Eighty-eight journalists have graduated from a six months capacity-building training organized by the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) for Financial Journalism Training Program (FJT) at a special ceremony in Accra.

All the journalists who were from Ghana, Nigeria and Togo were categorized into two groups of 44 each and were trained in financial reporting and other business-related issues such as data collection for national development.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Deputy Minister for Education, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, recounted the critical role played by the media in the socio-economic development of every country.

He commended Bloomberg and its allied partners for the huge investment made towards the success of the training programme.

The Deputy Minister urged the media to hold high their code of ethics, be diligent, and cohesive and remain professional in the execution of their day-to-day activities. 

Rev. Ntim-Fordjour described the role played by the media in the development of every country as very crucial and reminded them to be the well-being of the populace is their focus.

He assured the media of the Education Ministry’s and the government’s preparedness to continue supporting them in their training at all times to ensure the development of the media landscape.

The Minister for Information, Mr Kwadwo Oppong Nkrumah, recounted the support and respect the government and people of Ghana held for the media and pledged to continue to support the operations of the nation’s media to deepen the democratic dispensation of the nation.

He assured all that every effort would be made to help train many journalists in the country to be on top of their game when it comes to their functions so they would be able to contribute their quota towards the development of the country.

The Rector of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Prof. Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo, said the training would go a long way to improve financial literacy in the country and urged financial reporters to up their game to meet the expectations of the people.

Awards were presented to deserving journalists who excelled in the course of the training.

Background

The programme sponsored by the Bloomberg foundation with support from Ford Foundation and Stavros Niarchos was aimed at developing the skills of financial reporting and data analysis towards meeting the current global standard.