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A journalist and trainer, Mrs. Funmi Falobi has marked her 40th birthday with a lecture for student journalists in Lagos.
The event which held at the International Press Centre, Ogba, Lagos attracted students and lecturers from the Yaba College of Technology and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos.
Falobi, a former correspondent with Daily Independent Newspaper and part-time lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology said she deliberately decided to celebrate with mass communication students who are the future of the profession. “Instead of throwing a party, I thought of gathering students and have senior journalists talk to them. They may gain one or two things and add to their career,” she said.
The former State House Correspondent at the event tagged, “Becoming a better Journalist in the trending world of new media,” enjoined young journalists to determine to get necessary skills needed to succeed in their studies and eventual career. Falobi also enjoined journalists to give back to the society and especially to the young ones coming into the industry.
Also at the event, Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of Nigerian Union of Journalism (NUJ), Dr. Qasim Akinreti told the participants to be focused and know what they want to achieve. “I am a journalist and I am proud to be a journalist,” Akinreti said. He however relayed how as a child, he admired a certain radio presenter and today he is a senior staff at the Voice of Nigeria.
“I grew up at Ibadan and we lived in the same estate with Mr. Ropo Ogunwusi who is now the father of the current Ooni of Ife. I used to listen to him on the radio as a child and I would look through the dictionary to find any new word picked from him,” he relayed, telling the student journalists how he picked interest in what today has led him to great heights.
Anchor of the event and family friend of the celebrant, Dayo Emmanuel during the interactive session warned the students to beware of what they post on social media. “You must know that the internet does not forgive, it does not forget also. So be mindful of what you upload. Make sure your contents are sane because Facebook for instance has a way of bringing back your online history,” he said.
Mrs. Yinka Sokunbi, an experienced journalist and publisher of Healthstyle Plus in her presentation asked the students embrace social media tools to enhance their career.
“Your generation is lucky because back then in those days there were no computers like we have today,” she said, adding that, “In Punch in those days we had to wait for our turns to learn the computer but we moved on and mastered the skills,” she said.
Sokunbi who is now a blogger also told the participants how her son built her blog with which she practices her profession after a fruitful sojourn in the newsroom. She told the audience to be involved in citizen journalism which is needed to effect the needed change in the society.
Also present at the event was Alhaja Sekinat Lawal, Chairperson of the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Lagos Chapter. Lawal eulogised the virtues of the celebrant and enjoined young journalists to emulate the virtues of those who have gone before them.
She particularly decried how the system treats journalists who are said to be the fourth estate of the realm, advising journalists to uphold the ethics of the profession to better the society.
In another presentation, a lecturer from the Yaba College of Technology, Mrs Asaolu Olunike enjoined the students to take advantage of the lessons they have gathered at the event. “You have heard from media practitioners and you must determine to keep acquiring knowledge and also practicalise what you have learnt,” she encouraged.
Participants did a birthday song for the celebrant and interacted at the end of the program after a group photograph.
*Story by Oluwatosin Ojebisi and Dayo Emmanuel
