The foundation members of the Association of Practitioners of Community Media in Nigeria (APCOM) officially unveiled the association while declaring it open to members of the public in Ilupeju community, Lagos Mainland today, Friday, January 26, 2018.
Declaring that membership in the association is open to all ‘active’ community media practitioners who accept the aims and objectives of the Association, the President of the Association, Mr. Dayo Akintobi said: “the Association seeks to strengthen awareness for the community media sector within the wider media landscape and continually pursue avenues of cooperation with our mainstream media brethren in the promotion of cultural diversity, freedom of expression, and democratization of communication at all levels.”
“Key among those aims is developing principles for the practice of the community media profession and coordinating its professional practice by widespread dissemination of those principles to practitioners across the hills and dales of Nigeria.
“In addition, APCOM intends to undertake a serious effort to return to the reputation journalism once had, and to work assiduously to restore the role of the press to its original purpose — that is, to serve as a breeding place for ideas and opinions.
“As we begin this great journey of hope and renewal, we look forward to contributing our quota to the development of our dear country Nigeria and the individual communities and people that make it the great country it is,” Akintobi added.
In his remarks, the Secretary of the body, Lekan Lawal said that interested persons can obtain the physical form to be a part of the Association adding that only individuals who are interested in becoming financial members will pay an annual subscription fee of N6,000.
He added that paramount on the agenda of the Association is the growth of its members declaring that members would benefit from international standard trainings and other developmental projects already put in place by the body.
The foundation members of the Association of Practitioners of Community Media in Nigeria (APCOM) include publishers of Ilupeju Today, Eyes Of Lagos reports, Kosofe Inside-Out, The Alimosho Mail and Surulere Watch. Others are Isolo Voice, Agenda Newspapers and Itesiwaju Eko.
