TELL Magazine

A former General Editor of Newswatch Magazine, Jossy Nkwocha, who also presented a paper at the occasion, said that there are many legitimate ways by which journalists could leverage on their profession to empower themselves.

Nkwocha spoke on the topic, “Leveraging Journalism for Socio-economic Sustainability”.

The event held at the conference hall of the Rivers State Ministry of Justice was chaired by Ogbonna Nwuke, former Commissioner of Information in Rivers State and former member of the House of Representatives.

Nkwocha said journalists are exposed to very important information and persons of influence which they can leverage on to gain social, economic and political relevance.

“Journalists can do research for national and international organizations for a handsome fee.

“Journalists can write books on controversial political gladiators or issues such as the environmental devastation of the Niger Delta region,” he said

He noted that such books can earn huge returns to journalists. Nkwocha stated that he wrote five books while working with Newswatch.

He said, “A journalist can develop himself to become a corporate events compere or leverage on his exposure to go into politics.

“Journalists can also apply for the several Federal Government bailouts to set up small and medium scale agricultural projects such as fisheries, poultries, mechanized farming, etc.”

He encouraged journalists to continually pursue self-development to position themselves to take advantage of available opportunities.

Nkwocha gave practical examples of how he developed himself as a journalist and how “those efforts landed me where I found myself today as head of Corporate Communications of a multinational and Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.”