SFCG plans curriculum for journalists on freedom of religion in Nigeria

Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) says it is working on plans to develop a curriculum for journalists on promoting freedom of religion and belief in Nigeria.
Mr Ogabiela Daniel, the Project Manager, SFCG, said this at a three-day workshop for development of curriculum on common ground journalism in relation to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in Abuja.
Daniel said the project being supported by the Netherlands Embassy would equip journalists with improved capacities to produce conflict sensitive reporting on inter faith and FoRB related issues.
He said that the curriculum being developed with media practitioners would establish effective Early warning/Early Response and Referral (EWER) mechanisms for addressing FoRB violations in Nigeria.
“The curriculum is going to reduce the insensitive reporting that we are experiencing at the moment,I am very confident of this because of all the inputs the high level media and executives here have done.
“This consciousness will now stay in the sector where everybody will be doing their reporting sensitively bearing in mind that inasmuch as freedom of religion is everybody’s rights, but they will do it responsibly,” he said.
Daniel said the curriculum would help to enhance public understanding of interfaith conflict and have greater access to neutral and conflict-sensitive information related to inter-faith harmony and cohesion.
Interim Country Director, SFCG, Fatima Madaki said that the organisation’s move to develop FoRB curriculum was against the backdrop of the fact that journalists wielded immense influence over public opinion and societal perceptions.
Madaki said it was a responsibility that carried not only the duty to inform but also the profound responsibility to do ethically and sensitively.
She said that the workshops focused on conflict-sensitive reporting within the framework of FoRB acknowledged the complexities that arise when covering issues that could be deeply personal and intertwined with cultural, social and political dynamics.