The TMTR Training Room, a skills-based, practice-led certificate-awarding institute commenced operations with a training programme for select journalists drawn from the print, broadcast and online platforms on Saturday, February 10, 2018.

It is run by Toni Kan and Peju Akande.

The programme focused primarily on equipping the participants with tools and insights to better understand the Cybercrimes Prohibition Act 2015 and how it affects their practice especially with the imminent 2019 elections.

The institute was conceived in January 2015 with the mission to evolve a teaching culture that will help train and empower practitioners who will change the creative industry for good by upholding the highest ethical and professional standards.

The inaugural programme also focused on the Fake News phenomenon that has taken the world by storm no thanks to the democratisation of access to the internet and the rise of social media. The programme provided insights to the legal pitfalls bedevilling the modern day journalist working at a time when the internet has enabled the emergence and growth of citizen journalists.

Facilitators included Peter Okwoche of the BBC, award winning writer Kaine Agary who is also co-founder of Takkai as well as Toni Kan Onwordi, award winning writer and PR maven.

A statement from TMTR said the institute hopes to provide their students with a space for learning new and enhancing old skills.

“Using a practical case study and scenario painting approach, students will interact with practitioners from whom they will gain new insights, learn new skills and discover new tools to navigate new landscapes.

“We will pursue a trajectory of instruction and learning that privileges the case study over the merely theoretical as a means of not just teaching but demonstrating how it has been done and how success has been achieved,” said the statement.

The vision of the founders is to become the training centre of choice and a reference point for the knowledge worker in Nigeria and ultimately across the world.

The TMTR Training Room is at “Angels and Muse,” 5 Sumbo Jibowu Street, Off Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Details of the institute’s activities can be found at www.thetrainingroom.ng.