IPC releases documentary of intervention in rural communities

Dayo Emmanuel

Lagos based media NGO, International Press Centre (IPC), has produced a documentary on its community journalism initiatives.

With support from the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) Canada, the documentary, is IPC’s intervention in community reporting focusing on the challenges as well as government’s developmental efforts in selected rural communities captured in the documentary.

Speaking at the presentation of the documentary produced by JaogMedia Production for IPC, Director of the IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said, the organisation has been working on solution driven activities to proffering solutions to some challenges of people at the grassroots.

“For some times, we have been working on solution driven reporting on rural poverty issues and we have enjoyed support of the various communities we work with and we know it can get better,” he said, adding that, “This documentary we are introducing today is a summary of some of our interventions and we know it would go a long way to proffering solutions.”

Advising the media on a strategy to effectively report the rural areas, Arogundade said, “The media should consider community reporting as a specialised field,” stating further that, “The media is a very strong platform that can drive community initiatives, we are not even reporting a quarter of happenings in our communities.”

In his own remark, Online Editor and Director Special Publication at The Nation newspaper, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin at the event, said, “The definition of journalism is extending beyond our usual scope.”

Commending IPC and WACC on the production of the documentary, Otufodunrin advised that, “IPC should liaise with training institutions to incorporate some of the things it is doing. Do your best to align with media owners to maximize community reporting.”

He stated further that, “Community reporting is not only about what is not being done but what has been done, especially the little the government has been able to do and what the people have done well in their various communities.”

Also at the event, a social commentator, Mr. Francis, commended IPC on its community reporting effort which has brought about positive intervention in various communities. “I like to commend what IPC is doing. A lot of Nigerians will see the documentary and see that journalism is not only about things they read in the papers, but what goes on in the communities.”

“He added that, “The plights of the people must be highlighted and the people must be allowed to tell their own stories in their local dialects. People should know that Lagos is not all about the Ikoyis, Lekkis, Suruleres and the likes, but also about the rural communities.”

Also on the panel, a Lagos based lawyer, Mrs. Aluko-Olokun, commended the efforts of the IPC and also recommended follow-ups and feedbacks from the people.

“I like to commend IPC on the initiative of community reporting. This is just the starting point, a lot of follow-ups are still needed, I like to hear the people speak their own language and each community should be brought out. The documentary is a tool for advocacy and needed in networking with relevant agencies, I hope IPC would get the needed cooperation so that people can get educated on issues.”

A human rights activist at the event, Mr. Soetan, also applauded IPC and WACC on the documentary. According to him, the motion picture has its advantage over the printed page with its convincing power. “Anything you read or hear can easily be forgotten, but you are not likely to easily forget things you see in this kind of documentary,” he said, advising IPC to pass copies of the documentary to communication schools and media houses to add to their library materials.

A student and observer at the event, Enime Oguntunji, lamented that students don’t get enough exposures on community reporting. She therefore enjoined IPC to encourage the youths with some of its programs. “In school, we don’t get sensitized about things like community reporting. I want IPC to carry the youths along and involve them on social media and other online platforms, the documentary would go places with youths’ involvement,” she noted.

In her own response, an intern at the secretariat of Christian media group, Journalists For Christ, Nigeria, Mary Anifowoshe, said the documentary produced by IPC has the capacity to champion the cause of development of rural areas in Nigeria.

“IPC has done well by packaging this documentary. If well channeled, especially on social media it would get the attention of opinion leaders who would get to know what is truly going on in rural communities and it would increase chances of development of the rural areas.”

Meanwhile, another participant at the event, Seye Joseph, told the audience that, “The pictures in this documentary are not strange to many of us. They are things we see in our environment on a daily basis. I commend IPC and WACC for this initiative, and if documentaries like this are pushed out, they would help the people to know how to get to the media and it would also help the government to be aware of certain issues.