President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to declare open the 2018 World Congress of the International Press Institute (IPI) which is scheduled to take place in Abuja from June 21 to 23, 2018 under the theme: “Why Good Journalism Matters”.
The Congress will bring together top African editors and journalists, political leaders and high-profile analysts, as well as representatives of international organisations, to engage in expert conversations about the continent’s major political and economic developments.
This year will bring over 300 participants from 40 countries to discuss numerous challenges quality journalism is facing.
According to the IPI, with rapidly growing economies, turbulent political transitions and an increasingly tech-savvy population, Africa is experiencing major changes and the African media scene in no less dynamic. This year’s Congress, hosted in Africa’s most populous country and one of its most innovative media landscapes, will also provide a unique opportunity to talk and learn about these changes
The year, 2018, will also mark the 55th anniversary of IPI’s Africa Initiative, a comprehensive journalist training programme established in 1963 in Nairobi, Kenya and Lagos, Nigeria with a grant from the Ford Foundation.
The Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), which was born out of the Initiative, still exists today as one of the leading communication and journalism training institutions in Africa.
The IPI World Congress is hosted by a large group of influential Nigerian publishers and editors from leading media houses including This Day, the Daily Trust and many others.
The IPI is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists and is dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, protecting freedom of opinion and expression, promoting the free flow of news and information, and improving the best practices of journalism.
