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UNESCO strengthens Nigerian media’s reporting on climate change
On climate change, we have got lot of impact from climate change and on the food production in Nigeria. The floods in Nigeria last year were a huge topic. To learn how climate change affects people and livelihoods, you have to go out into the communities where the stories and issues are, you have to go there.
In December she travelled to the north-western Kebbi state to report on how a severe flood impacted the lives and livelihoods of over a million people, interviewing farmers who saw their crash crops being inundated and ruined by all the water.
Building knowledge
To strengthen the capacities of media organisations like the Premium Times, UNESCO’s section for Media Development and Media in Emergency has launched the Climate Change in News Media initiative. Covering several regions worldwide severely hit by the effects of climate change, UNESCO partnered with the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) to train and mentor media organisations in Central and West Africa, including Premium Times.
Trainings like these will help the climate change adaptation and mitigation in the country, particularly how it impacts and affects women. It will bridge the existing gaps of climate change awareness.
Mojeed is considered by many to be Premium Times’ leading reporter on climate change, having written extensively on how Nigerian farmers adopt new technologies and methodologies to adapt to the environmental challenges it poses. Another topic he has been investigating is the use of funds stemming from Nigeria’s issuance of Green Bonds, to accelerate the adoption of climate smart solutions in the country.
UNESCO’s media capacity-building programme in Nigeria consists of an initial hands-on two-day workshop, followed by mentoring in the newsrooms. This to let the media organisations practice and implement the new technologies and methodologies.
It was an eye opener, how we can do more when reporting such stories. It took us a step further. As journalist you cannot report on what you do not know. It was a great training. I like to see Climate Change as an issue that needs constant interfacing. It was quite heavy, building our knowledge.
Oil, oil, oil
As Nigeria is an oil-rich country, the Premium Times has plenty of environmental issues to cover. A recent story Okafor reported on was the soot pollution from the illegal small-scale refining of crude oil. For this she went on assignment to Port Harcourt, the capital and largest city of Rivers State, and a hub for the oil industry.
“As the result of the illegal processing of crude oil, soot goes up into the atmosphere and it affects livelihoods, and the water, which is consumed,” she said.
“Not only are the people there breathing the polluted air, but also drinking the water every day, both have major implications for their health,” Okafor pointed out.
Both are grateful and see the need for the capacity-building their newspaper has received.
“The knowledge around climate change is wide, when we have a training like this, it lets you know more about climate change, which is a difficult topic to cover well,” Mojeed noted,
His colleague agrees: “There is a need to continue to let the journalists understand what is happening. We should be covering the global discussion and how they affect Nigeria,” Okafor concluded.
