A REPORT OF TRAINING WORKSHOP ON ICTs FOR MEDIA PROFESSIONALS

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) in conjunction with the management of the Bauchi Television Authority (BaTV) organized a four-day training workshop on ICT for Media Professionals. The workshop which held from 25th to 28th October at the Iya Abubakar Community Resource Centre, State Library, Bauchi, was aimed at enhancing the capacity of media professionals to utilise ICTs for their professional work. The specific objectives of the programme are:

  1. 1.      Expose the participants to various new ICT tools for media work that would enhance their professional competence
  2. 2.      Enhance the skills of the participants in the use of ICTs
  3. 3.      Introduce the participants to new media businesses using ICTs
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Cross Section of High Table YZ Yau (Exec. Director, CITAD)
addressing the participants
CITAD Facilitators preparing for the worshop Cross section of participants


Participants numbering 32 were drawn from the various departments and sections of the television station. The opening ceremony, which held on Tuesday, 25th October was chaired by the Bauchi State Head of Service, Mr. Abdon D. Jin represented by permanent Secretary, Alhaji Waziri Yahaya Jalam. The Guests of Honour were the Chief press Secretary to the Bauchi State Governor, Mr. Ishola Michael and heads of other media organizations in the state. The Managing Director of Bauchi Television Authority, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris Shal in his welcome remarks said that his management pays premium on staff capacity development and that was why it decided to partner with CITAD to roll out this training. He disclosed that other programmes have also been lined up to further update the skills of the workers. The Executive Director of CITAD, Y. Z. Ya’u provided briefing on the objectives and nature of the programme, stressing that this was meant to introduce participants to various new skills to enhance their professional development.  The keynote address on the importance of ICT to media work was delivered by the Hon Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Umar Saleh. Goodwill messages were also offered by several others, including the Chief press Secretary to the Bauchi State Governor. The chairman of the occasion said that his office was ready to work the Bauchi Television to improve the skills of its staff.

The training programme consisted of five modules. Module 1 which was introduction to ICTs was facilitated by Ahmed A. Yakasai. This dealt with understanding of the concept of ICTs and its various dimension and well as some the ways it impact on media practice. Module two was on social media and social networking and facilitated by Bashir Muzakkari who took the participants through the evolution of social media and social networking, noting the differences between the two and interactively demonstrated the various uses of both social media and social networking. Many of the participants have some familiarity with this aspect of the training. Module three was on Online Tools for Journalists and facilitated by Engr Kamaludden Umar. This covering such topics as Online document storage (from the storage of video clips and other documents), advance search techniques for information sourcing and background research on covered topics, online document translation (to speed up ) new processes and ICTs tools for interview and survey. The fifth module dealing with basic ICTs skills (covering advanced word processing and PowerPoint presentation) was facilitated by Isyaku Garba. Sufyan Jamil facilitated the last session on Editing Processes (dealing with video, voice and graphics). This turned out to be the most engaging module.

On the afternoon of the final day, a short closing ceremony was done during which certificates were distributed to participants. Barrister Haruna D.  Mohammed who represented the Managing Director expressed appreciation of the management and staff of the corporation to CITAD for the kind of training they got. Also speaking in the same vein, Malam Ibrahim Sani, Director new said that was an eye opener and hoped that CITAD would not get tired of request from the organization. The ED of CITAD in his own remarks thanked all the participants who showed a remarkable commitment to learning, and to the facilitators who shared their knowledge and skills with the participants. He also thanked the management of the Bauchi State Television for agreeing to partner with CITAD in this progrmrme and disclosed that CITAD was ready to partner on other areas of ICT capacity building with the Bauchi Television as well as other sister media organizations in the state.