CoSET Media Workshop and First Coalition Meeting of the Year

FES Nigeria has been supporting the Coalition for Socio-Ecological Transformation (CoSET) that was established in 2018 to achieve its targets. After a one-day media workshop, there was a two-day meeting of the coalition members to map out engagement strategies for the current year, especially after Nigeria’s general election.

The focus of CoSET is to end gas flaring in Nigeria, promote energy democracy and ensure a just transition - the most urgent being the campaign against gas flaring. The decision to include media partners at inception stage is crucial for a synchronization of effort, where media advocacy can be effectively used to mount pressure on the government for action. A group of media professionals from digital, electronic and print media agencies, that will be a core of the coalition, were trained on the campaign issues including the coalition goals and strategies. The meeting witnessed training on digital media campaigning for development, the establishment of the media group for the coalition and the commissioning of an investigative research proposal for the campaign on gas flaring for media group members to apply.

In the same vein, a two-day coalition meeting followed with all members of the coalition in attendance, to design the roadmap and strategy of engagement of the coalition for 2019. The first day focused on coalition plans and ongoing campaign against gas flaring ahead of Nigeria’s government deadline of 2020 to end the menace. The last day of the meeting saw introductory sessions to the work on just transition which would take an amplified focus later in the year.