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From Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
In a bid to tackle the lingering systemic corruption that has devastated the country in so many facets, the International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) has embarked on training for a cross-section of journalists drawn from the North East and North West on Investigative and Data journalism.
Mr Dayo Aiyetan, Executive Director of ICIR said that the training was aimed at equipping journalists with the needed skills to be able to detect irregularities in open contracting and procurement, and investigate and expose the irregularities when the need arises.
Aiyetan said that the training, funded by the MacArthur Foundation is in recognition of the role of the Press in tackling societal menaces and the obvious knowledge gap that affects the proficiency of journalists in carrying out their works.
“Let me welcome you all to this very important training that is aimed at ensuring that you are better positioned to report issues relating to open contracting at various levels in the course of doing your work.
“The focus on open contract reporting is because much of the looting in government comes from procurement. In a bid to tackle this menace, there is a need to train journalists at all levels to tackle this issue.
“Training on data analysis and interpretation will be emphasized since there can be no investigation without data as well as infographics.
“The training is very intensive and fully packed. It is therefore imperative that we stay focused and attentive so that in the end, we would leave this place with much better journalists than we came. This can be the beginning of a new phase of your career. Journalism becomes needless when we restrict it to the realm of mere reportage. We must be able to dig and dig deep into issues so that our reports bring about strategic impact to the society” he said.
Our Correspondent reports that participants are taken on rudiments of investigative journalism, fraud tracking, document source mapping, data journalism and infographics, Solution Journalism, fact-checking and a wide range of topics.
Some of the participants told our Correspondent that the training is a career-changing experience that has not only opened their eyes to the quantum of work that need to be done but has also given them the requisite skills to carry out their work with relative ease and safety consciousness.
