By David Owei<\/p>\n
Journalists covering conflict, insecurity, and governance in Nigeria have been urged to rethink Safety
\nhow public safety is reported, shifting away from episodic incident counts toward
\npeople-centred and policy-relevant journalism.<\/p>\n
This call was the focus of a two-day Capacity Building for Journalists on Public Safety Reporting,
\nheld in Abuja from January 27\u201328, 2026.<\/p>\n
The training convened reporters from Benue and
\nBayelsa States alongside journalists covering national public safety and governance issues from
\nthe Federal Capital Territory. <\/p>\n
The programme was organised by the Centre for Journalism,
\nInnovation and Development (CJID) with support from the Open Society Foundations (OSF).<\/p>\n
Speaking on the goal of the workshop, Akintunde Babatunde, Executive Director of CJID
\nexplained that the training forms part of the People-Centred Public Safety Project, which
\nresponds to growing concerns that dominant security narratives often obscure systemic failures,
\ndehumanise victims, and fail to influence the policies that shape safety outcomes at the
\ncommunity level.<\/p>\n
He noted that CJID is keen to see a clear shift in how conflict and public safety
\nissues are reported following the training.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that by the end of this training, participants will not only be equipped with the tools
\nrequired for people-centred conflict reporting, but will also have the drive to produce journalism
\nthat meaningfully shapes public understanding, strengthens accountability, and influences policy
\noutcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community policing emerged as a central theme during the training, particularly as provided for
\nunder the 2020 Nigeria Police Act. Participants examined the historical and structural
\nfoundations of policing in Nigeria, including its colonial origins and enduring elite orientation.<\/p>\n
Discussions highlighted how persistent gaps in policing capacity, accountability and training
\nhave contributed to the emergence of community-driven safety mechanisms.
\nThroughout the programme, journalists were urged to prioritise rigorous fact-finding, avoid
\nborrowed or sensational language, and challenge dominant stereotypes by producing reporting
\ngrounded in lived realities, community relationships, and historical context, rather than
\nreinforcing fear-based framings.
\nParticipants were also introduced to emerging national patterns of violence, including
\ngeographic diffusion, high recurrence driven by delayed or absent state response, security
\nvacuums, and retaliation cycles – dynamics often missed in headline-driven coverage.<\/p>\n
Beyond documenting violence, journalists were encouraged to highlight peacebuilders,
\ncommunity resilience, coping mechanisms, and reform efforts, without denying the reality of
\ninsecurity.<\/p>\n
The emphasis was on producing journalism that reflects both harm and human
\nagency.<\/p>\n
The training concluded with a call for journalists to reclaim their role as shapers of public record
\nand accountability, using their work to influence laws, budgets, institutions, and public
\nprogrammes. By the end of the programme, participants left with clearer tools to interrogate
\npublic safety failures, identify patterns behind violence, elevate community-defined notions of
\nsafety, and produce reporting capable of influencing policy and public action.<\/p>\n
A participant , Aherhoke Okioma, commended and applauded CJID for the training workshop,which will go a long way to reshaping the horizon of journalists in reporting conflicts and safety in the country,describing the impactful lectures delivered as unprecedented,and called on Non governmental organizations to emulate CJID in training and retraining of journalists to enhance their professionalism .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Owei Journalists covering conflict, insecurity, and governance in Nigeria have been urged to rethink Safety how public safety is reported, shifting away from episodic incident counts toward people-centred and policy-relevant journalism. This call was the focus of a two-day Capacity Building for Journalists on Public Safety Reporting, held in Abuja from January 27\u201328, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1056,6034,6035,847,6033,2015],"class_list":["post-10739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-accountability","tag-influences","tag-outcomes","tag-policy","tag-strengthens","tag-understanding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10740,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10739\/revisions\/10740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}