As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, the Dangote Group Wednesday kicked off a special training program for sixty journalists in Kano.
The training, according to the company, is targeted at sharpening the Multi-Media Skills of newsmen drawn from the North-Western States of Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara and Jigawa States.
The training is in collaboration with the Folio Media and Creative Academy and had been conducted previously in other zones of the country.
The three-day workshop is themed: The Convergence Journalism.
At the commencement of the training in Kano on Wednesday, the company’s Group Chief, Branding and Communication, Anthony Chiejina, said the training was planned to upgrade the capacity of practicing journalists on multimedia skills.
He said the training will help equip newsmen to face the challenges associated with the transition from traditional to the new media while describing the media as a partner in progress.
He described the company’s relationship with media as cordial.
The Project Coordinator, Folio Media and Creative Academy, Alabi Pius, said (FMCA) is the training arm of Folio Communications Plc. Publishers of Daily Times newspaper, adding that the training was conceived to equip Journalists, Media Executives, Public Relations Officers and other professionals.
In his presentation, a lecturer from the Bayero University Kano, Dr. Mukhtari Magaji urged journalists to prepare for the transition, as the skill will empower them and make them relevant in the new world.
Dr. Magaji described convergence Media as a mixture of texts, audio, and video for production and consumption via a single medium of communication.
He categorized the overlapping convergence into economic, technological, and socio-cultural.
Other lecturers scheduled to speak at the training program include Dr. Bala Muhammad, a former journalist with the BBC World Service in London and lecturer with Bayero University Kano; as well as Dr. Saminu Umar, a lecturer with the same University.
Speaking, a participant and founder of Good Governance Website, Dr. Aliyu Machika, said the training was apt as it will enable newsmen from North West Zone to sharpen their skills and economically empower them.
