The International Labour Organisation (ILO) FAIRWAY project, which seeks to improve reportage of labour migration issues, will wrap up its span by December of 2023. CHRISTIAN APPOLOS writes on the experience of journalists in Nigeria trained on the project.
THE International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) FAIRWAY programme is an inter-regional initiative aimed at improving labour migration conditions from Africa to the Arab states and to protect vulnerable migrant workers in the Arab states. FAIRWAY also seeks to enable migrant workers to contribute to sustainable development in both their countries of origin and destination.
In achieving these objectives, the programme trained Nigerian journalists on labour migration issues over a two-year period.
The training, which focused on building capacity for journalists, trade unions and civil society organisations (CSOs), has led to an improvement on the use of terminologies and framing of labour migration stories that tend to create awareness around fair recruitment practices in Nigeria. Though much still needed to be done, however, for many media professionals in Nigeria, the FAIRWAY project trainings have equipped them with better understanding of the issues.
Some of the journalists who participated in the training described it as impactful.
“Before the ILO FAIRWAY training, my understanding of labour migration was quite limited. I could not put things in perspective as regards issues relating to labour migration,” said Tersoo Zamber, a journalist with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
“But now, following the training, I can put issues on labour migration in better perspectives. From the training, I could see that labour migration is a vast terrain but not many journalists had paid interest to this terrain,” Zamber added.
Zamber, along with other journalists, is a member of a community of practice set up by the FAIRWAY project. The community also has members of CSO groups working around migration.
Zamber also suggested that in the future, “the training could be spread across for more days. Sometimes, the two days is not enough to dissect the issues; they can make it in one week. If they can also bring retunees or victims of migration exploitation during training to share their experiences, it will be nice.”
He added, “As a journalist, with the new understanding I have about the issues, I frame my stories such that those listening to me as on radio can now understand what is being discussed. And I can boldly say that presenting the issues from a standpoint of knowledge is really helping our audience to make better choices as regards labour migration.”
Helen Shok, a Senior Editor with Voice of Nigeria (VON), said the training couldn’t have come at a better time with the new wave of the ‘japa’ syndrome in Nigeria, especially among young persons.
Shok noted that labour migrants need the right information to make better choices, adding that journalists with better understanding are now in pole position to offer that information as a result of the training they have received.
Moses John, a journalist with the Blueprint Newspapers, said, “There is no doubt that the role of the media is very important in helping labour migrants make better decisions. Through our reportage, we make the public become more aware of laws and treaties and guidelines that concern labour migration. This FAIRWAY project has helped to build our capacity in a way that we now have a better understanding of many of these laws and guidelines.
“The awareness created by the media around the dangerous migration routes has, without a doubt, helped to reduce the number of young people that would have taken such dangerous journeys.”
Samuel Adeyinka of the FRCN said, “The training has helped me to have better understanding on remote causes of labour migration, regular and irregular migration.
“Before now, labour migration issues used to sound very strange because I know just little about them. But the training really exposed me to the core issues and efforts being made by different organisations to tackle the challenges thereof.
“While I boldly speak to my family members and friends about the peculiarities of labour migration, it is now a priority for me to seek and know more about the subject and issues around it.”
The journalists who benefited from the training have become the focal points for reporting within their newsrooms and have been active in pushing for an increase in stories on labour migration within their outlet and ensuring that these stories align with international labour standards and best practice in ethical journalism.
Tunde Salma is one of the trainers engaged by the ILO FAIRWAY project to build capacity for journalists. He said he is impressed with the “increasing consciousness with regards to terminologies that several trainings have pointed out to.”
But there are rooms for improvement, he said, adding that there are a plethora of issues that journalists can focus on.
“The depth of reportage is still more of routine reporting. Many of the reports still focus largely on ‘japa’ of Nigerians abroad. Perhaps, due to the fact that people hardly talk about the benefit of migration at individual level when things are going fine, it is only when things are not going fine that they voice out and media latch on to that to report what may now be termed as largely negative stories around the issue of irregular migration.”
He said further, “If you look at some of the tools that the FAIRWAY programme has produced in the last few years, particularly the media tool kit, they contain resources, tools and tips that can aid journalists and they approach the issue from different thematic areas that can serve as inspiration for journalists. I will advise media practitioners to always consult and read through these resources when developing stories along this subject matter,” Salma said.
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