WARRI – Media practitioners in Nigeria have been charged to always hold elected and public office holders accountable during the 2019 election and beyond.
Jide Ojo , an Abuja based public affairs and political analyst gave the charge during a two-day media workshop on “Best Practices And Professional Reporting of Electoral Process” held at the BON Hotels Sunshine in Enugu , Enugu State.
Delivering a paper on “Reckoning with Accountability and Transparency in Issues in Election Reporting”, Ojo told journalists to refrain from asking elected officers patronizing questions but rather, dwell on issues -based question relating to their (elected officers ) stewardship and accountability so as to deepen democracy .
While reminding the journalists of their agenda setting role, he emphasised the need for journalist to be conversant with all legal documents that guide our conduct as a people, like the Electoral Act and The Constitution, if they wanted to be journalists of repute.
” The Constitution and The Electoral Act should be your Bible and Koran” He said .
He called on journalists to always ensure that they keep the manifestoes of politician so that they could always refer to them when demanding for their stewardship and accountability after elections , as according to him, election is a cycle which includes : pre elections, elections and post election activities
Ojo decried the situations where journalists take hook, line and sinker everything they are told by politicians without proper verification.
The facilitator enjoined members of the Forth Estate of the Realm to always ensure that they carry out their comprehensive and independent investigations , data gathering and analysis if they must make a difference in their reportage .
The workshop which also featured group tasks, question and answer sessions also had other facilitators like , Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna, Dean Faculty of Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe Univetisity, Awka and ace journalist Funke Treasure Durodola of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Lagos.
The training was organised by the International Press Centre (IPC),Lagos under the component 4b of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance to Nigeria (EU-SDGN)Project as part of efforts to build the capacity of journalists ahead of the 2019 general elections ; 40 journalists from the South South and South East geopolitical zones in attendance.
