The Nigeria Union of Journalists and other stakeholders have advocated for the passage of a whistleblower protection law to encourage undeterred reportage of corrupt practices.
The stakeholders made the call in a communique issued on Tuesday in Abuja at the end of a one-day workshop on effective collaboration to prevent corruption.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission organised the workshop in collaboration with NUJ. The MacArthur Foundation also supported it.
ICPC chairman Musa Adamu-Aliyu and NUJ president Christopher Isiguzo signed the communique.
The stakeholders noted that a whistleblower protection law would mitigate journalists’ risks, stressing that journalists’ safety must be a priority.
The fight against corruption, they said, was risky, hence the need for a protection mechanism to be established for the protection and safety of journalists and citizens who expose corruption everywhere.
“Journalists, as members of the fourth estate of the realm, have a great role to play in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. Their cooperation with ICPC is needed to prevent, expose corruption, create public awareness and mobilise Nigerians to support the fight against corruption and corrupt practices,” the communique stated.
The stakeholders acknowledged the impact of corruption, which they said, among other things, hampers economic development and increases poverty caused by weak national institutions.
The communique enjoined the media not to be interested in publishing only bad news about corruption and corrupt people but also to publish stories of good deeds by honest Nigerians.
It called on the media to leverage the Freedom of Information Act and the recent Supreme Court judgment on local government financial autonomy to collaborate with ICPC toward ensuring corruption-free LGAs.
It also emphasised the need for ICPC and the media to pay attention to how public resources are stolen, concealed, utilised and transferred.
“Media house owners/editors should desist from putting undue pressure on journalists/reporters who embark on uncovering major cases of corruption to discontinue their reports for whatever reason in the interest of the nation.
“ICPC should focus on Nigeria’s pension system with a view to ensuring that workers’ fear of a bleak future after service is dispelled and they can work without engaging in graft,” the communique added.
It stressed the need for NUJ, online news publishers, and the Nigeria Guild of Editors to help check the activities of online purveyors of fake news who are making a living out of it.
The stakeholders also called on ICPC to identify and collaborate with rural-based radio stations on issues of ethical reorientation to help bring about the needed change.
The stakeholders also urged media houses to pay commensurable wages to journalists to discourage gratification and embolden them to embark on daring risks of uncovering corruption.
The engagement had 67 local and foreign journalists, civil society organisations, and panellists in attendance.
(NAN)