Before joining the Daria Media internship program, I was just a fresh graduate who was struggling to find his footing in journalism, with dozens of dreams and ideas in mind, not knowing how to actualize them in an impactful way.

After graduating from Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi, I realized my interest in public service journalism and my passion for reporting underreported stories, especially in the areas of development, climate change, and the impact of conflict on the affected communities. This made me apply for the Daria Media one-year internship program in Lagos.

Out of over a hundred applicants, I was one of the five successful candidates for the internship program which was sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with Daria Media.

I packed my bag and traveled over 1000 KM to Lagos, full of hopes and uncertainties of what Lagos had in store for me, just to pursue my dream of becoming one of the leading voices in the Nigerian media landscape.

After two weeks of rigorous induction training, I was assigned to the Breakfast Belt at the Radionow 95.3 FM which is a sister organization of Daria Media to serve as an associate producer which gave me room to improve and grow in my career in Journalism, especially through the mentorship of Ms. Kadaria Ahmed.

Following serving as an associate daily show producer, I was opportune to join the media production team of Daria Media under the mentorship of Mr Amechi, where I received hands-on experience training and honed my skills in various technical aspects of media production, including Camera operation, lighting, sound recording, and audio and video editing, which enhanced my multimedia journalistic skills.

I recall that my first time attending editorial meetings was in Daria Media, which greatly helped me understand the nuances that prompt any editorial judgment and the factors that shape editorial decisions in media organizations. This experience was eye-opening.

Then came the weekly mentorship session with the Head of Programs Ms Nabila Usman, which has greatly enriched my personal and professional experience through interacting directly with people from different backgrounds, culture and language.

I was exposed to diverse views that play a vital role in shaping the way I see the world and expand my understanding of Nigeria.
We discussed every topic and debated on religion, gender, societal norms, history, politics, development etcetera.

Knowing the level of challenges some rural communities face in Bauchi made me produce a couple of documentary stories.

The first one was an investigative story of Yanda Bayau village in Dambam LGA in Bauchi; the community has been facing a lack of clean water for decades.

Through the sponsorship of Daria media and the supervision of Ms Nabila I was able to carry out the investigation and produced an impactful documentary story which has been aired at Radionow 95.3 with a vision to spark a conservation that will draw the attention of stakeholders to take action and address the challenge being faced by Yanda community.

During the internship, I had the opportunity to travel to Abuja and single-handedly produce a couple of the Big Ideas Platform 30-minute video podcasts where I put my multimedia skills into practice and served as the producer, camera operator, director, and editor during production and post-production.

While in Abuja I had the privilege to work with the School of Politics, Policy and Governance SPPG founded by the former minister of education Mrs Obi Ezekwesili and had the opportunity to arrange and produce a podcast with the founders of Akanka Design Chine and Chuba Ezekwesili, and the founder of Sanitary Pad Media Campaign Ms Anike Ade Funke Treasure.

In addition, I had planned and produced a virtual video podcast with Dr Andrew S Nevin founder of Brainomics from the Center for Brain Health in Dallas Texas on the topic Brain Health, discussing patterns, associations and predictive markers that support optimal brain health outcome.

I am excited to realize that joining Daria Media became the greatest move I ever made which has paved the way for me to apply the theoretical knowledge I have into practice and learn from some of the best media industry experts in Nigeria which has so far opened doors of opportunities for me.

I am proud to say Daria Media internship has helped me develop not only my hard skills but my soft skills as well ranging from resilience, teamwork, attention to detail, time management and how to structure and transform ideas into life and execute any project with accuracy and surgical precision.

I am saying BIG THANK YOU to Daria Media and MacArthur Foundation for this amazing and wonderful opportunity.

Abdulrahman Salihu is a 2024 DARIA MEDIA INTERN.

He is a trained multimedia journalist in Hausa and English with experience in broadcast production, digital content creation, investigative reporting, news translation, and multimedia storytelling.