As part of measures geared towards shoring up the professional capacity of its staff, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, commenced a four-day training of officers attached to its Radio Station.
Executive Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, while declaring open the training at the corporate headquarters of the EFCC in Abuja, stated that staff training was an empowerment initiative targeted at honing the skills of officers of the Commission.
He specifically pointed out that EFCC Radio would take desirable heights in professional delivery and excellence achievable through adequate training of staff.
“The vision of the management is to ensure that EFCC radio becomes a reference point in terms of professionalism for radio broadcasting in Nigeria. That is the only way we can achieve the objective for which the station was established, which is to provide a platform for continuous public enlightenment and sensitization in the fight against corruption”, he said.
The EFCC’s boss who spoke through the Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Mohammed Hammajoda, charged participants to make optimal use of opportunities and facilities available for the training. “I charge the participant to take full advantage of this opportunity by being attentive and ensure that the full impact of the training is reflected in their works in the coming weeks”, he said.
Commenting on the training, Director, Public Affairs Directorate of the Commission, Commander of the EFCC, CE Wilson Uwujaren explained that the programme was organized to bridge the gap that the Commission identified in terms of skills of those who are currently running the radio arm of the Commission.
“We have put up this programme, essentially to bridge the gap that we have identified in terms of the skills of those who are currently running that arm of the department. We are not going to waste any time, in the next few days we are going to be in serious sessions to see how we can improve our crafts”, he said.
Uwujaren charged participants to optimize the fresh insights, depth and exposure which the training would offer them. He emphasized the seriousness the Commission attached to the training stressing that no opportunity should be wasted in that regard. “I know that we will benefit from their rich experience the trainers gathered over the years. I advise you all to also take this programme seriously and ensure that you take away something from the initiative. For those of us who have no background in radio broadcasting, this is a serious opportunity for you to at least take something away from the professionals who have been doing the job over the years”, he said.
Trainees would be exposed to contemporary issues in Journalism, Radio Presentation and Programming. Specific emphasis would be placed on voice training, body language, content planning, audience interaction, among others,
In his overview of the training, Rector of West Africa Broadcast Media Academy, WEBMA, Dr. Ken Ike Okere assured that “we are going to be focusing on intervention on four major areas; journalism, which is in terms of news, production of news and dissemination of news which is the core function of a radio station. We are also going to focus on presentation and when we talk about presentation, we have one of the biggest experts in the whole of Africa. We are going to be focusing on programming, how can your radio station adopt programmes, initiate and curate programmes that can win the heart of your listeners and even more listeners because we operate in a very competitive market.”
Continuing, Okere stressed that “we are also going into something very important, that is fake news and misinformation. How do you detect fake news, how do you detect misinformation because one of your principal functions as a radio station owned by a security agency such as the EFCC is to also help in the stability of the country.”
Fifteen staff of the EFCC Radio are taking part in the training.
