Journalists, stakeholders receive training to boost fight against corruption

Journalists, communities and relevant stakeholders have been urged to own the fight against corruption and demand for accountability in order to promote good governance and enhance the wellbeing of citizens in Nigeria’s democratic system.

The executive director, Wadata Media And Advocacy Centet,WAMAC, Alhaji Zubair Abdurra’uf gave the charge in a town hall meeting for journalists and other anti corruption stakeholders in Kano state north Western Nigeria.

The Townhall meeting tagged: ” strengthening investigative data driven journalism in the fight against corruption in local languages in Nigeria” was in partnership with twelve radio stations across six geo-political zones in the country.

Abdurra’uf said the event was aimed at discussing with stakeholders, on the menace of corruption and how it affects governance, and well being of Nigerians, stressing that each year, corruption indices from both local and global organizations, places Nigeria in spotlights.

Against this background, the project manager said that, the center in collaboration with Macarthur foundation had initiated a programme of action, aimed at ameliorating corruption and promoting good governance, through data driven journalism, by reporting any aspect of corruption within the society, which has been yeilding results.

He furthering explained that, media advocacy and community engagement to fight corruption would compliment efforts of anti-corruption agencies to fight the menace.

“The essence of the Town Hall meeting is to make appraisal of the new concept of fighting corruption with a view of reducing corruption in Nigeria, through citizen participation in governance and enhancing community interface on investigative Journalism.

” It is our hope that, our various communities will owned the fight against corruption and demand for accountability by political leaders. In the same vain, communities and community leaders are expected to take the lead of sensitizing there respected domain on corruption and hold themselves accountable.

“We therefore urge community leaders and Non-Governmental Organization’s (NGO’s) to cooperate with Journalists in the production of investigative reports on the fight against corruption.

“Equally, we urged the public, journalists and CSO’s to make use of FoI Act which ensure participatory democracy, promotion of Transparency and Accountability in the affairs of government, “ he said.

Kano state EFCC zonal commander Faruk Dogondaji, represented by Mr. Fidelis described the event as apt, saying that corruption is trending in Nigeria.

Presenting his paper, a lecturer with the department of economics, Sa’adatu Rimi university of education Kano, Dr. Abdulsalam Kani, identified some forms of corruption to include bribery, extortion, nepotism, fraud, embezzlement, among others.

He noted that, factors responsible for systemic corruption are less public support and goodwill, lack of supervision as well as secrecy of transactions.

“Corruption reports can be submitted in person or to emails/websites of any of the anti-corruption agencies,” he said.

The event was attended by journalists from broadcast, print and new media, as well as relevant stakeholders in anti-corruption campaign sectors.

N.O