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Immanuel Adeyomoye
The International Press Centre (IPC) has concluded a two days training for investigative journalists on using FOI Act for investigative reporting of campaign finance and COVID-19 accountability issues, asking participants to demand accountability from the government.
The workshop which featured seasoned facilitators, held in Abuja between 22nd and 23rd September.
Welcoming participants at the event, Executive Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade said, “On behalf of the International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria, Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN), I warmly welcome you to this training workshop on the use of the Freedom of Information Act for the Investigative Reporting of Political/campaign finance and Covid-19 accountability issues.”
Continuing, Arogundade, former Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Lagos Chapter said that, the training was in pursuant to the aims and objectives of Component 4b: Support to Media of EU-SDGN project being implemented by our organisation to empower the Nigerian media and journalists to be professional, ethical, issue-focused, gender and conflict sensitive in the reporting of the democratic governance and electoral processes.
“The project also seeks to equip journalists with appropriate skills to engage in the reporting of democratic accountability in order to check impunity in the electoral process and ensure that elected politicians are made to account for their campaign promises.
“It is in the above context that the programme for this workshop has been designed to examine some dimensions to the issues at stake including the role of the media in ensuring good governance, the understanding of the frameworks and issues in campaign finance, the understanding of the Freedom of Information Act and best practices in investigating and reporting political/campaign finance issues,” he said.
The workshop which held with the support of the EU-SDGN looked at the need for journalists to embrace investigative methods in the reporting of Covid-19 issues.
Arogundade said the workshop was necessary because of the general perception that funding of the pandemic is not meeting the right target.
“This workshop is necessary largely because of the perception, and perhaps the reality, that the funding aspect of the fight against the pandemic is not meeting the requirements of transparency and accountability with so many questions hanging out there:
“How much has been deployed to the fight by the federal government and what is the breakdown? How much have the state governments deployed to the fight and what are the details? What are the sources of the funding and who are the donors? What is the cost of the isolation centres built around the country? Who are the contractors? Were they selected in accordance with procurement laws?”
He also mentioned that the need to ensure that these issues are properly addressed at the workshop have made the organisers to assemble an array of resource persons who were expected to bring their diverse expertise to bear on the discourse.
Arogundade however appreciated the facilitators contacted to facilitate sessions.
“We are therefore grateful to Dr. Abiodun Adeniyi, PHD. Lecturer, Baze University and former communication consultant for World Bank Economic Reform and Governance Project (ERGP) at the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Presidency, Abuja; Ms. Tobore Ovuorie, award winning freelance investigative journalist; Mr. Eze Onyekpere, seasoned Lawyer and Director, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Abuja and Mr. Edetaen Ojo, renowned advocate for access to information and the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda for accepting to make presentations at this workshop with my humble self not left out.”
In his own remark, the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Mr. Edetaen Ojo revealed that the workshop is the second in a series.
“This is the second in a series of workshops being organised under this framework. The first of the workshops was held in Lagos on August 5 and 6, 2020 for journalists from the southern part of the country.”
Explaining further, Ojo said, “This workshop is being attended by journalists from states in the northern part of the country as well as the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
“The workshop is funded by the European Union through Component 4b: which is Support to the media of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) Project. We are grateful to the European Union for its financial support for these workshops and other activities under the project.
“We believe the workshop to be of critical importance, which is why we have organized it as an in-person event rather than online, despite the challenges of organizing a physical meeting at this time.”
Talking about the objectives of the training, the ED, MRA said, there are number of objectives.
“We obviously have a number of objectives that we hope to achieve through this activity.
“Firstly, for those of you who have not previously done any reporting in the areas we are focusing on, we hope to encourage you to take an interest in reporting these issues, namely political campaign finance issues as well as the Coronavirus pandemic, particularly with the objectives of bringing some sanity into the regulation of political campaign financing and ensuring transparency and accountability in the government’s response to the CIVID-19 pandemic.”
He also highlighted the importance of monitoring of election financing.
“While the effective regulation of political campaign financing is essential to the success of our quest as a country to ensure free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria, transparency and accountability are imperative for the effectiveness of the measures taken by Governments at Federal and State levels to curtail the spread of the COVID-19 and to mitigate the negative economic impact on citizens brought about by both the virus itself and the government’s measures to check its spread.
“Besides encouraging you to take an interest in these issues, we are also hoping to use the training to sharpen your investigative reporting skills and build the confidence and ability of those of you for whom the Freedom of Information Act is still new, to use it as a tool for facilitating transparent, free, fair and credible elections as well as monitoring how funds received and allocated for the COVID-19 response are being managed and utilized.”
Meanwhile, participants were expected to use the skills gathered at the training in their journalistic works to better the lot of the society.
“Our ultimate goal in organizing the workshop is to contribute to improving government accountability to citizens across board.
“There is no doubt that as media professionals, you play a primary role in this process. In addition to the nature of the work that you do which makes you ideally suited to play this role, Section 22 of the Constitution also specifically gives you the task of upholding the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy under Chapter Two of the Constitution as well as upholding the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people,” Ojo said.
He added that the Chapter Two of the Constitution captures the basic principles and philosophy of governance in Nigeria while outlining the social and economic objectives of Government.
“But no matter how well the media play their role, I do not believe that their efforts can be successful if we do not have citizens that are motivated and engaged with governance processes. So we also need an active citizenry for the media professionals to be effective in playing their role.
“It is my hope that if nothing else, that the COVID-19 pandemic provides sufficient motivation for all of us to be engaged in the governance process because if we are not vigilant and the funds meant for COVID-19 response are stolen, misappropriated, misapplied or in any other way diverted to other purposes, then the objectives of the response will obviously not be achieved. In such a situation, the consequences are better imagined than experienced. In such a situation, all of us, journalists or not, will be at risk.”
Concluding, Ojo said, “We see the workshop as part of a process of building the capacity of the media, civil society organizations and other key stakeholders to effectively use the FOI Act to hold all relevant agencies and actors accountable during electoral processes and in the context of new realities of operating in a COVID-19 environment.”
