THE Africa Centre for Transparency has unveiled a media outfit, Ikengaonline, to boost accountability and media presence in the south-eastern region of Nigeria.
The Centre was unveiled at a virtual launch by Barrister Mike Ahamba, a senior advocate.
At the event, the keynote speaker, Okey Ndibe, urged the new media platform to expose the ills in the region and project the ingenuity of its people.
Ndibe noted that events in the south eastern part of Nigeria had been under-reported since the return of democracy in the country owing to the concentration of media houses in the south-western and northern regions.
He added that the deplorable state of the region was due to the absence of the media.
Others present at the launch included the Director of the MacArthur Foundation in Nigeria, Kole Shettima; Executive Director of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), Motunrayo Alaka; and Country Director of DAI Nigeria, Joe Abah.
Shettima had pledged the undying support of the MacArthur Foundation to the new platform.
“We will not hesitate to do anything we can to ensure you succeed. We shall always be there for you because your success is our success,” he said.
Alaka also said the WSCIJ would collaborate with the new organisation to hold the government accountable to the people.
Others present at the occasion included the publisher of Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi, and the Coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), Chido Onumah, who extended their congratulations.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.
Congrats, more ink to your pen.