By Sani Idris-Abdulrahman

UNICEF has brainstormed with journalists from Kaduna State, Nasarawa, Niger and Kwara on bolstering reportage of health and education issues.

This was in an effort to expand media buy-in at all levels to strengthen terms of engagement to promote reporting and broadcasting of health and education programmes,

UNICEF’s priority areas of intervention for the four states are; reducing the number of zero-dose children, which falls under health, and reducing the number of out-of-school children, which falls under education.

At a dialogue session in Zaria, Kaduna State, Dr Sule Meleh, a Health Specialist with UNICEF, tasked the media to actively participate in creating awareness on the issues.

According to him, this is  through news and programme contents with a view to reducing maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria.

Meleh said the essence of media dialogue was to bring journalists together to brainstorm on issues of maternal and infants’ mortality.

Similarly, it was to identify the major challenges confronting pregnant women ranging from antenatal to postnatal at the facilities and look at possible ways of addressing the issues.

He said that the media were good partners that could help UNICEF spell out some of its interventions on health and education to the public.

This is for them to key into considering the indices of maternal mortality and infants’ death in 2023 cut across the states.

Meleh explained that bringing journalists onboard would go a long way in linking the population with the available services as provided by UNICEF and other NGOs.

He assured more collaboration with journalists to achieve the target objectives.

Similarly, the Kaduna State Education Officer, Primary Health Care Development Agency, Isa Yusha’u, said media practitioners can reach millions of people through their news reportage and programmes contents.

He believed that the discussions would impact positively on improving maternal, newborn and child health across the four states.

Also, Bala Dada, the Education Officer, UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office, said the engagement was to give them information about the programmes UNICEF run along with the government.

He said UNICEF works directly with the state government to focus on the interventions and priorities of the state.

Dada explained what the state governments were focusing on currently which UNICEF was greatly interested in.

He said, ”This is because of the interest they have about out-of-school children and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).”

Dada lamented that recent data showed  an upsurge of out-of-school children.

He said: “In Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger and Kwara  we work with government partners and other education sector players to roll out interventions to reduce the upsurge.

“This engagement with the media across the states is to let them know what exactly we are doing and how we are doing it and what we are trying to achieve.”

The specialist emphasised the need for coordination between what development partners and government were doing.

“We all need to have proper data, we need to know exactly where the out-of-school children are located in our communities.

”When we do this, all the interventions by development partners and the government will be more targeted and better results will be seen,”he said.

Hadiza Muhammad, UNICEF’s Communication/Advocacy/Partnerships Officer, Kaduna Field Office, said the two- day dialogue would add value to the lives of the people particularly women and children in the four states and Nigeria as whole.

Salisu Lawal, the Director, Planning, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, said the media engagement was timely, adding that the educational sector has a myriad of problems that could be reduced heavily by the media.

Describing the media as critical stakeholders in awareness creation, he said they were also critical in influencing government policies.

Lamenting the state’s high burden of out-of-school children, Lawal said Kaduna was the first state that accessed the Islamic Development Bank’s loan to address the issues.

“Kaduna State has serious concerns about the issues, but it can’t address it all without critical stakeholders.

‘They include the media, school based management committees and the parents teachers association, CSOs among others.

“The programme, intended to return 200,000 out-of-school children back to school has already started.

”It is going to construct more schools, renovate structures and also improve the school management across the state,”Lawal said.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that a paper titled “Digital Reports and Use of Social Media”, was presented by the Managing Director of Kaduna State Media Corporation (KSMC), Mr Ahmed Maiyaki.

He stressed the need to apply innovation and advancement in carrying out their responsibility amidst the
social media era where citizen journalists can write and post without adhering to ethics.

Also, Dr Murjanatu Abba from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, took the participants through a practical session on development of storylines/media action plan for health and education programs.

The journalists from the four states commended UNICEF for the dialogue.

They pledged their commitment towards ensuring that the essence of the engagement is achieved in their respective states.

They called on their respective states’ governments’ officials especially Public Relations Officers in MDAs to be open and avail information when needed by the journalists.

”Access to information also aids journalists’ work.We are committed to upholding the ethics of journalism and protecting our sources when the need arises,” they added. (NAN)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani