Group trains journalists on sustainability reporting

Asharami Square has trained journalists on sustainability reporting.

The organisation is an initiative of the Sahara Group, an energy and infrastructure conglomerate. 

The event, which held on Monday, saw stakeholders in the energy sector and journalists take turns to explain how sustainability should be reported on the continent. 

Bethel Obioma, the group’s head of corporate communications, said the inaugural edition of the initiative became imperative in order to get journalists to amplify the African sustainability story.

He emphasised the need for journalists to tell the sustainability story in a way that galvanises the natives to take action.

He called on the federal government to keep an open mind while working with the private sector and civil society. 

“Asharami square is a platform that builds capacity of the media, especially in the area of reporting sustainability. Everything to make sure that the average reporter tells the story in manner that the audience understands and takes action,” Obioma said.

“This is the inaugural edition, we plan for it to be an annual event.

“Journalists who report sustainability should ensure they are factual and follow sustainability channels, so  that when they report they do so as people who understand what they are reporting.

“Nigeria is already on its path to sustainability. But the government should be more open to work with private organisations and civil society. It should also be able to go back to its policies and see which ones need to be overhauled or maintained.”

Mokhtar Bounour, chief executive officer at Egbin Power, emphasised the need for companies to offset emissions and for carbon sequestration in the country.

He added that his company has keyed into the sustainability strategy of the Sahara Group through initiatives like tree planting and use of electric vehicles.

“We do a lot of tree planting. We have planted about 1,000 trees which will continue every year. We do protection of the water through close monitoring, we are participating in emissions reduction and at the same time saving cost,” Bounour said.

“We encourage our employees to use bicycles and electric scooters to commute to the site to avoid coming by cars. The small steps will have bigger impact in time.”

Marcel Mbamalu, chief executive officer of NewsTide, emphasised the need for media houses to have sustainability as a category in their establishments.

Mbamalu urged journalists to build capacity to enable them report sustainability appropriately.

“We as journalist have not really done well in reporting sustainability. We need to forge partnerships to help them carve the products we give out to our audience,” Mbamalu said.

“We should pay attention to discourse in the local environment. Training editors on capacity building strategies is critical to enabling these sustainability stories not to be discarded in newsrooms.”