OCRP: Stakeholders seek collective efforts to tackle corruption

Stakeholders have called for collective efforts in fighting corruption in Nigeria to pave a way for progress and stability in the country.

The call was made at the closing ceremony and award event of the Open Contracting Reporting Project (OCRP) organised by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation.

Delivering the keynote address titled “Combatting Corruption in Nigeria”, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, disclosed that deteriorating corruption is causing a great setback to the development of the country, adding that the commission is taking an active role in the fight, hence the need to partner with media organisations in the country to eradicate the menace.

While stressing that the fight against corruption has not been easy as corruption tends to fight back, the ICPC boss ssured that the commission will not back down in its efforts to bring sanity to both government and private agencies in the country and restore integrity, accountability, and transparency in society.

A panel session moderated by Dr Joe Abbah underscored the need to restore probity in the country which is the only way Nigeria can advance.

In their separate contributions, panellists: Hamza Lawal, Chief Executive Officer of Connected Development (CODE); Lucy Abagi, Chief Executive Officer of Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC); Gabriel Okeowo, Country Director, BUDGIT; Victoria Bamas, Editor of The ICIR and Khadija Bawas, a development journalist, substantiated the critical function of investigative journalism in the fight against corruption by exposing undercover crimes for public scrutiny.

They pointed out the rising attacks against the media and journalists as they combat impunity and other misdeeds by people in power.

The panellists advocate best practices to protect whistleblowers and the speedy, unbiased prosecutions of guilty officials.

Also during the event, awards were presented to professional journalists who have produced outstanding investigative works, thereby facilitating significant changes in society.

The executive director of The Investigator Journalism Development and Innovation Centre and publisher of The Investigator, Archibong Jeremiah Ojanga, emerged as the overall best fellow.

Hafsat Bello, a freelance journalist, and Ekemini Simon of TheMail Newspaper were awarded first and second runner-up positions.

Other awardees are Justina Asishana of The Nation, Arinze Gideon, a freelance journalist whose work has appeared on platforms like Al Jazeera, and Hadiza Musa Yusuf of Prime Times News.

The Open Contracting Reporting Project (OCRP) is a seven-year project supported by the MacArthur Foundation which has trained more than 300 journalists from newsrooms across the country, leading to over 500 investigative reports.

The event brought together journalists, lawyers, private, and government representatives, among many others.

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