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By our reporter, Lafia
Oxfam in Nigeria on Friday tasked media professional on amplifying the voices of vulnerable groups and communities that were impacted by climate change in Nasarawa State.
Dr Kenneth Akpan, Country Lead for African Activists for Climate Justice (AACJ), for Oxfam in Nigeria, gave the charge on Friday in Akwanga at a 2 Day Capacity Building to strengthen AACJ Project Team and the Media.
Dr Akpan underscored the critical role of media in amplifying the voices of people particularly the vulnerable groups, community -led actions against climate change, and success stories of AACJ projects in various benefiting communities.
“Media plays a big role in amplifying voices, it plays a big role in telling the story of Agunji community, telling the stories of people in different communities who are impacted by climate change.
“Telling the stories of farmers out there who lost their farm last year due to flooding, some of them don’t have the capacity to go out there and tell their own stories.
“It is you that can tell their stories and help them to get the necessary attention that is needed,” he said.
He enjoined the people of various communities who in one way or the others benefited from AACJ project to take charge and give feedback on the impacts the project has on them and their communities.
“It is not just about coming here to talk, we need to see impacts, we want to measure the impacts of what we have been doing over the years in your community. There should be a change by now.
“We want to hear somebody telling us that people have planted trees in your community, women have started making briquette, started adapting to right way of doing things,” he said.
He, therefore urged journalists to spotlight the success so far recorded by the project in the state through documentaries, human interest stories and feature stories.
The Chairman of Akwanga LGA , Safiyanu Andaha, while declaring the training open, said that government would continue to partner Non Governmental Organisations to mitigate impact of climate change in the state.
Also speaking, Comrade Salihu Alkali, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nasarawa Council, underscored the pivotal role of the media in driving community engagement and awareness.
He appreciated the organisers for the opportunity given to journalists to participate in the training, noting that it would greatly build their capacity to write impactful stories for the good of the society.
The Lead Facilitator at the training, Mr Dan Yakubu, who spoke on the topic, ” Media Training for Climate Change: Most Significant Change Stories Reporting” , charged journalists to promote evidence based, traceable and verifiable information that can be published and shared at the community of practitioners’ platforms.
He called on them to promote climate change networking and collaboration among communities media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the public for the over all development of the state and country at large.
He called on them to promote climate change networking and collaboration between and among communities media, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the public for the over all development of the state and country at large.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of YMCA Mada Hills, Mr Ango Adamu while giving the overview of the project said it has built capacity of stakeholders in 5 LGAs of the state on climate related issues; tree planting, briquette production.
“The project has also established community nurseries in 5 LGAs for 2024 planting season and organised climate change school debates in 3 Senatorial zones of the state.
Adamu said arrangement have been concluded to scale up community nursery establishment in 5 more Local Government Areas of Nasarawa state; Keana, Doma, Wamba, Nasarawa and Karu by June for 2025 planting season.
The training was organised by YMCA Mada Hills, a Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) in collaboration with ASSAPIN with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs through Oxfam in Nigeria.
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