In its effort to check corruption, especially money laundering in Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has called for close collaboration with the media.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, quoted its Executive Chairman, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa as making the call in Sokoto state, at a workshop on “Effective Reporting of Economic and Financial Crimes’’ for journalists in northwest Nigeria.
Sokoto Zonal Commander of the EFCC, Mr Aliyu Yunusa, represented Bawa at the workshop, Uwujaren stated.
“The media should ask questions on budget performance through deliberate monitoring and reporting; whistle blowing on project failures; abandonment of contracts; project delays and poor project delivery.
“One way of doing this is through budget tracking. Yearly budgets of governments at all levels are announced.
“Institutions have their budgets; elected politicians have budgets for their constituencies. The media should begin to ask questions on budget performance through deliberate monitoring and reporting,’’ he stressed.
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He also reminded the workshop participants about their sacred obligation as media practitioners to expose wrong deeds in the society.
“I urge the media to deploy more time, energy, commitment and professional strength to exposing fraudulent activities in public and private sectors,’’ he said.
The workshop, he explained, was one of the modest efforts of the EFCC to build synergy, understanding, and cordial relationship between it and media practitioners.
NAN
