Niger Women in Media Summit: We’re preparing female journalists for leadership roles, says Justina Asishana

Justina Asishana is a Nigerian journalist who serves as the Niger state correspondent for the Nation newspaper. She has previously held the position of Niger state correspondent at both the News Nigerian newspaper and Daily NewsWatch newspaper. Additionally, she contributes as a freelancer to several African and international media outlets.

Justina possesses a deep passion for data-driven/investigative reporting and solutions-driven journalism. She is a fact-checker and has been inducted into many fellowships. A Sigma Award nominee; in 2021, she was recognized as the Journalist of the Year by the Africa Media Development Foundation.

In this interview with CrispNG, she talks about her brainchild “Niger Women in the Media Summit” and how she hopes to help other female journalists through the platform, especially those in Niger state.

CrispNG: What is the Niger women in the Media summit all about?

Justina: Niger Women in the Media Summit is a forum created to bring women journalists, reporters and women in the media together to learn, relearn and unlearn. It is created to keep women abreast of the current innovations and trends in the media space and help them collaborate and network. This is why this year’s Summit, we are focusing on gender mainstreaming and leadership because we notice that there is not much attention being paid to gender issues in our media space.

CrispNG: How was it established and who’s the founder?

Justina: Niger Women in the media summit was established in 2019 as a leadership project of Justina Asishana, the Founder during her Female Reporters Leadership Programme of the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ).

CrispNG: This is the second edition of the summit. What are the activities for this year’s edition?

Justina: This year’s Summit will be held for two days. The first day would cover aspects around female Leadership in the media while the second day would cover gender mainstreaming in the media. Both days would have panel discussions, workshops and networking. There would be an opening and closing ceremony and a side event which is the Pitch Deck where participants of the workshop would have the opportunity to pitch gender focused story ideas where the most innovative story idea would be funded.

CrispNG: What is Media Mentors Network all about?

Justina: Media Mentors Network is an initiative that is focused on the training and retraining of upcoming journalists and practicing journalists, due to the importance of mentoring on the career of an individual, the Network tries to create a forum to link mentees with mentors.

CrispNG: What can you say about the media landscape in Nigeria, especially for females considering conversations on equality? Do you think that things have taken a better shape?

Justina: I can say we are getting there and things can still take a better shape. This is why we are organizing this network so that more female Journalists will be aware that they can aim for leadership roles and also be intentional in highlighting conversations on gender.

CrispNG: What can aspiring female journalists do to have a breakthrough in the industry?

Justina: First, they have to be intentional about their goals and aspirations in entering into the journalism space. They also have to improve their capacity so that they can compete with anyone if given a level playing ground.