The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has trained no fewer that 40 first line editors to strengthen its editorial operations and improve its contents quality.
The Managing Director of NAN, Malam Ali M. Ali in his address to the participants on Friday in Abuja said the training was the beginning of many career development programmes in the agency.
According to him, the training, put together by NAN and Genius Business School, was designed to improve productivity of the participants.
“The need for training and retraining is to keep us abreast with contemporary techniques and skills, and to see how we can remain the best news content provider.
“There are several layers to this training; this is for editors; there will be for controllers also. Beyond that, in the course contents, participants will be exposed to so many other things.
“Thankfully, we have reviewed the agency’s style book. I am sure there will be a lot of takeaways in terms of language, editing skills, and generally, meeting up with the best global practices,” he said.
Ali added: “With technology, we realise that the world is becoming increasingly small; and like what we said, with time, we want to see how we can confront the future.
“What confronts us in the future is a little bit unsettling, and unless we prepare for that future, chances are that we will be left behind.”
He stressed the changing landscape in language and news reporting , adding that there are new words which have been accepted globally.
The NAN MD gave the examples of manufacturers of Kodak Cameras and Nokia Phones who had gone down, because they failed to change and flow with technological advancement.
Speaking, the facilitator, Mr Ephraims Sheyin, said the essence of the training was to underscore the relevance of the first line editors as the engine room of the agency.
“The first line editors, most times on Grade Levels 12, 13 and 14 are assets to the agency; If we get it right with them, then the sky will be our beginning.
“You must not be in a hurry to edit a story, and if you don’t have the time to add value to a story, don’t touch it,” he said.
Sheyin, immediate past Editor-in-Chief of NAN, admonished the editors to put in their best, adding that the future of the agency depended on them
One of the participants, Mrs Chidi Opara said the training was interesting and thanked the management for organising it.
“It opened our eyes to little mistakes that we often neglect or unconsciously ignore which could result in bad copies.
“I solicit for more trainings and implore the participants to go through the presented papers and put them to use,” she said.
Another participant, Mr Gabriel Agbeja said the training was an eye opener and would enhance the capacity of participants.
