By Khadija Waziri
The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) on 4th September 2025 held a one-day training in Kano to build the capacity of journalists on Digital Rights and Online Safety.
The training brought together media practitioners from different organizations to learn how to stay safe online, protect their digital presence, and report more effectively on issues related to digital rights.
Delivering his remarks at the event, Dr. Bala Muhammad, a lecturer at the Faculty of Mass Communication, Bayero University Kano, urged participants to put the knowledge acquired into practice and extend it to colleagues in their newsrooms.
He noted that this was necessary to entrench digital safety practices and ultimately improve the productivity of journalists in producing quality content.
Speaking at the event, Mal Ali Sabo highlighted the major challenges journalists face when it comes to online safety. He explained that many reporters are targets of cyber-attacks, harassment, and data theft, and therefore need to be more conscious of how they use digital tools. His session was interactive, allowing participants to share their experiences and ask questions.
Also making a presentation, Engr. Kamal Umar took the participants through simple techniques and tips for online protection. He guided journalists in testing the strength of their passwords and checking if their email addresses had ever been compromised. The exercise, which many described as eye-opening, showed how vulnerable personal information can be when not well secured.
On his part, Engr. Muhammad Bello Yahya spoke on privacy and data protection. He gave an overview of laws that affect journalists in the digital space and demonstrated practical steps on how to permanently delete sensitive data and digital memories from devices.
Participants described the training as timely, saying it came at a period when online safety has become a serious concern for journalists in Nigeria.