The Director- General, Nigeria Governors Forum, Asishana Okauru has urged the media and practioners to Professionalize the Profession.
Speaking Thursday while declaring open a Two-day training for Journalists on Budget Tracking and Data-Driven Journalism organised by NGF, the umbrella body of the thirty- six State Governors in collaboration with Premium Times, Okauru said that if Journalists Professionalize the Profession, credibility would be achieved in all its ramifications.
The topics for the 2- day training include: the interface of Accountability, Journalism and Good Governance; Why the Training; Understanding Budgetting and Procurement in Nigeria; Essentials of Data Journalism; Introduction to Investigative Journalism; Understanding the NGF, its Mission and work; How to generate stories and Investigate Budgets and following the Money in Nigeria: Online Tools.
Other topics are NGF and its Work in the Health Sector; NGF’s Support on Governance and Economy; Fact- Checking and Verification; Using Freedom of information Act for Investigations; Ethics and Codes for Nigerian Journalists; Security and Safety for Investigative Journalists and Reporting States: Resources from the NGF.
Speaking further, the NGF Director- General who noted that Journalism job is very risky, akin to that of the Police, said that as practitioners, Journalists must continue to do the job, just as he said that the NGF Secretariat is a policy hub.
Okauru said, “We need to meet to professionalize your profession, we need credibility. We need to understand the risk journalists take everyday, it’s as risky as the police officer. But you need to be sure before you send anything out there.
“The NGF secretariat is the administrative wing of the NGF and operates as a policy hub, with tons of experts that work here. “Journalists exact a lot of impact on the public who read stories and are influenced by them. The secretariat does not impose views on the governors.
This training is to aimed you with the right tools to report the budget that impacts the people.”
By Henry Umoru,
Vanguard