The Nigerian mass media has been tasked to commence a deep search into internal collaboration of the actors in the $11b Process & Industrial Developments Limited failed international fraudulent transaction.
Senior Correspondent with BBC, Sam Olukoya, gave the task at a session in Lagos on Tuesday.
The session was a training for journalists on corruption coverage in Nigeria, organised by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda in collaboration with Journalist For Democratic Rights and supported by MacArthur Foundation.
Olukoya, who spoke on: “The Broadcast Media in the Age of Global Campaign Against Illicit Funds and Corruption,” stressed that the recent victory to Nigeria in the suit notwithstanding, the story has just begun.
He therefore said the Nigerian mass media should start a serious search on who are the internal collaborators in the saga.
Olukoya
The theme of one day Media training was: “Training on Ethics and Professionalism in the Coverage of Corruption Cases for Nigerian Journalists, Online Media Editors and Bloggers.”
Recall that Justice Robin Knowles of the Commercial Courts of England and Wales recently ruled in favour of Nigeria, dismissing the enforcement of the $11 billion arbitration sanction slammed on the country since 2017.
Olukoya asserted that the P&ID actors could not have succeeded to the extent they did from the outset without the backing of senior officials in the Nigerian public service.
In achieving good results in the search, Olukoya, who also tasked investigative journalists to make their stories exciting and compelling, advocated for collaboration among investigative media houses and journalists to unravel sharp practices in every society.
He charged investigative journalists to unveil the officials who had at one time or the other assisted the international business fraudsters.
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Speaking on the topic proper, Olukoya in his virtual presentation called for global collaboration among media organisations to make corrupt public senior public and private officials accountable.
Olukoya cited the BBC’s “Africa Eye” news report as an example of a channel that can be used by the media to make public officials answerable on discharge of their assigned duties.
Factors affecting global media collaboration Olukoya listed include: large number of journalists, different time zones, different editorial policies, conflicting ideas and publication dates.
In other climes, Olukoya pointed out that investigative reportages have led to sacking and resignation of indicted officials, but lamented that in Nigeria, the culprits and their allies in the multinationals who evade taxes are not punished.
A Lawyer, Nurudeen Ogbara, in his presentation, titled: “Improving the capacity and providing support for investigative journalism and Editorial,” faulted the common practice of incarcerating journalists on trumped up charges, stressing that instead of resorting to this, the accused should be charged for trial in a law court.
Ogbara
While noting that the concept of “whistleblowing” law was a good instrument to aid investigative journalism, Ogbara however condemned the attached five percent compensation for the whistleblower, describing the gesture as a contradiction and “corruption” on its own.
Ogbara established that for investigative journalism to thrive, the practitioners must collaborate internally with viable professional bodies such as the Nigeria Union of Journalists, while advocating for external alliance with external bodies and progressive forces such as the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nigerian Bar Association and Civil Society Organisations.
The senior Lawyer, activist and HEDA Board member charged journalists involved in investigative journalism to be broad-minded, responsible and patriotic while discharging their duties.
Wale Adeoye, JODER Executive Director, in his opening remarks complained that there was too much attention on political and routine reports, lamenting that there was no serious reportages and anytime there is any, there is no follow up to dig further for a definite conclusion and for developmental purpose.
Adeoye said that the training was meant to develop a manual on how best to report corruption, as well as create a synergy between the newsroom, editors and stakeholders on how to train the young journalists with regards to best manner of corruption reporting.
In his opening remarks, Sulaimon Arigbabu, the HEDA Executive Secretary, noted that Nigeria is in a critical time, asserting that “corruption” is the major impediment for the country to fix most of her challenges.
Arigbabu
Still, Arigbabu stressed that the only silver lining left for the country to survive the challenges are active and probing mass media, tasking the industry to rise up to the task and resist corruption in order to fix the socio-economic obstacles of the country.
The training session was attended by editors, senior journalists, lawyers and activists.
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