By Kenneth Onuoha
365Daily – A four-day training of journalists on ethical reporting, media advocacy and solutions journalism kicked off in Calabar, Cross River State capital, on Monday, June 14, 2021.
The training has over 30 journalists drawn from print and electronic media houses in Ebonyi State as participants.
It was organised by Spotlight Intiative, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information, with joint support/funding from European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN).
Khadijah Ibrahim Nuhu, the joint EU-UN Spotlight Initiative Communications Coordinator at UNICEF, charged journalists in attendance to open up in discussions on how they could deepen their roles in promoting an end to Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWGs).
She noted that it was important for journalists to move beyond reportage of incidences of violence against women and girls by doing investigative journalism and being more interested in the issue of VAWGs through advocacy and solutions journalism.
In his presentation at the workshop on behalf of the European Union, UNICEF’s Child Specialist, Victor Atuchukwu, identified weak and poor enforcement of existing FGM laws, weak national and state level FGM response coordination bodies and financial gains as the reason the practice persists in Nigeria.
He explained that 2018 National Democratic Health Survey revealed that FGM among girls age 0-14 was most common among girls whose mothers were circumcised, have no education and from the lowest wealth quintile.
In her presentation, Barr. Mike Aja-Nwachukwu of Ebonyi State Ministry of Justice, lamented the increase in cases of violence against women and children in the state and called on media to rise up to the challenge by effectively reporting the cases and following them.
She raised the alarm over increase in child stealing in the state, while disclosing that the ministry has recorded over 30 cases.
“Children are being abused and the perpetrators are living in our environment, what are we doing about it as media practitioners?
“Children are being stolen and mothers suffer it most. What have you done about it as journalists? In our ministry, we have over 30 cases of stolen children. Child stealing is on the increase in our state,” she said.