Media and civil society groups in Nigeria have been urged to continue to engage the private sector through more active advocacy in order to provide public enlightenment.

The call was made at a two-day course organised by Integrity Organisation Limited with support from Action Aid and UKAid.


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At the event attended by selected journalists and members of the civil society from across Nigeria featured sessions during which participants were trained on engaging the private sector.
Lead facilitator, Mr. Soji Apampa told participants to be proactive on issues for the benefit of the general society.
The aim of the workshop was to train the media and the civil society organisations on providing a robust engagement with the private sectors and various stakeholders in any issue they are focusing on


The main facilitator at the training Apampa who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Integrity Organisation Limited told participants that the media and the civil society community in Nigeria have what it takes to engage the private sector and bring out the best in Nigeria.
Participants were empowered with tools to aid their operations in engaging the public sector.
According to Apampa, the workshop’s breakaway session was aimed at ‘Looking at the rationale of civil society engaging the private sector and what are the opportunities for engaging the public sector.”
He also said another reason for the engagement was for the media and the civil society to rediscover their roots and the scope of their work to convert the power they really have to hold them accountable.
“The media publish stories read by the public who do nothing about the stories,” he said and called on the participants to utilize the tools given them at the training to engage sensitive issues.
Participants who were divided into four groups treated different sub themes during which knowledge was shared for easy assimilation of key points of the training.
“We broke into four groups because we wanted to learn a tool that we will start to use to deal with issues. It is not enough to get angry, you have to strategically position yourself to do something about the problem,” Apampa said. 
The co-trainer, Mr. Sam Cookie enjoined participants to always engage the public sector with the tools provided at the training.
The event executed in conjunction with ActionAid and UKaid was Integrity Organisation Limited’s contribution to the body of knowledge for journalists and civil society groups who were tasked to engage the public sector in Nigeria.

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