Nigeria, Oct. 8 -- For two days in early July, dozens of student journalists gathered at the ICT Centre at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger State, for a capacity-building workshop.

They learnt the fundamentals of news writing, investigative reporting, inclusive reporting, hyperlocal journalism, and digital storytelling through the Next Gen Campus Reporter Clinic, organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).

But beyond notebooks, presentations, and newsroom simulations, another story was unfolding quietly.

For many of the students, the training represented something bigger than learning how to write better stories. It marked the beginning of an effort to breathe life back into the u...