Abdulbaqi tasks journalists on aggressive reporting of climate change

An Associate Professor of Mass Communication at the University of Ilorin, Dr Saudat Abdulbaqi, has urged journalists to aggressively report climate change and climate actions to mitigate its effects on the people.

Dr Abdulbaqi, who gave the charge last Thursday (March 7. 2024) at a Climate Change Journalism Workshop in Ilorin, said journalists should drive the issue of climate change in their daily reporting from different beats.

The Workshop was organised by Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative in conjunction with the Sobi FM Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ).

Dr Abdulbaqi said journalists were the last hope of the common man regarding creating awareness on how human activities caused climate change, especially in rural areas where they had little or no knowledge about it.

The Communication scholar said, “Climate change is not new, but we are shying away from taking decisive steps to mitigate it.

Dr Abdulbaqi, who is a Council Member of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), said it was high time journalists learnt more about climate change; conduct research for the purpose of replication and dig deeper to know if the consequences of climate change could be prevented.

She added that journalists should pay more attention to stories and reports about climate change as it affects our way of life and existence.

On his part, one of the organisers of the Worksop, Mr Dare Akogun, who spoke on “Fact Checking and Debunking Myths on Climate Change”, tasked the government on engaging experts while coming up with policies on climate change.

Mr Akogun, who is the News Editor, Sobi FM, Ilorin, said that journalists should be able to hold leaders and government accountable through their climate reports.

The expert on Climate Change reporting said journalists should, through their reports, open the eyes of the policy makers to what could be done to mitigate the effects of climate change in the society.

The well-attended Workshop drew participants from a cross section of journalists from print, electronics, and online media as well as government information outlets and non-goveenmental climate change activists.