EFCC Urges Journalists to Be Frontlines in the Fight against Graft

The head of the South South Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ishaq Salihu on Tuesday November 15, 2016 called on Nigeria journalists and other media practitioners to collaborate with the EFCC in the fight against corruption and financial crimes. 

According to Salihu, the fight against the social malaise of corruption can be won if journalists discharge their responsibilities professionally by holding the government accountable to the people.

Salihu made this remark while declaring open a training workshop the reporting of financial crimes organized by the EFCC for journalists in the South South zone of the country which held in Port Harcourt.

Osita Nwajah, Director, Public Affairs, who represented the Ag. Chairman, Ibrahim Magu at the event, said the workshop was organized as a way of interfacing with journalists and deepening the relationship between the Commission and the media. He challenged participants to “become frontlines in the fight against corruption if we are to achieve the country of our dream”.

Musikilu Mojeed, editor-in-chief of Premium Times, an online newspaper, in his paper, Journalism and the Fight Against Corruption, Lesson from Abroad, challenged journalists to go beyond the ordinary in the discharge of their duties by producing reports that could transform the society. He cited several instances across the world including the widely publicized Panama Papers where journalists through their stories got senior government officials to either resign or be prosecuted. In Ghana for instance, he cited the heroic effort of a journalist who, through undercover investigation, exposed corrupt judges who where consequently sacked and prosecuted.

In his paper, Law, Journalists and Flight Against Corruption, Gbemiga Ogunleye, Provost of Nigeria Institute of Journalism, NIJ, Lagos, lamented the nation’s loss to corruption. He posited that Nigeria media was critical to building a better country and urged journalists to be factual in their reports. He said the Nigeria Constitution envisaged the importance of the Press and urged journalists to apply the law when necessary.

Osadolor Igiozee, in his paper, Electronic Media and Investigative Reporting, New  Trends and Opportunities  posited that journalists would have to be daring  and fearless if they are to be successful in investigative reporting. He encouraged them to look beyond the immediate gains and apply modern tools and techniques