Over 150 Media Practitioners Attend Delta’s Democratic Communication Training

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba 

At least 150 media practitioners participated in the three-day 7th Edition of Delta State Communication (DELCOM) training workshop in Asaba with a charge by the Delta State Government to make verifiable information and credibility their watch-word in their reportage to ensure a crisis-free democratic governance.

The workshop, themed “Digital Communication and Crisis Management: Building Trust and Credibility for Democratic Governance”, draw participants from the print, electronic and new media as well as the academia.

Dr. Latimore Oghenesivbe, DELCOM State Coordinator and Director-General, State Bureau for Orientation and Communications, said that “the essence of the workshop was to equip media practitioners with requisite knowledge to discharge their duties professionally and responsibly.”

While thanking Governor Sheriff Oborevwori for sustaining the government’s support for the annual workshop, Oghenesivbe expressed delight at the consistency of the programme since the inaugural edition seven years ago.

The DELCOM coordinator said, “I feel good, and we thank God Almighty for the success of the programme. We took off well, and we are closing at this scale”, adding, “His Excellency, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, made it possible for us, and we are very grateful.

“DELCOM 7th Edition has been a very good one, centred on digital communication, crisis management in order to create credibility for democratic governance.”

He commended the resource persons for theory commitment and excellent delivery of the lectures, describing all the modules employed as relevant.

The modules and the groupwork sessions defined what media practitioners should do and not do in order to ensure crisis-free environment, he noted.

“The modules reflected what we came here to do and the groupwork also reflected that in doing our job there are things we should do and things we should not do.

“The trainers also explained the connecting bridges in some technical areas, how we can manoeuvre and how to sustain that credibility for democratic governance”, he said. 

He also expressed appreciation to Prof. Joyce Ogwezi, Prof. Presley Obukoadata and Dr. Rita Abamba, the resource persons. 

He said, “They did justice to all the modules and lectures from beginning to the end. So, I am very sure that we are leaving here better than we came for this workshop.

“In this edition, we started with over 160 participants on Day One but we issued certificates to 132 participants at the end of the three-day workshop here in Asaba.” 

In his remarks, the Chief Trainer, Prof. Presley Obukoadata, Head of Deparment, Public Relations and Advertising Department of the Delta State University, Abraka, explained that the training based on “building trust, digital communication, leadership, crisis communication among others.”

Obukoadata said, “The issues are all in the public space for now. They are issues in communication that we have to deal with as we begin to prepare for 2027.

“Therefore, we believe that this will help prime journalists, media practitioners, managers, stakeholders and prepare them for 2027 to ensure that the communication ecosystem is free from misinformation, malinformation, fake news, and misrepresentation of facts.”

He stressed the importance of looking “beyond breaking the news, but verify facts by putting the training acquired into practice and ensure that we build a credible democratic society collectively.”

The workshop concluded with the presentation of certificates to both the trainers and the participants.