Chris Kehinde Nwandu,
Publisher CKN News and President, Guild of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria
recently paid a courtesy visit to The Sun Publishing Limited Corporate
Headquarters, Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos.
Nwandu, in this
interview, sheds light on the new trend in cyber publishing and online
information dissemination, the prospects and problems, as well as the
forthcoming lecture organized by his online platform to professionalise the
trade in Nigeria through the guild he heads. Excerpts
As the President, Guild of Professional Bloggers, we are
organizing a lecture that aims to bring some life into the art of blogging and
online publication. My outfit, CKN, decided to organize this lecture to educate
people in this field. We want to look at the challenges we face so far. We want
to look at the good, the bad and ugly sides of online publication, as well as
how far we have fared. That is why we have come up with the first CKN Annual
Lecture and the theme is “The Role of Social Media in the Socio-economic and
Political Development of Nigeria.”
The event is going to take place on Tuesday the 13th of
June, 2017 at Renaissance Hotel, GRA, Ikeja. The guest speaker is the Minister
of Transport, Honourable Chibuike Amaechi. We chose him, because he has been
the most bashed personality in social media on all platforms. We want to bring
him in to tell us his experience. Let him analyze social media from his own
perspective. The chairman of the occasion is going to be the Governor of Abia
State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. The chief host is going to be the Governor of Lagos
State, Akinwumi Ambode. Our special guest of honour is the Corps Marshal,
Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi.
Since the lecture has to do with technology, the executive
Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communication Commission, Professor Umar Garba
Danbatta, is going to give the keynote address. We want to use that opportunity
to look at ourselves and find out how far we have gone, what we are doing
right, what we are not doing right and how to improve, so that we will continue
to remain relevant in the scheme of things.
What are the
objectives of the Guild of Professional Bloggers?
The first objective is to bring some level of
professionalism in the art of blogging in Nigeria. It is our aim to let
Nigerians know that bloggers are not riff raffs, drop outs, trouble makers or
blackmailers. There are many bloggers making legitimate money out of blogging.
The second one is to act as an avenue for bloggers to
interact on issues of national importance and issues that concern them too.
Another objective is to look at areas of cooperation and collaboration between
bloggers in the areas of content and information management.
The guild also seeks to establish some codes of conduct
ethically for practitioners of industry so that we can distinguish ourselves
from those who are just on the cyber space and those who are doing their jobs
well and professionally.
We also set up the guild so that we can train and re-train
ourselves with modern day technological know-how on the art of professional
blogging, news dissemination and online publication.
So how do you intend
to do all these given the free access many people have when it comes to
blogging and how do you plan to get a reasonable amount of bloggers into the
guild?
Already, we have a reasonable amount of bloggers registered
with us, but we are looking at how we can continue to spread our tentacles. By
the time those who are sceptical about joining us see the calibre of people
within the association and what we have been able to achieve, they will
definitely know that this is where to belong.
Also, it is easy for organisations to relate with people who
have come together as one and see themselves as professionals, rather than just
dealing with individuals. Also, no one knows it all. When you belong to a
group, you will interact with others, look at your strengths, know your weaknesses,
try to balance both and learn from other people who are doing the same as you.
This body will also give bloggers credibility. By the ethics
establishing the association, there are certain things you are not supposed to
do. Once people see that there’s credulity in our association, there’s a
tendency that they will come and join us. We know it is a very difficult task,
but they are surmountable. We want to put face to blogging in Nigeria. It’s an
avenue to make money, learn from others and reach out to the world with
information and people will take you seriously.
What are some of the challenges you face
running CKN News as well as the association?
As an online publisher, network communication is always a
challenge. We rely on telecom companies to work, but sometimes, it is very
difficult to do so. At CKN, we have more than eight internet platforms, yet
sometimes we can’t break stories or upload articles, because all of them are
down. It can be frustrating.
Information gathering is another challenge. We are not as
big as most media houses, so we have to rely on traditional media and News
Agency of Nigeria for news. We rely mostly on our i-reporters. We have over
2,000 of them that supply CKN news and stories all over the world. They are not
being paid, but they believe in our passion. But that is also another
challenge. We have to authenticate their stories.
The issue of libel is another challenge. We don’t have legal
department and lawyers unlike traditional media. Getting personnel is another
challenge. Because of the economic challenges, we don’t have the resources to employ
qualified staff with the ability to do the job well. Many online platforms are
run by one person, who is the editor-in-chief, reporter and photographer. If
anything happens to him, the website will suffer too.
Being able to attract patronage in terms of advert is
challenging. You must build your platform to a certain stage to be able to
attract patronage. It depends on your content and the level of reach.
Source: Sun
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