WCIJ Trains 537 Reporters, Inducts 12 Female Reporters Into Leadership Programme

Executive director/CEO, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WCIJ), Motunrayo Alaka yesterday disclosed the centre has trained 537 reporters across Nigeria’s Six geopolitical zones over the last decade.

According to Alaka, the centre has also produced 131 stories focused on women and girls, just as it conducted comprehensive women-oriented media monitoring and carried out three surveys on gender parity in news and newsroom leadership.

She made this disclosure at the 5th fellowship induction and award for female reporters by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism in Partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at an event held in Lagos.

Alaka alluded that the Report Women work is to address the under-representation of girls and women’s issues in news reports, saying,’’ Hence, this is presently evolving through its Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP) and news and newsroom engagement initiatives.

She lauded the inductees for demonstrating exceptional leadership and investigative prowess through their projects.

“Equipped with skills for newsroom leadership, this year’s cohort has addressed mentorship gaps for female journalists, rekindled the aspirations of journalism and mass communication students in journalism as a career path, produced a research report on the impact of motherhood on female journalists working in Nigerian newsrooms and revived the press clubs of two secondary schools,” she stated.