News
IPC, Media Rights Agenda train journalists on Investigative Journalism and how to use FOI act
BY: Saviour Adugba
The International Press Centre (IPC), and the Media Rights Agency (MRA) have partnered with the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) to hold a two-day workshop in Lagos where Nigerian journalists were trained on how to employ investigative journalism in their day-to-day reportage.
The Workshop also focused on how the journalists can properly utilise the FOI act to source for information from public agencies.
The workshop, which was held at Pearlworth Hotels, Lagos had 25 journalists pooled from the Southwestern Nigeria and Edo State in attendance.
In his opening remarks, Lanre Arogundade, the executive director of the IPC welcomed the participants to the workshop, and noted that the event was organised to help equip journalists with the skills needed to report on democratic accountability and to hold politicians to their promises.
He said, “This is 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 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 issue at stake including the role of the media in ensuring good governance, the understanding of the frameworks and issues in campaign finance and the best practices in investigating political and campaign finance issues.”
The two-day event saw presentations on topical issues like the role of the media in ensuring good governance and government accountability, understanding and reporting campaign finance and political expenditure frameworks and issues, using investigative reporting techniques to monitor compliance with campaign finance and political expenditure regulations, understanding the key features of the Freedom of Information Act, and deploying the FOI act and other investigative tools/methodologies in reporting COID-19 funds in the public interest.
There was also a plenary session to accommodate story pitching from journalists who were expected to use the knowledge gained from the workshop to suggest high interest investigative stories that they were willing to pursue.
Resource persons at the event included Lanre Arogundade; the Executive Director of the IPC, Jide Ojo; the Executive Director of OJA Development Consult, Tobore Ovuorie; a multi-award winning investigative journalist, Edetaen Ojo; the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and Dayo Aiyetan; Executive Director, International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).
At the end of the summit, participants were encouraged to utilise the knowledge gained at the workshop to identify stories that were of high public interest and continue to hold government and politicians accountable.
News
FG Declares May 1st Public Holiday To Mark Workers’ Day
The Federal Government had declared Wednesday, May 1st, 2024, as a public holiday to mark this year’s Workers’ Day.
Nigeria’s Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo made the declaration, according to the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Aishetu Ndayako.
“The Federal Government has declared Wednesday, 1st May 2024 as a Public Holiday to commemorate this year’s Workers’ Day Celebration,” Aishetu said in a statement on Tuesday, April 30.
“In alignment with this year’s theme, which focuses on ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate, I wish to state that the Federal Government remains steadfast in its resolve to prioritise the safety and well-being of all citizens,” the minister said.
“Let me reaffirm Mr. President’s commitment to providing a conducive environment for work, where every worker can thrive and contribute meaningfully to national development”.
The minister, who acknowledged the contribution of workers, called for more measures to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change through synergy.
“The Minister also urged Nigerians to remain committed to the present administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda as he wishes workers a happy celebration,” the statement read.
News
“There Would Be total Blackout For Three Months If Electricity Tariff Hike Is Not Implemented ” – Minister Of Power Warns
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has warned that there would be a total blackout in the country in the next three months if the proposed electricity tariff hike is not implemented.
The minister gave the warning in Abuja when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power at an investigative hearing over the recent electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)on Monday, April 29.
In his words
“The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs. The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.”
He said the sum of $10 billion is needed yearly for the next ten years to revive the nation’s power sector and nip in the bud the challenges bedevilling it.
“For this sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years.
“This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders. So, for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.
“If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased the tariff for A Band, there are interests being shown by investors,” he said.
Adelabu said the inability of the government to pay outstanding N2.9 trillion subsidy was due to limited resources, hence the need to evolve measures to sustain the sector.
News
Fuel Price Skyrockets To ₦1000 Per Litre In Some States As Scarcity Sets In
News reaching us is that fuel Prices have gone up ranging up to ₦800 to ₦1000 and above per litre in different states.
The price increase is also as a result of fuel scarcity which has set in. It is believed that some fuel stations are currently hoarding fuel.
Motorists are queuing up in large numbers at filling stations across Kano State struggling to buy petrol that is now selling at over N1,000 per litre.
One Mr Ibrahim said filling stations in the metropolis were charging as high as N1,000 as of Monday morning, adding that he bought the product over the weekend at prices ranging between N950 and N920 before the price skyrocketed on Monday.
The fuel scarcity has also touched Abuja and even Lagos.
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