By Prince Osuagwu

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and Zinox Technologies are collaborating with ICT Publishers Alliance in a project to build capacity in the use of modern ICT tools in news processing and management among West African journalists managers of information within government.

The partners said they were considering the increasing influence of social media in news delivery which has increased challenges for traditional media practitioners and broader need for engagement by public/government information managers. The added that the project will be focusing on smoothing the rough edges in information coverage, management and delivery.

The ICT Publishers Alliance is coordinating the training as part of its goal of empowering West African journalists in the use of modern ICT tools and to understand modern trends in global ICT.

According to the Chairman of the ICT Alliance Aaron Ukodie developments in the ICT sector in form of vision and policy direction and innovation move in very fast pace and journalists whose business it is to report these trends and use these tools must keep abreast of  these emerging trends and vision.

The capacity building programme which will draw journalists and other participants mainly from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Senegal and Togo will take place from November 24 to November 27, 2012.

The Minister of Communications Technology Mrs Omobola Johnson is expected to declare the event open. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC Dr Eugene Juwah and Director-General of NITDA Professor Cleopas Angaye and Chairman of Zinox Technologies Leo Stan-Ekeh are to give key note addresses at the event.

The capacity training will come in three modules spread across the three days.

Some of the sub topics to be handled include General Perspectives on Journalism and the genre of ICT Reporting Citizen Journalism – Notions and Actualities: A plus or minus for Professional ICT Reporting and National Development  The Fundamentals of ICT Reporting and the demands of National Development; Can ICT Reporting advance the cause of National Development?  What is ICT4D and National governments, National Institutions and the defining of ICT4D goals?

There are also modules in Transparency, eGovernance and Legal Challenges in ICT Reporting; Responsible Journalism and Nationalistic among others. There will be various case studies drawn from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal,South Africa, Tunisia, United States of America etc. Legal frameworks in ICT4D and the challenges of reporting online

Some of the resource persons lined up for the programme include Professor Clement Dzedonu, Consultant to the ECA on ICT4D and Vice Chancellor of AIT University, Accra, Ghana and Barr. Nseobong Akpan, Technology Columnist and Chief Consultant, Technology Law Firm, Abuja.

Others include Professor Kim Viborg Andersen, Department of IT Management (ITM) and researcher in organizational and policy aspects of IT, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Basil Udotai, Legal Adviser to Chief Security to the president of Nigeria on Cybercrime and Professor Steve Woolgar, Professor of Marketing and Head of the Science and Technology at Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.