Popular online news medium, Daily Nigerian has unveiled the Penlight Center for New Media and Innovation, targeted at equipping young Nigerians with the necessary skills and resources in using Social Media for activism and positive cause.
The launching held at the PRNigeria Centre, Kano, is geared towards the engagement of individuals in the areas of social media, Investigative journalism, publication, and media interface.
Speaking at the ceremony, the founder of the centre and publisher of Daily Nigerian, Jaafar Jaafar, stated that the beneficiaries of the training will be groomed in areas of social justice, transparency, accountability, research, and training.
He said the centre will empower participants to actively be involved in areas of healthcare, education, governance, women empowerment, and fact-checking projects.
Jaafar said, “Social Media has come to stay and its positive aspects far outweigh the downsides. So we want to see how we can train citizen journalists to understand and apply the fundamental aspect of journalism.”
The publisher further noted that investigative journalism is evolving with new trends that need an adequate demonstration of knowledge to access grants and expose stories that will policymakers to take positive actions.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the chairman of the centre and publisher of PRNigeria, Yushau Shuaib, said the centre will address challenges of information dissemination on Social Media.
He said “most of our youths lack the know-how in using Social Media beneficially. The North especially is backward in using these tools for advantageous engagements.”
Shuaib, a renowned Public Relations practitioner revealed that the center which is a non-profit initiative has already received the support of over twenty computers, solar power installation, generator set and yearly data package from the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
He noted that the pioneer beneficiaries of the initiative who are students of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano are already doing excellently well in deploying their acquired skills.
Meanwhile, a Director of the Centre and spokesperson of Amnesty International Nigeria, Isa Sunusi, said the initiative became necessary considering the need for a similar establishment in the northern part of the country.
Present at the ceremony were members of the Kano state Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), who pledged their support for the program while also committing themselves to benefit fully from Penlight’s offerings.
