By Aminu Ahmad Mamagi.
Journalists covering insecurity and governance in Nigeria have been urged to shift from incident counts and sensational headlines to reporting that reflects community realities and policy implications.
The call was made during a two-day Capacity Building Workshop on Public Safety Reporting held in Abuja from January 27–28, 2026. The programme brought together reporters from Benue and Bayelsa States as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
The event was organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) with support from the Open Society Foundations (OSF) under the People-Centred Public Safety Project.
CJID Executive Director, Akintunde Babatunde, said the initiative seeks to challenge dominant security narratives that often dehumanise victims and fail to influence public policy.
“We want journalists to produce reporting that shapes public understanding, strengthens accountability, and influences policy outcomes,” Babatunde said.
Participants examined community policing under the 2020 Nigeria Police Act, structural issues in policing, and emerging patterns of violence including retaliation cycles, security vacuums, and delayed state response.
The workshop also encouraged journalists to highlight community resilience, peacebuilding efforts, and reform initiatives, while grounding their stories in facts, lived experiences, and historical context.
The training concluded with a call for journalists to use their reporting to influence laws, budgets, institutions, and public programmes, and to elevate community-defined notions of safety.
