The Nigerian Press Council (NPC) on Wednesday trained no fewer than 40 stakeholders from the media and academia on research methodology and grant proposal writing.

The Acting Executive Secretary of NPC, Mr Victor Egharevba, said the purpose of the training was to build capacity in ensuring quality news reportage, research methodology and effective grant proposal writing.

The training was organised by NPC in collaboration with the North Dakota State University, USA.

“We should pay serious attention and ensure we gain a lot from the training to enhance our capacity in research methodology, proposal writing and news dissemination.

“The trainer is fully loaded with all the necessary knowledge to boost our capacity in carrying out our duties,’’ he said.

The trainer, Prof. Charlse Okigbo said there was need for participants to embrace Integrated Mix Research Method (IMMR).

“Grant writing and value for looking forward is also very important for the media and other relevant stakeholders in the country.

“However, the objectives of the training include the 2019 election frame, documented reporting perspectives and relevant importance of social media influence.

“Others are the involvement of local media and public relation and possible relationship between various communication activities and voting outcome,’’ Okigbo said.

He said strategic planning was very important to research and grant proposal writing.

He also enlightened the participants on Distributed/Servant Leadership, Action Research, Problem Solving and Management Consulting.

Other topics treated were philanthropy, Proposal/grant writing, fundraising, capital campaigns and prospect research and others.

The training attracted participants from NPC, News Agency of Nigeria, Voice of Nigeria and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.

Other participants were from the print media, Bayero University, Kano, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira and other stakeholders.

Participants were divided into research groups; Television, Prints and Social Media Groups to carry out further research.

One of the trainees, Mrs Rafatu Salami told NAN that she benefited from the training, adding that her capacity in proposal writing has improved.

The coordinator of the event, Mrs Stella Jibrin, said the training became necessary due to the need to improve research knowledge of stakeholders in the media, academia and other organisations.