Kadaria Ahmed is a woman who has set a benchmark for female journalists in Nigeria. With an extensive career beginning with the BBC in London, she moved back to Nigeria where she became the Editor of the now defunct NEXT Newspaper, a board member of Premium Times, hosts her own shows “The Core and Straight Talk on Channels TV and launched her own media company, Daria Media.
On December 11, she clocked 50 and in celebration, decided to give back to the profession she is so passionate about. As such, she kicked off the “Daria Workshop Series” in three cities: Kano where she schooled, Uyo where she served and Lagos, the city she calls home. The training launched at Media Trust Limited in Abuja where numerous Daily Trust reporters where trained extensively on practices such as identifying fake news, embracing ethical standards and many other aspects that have proven to put the profession under a lot of pressure of recent.
The workshop series aims to tackle the most urgent problems putting journalism at risk and training participants how to practice independent, competent, ethical and socially responsible journalism. It also provided business models to sustain and keep media outlets growing strong. The team consists of a trainer from Beyond Broadcasting, a company known to train journalists across the world with media giants such as Aljazeera and former BBC journalist; Ben Williams, Founder of Premium Times Dapo Olorunyomi; and Kadaria herself.
But Kadaria did not stop there. After the workshop series, three lucky female participants were selected for the Mamman Marshall Scholarship for Women in Journalism, named after her father at the three participating schools: Bayero University Kano, Lagos State University and the University of Uyo.
Also, to keep the birthday schedule going, another programme titled “A Conversation on Media Renewal in Nigeria” and a book and scholarship presentation took place in Lagos yesterday with the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbanjo as the keynote speaker. An address was delivered by Mr John Momoh, Chairman of Channels TV with panelists Mallam Mannir Dan Ali, the Editor-in-Chief of Media Trust Limited, Mr Simon Kolawole, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cable Newspaper and blogger/social media expert, Japeth Omojuwa.
