Train the Trainer Nigeria, North – West Edition (TTTNW): My Experience as a Participant

Introduction

The Train the Trainer is a yearly initiative of Wikimedia User Group Nigeria (WUGN) that groom leaders and members of Wikimedians from various communities in Nigeria with aim of training them to be more effective in advocacy of the Wikimedia projects in their various communities.

The TTT NG is a selection of a state in each Geo-political zone of Nigeria, this year was done in Kano state as part of North –west with representation from each of the seven state in the zone. The program started on 8^th – 12^th October, 2025 which was led by Kayode Yusuf, Ayokami, Baraka Adebye, Rhado James and Halima Waziri with the following themes:

• Building Skills
• Growing communities

My Experience as a Participant

AS a participants this program exposed me to new knowledge, new connection and opportunities such as Wikimedia projects as a tool for digitizing and preserving our knowledge. From the first group presentation almost all participants identify lack of retention of editors has the major challenges, here are the solutions recommended by the presenter:

Editor of the week or month: in this situation the community should be able to recognize the best contributor for the week or month and shared is achievement in the general group this will motivate editors to continue contributing.

Why should we contribute to Wikimedia project as Volunteer?

• Passion/making a difference: contributing to Wikipedia is making a difference by promoting open knowledge that others can benefits and learn from the information your put there. Understanding the importance of this give you a passion to share your local knowledge to the global community yourself.
• Self –Development: it develop individual’s research and writing skills. E.g Wikipedia is a tertiary sources, so before contributing to it, you must do some research from secondary sources of information.
• Self – Governing:  itself governing with policy and guideline to create, edit or upload on wikimedia project you most understand those policies and guideline by yourself.
• Reciprocity: its gives individual editors sense of belong and you will be proud anywhere and time to say, I am a wikimedians that is I contribute to Wikimedia projects.

Challenges to contributing to Wikipedia or wikimedia projects;

• Technical/usability issues
• Availability of Reliable sources
• Local laws in Nigeria
• Bornout/ emotional investment
• IP/account block
• Personal interest

Editing Wikipedia with a cause in mind:

• Not just a hubby
• Changing the world: you are changing narrative
• A noble cause: it’s a noble cause to share knowledge especially shaping narrative of Nigeria to the global world.
• A journey of self-development
• From newbies to accomplished Wikipedia editor
• Self- aware, self – focused and self –derived

Wikipedia Neutral Point of View (NPV):  is an ideas based on the multiple reliable sources that convey the ideas fairly without bias. Wikipedia article is written from a neutral point of view, an article can be deleted as a result of lack of notability, reliability and credibility. However, policy discussion on Wikipedia is how neutral is the topic is in Wikipedia. The reference is the variability of the article and the Wikipedia voice is encyclopedia voice that explain facts about people, places or things.

How to achieve Neutral Point Of View (NPV)

• Be fair and accurate
• Avoid puffy words
• Avoid emotive language
• Avoid giving Grades or credits

Branding and social media

Brand is an identity of a product or services. Individual brand reflect what he or she stand for both online and offline. Consistency is a very important key in branding our wikimedia activities in each communities. The key elements of rebranding

• Logo and colour
• Front and tone of voice
• Imagery and message
• Consistency

A Tour to Ancient places in Kano

We toured Kofar Mate Die Pit, the Emir’s palace, and the National Museum (Gidan Makama) in Kano, and the experience was truly eye‑opening. The visits gave us a deep dive into Kano’s history—covering its leadership, traditional attire, and the political and military dynamics that shaped the state during the colonial era.

Conclusion

Train The Trainer Nigeria , North -West was a success and has create more knowledge, skills and connections to all participants present. the Organizers present gifts to some outstanding editors in north – west Nigeria during the program. However, other knowledge about good leadership, project coordinating and wikimedia tool for effective campaign were all shared.