Welcome address by President, Journalists for Christ International Outreach, Lekan Otufodunrin at the launch if the report on Mainstreaming Gender Reporting on Affirmative Action of Women and Girls Rights Issues.
On behalf of members of Journalists for Christ, I want to welcome you all to today’s programme which is the launch of a report of a one- month media monitoring report on the portrayal and reportage of women and girls rights issues in six national newspapers in Nigeria.
There have always been claims and counter claims about how well the media generally and in Nigeria in particularly report women and girls issues.
To be sure of what the true position is based on empirical findings, we at JFC have undertaken to conduct this research as a guide to the Nigerian media and other stakeholders.
We have come up with recommendations which will be well circulated along with other activities including training, media visits and civil society engagement to ensure that the Nigerian media is gender friendly.
Today’s event and other subsequent ones would not have been possible but for the grant provided by the World Association for Christian Communication ( WACC ) based in Canada and London.
WACC is a non- governmental organization that builds on communication rights in order to promote social justice with membership open to individuals and organizations. Please take time to read more about WACC in the publication that will be available to all and on the internet.
We seek the support of you all to ensure the success of this project which is one of JFC’s contribution to the development of the media in the country.
JFC is a faith based media organization committed to promoting the the ‘good news’ in the media, upholding ethics of the profession and ensuring capacity development among other goals and objectives.
I also urge you to read more about us in the publication and look forward to having any interested media professional as our member.
I want to place on record our sincere appreciation for the hard work and support of many individuals who worked on this project, particularly the Project Consultant, Sanmi Falobi, Project Coordinator, Gbenga Osinaike, a Administrative Secretary, Dayo Emmanuel, Project Adviser and Board of Trustee member, Betty Abbah, Chaplain, Reverend David Alabi and others.
More than every other thing, we are grateful to God for the opportunity to implement this project. To him be all the glory and honour.
Once again we thank all our special guests and you all for honoring our invitation for today.
