By Amaka Okafor
A non-governmental organisation, Media Rights Agenda has charged journalists on the need to improve the quality of investigative reports they carryout through the use of Freedom of Information Act.
The Executive Director of the organization, Ojo Edetean, made this known during a two-day workshop organised by MRA for journalists in the South East.
The training held in Enugu State centered on the use of the FOI Act for investigative reporting under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusion and Accountability (CMEDIA) project, with support from MacArthur Foundation and Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Reporting.
Ojo noted that the objective of the workshop was to sensitize participating journalists and build their capacity to use the FOI Act for investigative reporting by familiarizing them with the key provisions of the Act, how to make requests for information under the Act to increase their chances of success, and the enforcement mechanisms and options available to them whenever they are wrongfully denied access to the information they requested.
The media expert harped on the need for journalists to be able to present accurate and credible information to their audience while providing the public with background details of the said event.
Ojo also urged the participants to start making requests using the FOI Act, adding that the action would help the citizens to understand what their leaders are doing in the office and the degree to which they are representing their interests and contributing to creating an improved environment for all Nigerians.
He said, “The major motivation for us is that we struggled for about 12 years ago to get the bill (FOI) passed into law because we understood its importance not just for journalists but for an active citizenry; but we are so disappointed that twelve years after the law was passed, we have not seen the kind usage of the law that motivated us. So, we hope to start seeing it after this training.”
The participants in a communique acknowledged that the usage of the FOI Act by journalists and the media in general, has been less than optimal given its potential benefits to the media sector in seeking and obtaining information.
They pledged to use the Act more regularly and frequently in their reporting to ensure good governance even as they noted other avenues such as investigative reporting funds and grants, should be established and made widely available to support journalists conducting investigative reporting.
They further advocated that laws should be put in place to protect journalists from being compelled to disclose their confidential sources of information and to protect journalistic materials and equipment in order for journalists and other media workers to effectively perform their duties and functions imposed on them by Section 22 of the Constitution.
