The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on Journalists to hold public office holders accountable to the people they have sworn to serve.

The non-governmental organization further called on the Media to set the agenda for good governance in the polity, expose injustices and eschew corruption during electoral processes.

Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Rafsanjani made this call during a One-Day Workshop it organized in conjunction with Transparency International (TI) for journalists on Political Integrity and Political Party Accountability Reporting in Port Harcourt.

Rafsanjani, who appreciated the Media for their good work so far, stressed the need for the Media to expose corruption and injustices during electoral processes, noting that the people suffer stunted growth where there is no accountability because politicians often use tax payers’ money to buy luxuries at the expense of the tax payers’ labour.

He further buttressed the need for journalists to campaign against vote buying and selling, extortion, insecurity, corruption and siphoning tax payer’s money and instead demand for competency, credibility, professionalism, and accountability from politicians and public office holders thereby encouraging transparent electoral processes.

He regretted that those who have the ability to rule rightly do not have the opportunity to do so since they do not have the stolen funds to buy votes, noting that without the Media, Civil Society cannot achieve much, pointing out that “despite the budgetary allocations to security, insecurity is becoming worse by the day, which has adversely affected the economy of the nation. There must be accountability”.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, opined that it is the ethical responsibility of the Media to ensure public accountability in the acquisition of property and inform the populace adequately since the constitution has empowered the Media to do so.

The ICPC Chairman, who was represented by Hassan Salibu, described political integrity as exercising political power in the interest of the society and frowned at political financing and use of dirty money, noting that the abundance of dirty money in Nigerian politics perpetuates a culture of lack of accountability as it limits the choices of Nigerians and allows the worst of citizens to find their way into power.

Praising the organizers for the workshop which aims at improving the capacity of the Media and Civil Society to investigate the presence of dirt and corruption in Nigeria’s political processes as well as increase citizenship demand for accountability in the funding of political processes, Prof. Owasanoye appealed to the Media to support the ICPC in its efforts at discharging its statutory mandate which includes eliminating electoral malpractices and ensuring that there is free and fair elections.

Representative of the Strengthening Accountability Networks among Civil Society (SANCUS), Kate Hanlon commended the Media for their work in sensitizing the public, encouraging them to support CISLAC’s aim to bring about transparency in the political space.

CISLAC consultant, Vaclav Prusa, in his remark, urged the Media to partner with civil society organizations (CSOs) to expose corrupt politicians, press for anti-corruption pledges, monitor campaign and political spending, adding that political parties should be tasked to submit their audit reports and make it open and accessible.

Editor of The Guardian Newspapers, Alabi Williams encouraged journalists to change their techniques in reporting, reminding them that the days of colonial rule style of reporting is over when journalists used to report with fear of government interference, doing hide and seek and when getting information was difficult.

He tasked the Media to be developmental in their style of reporting and be creative with their story lines and angles, stressing the need for journalists to participate in Politics and political stories using the famous Barrack Obama statement, “stop admiring the problem, solve it”.  

Budget Manager at CISLAC, Tolutope Agunloye opined that budget padding is not a bad idea if the intention is clear, sincere and devoid of greed and personal interest, tasking the Media to follow up on federal constituency projects to conclusion as most of them are usually abandoned halfway or poorly done.