By Latifah Bagidi
It was the middle of October, the change in weather had taken a toll on me that I ended up spending all of my time on drugs. I was about to die the death of the night when I heard a voice. It was my coursemate chanting my name just at the doorstep of my hostel. Immediately I stepped out though weak. I saw Awwal and Usama blessing me with the sun in their smiles. “What is going on?” I wondered, because I was surprised to see them at my hostel that night. “I saw the message, i couldn’t hold it till tomorrow then i decided to come tell you, You are among the selected participants for the CJID training,” Said Usman.
Grinning from ear to ear, I was overwhelmed with joy, because I knew it was quite competitive since many people applied.
Before going further, I know a question will be running through your minds: what does CJID mean?, CJID is an acronym for Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, a West African non-profit media organization based in Abuja, the federal capital territory of Nigeria which blessed my school with a four days training from 16th to 19th of October 2023.
However, 52 Campus journalists of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto alongside mass communication students were trained by CJID for the four days. It was an honor to be amongst the lucky people because, before this I only heard about CJID but I have never worked nor had contact with them physically before so it was a great honor.
The first day of the training was mind blowing as Mr Haruna Auna, a publisher of Wikitimes, trained us on newsgathering and tools for investigative reporting. Personally, as a campus journalist, I have never done investigative reporting before but after the class with Mr Haruna,I became obsessed with investigating journalism, in fact I am currently working on one so get ready.
Along the way, he led us on a sourcing expedition to look into reports, sources, and leads. It was very mind-blowing to learn about the methods that, as college journalists, we may employ to get sources to respond to your inquiries and to help you achieve your goals in the wake of the reports. As a journalist, it is imperative that you cover some of your sources since their lives depend on you. Then, Mr. Haruna ignited a debate by quoting George Orwell, who said, “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want to be printed.” At first, I thought everyone agreed with Orwell, but Abdulrasheed Akere disagreed, thus the quote remained valid..
The fact that the trainers are so friendly made the classes so interesting with an encouraging atmosphere, their smiles lit up the room and their words of encouragement stick to me like a new baby would to its mother.
However, Mr Silas Jonathan, A fact-checker from Dubawa, a man who smiles at every given opportunity, introduced us to what is called fact-checking. “He said fact checking is verifying, authenticating, certifying, and double-checking a piece of information as false information finds it way better than the fact ones”. His session was very interesting and educational too as I got to know the consequences behind spreading false information as a journalist.
It was surprising when Miss Iretomiwa Dele-Yusuff, editor of Campus Reporter, opened my eyes to the differences between gender and sex. Could you believe I wanted to challenge her when she told us gender is society and sex is biology? Because I was just contemplating how gender can be society? on a normal ground I know gender to be either being a man or woman and then someone is telling me it is society. Well I saved myself from disgrace by not challenging her because she took the session so well that I got to understand that sex is what is meant biologically, for example, only a female can get pregnant and gender is what society believes for example, a good wife must do all the house chores while the man watches the television.
Did I tell you Miss Iretomiwa asked me why females are not practicing journalism as men? I was surprised at first, but I answer the question narrating the little experience I had as a campus journalist and why I think women are not practicing journalism as men, I might not be able to convince her but a course mate of mine Zariat Yetunde helped me out, though she was not so convinced but at least we give it a shot.
I would be an ungrateful being if I refuse to tell you how Mr Haruna on his will, taught us the safety tips to use as a journalist and also Mr Kabir Yusuf, a journalist with Premium Times flash lectured us on data journalism, I find it difficult to understand that, though it was not his fault it has to do with my poor performance in mathematics and data journalism need calculations to my understanding.
Further that, we were grouped into five groups to practicalize what we have been taught from the first day of the training and it was a memorable one as I got to work with Habeeb Olokooba, Biliaminu Manne, and other wonderful members of my group. Unfortunately, we didn’t emerge as the winner but we came in third position and we learned to work together as campus journalists.
I wish I knew every single soul that has contributed to CJID positively. I would have the whole time to mention your names and appreciate you but all the same my appreciation goes to you all, may the good lord bless every one of you. (amen). This article will be incomplete if I refuse to mention the hospitality CJID offered us, I mean, is it the tea break where we had all kinds of snacks you can think of or lunch that chicken always dances in? which of it will I not appreciate?
To CJID, on behalf of the 52 journalists you nurtured, we say thank you and we have learned a lot that words can’t portray, The four days seem like four years of learning from you. I mean I can imagine if I had learned from you for a week, guys I would have been the best by now.