The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has announce a cash prize of N100,000 for the best campus journalist on investigative reporting that exposes corrupt practices.
The Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani made the announcement at the maiden edition of the Campus Journalism Dialogue held at the Centre for Gender Studies, Bayero University Kano (BUK) which attracted hundreds of campus journalists and seasoned lecturers of Mass Communication.
Rafsanjani expressed cynicism on the sincerity of the Federal Government (FG’s) anti-corruption war, describing it as selective and vindictive.
“Mr. President cannot be said to be serious with his fight against corruption when corrupt public office holders in his party are walking free. It is everything, but not a war against graft when fraudulent politicians who looted public funds are rewarded with appointments either as Ministers, Ambassadors and Chairman of MDAs’ governing council. This is not the best way to go about eliminating corruption,” he said.
Rafsanjani who also doubles as the Head of Transparency International in Nigeria, underscored the importance of building strong institutions that will help nurture the country’s nascent democracy, rather than strong individuals or personalities who will eventually bastardized the nation’s socio-democratic culture.
He called on the media, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and youths to rise against corruption and impunity in the country, stressing that student-writers should be bold in reporting all illicit and fraudulent activities on their campuses.
Also speaking on the importance of Information Technology in building a strong media, Yunusa Zakari, the Executive Director of Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), maintained that corruption is not about morality, but power.
He noted that politicians wielding ‘enormous’ power are the ones who loot the country’s treasury.
He noted that only the collective will of the masses will help curb corruption in government circles, stating that political will is not a terminology to be found in the vocabulary of most politicians.
The CITAD boss, said the adoption of Information Technology (IT) will help provide tools for governments to be effective and reach out to the general public, and other marginalized groups, through E-service, and E-Governance channels, among other technological innovations for service-delivery.
The founder of Daily Nigerian, Jafar Jafar also called for more focus on investigative journalism while also encouraging that welfare of journalists should be improved upon.
Other speakers at the event include; Muhuyi Magagi(Head,Kano Anti-Corruption Agency); Nana Hauwa Sule (Fiction Writer and Author), Friday Odey (Head Accountability Lab) among others.
While thanking the guests and all other participants, the Youths Digest’s Editor, Gidado Yushau Shuaib, said CJD is not just a platform to identify teething challenges affecting campus journalists and crop of talented student-writers, but an avenue to brainstorm with a view to proffering lasting solutions to highlighted issues.
The Campus Journalism Dialogue was organised the Youths Digest in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in a bid to prepare young media practitioners for the future and also help in using the media to fight corruption.