Blessing Iruoma
Journalists in the Niger Delta have been charged to take a frontline role in driving policy reforms and accountability through accurate and people-centered environmental reporting.
This call was made during a two-day workshop for journalists in Rivers, held in Port Harcourt.
The workshop tagged “Training on Environmental Justice Reporting”, was organised by Kebetkache Women Development, in collaboration with Resource Centre in partnership with the Centre for Gender Equity and Sustainable Development, and support from Ford Foundation.
In her presentation at the workshop, Executive Director of the Centre for Gender Equity and Sustainable Development, Constance Meju stressed that the media must move beyond surface-level reporting to become instruments for social and environmental change.
“The environment is our life,” she said, adding that “The Niger Delta bears the brunt of climate change, oil extraction, and environmental injustice. Journalists must help people understand these issues not just by reporting incidents but by telling the human stories behind them.”
Meju emphasised the critical role journalists plays in shaping public awareness and influencing policy outcomes by amplifying the voices of affected communities.
“It is by highlighting the effects, by going to the people that are affected and letting them speak, that we can help policy makers make correct decisions. Journalists must do more than we have done. We must understand the issues and challenge policy gaps”, Meju stressed.
In her address, Executive Director of Kebetkache, Dr. Emem Okon, called for mainstreaming of gender in environmental reports, urging journalists to ask questions about inclusion in policy implementation, especially in relation to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the Nigerian Content Act, and Host Community Development Trusts (HCDTs).
She said “Development should never be seen as gender-neutral. When covering the PIA, journalists must ask: how many women are on the boards of these trusts? What powers do they hold? Were they involved in the needs assessments?”
Dr Okon stressed that most of the challenges experienced in the Niger Delta revolves around the environment, while itemising the challenges as: poverty of the pocket and mind, ignorance, political, social factors, food scarcity and insecurity.
She charged Journalists to sensitize the public against hyping politicians, but rather use the value times to do meaningful things.
She said “When journalists mainstream gender and inclusion, they are directly contributing to sustainable development and better governance”.
Participants drawn from print, electronic, and online media described the training as timely and transformational.
One of the trainees at the workshop and State chairman of Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Susan Serekara-Nwikhana noted that the workshop equipped journalists with a renewed sense of responsibility.
“The training has broadened my scope. There is a lot I am taking home. I now see reporting on environmental issues not just as news, but as advocacy for change,” she said.