By Pascal Ibe
The International Press Center(IPC) has trained over 40 Journalists from Southeast and South South parts of the country on the use of Freedom Of Information(FOI) and Factscheck tools.
The two days workshop, organized for journalists, took place in PortHarcourt ,River State, in collaboration with European Union (EU)-Support/funding to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGIN).
The theme of the workshop is — Post election Reporting: Using FOI Act & Other
Investigative Methodologies To Report Democratic Governance &Electoral
Accountability Issues
The Executive Director of the International Press Center, Lanre Arogundade charges participants on value of fact- checking their reports to dispel suspicions and lower the spread of false information in the society.
Also, in his lectures, a former Guardian Nigeria editor, Edetaen Ojo revealed that regular access to and use of information and data will enhance the possibility of a journalist meeting all these standards
He noted that the Freedom of Information Act is a tool that can enable regular access to information and data, which in turn, can assist a journalist in beominga prolific reporter.
Mr Ojo added that the FOI Act is also an extremely valuable tool for journalists who want to fact-check information;
conduct investigative reporting, and to hold the government as well as government officials and isome of nstitutions accountable.
In compliance to the trainings, journalists performed a group works on how to draft an FOI and how to conduct a factcheck.
