THE International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) has trained selected journalists from newsrooms in the South-West and South-South parts of Nigeria on Data and Investigative Journalism.
The participants were drawn from print, online and broadcast media across the South-West and South-South geopolitical zones.
The three-day training took place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in Kano State.
The training, which is part of The ICIR Open Contract Reporting Project sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, was organised by the Centre to build the capacity of journalists in Investigative and Data Journalism.
The training, according to The ICIR’s Executive Director Dayo Aiyetan, was designed to equip journalists working on the Open Contract Reporting Project (OCRP) with the abilities to properly conduct investigative journalism, particularly when using data.
In his address, the Director of MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria, Kole Shettima, urged the participants to take advantage of the training.
The Open Contract Reporting Project training will also be taking place in Lagos State and Abuja.
The ICIR Open Contract Reporting Project initiative began in 2017.
The project is aimed at building the capacity of Nigerian journalists to scrutinise and report on contracting and procurement processes.
Since the project began, The ICIR has organised capacity-building training for journalists and given funding to cash-strapped newsrooms in Nigeria to launch investigations related to public procurement and the budgeting process as a way of holding public officials to account.
Olayinka works with The ICIR as the Social Media Manager, Reporter and Fact-checker. You can shoot him an email via [email protected]. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @BelloYinka72