The Publisher of Premium Times, Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi, believes that very soon there will be no hiding place for looters of ‘our hard-earned resources’ with the effective implementation of the Premium Times Campus Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).
This was disclosed to Unijos Echo in a workshop organised by Premium Times in conjunction with the Ford Foundation and the Department of Mass Communication, University of Jos, for some students of the University under the theme: Supporting Evidence-Based, Multimedia and Investigative Journalism in Nigerian Universities, Campus Clinic, which was held at the Mass Communication Post Graduate Lecture Hall at the Naraguta Campus.
‘Involving the students in investigative journalism is to prepare them to practice it well so as to enable the students to practice journalism effectively is the aim of this workshop’ stated Mr. Olorunyomi in an interview with UniJos Echo correspondents.
The University of Jos is one among nine Universities that were chosen by Premium Times in the country for this workshop and Mr. Olorunyomi stated that the value of investigative journalism in Nigeria will soon be huge and exponential if campuses are involved, ‘that is why we are in the University to conduct this workshop on investigative journalism and to teach students how to get basic data for their in-depth and credible reports for the benefit of the public good’.
According to Mr. Olorunyomi, investigative journalism is now seriously on the rise and many journalists and media houses are beginning to look towards this direction. ‘Five years ago, investigative journalism was seen to be difficult, dangerous and time-consuming but today, it is fast becoming the order of the day’, he said.
He further informed UniJos Echo that the success of investigative journalism with the Panama Papers was because about 150 newsrooms all over the world met, and only Premium Times (due to its investigative reportage) represented Nigeria in the event. The revelation of the Panama Papers led to a lot of sacking of political leaders, chief justices in the judiciary, parliamentary members and those in government and the most prominent of which was the Prime Minister of Iceland who resigned. The success of this is due to the thoroughness of investigative journalism that was done on the Panama Papers.
He stressed that most journalists are misunderstanding the primary duty of journalism as expressed in treaties, statutes, and laws and are scared to be involved in investigative journalism which is very dangerous in itself, although it holds those in power accountable and responsible to those they are leading.
Olorunyomi cited the case of Dele Giwa of Nigeria and Norbert Zongo of Burkina-Faso which shows that “if you try to hold those in power responsible and accountable, there will be a threat to your life and it may even lead to your death”.
“Safety cannot be a hindrance for doing what is right. The most important thing is to learn how to minimize danger and the safety issue” he added.
According to him, students are called to push the boundaries of investigative journalism in the country as new technologies are helping them to do this in this regard.
Mr. Joshua Olufemi, the Programme Director of the Premium Times Campus Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), impacted on the participants the various skills of using the Internet and harnessing it to get credible and factual data for their investigative journalism.
Olufemi charged the students to see that they add value to the society that will lead to the common good of the general public in their reportage.
He further counseled students not to see investigative campus journalism as a means to witch-hunt the schools in the society but as a means to help in the general improvement of the school system.
The workshop had in attendance Mr. Deji Adekunle, the officer in charge of programs in Premium Times, Mr. Akila Mabas, a lecturer with the Department of Mass Communication, and some students of the departments of Psychology, Linguistics, Mass Communication, Education and some ICE FM crew.
Photo Credit: Joseph Gogwim and Kingsly Uguokwe
Edited by JM
