relevant.
