"..... No one was willing to assit us"
By Abasifreke Bassey
It was a sad moment for duo of Emmanuella Bassey, a child reporter and Daniel Charles, an ENG Camera operator of the Akwa Ibom kids Press Club when they learnt that their nomination to attend a two week holiday training in Ontario, Canada for media kids club from 13 countries was canceled.
The cancellation it was learnt, was as a result of their inability to get their international passports ready and which they were to take to Lagos for the processing of they visas.
The two were nominated when their news entries and documentaries were selected as one of the three best amongst the lot received.
Lamenting the loss of the rare opportunity, the 16 year old kid camera man, Daniel Charles said his father who's a broadcast Journalist was unable to source for funds to procure the needed documents. He said, "we even went to some big men we had interview on our TV programme, but they were of no use to us". "we even wrote to some Government functionaries as at the time but most of them who were commissioners were not sworn-in then but we didn't here from them till the closing date came", he added.
On her part, Emmanuella Bassey, 10 who's the lead reporter at the Akwa Ibom kids Press Club in tears narrated how she felt saying, "perhaps God didn't want us to travel. Though it would have been the first time I would have traveled out side of the country and by air for that matter! "
Attempts by the coordinators of the Akwa Ibom kids Press Club were not successful as about two hundred and fifty (N250,000) needed to process their travel documents and transfer them to Lagos could not be raised as the Akwa Ibom kids Press Club which is the first kids Press Club in the country operated under the unicef /UNESCO framework of child involvement in media was personally funded by the coordinator who's a public servant.
Speaking with our correspondent, the Executive in charge of the Akwa Ibom kids Press Club, Mr. Charles Bassey Silas, a broadcast Journalist with FRCN serving in Uyo, said, "when we got the e mail notification of the nomination for the holiday workshop, we were excited and had great hope that we could leverage on the opportunity to move the club forward but sadly that hope was dashed with the news of the cancelation since we could not meet up"
Mr. Charles Bassey as he's popularly know in media circles told our correspondent that all efforts to reach out for support from top politicians and prominent entities in the state hit a brick wall. He however stated that, "I know if Her Excellency was in town, she probably would have been of help to us, but I understand she travelled on summer vacation.", "she would have assisted us with the kid's passport and funds to get them to Lagos", he said further.
The two week holiday training for media kids club was an all expense paid programme which was meant to sharpen the skills of participants in News writing, presentation, camera operation, editing as well as seminars on child rights and understanding career prospects for children.
It would be recalled that the Akwa Ibom kids Press Club which has trained not less than 25 kids in the state to be proficient in News writing skills, Radio and TV production and presentation and camera operations and editing.
The first Bach of trainees were inaugurated on the 22nd of June 2019 in Uyo, the Akwa state capital.
The club has a running TV program, titled, "KIDDIESVISION AKWA IBOM", presented, produced and edited by them.
Akwa Ibom kids Press Club is the third of its kind in Africa.
Of the over 311 kids Press clubs across the world, Akwa Ibom kids Press Club is the first in Nigeria 🇳🇬
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