Chief Inspiration Officer of Visible Impact, Fela Durotoye has tasked Nigerian journalists to take up the challenge of nation building and begin to construct the future of the nation with their pen.

Durotoye was speaking to journalists at Press House in Ikeja during a free training organised by Visible Impact for Journalists at Independent Communications Network, publishers of PM News and The NEWS Magazine.

During the session, Durotoye focused essentially on how global brands are built through high performance teams as he took the participants through the differences between mere teams and high performance teams stating amongst other vital things that “besides just having a clear goal, high performance teams usually having a compeling vision”.

As the participants continued to nod in agreement, he challenged them to take on a global mindset and see their publication on news stands in other countries, just like Newsweek, TIME and Oprah Magazine. “I usually see Oprah Magazine beside PM News with vendors, there is no reason why PM News should not be in other countries of the world”, he said.

He went ahead to task the fourth estate of the realm to rise to the occasion and save the future of the nation. He said “journalists are very powerful…we have seen how newspapers can chase a government out of power. So, why don’t we use that power to improve the country through what we write?” he asked.

According to him, the present situation is such that “if a 15 year old reads an average newspaper in Nigeria today, he will be tempted to run away from the country”. He therefore stressed the need for ‘balanced reporting’ and being ‘future senstitive’ in reporting news.  

FD was also quick to note that his organisation, Visible Impact and himself have enjoyed incredible media coverage over the years, especially during the recent Mushin

Makeover project, hence his decision to give back to the media in his own way.

The nation’s foremost inspirational speaker also frowned at media practitioners who insist on collecting ‘brown envelopes’ before they can publish stories asking whether such reporters will also demand money from victims of violence to publish their stories.

The widely celebrated speaker wondered why journalists will prefer to report an armed robery incident for free but charge a fee to report a gathering of 2,000 youths in a conference to strategise on the future of the nation.

In his words, “we know there are corrupt people in the society, but there are also role-models that the young ones can look up to. The problem is that we are not featuring them”.

He challenged the journalists to begin to celebrate good news and project the right image our nation for the world to see, while working hard towards becoming a global brand.

The training had in attendance, the Editor of PM News, Mr. David Odey; News Editor, Mr. Lanre Babalola; Admin Manager, Mr. Rafiu Salau; Advert Manager, Abayomi Osoba and other senior staff of the organisation. From Visible Impact, Mr. Durotoye was accompanied by Communication Strategist, ‘Seun Salami.

In his vote of thanks, Admin. Manager, Mr Salau thanked Visible Impact for the idea of the free training, describing it as “very excited, very necessary and very well appreciated”.

The Editor, Mr. Odey on his part, said he has learnt “the difference between teams and groups and what it takes to build a successful high performance team”. He also promised that lessons from the training will be well utilised in the organisation.

The training is the first in the series of free trainings put together by Visible Impact for media organisations in Nigeria. It is the organisation’s way of saying thank you for the massive media support she has enjoyed over time, especially during the widely acclaimed Mushin Makeover, which held on Saturday, December 12, 2009.