By Mercy Onyenweli
Journalists in Edo State have been charged to deepen their investigative skills to build citizens trust in government activities by simplifying and breaking down the process of public procurement data.
The Country Director of Accountability Lab Nigeria ,Mr. Friday Odhe , made this passionate appeal while speaking with Journalists in Benin City during a three days training program on Public Procurement data organized for Journalists recently.
Mr. Friday Odhe who said the need to train Journalists became necessary as research revealed that most Journalists do not understand how to access the public procurement data and based on that, chunk out insufficient data, or write misleading stories based on assumption devoid of facts on how government procure their contracts.
According to him, for the country to attain the desired development, all hands must be on deck working on the premise of transparency, accountability and integrity in public activities.
He stressed that the training would enhance the journalists ability to promote transparency in government contracting processes to ensure that data generated is made available and accessible to the public with a view to increase the value for money, timely delivery of quality projects and services .
Speaking also, the project officer, Mr. Shiiwa Mnenga applauded Edo State, Plateau and Ekiti states respectively for meeting up with the standard of public procurement as Edo rank second best but yet not conforming to the Open Contracting Data. (OCS)
According to him, as an organization championing and promoting accountability and transparency in governance, he emphasized that journalists are expected after receiving the training to be able to report in a clear terms amount budgeted for a contract, amount spent on such contract and if the contract met the required standard or specification for such job.
On his part, the Resource Person and Development Professional, Mr. Kachi Chukwu delivered a lecture titled “An Overview of Anti-corruption Innovation Project in the Public Procurement Sector and identifying Red Flags in Procurement Processes”
The training program had in attendance, Journalists, Techprenures, Civil Society Organization and members of NBA respectively.
Source: The Crusaders Voice
Last modified: December 9, 2022
