NAN-H-67
Corruption
By Cecilia Ijuo
Lagos, July 4, 2017 (NAN) The Provost of Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Mr Gbemiga Ogunleye, has urged media practitioners to acquaint themselves with extant laws on corruption for greater input in the anti-graft campaign.
He made the call on Tuesday in Lagos while presenting a paper at a three-day capacity-building training for journalists and Public Relations Officers of anti-graft agencies on strategies to fight corruption.
The training is organised by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in collaboration with the European Union.
The session is intended to equip participants with practical ways to ensure partnership between the media and anti-graft agencies in combating corruption.
Ogunleye said that though there were provisions in the Constitution and other extant laws on issues of corruption, not many reporters were aware of them.
“Before media practitioners can perform their functions effectively, they have to do so from the aspect of knowledge.
“If you do not know the laws that guide the conduct of citizens and agencies, you cannot perform your roles effectively.
“For instance, there are laws guiding auditing of public accounts and assets declaration, among others.
“Unless we are acquainted with these laws as reporters, it will be difficult to hold anybody accountable.
“How many journalists know that National Assembly members ought to declare their assets before assumption of office as provided for in Section 52(2) of the Constitution?
“Knowing this provision and reporting about it is one of the ways we can fight corruption as media practitioners,’’ he said.
Ogunleye said that if the constitutional provision was in public domain and public office holders were compelled to declare their assets before assuming office, corruption would be prevented.
“The media should question all non-compliance to the law.
“Also, Section 85(4) states that the Auditor-General shall have the power to conduct periodic checks of all government statutory corporations, commissions, authorities, including all persons or bodies established by law.
“Reporters ought to know this in order to carry out investigations to know if this provision of the law is complied with,’’ he said.
The provost called for training and re-training of reporters as well as constant engagement with stakeholders to make it easier to win the war against corruption.
A media consultant to UNODC, Mr Kayode Ogunbunmi, emphasised the role of the media, saying it was critical to good governance and accountability.
While commending the media in their role in the fight against corruption, Ogunbunmi said more needed to be done to expose corrupt practices in the country, and called for partnership.
He said that the media ought to move from just reporting corrupt cases as they came, to investigating and coming up with more information on such cases.
The consultant acknowledged the risks involved in investigating corrupt cases, and urged journalists not to be deterred in ensuring that there was good governance for the citizenry.
He, however, cautioned media practitioners against the temptation of blackmailing people when investigating cases of corruption as it could pose a risk to their lives and jeopardise the anti-corruption fight.
“The media and anti-corruption agencies are partners in anti-corruption fight and this conference is designed to bring stakeholders together to discuss, share ideas and form a bond on how to collaborate in this fight.
“There are lots of misunderstandings of the role of the media in the society and the media have a constitutional role.
“The Constitution actually gives the media a very big role in the society as a watch dog, a bridge between the people and the government.
“So, the government through the media sends messages to the people about what it is doing, what the policies are and then the media help government to break these policies down for people to understand.
“The people then tell government what they want and how they want it and that process also passes through the media,’’ he said.
Ogunbunmi expressed optimism that the training would go long way in improving the fight against corruption. (NAN)
CJM/AOS/OPI
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Edited by Bayo Sekoni and Olisa Ifeajika