The Africa Polling Institute (API) has challenged journalists to put social cohesion first in their work, stressing that divisive reporting threatens national unity.
API resource persons spoke at a 2-day capacity-building workshop for Policy Executives and Media Practitioners as Champions of Cohesion.
The workshop, which began on Wednesday, 18 April, ended on Thursday, 18 June 2026.
The resource persons agreed that divisive reports with ethinic slur tear Nigeria apart.
Executive Director of API, Bell Ihua, told journalists to hold the line on professionalism and integrity. He said API gathered resource persons to guide reporters toward coverage that demands good governance.
“We must see ourselves as Nigerians first,” Ihua said. “That shift in orientation builds bridges of understanding and strengthens social cohesion. Ethnic and religious divisions remain, but Nigerians now share one struggle: survival. That shared hardship can rebuild unity.”
Odoh Diego Okenyodo, founder of Akweya TV, trained participants on ‘Data storytelling for Digital and Social Media Platforms’.
He urged journalists to follow professional ethics and reject vested interests.
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“Journalists and media practitioners must act deliberately to foster national cohesion,” Okenyodo said. “Avoid generalisation and ethnic profiling in your reports.
“Agenda-setting is your power. Do not sacrifice the watchdog role on the altar of ethnic pandering,” he stressed further.
Obiorah Chukwumba of Veritas University, Abuja, in his session with the theme: “Storytelling and Framing-Crafting narratives that Foster inclusion,” charged the media to fight “the common enemy.”
“The West African Pilot under Nnamdi Azikiwe ushered in independence before 1960,” Chukwumba said. “Today, the media must play that same role, redefine democracy and fight the common enemy while fostering national cohesion and progress.”
